DIY Circle Garland

As I told you in my welcome post, you may see several post that have the "twodaisiesandanelephant" logo in them. This is one of them. I had prepared it for my previous blog, but since I decided to change everything it is now here :). 

For Em's first birthday, I did a lot of the decorations by myself. We didn't have a lot of money to spend on decorations... so, I wanted to DIY something myself. I had seen on several websites garlands using the simplest of materials.... paper and a hole punch. 

So, I grabbed several different colors of paper that correlated with the colors of Em's birthday party. Then grabbed the hole punch, some kite string and the tape. 

                       

I then just hole punched each of the papers several times. Once I felt like I had enough of each of the colors... it was about 40 each... I laid them out on my lap desk and placed the string on top. Then centered each, as each were placed semi-perfectly... I taped each and then flipped them over to make sure they would hang correctly on the wall. 

              

                                         

Once they were done, I hung the garland up around her bedroom door to add a little color over there. We also used several of the extra circles to add decoration around her Happy Birthday banner, to cover up the tape on the streamers, and to add a little pizazz to the edges of the kitchen counter where the food and what not was.

This was a simple little task that took me about 2 hours to complete from start to finish. Just another little addition that added an adorable touch to Em's birthday party.

Dictionary Day

In a week, we will be celebrating Dictionary Day in honor of Noah Webster's birthday. With that, I've put together some activities that you could do with your students.

Worksheets:

• Here are 2 FREE worksheets from Super Teacher Worksheets --- There are also other dictionary worksheets on there as well, however you must be a member to access them.
• Dictionary Parts
• Guide Words # 1
• Teachers Pay Teachers also has a great selection of dictionary worksheets in the FREE department. Here are a few that seem to be really fun plus engaging. Don't forget to check them out, there may be something you like a lot more.
• Free Dictionary Worksheets with Answer Key
• Beginners Dictionary Detective Literacy Center
• Dictionary Scavenger Hunt # 2
• Dictionary Detectives
• Some Activities from TLS Books
• Dictionary Skills Review
• Some Activities from Education.com
• Using the Dictionary
• A Variety of Worksheets Based on Grade 

On-line Games:

• Gamequarium has a variety of games that your students can play on-line   regarding their dictionary skills

Class/Individual Activities:

• For younger students they can create a picture dictionary
• Older students can create their own dictionaries to help with their writing
• You can also create a class dictionary
• Students can create Dictionary Man
• There is also a fun activity call A Ditzy Dictionary for the Younger Crowd

Free Math Activities by Hotel Translyvania

Even though the movie is already out and Halloween is over a month away, Hotel Transylvania and Scholastic have teamed up to bring to you some monster math activities. Each of these activities are free and range from on-line games, to board games, as well as a variety of worksheets.

Each of these activities also do relate to the Common Core standards and a chart is included to help you.

Just go click here to access the website and let your students have a blast!

Halloween Activities

I can't believe Halloween is just a few weeks away!! With that it even means our first baby is due (yes, she's due on Halloween). I'm so ready for some candy, some Halloween fun, and of course, our new little bundle of joy :)!

Anyways, over the course of this week, I'll be adding some new Halloween posts regarding a variety of subjects... so be on the lookout!

Below are some activities to get you started for the week, that you can use for some Halloween fun within your classroom...

Also don't forget to always check The Mailbox's website, they have some great activities as well.

Other:

• Halloween Web Hunt --- a variety of on-line activities your students can complete
• Paper Mache Pumpkin
• Halloween Word Search

Below are a variety of math activities you can use with your students...

• Max's Halloween Tooth Math Activity (patterns)
• Math Activities from Hotel Transylvania 
• Pumpkin Color By Number
• Math Crush -- Scroll down and you'll see a few Halloween activity sheets (estimating and fill in the blank) -- better suited for older kids
• Classroom Jr. -- Worksheets on adding and subtracting, number recognition, and multiplication
• Super Mom -- Spider Matching Worksheet - Numbers
• Cute Math Worksheets -- A variety of math worksheets for the younger grades
• Candy Graphing -- Candy Graphing activity
• Halloween Missing Numbers
• Ghosts
• A Web of Numbers Counting Practice -- from TeacherspayTeachers
• Have students guess how many candy corns are in a jar/cauldron 

Double, Double, Toil, and Trouble... Here are a few science activities to get your student brewing ...

• Exploration of Bats
• SLIME! 
• Oobleck

Here are some Reading and Writing activities...

• For Older Students
• All About Vampires
• All About Mummies
• All About Ghosts
• All About Werewolves
• All About Zombies
• All About Witches
• Adjectives -- found this cute little activity on Step into 2nd Grade while I was surfing websites, can't wait to try.
• Bat Poem from the Mailbox --- will open in a PDF file

Here are some activities regarding the history of Halloween...

• Where Does Halloween Come From? --- A reading comprehension worksheet regarding the origins of Halloween 
• History of Halloween
• The History of Halloween from Scholastic's Website

Columbus Day Activities

We all know the phrase "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue..." With that, Columbus Day is quickly approaching and I wanted to give you some activities that I had found.

On-line Activity:

• Webquest
• All About Christopher Columbus

Worksheets:

• Biography
• Word Search
• Maze
• Coloring Pages
• Page # 1
• Usually around Columbus Day you can find some valuable worksheets at The Mailbox. You must be a member (it's free when you sign up for the basic version) and you will receive related activities regarding your grade level.

Other Activities:

• Writing
• Students can write about if they were explorers
• Students can write about life on one of the ships
• Students can write about what it was like to sail with Christopher Columbus
• They can can also write about if they were to discover a New World what would it be like

Books:

   

Here is a cut out of Christopher Columbus that your students can put together to create him...

Christopher Columbus Cut Out PDF

Here's a mini-book from The Mailbox that your students can create. It will open in another window as a PDF file.

To make the mini-book, copy the pattern onto white paper (they suggest construction paper). Have students color each page as desired along with the ship. Once students have colored each have them put the pages together in sequential order and staple the sails. Next, have students glue the flag and the ship to a popsicle stick. Once they've glued, then glue the last sail to part of the stick. After it has been glued together have students read each of the pages.

Fall Love and the Pumpkin Patch

Fall is here!! Probably, one of the greatest things about fall besides the cooler weather is the pumpkin patch. For some reason, I still even as an adult enjoy going out to the pumpkin patch and picking out the perfect pumpkin. So in honor of Fall and pumpkin season, I gathered a few activities to go along with this theme. :)

Math:

• Pumpkin Number Cards
• Pumpkin Missing Number Worksheets

Science:

• Pumpkin Life Cycle Worksheet
• Life Cycle of a Pumpkin Mini-Book
• A few sequencing cards from Montessori

** Don't forget if you log onto The Mailbox you can also get a few free worksheets regarding fall and pumpkins

Books:

Some Fun Pumpkin Books: