If your looking for winter or Christmas crafts, ideas, and activities for Preschool, Kindergarten, or First grade students, you've found them! Download some FREE resources too while you're here. These snow and snowman themed activities will keep your students engaged and excited about the season!
Winter is here! The snow has begun to fall (and actually stick) here in Illinois, and the first thing two of my children wanted to do was to run outside and make snow angels!
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Seriously guys?! Snow angels in a 1/2 inch of snow - HA! Anyway, I love the excitement and emotion that the first snow brings.

Snow can make you feel so jittery with excitement...
...or give you the warm fuzzies as you cuddle by the fireplace.
(Yup! That's my baby!)

It seems that kids are always so calm when doing snow-related craft activities. Don't believe me? Try it! The next time your kiddos are acting off the wall, pull out some paper and crayons and tell them to draw a snowman on it...See what happens! And before you know it, you'll be pulling out snow activities to do all of the time!

Which means....
you're going to be needing some ideas, so let me give you some!

Let's kick things off with a FREE WINTER DOWNLOAD!
Download it here:

Our favorite winter craft so far this year has been this character frame ornament.
It comes with six different characters to choose from. I printed out some larger pictures of the kids and we glued them behind the frame. I told the kids they could give it as a holiday gift, or even just hang it up somewhere to be festive!

If you ask your students what they like to do most with or in the snow, your most common answer is probably...
BUILD A SNOWMAN!

So I entice my reluctant readers by telling them we are going to build a snowman in a book!
Huh? What?
That's right! We're going to build a snowman IN a book.

Use super fun, scent-a-licious Mr. Sketch crayons to highlight the sight words you want your littles to focus on.
I'm going to work on seeing if I can coax my Kinder-daughter to read through this book for you on video so that you can hear how each page goes...but until then, here is where you can find it:
Build a Snowman Emergent Reader

Now pair that emergent reader with a fun snowman craft! Don't forget to stock up on some paint.

Or try this one, which is my absolute favorite. Especially when you line them all up as decor outside your classroom in the hallway.

If you're looking for snowman ornament ideas, here are two I found on Pinterest that I'm considering doing this year. My own personal kids made this first one for me with their first grade teacher. 

I love, love, love this next idea. I mean, who can resist whimsical snowmen?!

Let's stop a minute and get you another FREE DOWNLOAD! 
I know this is December, but chances are you'll be planning for January soon, if you haven't started already. This download offers five printouts that you can sample of a much bigger curriculum that was made for Kindergarteners with the Kinder Common Core ELA & Math standards in mind. 
If your looking for winter or Christmas crafts, ideas, and activities for Preschool, Kindergarten, or First grade students, you've found them! Download some FREE resources too while you're here. These snow and snowman themed activities will keep your students engaged and excited about the season!
Download it here:

Ok, so we've covered some snowmen craft ideas, but what about snow itself? Or snowflakes?
Here are some ideas you can try out.

This pine branch snowflake printing is one I love to do every year. I've searched online for where this picture came from, but cannot figure it out for the life of me. Just know it wasn't my original idea! It sure makes beautiful snowflakes though - and the kids absolutely love using pine branches to make them.
 

This one from Lisa's Craft Blog gives a tutorial on how to make not only this adorable puzzle piece snowflake, but a evergreen tree as well!

You can also have fun ripping paper while making a beautiful snowy scene in this next one:

This next one is really cool. And another of my favorites! 

So that about wraps it up for this time. I think I've shown you plenty enough for today! 
Before I sign off though, I want to show you this December Holidays MEGA Pack that's full of all kinds of themes and activities. I know how crazy the holiday season gets, especially for teachers. This MEGA pack will save you time, time, and more time! (You'll need time for all the above crafts you're going to do, remember?!) So let me show you real quick and then I'll let you go...

Themes included are Polar Express, Gingerbread Man, Christmas Carols (with a Sight Words focus), Common Core aligned ELA & Math daily work and Quick Print activity sheets (that practice a wide variety of skills), Mrs. Claus, the Nativity, and more!

Here are what just a few of the pages look like...there are over 550 of them! Wow!
I would have to say my favorite pack in this bundle is the Christmas Carols one. Students practice high frequency words with Christmas Carols. Love it!

Anyway, so if you're looking for a way to save a ton of time, the work has already been done for you! 

You can get ahold of it here:

Well, that sums it all up. Hope you have a wonderful holiday season and tons of fun in the snow!

-Til next time
     


               
Join me in 

CELEBRATION

as November 8th marks my 

1 year anniversary

of having become a part of
Teachers Pay Teachers!

In honor of this joyous event,
I am holding a 


of some of the very first activities I ever made!



PLUS...
I'm throwing an 

EVERYTHING 
in my store will be 20% off 
November 7th, 8th, & 9th!

Ready for FREE prizes?

The first 3 names drawn will get this Thanksgiving Math & Literacy Bundle of 13 activities!



This bundle includes the first activities I ever made! Winners will receive color-by-(short) vowels, addition activities, emergent reader with corresponding class book...


 ...alphabet and number tracing mazes, roll & writes... 

...skip counting puzzles, dry erase counting cards, and more!


PLUS...

SIX winners will receive my most recently made activities-
There was an Old Lady who Swallowed 
some Leaves Bundle! 
 These winners will receive sequencing pocket chart cards... 
...sequencing/retelling activities, vocabulary building sheets...

...and more!

So come celebrate with me!

1. Become a follower of my blog so that you can keep an eye out for more freebies, craft ideas, projects, videos, and more!
2. Leave a comment below with your first name and last initial (Becky C.) along with a comment of what you are thankful for.

Winners will be drawn and posted back here using an online randomizer. Drawing will take place November 9th, @ 9:00 cst.
Prizes will be emailed. Winners have 24 hours to claim prize by contacting thebarefootteacher@gmail.com



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And now...

To annouce the

Winners of the 
Thanksgiving Math & Literacy Bundle:
1)
2)
3)

Winners of the 
Old Lady who Swallowed Leaves Bundle:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

Everyone knows and loves the 
story of the old lady who swallowed a fly...


...did we ever figure out WHY she swallowed that fly?

Well by now, you probably have seen the 
different variations of this story by Lucille Colandro:




 There's even a STICKER BOOK!
(Which is totally on my list of things to buy!)


Well...the old lady is at it again...
This time, eating BATS


How many things can this chick eat?! 

This story is a great one to add to 
your Nocturnal Animals unit, 
and it ties in nicely with end of the 
month October classroom activities.

Start off the week by introducing them to some 
vocabulary words that go along with the story. 

Here are two different types of pocket chart
vocabulary cards that 
you can use to introduce the words 
and later on, to practice sequencing with.


Use these vocabulary posters reinforce the words 
that go with the story. 


There is a corresponding writing activity that you can use with it later on once they are more familiar with the words.


 All you need to do, is hang the posters up around the room in various "hidden" locations, give the students a clipboard and pencil, and let them wander around finding the posters. Once they find them, have them write that word down, using the poster as a reference for spelling.

These posters are also a great reference for the following vocab 

 Students can look at the posters to see how to 
rebuild the story's vocabulary words.

Or if you want a similar activity to use at one of your centers, 
you can use these colorful build-a-word activity mats:



All you need to do is laminate them for extra durability, and cut out the alphabet pieces needed to build the word.



Once you feel your kids are ready to complete some 
sequencing activities on their own, there are two versions of
 two different activities that you can choose from. 

The first activity sequencing activity lets the Old Lady 
"eat" her objects one-by-one! 


 

With both a black and white and a colorful option, 
you have the ability to practice sequencing as a whole group 
or at a center and individually to take home as well.

The next activity, sequencing mats, involves 
cutting and pasting (if you use the black/white option) 
or simply placing object cards in the correct order on the activity mat.



 Now that they've had lots of practice with vocabulary and sequencing
-it's time to read!



Students will LOVE their very own Kindergarten 
There was an Old Lady... book. 

There are two books in this download. 


The first is 11 pages long and practices the words "this", "is", and "a".
"
The second book is 10 pages long and practices the 
words "she", "ate", and "a".

 You can find these two emergent readers here!

Want all that you have seen so far?
Here is a bundle with all of the activities in one!






 Don't forget craft time throughout the week! 
I found a fun bat hat...


You can find directional pictures, 
as well as sample of others that have been decorated at...

A few other quick and easy bat crafts I found off of Pinterest were:

This bat hand print picture with 
foam stars and moon. 

I think this would look cuter on a dark blue paper. 
Slap on some small googly eyes and call it done!


Here is an easy paper plate one. 
You can buy black paper plates at Party City...
...or have the kids paint it if you feel brave!


Here's a picture of quick instructions on 
how to make it...
 Looking for corresponding snacks to add 
some pizzazz to 
your theme?

Check out this fun, cheap snack idea from 


Or what about these? 
They would still be very cute plain with no faces on them.


Read Stellaluna by Janelle Cannon to them while they munch!

"Stellaluna has been charming picture-book readers for years with its moving 
tale of a lost little bat who learns a big lesson about friendship." ~Amazon

Or watch the short video of the book.

Want a longer version?
Here's the movie, presented by Scholastic.

Once their tummies are full, 
you can fly on into nocturnal animals with this neat song.

I'll save all of the ideas and activities that you can do 
with nocturnal animals for a different time! 

You've got enough to plan out for now...

~Til next time
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