I Am Thankful Thanksgiving Flip Book & Other Activities

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday to celebrate! While we should always be grateful every single day of the year, I love that this time is specifically set aside to celebrate our blessings. 

Sometimes, it's easy to get wrapped up in the busyness that comes with the holiday...cleaning the house, shopping, preparing the food, traveling, and so on. In the midst of all there is to do, it's important that we take some time to also help our kids make their own moments for reflecting on their blessings as well! 

Here are some fun, and even yummy, ideas to help you do that! 

This 'I Am Thankful' flip book gives kids a chance to practice writing (and cutting & gluing) skills while thinking about what they are most thankful for in life. 

There are nine covers for the book to choose from. If you're going to use this with your students, the books make a wonderful hallway display outside your classroom that they can take home for Thanksgiving break. 

Besides the cover, there are six additional pages to the book. Each one has kids focusing on a specific area to be grateful in. From family, to food, to friends, and more! 

One page throws a little word making fun into the book and asks students to think of all the smaller words they can make from the letters used in the bigger word 'thankful.' 

The 'My Family' page asks kids to draw and label members of their family.  When they are done, they can cut them out and glue them together at the top (don't worry, the tabs show where to glue on each page).  You can get the I Am Thankful Flip Book HERE! Here are some other cute ideas to get your kids thinking about what they're thankful for: This first idea would make an adorable bulletin board display. Imagine...a turkey with hundreds of feathers filling up the board! This next one is a Grateful Game...and it looks yummy and can be used with Skittles or M&Ms. This is a great one to do in small groups throughout the classroom!

This one is my favorite...though meant to keep kids busy while you're cooking Thanksgiving dinner, I think it actually makes an excellent math adding center during the week of Thanksgiving! An attention grabber for reluctant adders for sure!  Don't forget to PIN this post so that you can remember these activities for future planning!

-PIN ME-

Thanks for letting me share these activities with you! I hope your littles love and enjoy them. I also hope they make your teacher life & prep just a tad bit easier!

-Til next time

    

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Bek

Thanksgiving Turkey Craft & Writing Sheets

Looking for an easy, fun, & festive activity that you can use to decorate the bulletin board or hall outside your classroom? These Thanksgiving Thankful Turkey Craft & Writing Sheets are a quick print favorite addition to the other Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade lessons, crafts, & activities that you have planned for your kids this fall!

The Thankful Turkey Craft  comes with five different turkeys to choose from. All of them have different feet or shoes to add. Mix them up amongst your students to add a little spunk as you line the turkeys up for display in the hall.

Each turkey has 8 blank feathers. Have your kids think of 8 things they are thankful for. It always helps to come up with many things in large group or at carpet time and write them on your chart or white board. This way, students who are struggling to come up with 8 or who need help with spelling, will have something to refer back to for help. 

These two Thanksgiving writing sheets  also give students a chance to reflect on what they're thankful for! Let them choose if they want the boy or girl pilgrim next to their list. 

Get Thankful Turkey Craft & Writing Sheets HERE!

This November Mega Pack also includes the above shown activities plus, TONS more!







Get the November Mega Pack HERE!

Thanks for letting me share these activities with you! I hope your littles love and enjoy them. I also hope they make your teacher life & prep just a tad bit easier!

PIN ME FOR LATER!... 

-Til next time

       

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Bek

Summer Goals Flip Book Plus 3 FREE Downloads

{This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission at no cost to you when you click on the link and purchase something through Amazon.}

My how the school year flies by! It's already Spring Break this week for my kids, which means one thing: The countdown until summer break has begun! 

We had one snow day this year, which means our last day is now after Memorial Day. I'd love to hear when YOUR last day of school is? (Leave in comments below!) 

Today I'm going to highlight a brand new end of the year activity that I'm super excited to use with my kids. Plus, I'm going to share some fun ideas and also give you three free downloads that you can print now and set aside for use at the end of the year with your students. This way you won't be scrambling at the last minute looking for something new and fun to do. 

So this Summer Goals Craftivity is fun, easy, and will go right along with the other activities, ideas, and crafts that you have planned for your kids to do at the end of the school year.

Six tabs provide a variety of goals for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade littles to make as they begin to think about planning out their summer break. Pssst... they will also be incorporating writing practice at the same time!

Let me show you  a closer look!

There are actually six different covers that you can choose from for this activity. There are ten different characters for your kiddos to pick from. 5 girls and 5 boys. Encourage them to find the one that most resembles them. They can improvise if needed (add glasses, or whatnot).

I had my Kindergarten daughter help me make a sample so that you can see the steps students need to take to complete this project. 

Start by having them pick a cover and color it. 

Then they can grab a pencil and fill out the beginner writing portions of all the pages included. The first page has the "I will eat..." and "I will read..." tabs. Nali (my daughter) plans to eat ice cream and read Pete the Cat books!

The next page gives students a place to write a goal about something they want to play. I plan to encourage my kids to think about something new to try. My daughter was not creative at all in her example, as she has been very eager for warm weather so that she can play outside!

Then, students can make a goal about how they can help someone this summer. My daughter wants to help her next door neighbor clean up her toys, how sweet!

Next, students plan somewhere they would like to visit. For this one, I suggest encouraging them to think of somewhere reasonable. This is a good opportunity to talk about making goals that are reachable! The zoo is a great goal for a place to visit this summer. The moon? Maybe not so much!

Then they will have a chance to write out five goals. They can be the same five goals they already created but now all in one easy-to-see place, or they could even be five additional goals. My daughter did a mix of both:

Time to cut it all out! Simple cutting and easy assembly allows for all students to happily succeed.
Throw some math in there, and have your students practice measuring by laying out the tabs from shortest to tallest!

Then glue the tabs together to make a flip book!

Now your students can take turns reading their flip books to their peers before taking hanging them up in the hallway!

You can get this activity here: All About Me Back to School Flip Book

Before I give you a few FREE DOWNLOADS, let me show you some other end of the year ideas I found on Pinterest that I can't wait to try this year:

I know the kids are going to go crazy over this popping balloons idea!

Check how how sweet this 'waving goodbye' idea is!

I am a huge watermelon fan and there are so many cute ideas in this theme:

With the new school year quickly approaching, I know that many teachers are already starting to get things organized and ready for this Back to School this fall. I've shared this download before, so some of you may have already grabbed it!  But these Student Information Sheets are a great way for you to print out NOW and tuck in your Back to School file folder for when it's time to think about the new year:

FREE STUDENT INFORMATION SHEETS DOWNLOAD

Another FREE DOWNLOAD I'd like to share is especially for YOU this summer!


SUMMER FAMILY-FRIENDLY DRINK & TREAT RECIPES

Ok, one more! Summer is the time to think about camping. Here are some FREE Camping themed sticker incentive charts that come in both full and less ink options. Enjoy!

GONE CAMPING STICKER INCENTIVE CHARTS

-Til next time

     

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Bek

FREE How to Survive as a Firefly Life Cycle Flip Book

**Book images created by Erica Salcedo are used with permission from The Innovation Press**
**This post contains affiliate links.**

I was recently given a copy of the book 
How to Survive as a Firefly 

by Kristen Lootes and illustrated by Erica Salcedo. 

It was my first time seeing (or even having heard of) the book, so I was excited to read it.  Before even opening the book, I realized that I really don't know anything at all about fireflies...except that they are a ton of fun to catch in the summer at dusk! 

I found this book to be a delightful and incredibly funny informational book for kids ages 5-10. If you teach an insect unit, or about fireflies or the life cycle of fireflies, then this book is a must-have for you and your students. 

I made a FREE Firefly Life Cycle Flip Book for students to use as a fun way to gather and organize facts that they learn while reading! 

Ok, so let me tell you a little bit about the book. You can also download a PREVIEW of the book and take a look for yourself!

"How to Survive as a Firefly"  is written in a story format, having an adult firefly educate the newly hatched firefly eggs on what they will need to do throughout their life to survive. 

It covers everything in a very humorous, yet informationally accurate way. From life cycle info, to vocabulary terms, to parts of the body...it has it all! Even a glosser is included at the end of the book. 

Students can work on the companion resource before reading the book. This will give them time to gather any background information they have on fireflies, as well as wonder about them. 
Have them start out by coloring the flip book cover page.

Then they can cut out all of the pages and glue them together. It can dry while they initially read the book. After reading it, they can go back and look for information that they'd like to include in the flip book. The first page has students simply write out the four stages of a firefly's life cycle. They can add quick sketches of each stage too, if they'd like!

Then they can write down facts specific to each stage of the life cycle. Starting with the Egg stage:

Then on to the Larva stage:

And next the Pupa stage:

And finally, the adult stage:

The final page give students a chance to jot down some unique, or their favorite, facts that they learned about fireflies.

After it's finished, students can use it to review or reflect on. They can use it to study from (if there is any type of assessment over the information) or just take it home to share what they learned with family and friends! 

Enjoy How to Survive as a Firefly Life Cycle Flip Book absolutely FREE. Don't forget to leave a review of the resource. I very much appreciate your opinions and feedback on activities that I create!

-Til next time

     

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Bek

Back to School All About Me Flip Book Activity and a FREE DOWNLOAD

Back to School is coming up faster than we realize, so I wanted to give you a few ideas (including a FREE DOWNLOAD) that you can set aside NOW so that you're not scrambling at the last minute looking for something new and fun to do with your students! 

This All About Me Flip Book Craftivity is fun, easy, and will go right along with the other activities, ideas, and crafts that you have planned for your kids to do this fall for Back to School.

Six tabs provide information for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade littles to share about themselves while incorporating beginning writing practice at the same time. 

Let me show you  a closer look!

There are actually six different covers that you can choose from for this activity. There are ten different characters for your kiddos to pick from. 5 girls and 5 boys. Encourage them to find the one that most resembles them. They can improvise if needed (add glasses, or whatnot).

I had my five year old (who will be entering Kindergarten this fall) make a sample so that you can see the steps students need to take to complete this project. 

Start by having them pick a cover and color it. 

Then they can grab a pencil and fill out the beginner writing portions of all the pages included. The first page has the "All About" and "Favorites" tabs. Her favorite food is (believe it or not) "Robin Noodles".... Ramen Noodles (bleh!).

The next page encourages students to write about something they dislikes. My daughter is a sensitive soul and greatly dislikes when people are mean or use a harsh tone with her.


Next, students will draw a self portrait.


Then they will write out what dreams they have. I like this Big Dream! That's a big green dinosaur she drew.

Finally, they write 5 reasons why they are unique.

Time to cut it all out! Simple cutting and easy assembly allows for all students to happily succeed.
Throw some math in there, and have your students practice measuring by laying out the tabs from shortest to tallest!

Then glue the tabs together to make a flip book!

Now your students can take turns reading their flip books to their peers before taking hanging them up in the hallway!

You can get this activity here: All About Me Back to School Flip Book

Before I give you a FREE DOWNLOAD, let me show you some other All About Me ideas I found on Pinterest that I loved:

With the new school year quickly approaching, I know that many teachers are already starting to get things organized and ready for this Back to School this fall.
Here's a FREE DOWNLOAD for you to print out now that will be a perfect way for you to keep track of information about your students:

FREE STUDENT INFORMATION SHEETS DOWNLOAD

-Til next time

     

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Bek