My love for Melissa and Doug products continues to grow. In addition to my last post regarding ways to use their products for educational purposes, I wanted to highlight a different M&D item.
I had my son create a face using the stickers and images from this pad. See the pictures below for a detailed description on how this can be used for writing.
Option #1: Label/Describe
Brainstorm descriptive words for the picture and label in marker. Using this as a "guide" a student could produce a creative fictional writing piece about this character using some of the descriptive words listed.
Option #2: Character Traits
Using the picture made, students can create a story about the character while focusing on what specific traits make that character unique.
The possibilities are truly endless with these pads! Multiple characters can be made and used in a series of stories. The pictures can be used to label facial features, predict feelings of the character, add speech bubbles and conversations to, etc.
Do you have any other ideas? If so, leave them in the comment section below! <3
Ever since my son turned two, we have been buying him Melissa and Doug sticker books. They are perfect for travel, taking to restaurants and other outings that require sitting for a period of time, and the list goes on. He has loved certain books so much, that we are now on sets 2 and 3 of the same books!
I wanted to share a list of ways I have thought to use these sticker books. At $4.99 a book, you really can't beat the limitless ways these can be used by children of MANY ages! Today I will choose and cover just one of our family favorites! Come back to visit to see additions to this list soon!
CREATING A BALANCED MEAL - Go over the food groups with your child and have them make a balanced meal focusing on proteins, vegetables, grains, sweets, etc.
WRITING WORD BANK - After your child creates a meal, label the parts of the meal (as shown in the picture below. Using this as a word bank, help or challenge your child to create a piece of writing using many of the words that are labeled. Maybe they create a fictional story, a how-to piece, or even a recipe to go along with the picture they created. Again, parents of younger kids can help them brainstorm and write a few sentences for them to read and reread. Teachers can easily have many of these placed in a writing center for students to use! You can write a sentence a day for a week until you have a paragraph about the picture. So many options! In the picture below, the yellow sentence strip might be something a younger child would do and the blue would be a child capable of writing their own sentence. Older kids can write full stories or pieces.
Writing Word Bank
DESCRIPTION WEBBING - Taking even just one component of the picture, kids can create a web to further describe what is on the placemat. This can be added to a writer's folder or used as an activity to help them brainstorm or work on bettering their skills as writers.
PERSONAL PLACEMATS - Let each child decorate their own placemat picture. Once they are finished, laminate the picture and actually use it as their own placemat at the table!
TEST REVIEW OR GAME - Come up with what kids will need to earn during the game like...1 entree, 3 sides, 1 drink, and 1 dessert for example. As they answer questions correctly, have them pick one of the items needed and add it to their placemats. Continue play until the first person collects all the items they need. There are so many fun ways to adapt this! Be creative! :)
SPECIAL CHORES CHART - Pre-select food stickers and write down chores on them. Your children can choose a food (chore) to finish and then add it to their placemat. Once they have filled up their plates/trays with stickers, they can earn a prize, allowance, etc. You can choose ahead of time how many food items need to be added to their placemats in order to earn the reward.
PLAYING RESTAURANT - Better if done with multiple people or multiple placemats, fill up a few sticker mats with different foods. Have or help your child create and design a restaurant menu listing these items and the price of each. You can play restaurant and choose placemats to use and allow your child(ren) to "add up" what your bill will be. There are many directions you can take this once you feel your children are ready! Added bonus - hang onto the placemats and reuse the next time you want to play restaurant! :)
HOW MANY CALORIES - Create a meal and then using the internet and other resources, try to determine the total weight of the meal in calories. This can start a conversation about recommended calories in a day for certain groups, what calories are, why they are important, how to get the biggest bang for your buck in caloric consumption, etc.
I would love to hear how else you might use this really fun sticker book! If you have any other ideas, please share in the comment section. I have linked the items mentioned in this blog post if you are searching to purchase them on your own. They are affiliated links.
With so much going on in our world right now, it can be difficult to find the best way to explain these events to our children. I will be the first to admit that I still have a lot to learn. I have been sitting back and watching, reading, listening, and reflecting on all recent and not-so-recent events. I've been in full "education mode" here.
In the only way I know how, I wanted to create some content that parents can use with their children at home. Feel free to download and use any or all parts of this freebie pack. You will need some craft supplies, a computer with internet access, and an invitation for open dialogue with your family.
I was inspired by a read aloud shared by The Tutu Teacher on YouTube. You can find (and will need) her video which can be found HERE or below.
I came up with a few activities for young children that could be done with the help of an adult. I also included helpful links and additional resources for kids and parents to navigate this sensitive topic.
Activity #1 is a must if you choose to do activities #2 or #3. The Tutu Teacher does a great job of explaining racism and race to young children. She challenges kids to "take off their skin" and get to know someone without judging them based on the color of their skin.
Activity #2 - Have children decorate their "person" to represent themselves. Attach the skeleton page to the back of their artwork by using tape or staples. Reiterate that without our skin, we would look exactly the same on the inside. Take the papers over to a window and hold up to the light to reveal the skeleton underneath their self-portraits. This is a good time to also talk about how what is inside is the most important when learning about someone's story because the color of their skin and their appearance is only one small part of that.
Activity #3 - In the read aloud, the story talks about how everyone has a story...elements of their lives that make them who they are. This activity challenges your child to really think about the things that make up their story. I included some questions that may help get the ball rolling, but encourage them to really dig deeply and think about who they are as a person. I also took this opportunity to discuss how their are parts of our stories that make us unique, but also that can connect us with others. The color of our skin doesn't mean that we can't relate or have things in common with others that look different than us.
Activity #4 - I included some questions and statements to help get the conversations started with your family. There are plenty others online if you choose to look for more.
Ready to get started???????
Just visit my store and download everything you need. Ready to print and use.
I just started with my little guy and here is a sample of activity #3 (My Story).
Good luck and let me know how it goes!
CLICK THE PURPLE LINK BELOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have always loved Storyline Online. It was a great option for my students if they finished work early or if we had a few minutes before dismissal that we needed to fill. I have always wanted to do read alouds of my favorite books and post them on a platform like YouTube, but there are way too many rules regarding copyright that I don't want to infringe. One positive that has come from this pandemic is that many publishers are now allowing this without any issue in order to help teachers work from a digital setting. Most publishers have set an expiration date on this favor though, and I am way too forgetful to remember to delete anything I have posted.
I figured the next best thing would be to use Storyline Online. There you can find uploaded videos of famous actors reading some absolute classics. They even now include lesson ideas! I chose to provide some extension activities for a super cute story called Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book) read by "Hopper" from Stranger Things. The activities provided could be appropriate for a younger age range - Pre-K with help from an adult through 2nd grade. Feel free to download from my TPT store! The link is at the BOTTOM of this post.
Activities from my packet include...
Recipe
Roll-a-shape Game with Die Template
3D Shape Sort
A Scattergories-like game (easily adaptable for older kids):
Visit my Teachers Pay Teachers Store HERE to download this packet for FREE!
Thursday, May 28, 2020
So my hubby and I have been quarantining with our two kids...young kids...young boys to be exact. We have been having to find ways to fill our days without turning to the trusty old screen of the iPad or TV. My MIL killed it in the gift department for our 4 year old this year and purchased a subscription to National Geographic Little Kids magazine. We received our first issue this week and it has been a huge hit!
In light of recent events (and partially because my inner teacher has just been itching to contribute), I created a few activities to accompany both the magazine and their website. You do not need a subscription to the magazine to do these activities...it's just an added bonus.
I tailored the activities to fit a younger crowd (think preschool-kindergarten), but the video material provided by National Geographic is appropriate for much older kids too.
Feel free to print and complete at your own pace. Share with anyone that you feel may need a filler for their day with young ones...we are in this together! #teamtruth #teamIgotyourback #quaranteam #whatdayisit
