Forgive

Never take anything personal that children or anyone says to you.  Whether it is a student or your own child, let it go.  My mother used to say to me when other children had said mean things,  “Just let it roll off your back like water on a duck’s back.”

When you let what others say upset you, they think they have a way to control you.

LET IT GO!  Forgive!  Treat everyone unconditionally.   If you can master this, it will have amazing results.

Good Luck!

NO Bake — Awesome Bars

      Awesome Bars

1. Mash: 16 graham crackers (in plastic bag)

2. Mix:

• graham cracker crumbs
• 1 can sweetened canned milk
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 2 cups crispy rice

3. Butter paper plates or a 9×13 pan.

4. Pat mixture into pan or individual plates.

5. Sit 10 or more minutes.

6. Enjoy!

This is easy and fun to make with children because there is no baking or cooking.   Fun to do when teaching the AW as in SAW sound.

Sunshine Salad

Layer the salad with:

•     lettuce leaf (optional)
•     slice of canned pineapple
•     scoop of yellow yogurt

Eat and enjoy!

(Fun for children to make.)

More fun for children on our website.  http://www.phonicsbyspelling.com/

 

Math Lesson Ideas for the Number 1 (One)

Math Lesson for the Number 1 (One)

Objective:  Help children recognize the number 1, the word “one”, numbers are used for counting, count 1 object, and learn to write “l” and “one”.

Preparations:

• Find an art print or picture from a calendar or magazine with good examples of “ONE”.
• Optional:  Make some die cuts of apples or something else in two different colors and 3 different sizes.
• Have some stickers.
• Write the number “l” and the word, “one” on a word card.
• Have examples of the different fonts of the printed form of 1.
• Decide on a simple book, poem or nursery rhyme that has good examples of “one”.  Possibly use, “There Was a Crooked Man”.  (Included at the end.)
• Have paper and pencil for each child.

Lesson:

• Display the word card with “l one”.  Discuss the difference between the number “1” and the word “one”.  What are words made of?  (letters)  What are numbers used for?  (counting)
• Read  a book, poem or the Nursery Rhyme.  Then discuss the examples of one thing in the reading. Discuss different body parts to see how many they have.  Do you have 1 eye?  1 nose? Etc.
• Show the picture and have each child pick out one thing in the picture.
• Show the children examples of different fonts for the number one.  Encourage them to write their l’s with a straight line like an “l”.  Have them make them in the air with their finger.
• Give each child a paper and pencil.  Have or help them write their name.  Show the word card again for “l one”.  Have them write a number “l” and a word “one”.  (If a child has a hard time writing their letters, write the word “one” with a yellow pencil and have them trace it.)  Put out stickers and have them select 1 for their paper.

Extension ideas: Possibly include some comparison or patterning activities with the die cut apples.  (small, medium, large, same, different, ABAB pattern, etc.)   Can also do a food activity with several 1 items.

Nursery Rhyme

There was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile;
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile:
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

For more educational tips and information visit www.phonicsbyspelling.com

Long Vowel Simple Sight Words

Long Vowel Simple Sight Word Lesson: ( Free worksheets.)

Do a lesson for each long vowel sound.

Preparation:

• Make cards for the words  me, we, he, she.
• Copy the long vowel worksheets. Worksheet for long vowel E words Worksheet for long vowel I words Worksheet for ay long vowel words (You may want to do another lesson on AY words. may, say, day and a lesson for I words. I, hi, sky, fly, why)
• Locate  the book: He Bear, She Bear by Stan and Jan Berenstain

Lesson:  Rule:  Vowels not followed by a consonant and end a syllable, especially the first syllable, are usually long.  

• Discuss the rule.
• Read together all the word cards.
• Read the story He Bear, She Bear by Stan and Jan Berenstain.

Activity:

• Do the worksheet together. Write the letter to finish the word and review the sound, combine the consonant with the long vowel and sound out the word, then draw a picture  of each word.
• Repeat with each word.
•  Have the children read the words to as many people as possible for their homework.

Options:

• On the back of the worksheet have them write some other long vowel E words and draw pictures for each.  ( tree, bee, free, see, )
• Put this sentence on the back of the worksheet.  ( See the bee in the tree.)   Have the children draw the picture for this sentence.
• Make a simple book where they draw the pictures with these words,  He sees  _____.  She sees_____.  We see _____. I see  ______.

Weather: Rain and Snow

    

Weather: Rain and Snow      

Objective: Help children learn about the water cycle and how water is a part of our weather.

Preparation:

• Find drawings or pictures of rain, snow and other storms from books, magazines or old calendars.
• Collect a pan, water, a cookie sheet, and a stove or something to heat the water.
• Make word cards; evaporation, water cycle, water vapor, and condensation. 
• Have crayons, pencils or markers.
• Scraps of construction paper in white, dark blue, green and yellow.
• Print the water cycle on light blue or white paper. water-cycle-picture   If you do this activity with older children, they can write all the words.  
• Create a sample water cycle.

Suggested books:

• Cloudy with a Chance Of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
• Franklin and the Thunderstorm by Paulette Bourgeois
• What Makes it Rain? by Keith Brandt

Lesson:

Read a book then discuss water weather:

Discussion questions:

1. How do you feel when it rains?
2. Are you afraid of storms, if so why do they scare you?
3. What activities do you like to do in the rain?
4. Where do you think rain comes from?
5. What other weather has water in it?  (snow, hail)

Demonstrate “condensation” and “evaporation” by heating a small pot of water on the stove. Heat the water until you see steam.  Show the “water vapor” and “evaporation” cards.  Say, “The steam is water vapor or evaporation.”  Hold the cookie sheet above the water.  Show how the water condensate on the cookie sheet. Show the word card “condensation. Say, “If we hold this cookie sheet for a long time above the water it will start dropping rain. 

Activity: Help children learn about the water cycle by making a water cycle collage picture.  (Tearing paper is a skill that most children have to be taught.)

• Give each child a sheet of light blue or white water cycle picture paper.
• Tear dark blue paper big enough to fill half of the bottom part of the paper to look like the ocean. Have the children glue it on their paper by the word “ocean”.
• Tear a sun shape of yellow. Have the children glue it by the word “sun” above the ocean. Talk about how the sun heats the water and causes it to evaporate. Help them write “sun” on the sun.
• Tear a piece of white paper and have the children shade it with gray with the side of a crayon to look like a rain cloud. Have the children glue it on their paper opposite the sun by the words, “rain cloud”. (Explain how the droplets of water vapor come together and cool to make a cloud and when they get too heavy they condensate on bits of dust and begin to fall to the earth as snow or rain depending on how cold they are.)
• Have the children draw the rain coming from the cloud by the word, “rain” below the cloud. Discuss the ways the rain helps all living things and all the benefits of rain and storms.
• Tear a piece of green or brown paper to look like a slope of land coming down to meet the ocean. Have the children glue it next to the ocean piece of paper by the word “land”.
• Tear a strip of blue paper to look like a river. Have the children glue it on the slope of land by the word, “river”. Talk about the collection of rain into rivers, lakes and oceans
• Read all the words on the picture together.

Check out our website: http://www.phonicsbyspelling.com/

Weather – Wind

 Wind

Objective: To learn about and experience wind and air.

Preparation:

• Find drawings, books, magazines or old calendars of wind.
• Have crayons, pencils or markers for the children.
• Square paper or print out pin wheel template. pinwheel template
• New pencil, straw or make your own stick by rolling up paper.
• Straight pins.
• Masking tape.

Books:

• Wind by Ron Bacon
• Wind by Marion Dane Bauer

Lesson:

• Explain to the children that wind is moving air. 
• Wind is invisible.
• Discuss some of the signs that tell us it is windy. (Use pictures or books)  Give them clues such as clouds moving in the sky, wind chimes ringing, feeling the winds on our skin, and leaves or paper blowing across the yard.  
• People use wind for many different things such as; flying a kite, sailing a sailboat, or blowing windmills to create electricity.

Activity:   Pinwheel  pinwheel template

• Give the children the square or template.
• Have the children color and decorate both sides of the pinwheel.
• Have them cut on the diagonal lines. Making sure to have them stop cutting where the line stops.
• Take every other point and bring it to the center of the pinwheel.
• Push a pin through four of the points and the center of the pinwheel.  Then push the pin through the eraser of the pencil or about ½ inch from the top of a straw or rolled paper.
• Bend the end of the pin down against the pencil, straw or rolled paper. Leave a little space between the pin and stick so the pinwheel spins freely. 
• Wrap several times with masking tape to keep in place and to cover the sharp end of the pin.

Optional activities:

Kite:     http://www.ehow.com/how_4742941_make-paperbag-kite.html

Check out our website: http://www.phonicsbyspelling.com/

Weather – Air

         Air/Weather

Objective:  Help children understand how air affects the world around us.

Preparation:

• Find drawings or pictures books, magazines or old calendars of wind, plants, and animals.
• Have a large balloon.
• Have crayons, pencils or markers for drawing.
• Drawing paper.
• Decide on a book to read. Suggested books:
• Air Is All Around You by Franklyn M. Branley  
• If We Could See Air by David T. Suzuki    
  

Lesson:
Read a book then discuss:

• Did you know that air is all around you?
• Without air there wouldn’t be any life on Earth? (Have everyone breathe in and exhale out.)  
• Air is the gas that floats all around you and makes up our atmosphere. We can’t see it, since it is made up of colorless gases.  
• Some of the gases that make up the air around us are oxygen, and carbon dioxide. We like to shorten carbon dioxide and just call it “CO₂”.
• All life on Earth depends on air to stay alive. When we breathe, we inhale air. Our bodies use the oxygen. 
• Humans and animals make CO₂ and exhale it into the air. 
• Plants use CO₂ and put oxygen back into the air. 
• Plants clean the air. Let’s give the plants some CO₂.  (Breathe in and exhale out again.)  
• Although we usually can’t feel it, air is always touching us.  (Blow up a balloon.)
• One of the few times that you can actually feel air is when it is windy.  (Make wind by letting the air go in the balloon.) 
• Air is used for many different things, such as flying planes, sailing on a sail boat, or blows windmills to create electricity.

Activity: Make an air cycle picture.   

• Give each child a sheet of drawing paper.
•  Have the child draw a picture of self on one side of the paper and a tree on the other side.
•  Draw an arrow from the tree to the child. and write “oxygen” by this arrow.
•  Draw an arrow going from the child to the tree and write “ CO₂” by that arrow.
•  Have them lightly color some air with the side of a blue or gray crayon.

Optional activities are to make airplanes or kites.

Check out our website:  http://www.phonicsbyspelling.com/

Cook No-Bake Cookies

Cook No-Bake Cookies

1.     Mix together in a large pan or glass bowl:

• 1 ½ c. brown sugar
• 1 stick butter
• ½ c. milk
• 1/3 c. cocoa

2.      Cook and stir over medium heat until it boils or cook in the microwave.

3.     Remove from the heat.

4.      Stir in:

• 2 t. vanilla
• 2/3 c. peanut butter
• 3 c. quick oats

5.    Drop on wax paper.

6.    Let cool and eat.

Simple and fun to do with children.  A great recipe to use when learning the short OO sound.

Lesson plan for Money–Penny

Money—Penny  

Objective:  Learn about pennies and how they are alike and different to other coins.

Preparations:

•     Find pictures and/or books about Abraham Lincoln and the Lincoln Memorial.
•     Trace 4 to 5 in. circles on brown paper.
•     Have pencils and scissors.
•     Have coins and some paper money.  (pennies, nickels, quarters, dimes)
•     Have word cards for these words: Money, penny, nickel, quarter, dime, and dollar.

Lesson:

• Put the word card “Money” on the table.  
• Put all the money by the word “Money”.  Read and put out the other words cards.
•  Divide the money between paper money and coins.
•  Discuss the difference and put the paper money with the “Dollar” word card. 
• Divide the coins while discussing how they are the same and different and put them with the right word card. 
• Take everything off the table except the pennies.

Use pictures or a book about pennies to discuss Abraham Lincoln and the Lincoln Memorial.  Show how there is a statue of Abraham in the Memorial and on the penny there is a small statue in the Memorial.  Show other pennies without the Memorial on the back.

Activity:

• Give each child a brown circle to cut out. 
• Then trade the scissors for a pencil to draw on the penny. 
• First draw Abraham Lincoln.  Show how to draw it in small segments.  (Draw the back and the head, then the face, then the neck and front, then the one eye, one ear and the hair.)  Accept anything they draw and encourage their efforts. 
• Next write LIBERTY along the left side, then write the year on the right side.  
• Turn it over draw the Lincoln Memorial.  (Draw a skinny rectangle at the bottom, a skinny rectangle at the top, then connect with lines or pillars, and a circle with two lines for the statue in the middle.) 
• Write USA at the top.
• ONE CENT at the bottom.