Turkey with the Terrible Temper

Turkey with the Terrible Temper - How the Turkey Got His Tail Feathers

Turkey with the Terrible Temper

The story of how the Turkey got is Tail Feathers is an excellent way to talk about emotions. The author of the following story is unknown. Each year I read the story and showed a set of turkeys colored to match the events that were happening. At the end I provided each student with a copy of black line master turkeys for them to color so that they could practice retelling the story. Another way to use this story especially for students that are less verbal is to have them hold up the turkey that is the color of the emotion they feel at that moment. This will help them identify their own emotions. You could also have a class activity where students show a specific emotion guided by the teacher and the kids hold up the turkey they think the student is representing. 

Story with pictures

5 Senses Thanksgiving

I have been teaching my students about their 5 senses. We have been talking about things we see, smell, taste, touch, and hear at Thanksgiving. Each day we have created a list on the board for one of the senses. For example things we See: Turkey, family, pies, dishes, parades, football, friends, etc. Smell: Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pies, grandma's perfume, etc. Taste: Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, pies, candy, cookies, etc. Touch: Food (lots of food), hugs from family, dishes, toys, etc. Hear: Family talking, dishes, football, parades, prayer, etc. Now after they create this simply list then we talk about adding descriptive words. They choose one word for each of the 5 senses, and it cannot be turkey on all of the categories each one needs to be different. For see if they choose "pies" then we talk about what kind of pie and what it looks like. In the end you want something like "I am thankful for my eyes to see orange pumpkin pie with white whipped cream" I realize you might be working with younger kiddos or students with more significant disabilities. In that case focus on at least one descriptive word like pumpkin pie vs. pie. The download has a simple version with more of the words on the page and a more complex for your older/higher functioning students.
5 Senses Poem

Turkey Hand Print Art

 

Turkey Hand print Art

Yesterday my students made turkey hand prints. The picture shows 2 hand prints of siblings. I helped them pain their palm and thumb brown and then we painted each finger a different color. Once dry they glued on an eye and drew some legs. This was a simple and fun art project.

Halloween Activities

Pumpkin Bowling

I know Halloween is over... Due to my preparation at the last minute things sometimes don't get posted until after the fact. Here are 2 fun activities to do next year. The first is Halloween bowling with rolls of toilet paper. I printed a simple ghost face and wrapped it around the toilet paper. Then I cut holes in a small pumpkin (I didn't remove the insides of the pumpkin, this way they the kiddos had a fun sensory surprise when they stuck their fingers into the holes.

 

The second activity was by far the biggest hit with all the kids from my young ones to the teens. I made tape balls. I wrapped my candy and prizes in plastic wrap. Then I took a piece of candy and began wrapping packing tape around the candy. For each piece of candy I placed 2-3 long pieces of tape. In this way I slowly built my candy/prize ball. in the end the ball was about the size of a large grapefruit. In addition to candy I placed small toys and coins. The kids sat in a circle and rolled two dice. When they rolled doubles they grabbed the ball and began pealing the tape off as quickly as possible, because everything they freed from the tape ball they could keep. They continued to peal tape off until the next kiddo rolled doubles.  I had 4 rotations going and this was the one that all the kids wanted to stay at. We are going to do this activity again at Christmas time. If you have a group of older and younger kids you can have the older kids wear gloves to even out the playing field. My suggestion is to separate the younger kids and older kids because this activity involves lots of fine motor and the younger kid ball was more simple to unwrap.   

Tape Ball with Prizes

Halloween Silhouette

Halloween Art - Water Color with black shapes and border

I gave my students a piece of 12x12 paper (you want to use at least card stock for this art project). Then I told them to paint with water colors over the entire piece of paper. Their papers were very wet by the end but that is alright because they dry and create a cool background. Then we placed a black border all the way around the edge to frame their silhouette. My students with better fine motor skills created their own shapes to cut out from the black paper. For the kiddos with more motor difficulties I had pre-cut Halloween shapes using a Cricut machine. They then could choose which shapes they wanted and place them on their paper. In the end all their art projects looked amazing!



Halloween Art - Water Color with black shapes and border

Angry Birds

Angry Birds Welcome Wall Decoration

WelcomeWall Decoration

This year my roommate decided on an Angry Birds theme for her 6th grade classroom wall. I thought these pictures were awesome so I decided to share. She is going to add her students names to each piggy. Her students can also earn classroom library time where she has placed bean bags and angry bird pillows.



Welcome Wall Decoration

Mother's Day Pots

Mother's Day Terra Cotta Pot

Here is a fun Mother's Day gift. I bought Terra Cotta pots from Walmart. Some years I also bought the little plate that the pot sits upon. Depending on the age of your students you can make this project simpler or more unique. At times I painted all the pots white. Other years the kids painted their own pots white or other colors. I bought a wide variety of tissue paper from solids, stripes, shapes, designs, etc. Cut the tissue paper into small squares (they don't have to be even in size, you want variation) Have the students choose a few types of tissue paper to use. I like the mixture of papers. Then using Mod Podge Gloss you apply a layer to the pot and place the tissue paper on the Mod Podge. You will also add more Mod Podge on top of the tissue paper. This will appear white and goopy which means you are doing this correctly. Let this dry and your pot can be complete. If you would like to do more here are a few ideas: 1. Add a bit of ribbon around the rim of the pot. 2. Spray the pot with a sealant to water proof it, this way you can place a plant in the pot. 3. Add pens that have been wrapped to silk flowers. 4. Have the students make flowers and stick their flowers on straws to place in the pot. If you want the flowers to stand up you can stick them in the floral green foam. This has always been a big hit with the students and parents. 

Mother's Day Terra Cotta Pots



Mystery Eggs

Preschool painting fun



Mystery Egg - Painting

Mystery Eggs are a fun activity for kids of all ages. With my preschool kiddos I draw shapes and designs with a white crayon, on a large egg shape that is printed on card stock. Then when the kids paint, with watercolors the design appears just like "magic" My older kids draw their own designs with a white crayon and then paint over the top. This activity is always a huge hit! If you want to make the activity more challenging you can have them work with just primary colors (red, yellow, blue) and then while painting they mix the colors to create the secondary colors of (purple, orange, green).  



Mystery Easter Egg - Painting

Egg Counting

Egg Counting

There are so many things to do with Easter Eggs and the Egg shape. Here is one idea. I made a simple oval (egg) on card stock, cut out and laminated. Then I hid the eggs all around the room. The kids had to find the numbers and dots and match them together. They thought this was lots of fun because they were up and moving around however they were learning too. Whenever my students are matching I always make sure that I am assessing what I intended. Many matching games make the 2 items that go together the same color, shape, design, etc. If this occurs then the child may only be matching by a visual discrimination of one of those features and not what you intended for them to learn.  You could also put this type of task in a TEACCH system. I would have the students paperclip the matching items together by doing this you have also added a fine motor component. Download the printable numbers 1-12 here. Egg Counting Printable

Candy Necklace

Who remembers candy necklaces? I always thought they were so cool. Were you the type of kid that ate them immediately or saved them because once you ate the necklace it was gone? I usually saved mine for a little while and then ate the necklace. For Valentine's Day my kiddos made their own candy necklace. I did this with a group of preschool kids and the goal I had for them was to simply string the candy onto the necklace. I tied the first candy on and then put tape on the ends to help with the stringing of candy. This was a challenging fine motor skill. Now for my older kids I had them create a pattern with their candy to add in some math skills with the fine motor. All the kids had fun. By the end of the day it was funny to see who had just, the string left and who had not even touched the candy. I bought candy necklace kits made by Wilton. But afterwards I thought for next time I may simply buy pre-made candy necklaces, cut the string and tada candy necklace kit... This could easily be incorporated into any holiday based on the color of candy you are stringing.

Lucky Charms Graphing

Lucky Charms Graphing

St. Patrick's Day is a fun time to work on math skills with Lucky Charms. I hand out a small baggy with Lucky Charms. The kids separate the shapes into groups and then graph how many they have. When they are finished we complete a graph as a class to see which shape has the most and least. Lucky Charms Download.

Puzzle Valentine

Create a Valentine and then cut it up into puzzle pieces so that the "Valentine" has to put the card together. The picture here is for a very young child. Older kids can create much more complex puzzle pieces.

Tissue Paper Pots

When you are trying to come up with an idea for Mother's Day gifts here is one that was always fun to make. Buy the small terracotta pots from Walmart. Have the students paint the entire pot white so that the reddish-brown does not show through the tissue paper. Then cut tissue paper into small squares. Provide the students a variety of tissue paper to choose from. Then using Mod Podge (I used the gloss kind) cover the pot with tissue paper. You can use lots of different colors of tissue paper or only one. The Mod Podge will go on white but it will dry clear so you really can't have too much. You want everything to stick well. Once the pots are dry you can either fill with flower pens or a real flower. Just a note that if you put real plants in the pot you will want to seal your Mod Podge with a spray. Several variations we have done in my class: 1. Buy the small saucers that go with the pots and cover those with tissue paper also. 2. Let the student select a color to paint their pot versus just white. If you do this have them select their tissue paper before painting to make sure that everything will go together. 3. Hot glue ribbon around the rim of the pots. 

Christmas Decorations

This past Thursday my social skills group met and we decorated Christmas Ornaments. The ornaments were white ceramics. I then provided lots of paint for them to paint the different shapes and animals. When we were finished our ornaments did not look like the pictures here but that is the beauty. The ornaments represented the kids that painted them. One kid only wanted to use gold paint. So his ornaments were solid gold, so was the table, his hands, and the chair...

When you are finished painting let the kids mix all the paints together to see what designs they can make and the new colors when mixed all together.

Alice in Wonderland

We had a fun Halloween party with the kids that I tutor. My family dressed up as the characters from Alice in Wonderland. The costumes were amazing and my friend Janeen made the red and white queen dresses.

Yes I have a dark secret I love to dress my dogs up in costumes. It completely mortifies them and I find great joy in that... he, he, he

Halloween Poem

Either give each student 5 spider rings, or have them color and cut out 5 spiders.

Five little spiders coming in the door,
One stopped to spin a web, and then there were four.
Four little spiders climbing up a tree,
One stayed to play on a leaf, and then there were three.
Three little spiders help to stir the brew,
One fell in then there were two.
Two little spiders playing in the sun,
One went to look for shade, and then there was one.
One little spider is really quite a sight
(cover the spider tissue paper so he looks like a ghost)
dressed in his costume on Halloween night. Boo!

The students have fun saying the poem with you. I like to write the poem on large paper so the kids can follow along.

Wee Sing for Halloween

I like to bring music into teaching when possible. Students learn through different methods and music is an excellent way to help them learn. I bought the CD called "Wee Sing for Halloween" This cd has some fun songs and chants about Halloween time. My classroom plays this music throughout October and the kids look forward to the new songs.

Graham Cracker Houses

Last year we made graham cracker houses for the first time. I will admit I was very skeptical about this activity but it became one of my favorite memories from teaching. I sent home a letter with various candy items and told the parents that if they could send one item with their child that would be helpful for making our graham cracker houses. The teachers hot glued the graham crackers together. You could also have the kids use Royal Icing to make their own but this takes time and patience. Then with Royal Icing (very stiff frosting there are recipes on the Internet) in Ziploc bags with a tiny slit in the corner so that it becomes like a frosting bag the students begin to decorate. We let them plaster as much candy to their houses as they wanted.

Ceramics

I have discovered a love for ceramics. Each year our class made ornaments for their family Christmas tree. The last 2 years we made ceramic ornaments. There are 2 ways to do this activity. One you can buy clay roll it out and use cookie cutters of things like Christmas trees, stars, gingerbread men, candy canes, and angels. Let the clay dry and fire the clay in a kiln. Most schools have kilns or you can take your project over to Patty's Ceramics in Provo and she will fire your project for you. The other way to complete this is to go to Patty's Ceramics or another ceramic store and you will find little ornaments for around $1.00. Then the kids can paint or glaze the decorations. If you paint with acrylics you will not have to fire the ornament in a kiln. The glaze does require firing. I enjoy watching the kids paint because they use their own creativity. Sometimes the Christmas trees end up pink or the gingerbread men end up blue and that is great because it represents the child that painted the ornament.