Are you ready for the big game?

If you're like me, you're taking advantage of the enthusiasm for the big game coming up!

When children are excited about something, I always try to bring it into the classroom when I can. Books are a great place to start. (Click each image for a link to Amazon.)

• The Everything Kids' Football Book: All-time Greats, Legendary Teams, and Today's Favorite Players-- With Tips on Playing Like a Pro
• My First Book of Football: A Rookie Book
• Kick, Pass, and Run
• Goodnight Football
• What is the Super Bowl?
• Football: Then to WOW!
• The Football Fanbook (A Sports Illustrated Kids Book): Everything You Need to Become a Gridiron Know-it-all
• Catch That Pass
• My Football Book
• T is for Touchdown: A Football Alphabet

There's a ton of kid-related Super Bowl videos on YouTube. Just google "Super Bowl for Kids!"

Here's one I found. The commercials are often the best part of the Super Bowl. I'm thinking I might have the children vote on their favorite. then make a graph of the voting. 

 

12 Funniest Super Bowl Commercials of all time

I'm sure you can find more YouTube videos that you can relate to classwork!

Here's a Super Bowl freebie with mapping and writing! Just explore the image.

Here's a football-themed gameboard, with 4 different games that could be played on it.

Here's a dollar version of the above game, which practices Counting to 1,000. Just explore the image for the dollar deal!

This game can be played a few different ways, and always has the children giggling! All the verbs are football-related, too! Football Past and Present Verbs.

I also have a couple of "twin" football BINGO games. This math game practices adding and subtracting tens.

Here's the literacy "twin," Touchdown R-Controlled Vowels. 

Looking for a little more math practice? Check this one out: 

Football Math Story Problems

Now here's the fun: all these football-themed resources are now bundled at a great discount!

Football Learning Fun Bundle!

With the excitement of the Super Bowl, having football-related games will keep them engaged, and they might not realize that they are practicing important skills!

October Resources

It feels like we just started school, and already we're looking at October in the not-so-far distance. 

October brings fall, Fire Safety Week, football, and, of course, Halloween!

Brain research tells us that if children can make a connection with their learning, then learning will happen. I find most children can easily make a connection with special days and sports, which makes them more enthusiastic about learning! In face, I'm banking on their enthusiasm, and I have plenty of resources to celebrate learning and building skills in a fun way!

My latest baby is this one: October Team Building, Morning Greeting, Shares, and Daily Writing Prompts.

Teachers can project these questions as the children arrive in the morning to get them thinking about the day. They can also be used as daily writing prompts.

The above resource is related to this fun October trivia digital resource, available on the Boom Learning platform. These are great for your fast finishers and those who need a little something extra!

Here's a little something to maintain positive communication with families: October Parent Communication Brochure

 

In an attempt to "fit in" more Science and Social Studies concepts, I've looked over my grade-level College and Career Ready Science and Social Studies Standards and found ways to squeeze these concepts into my day. Most of the work is done; all you have to do is print and go! I even have an S.T.E.M. activity with an October theme! Check out this resource here: Science and Social Studies Activities for October. 

  

This Bats resource is a sample of the above collection. Check out this fun resource here: Bats Informational Mini-Book

Here's a dollar deal to get the kiddos thinking about Fire Safety: Fire Safety What-If task cards.

It's fall in New England! There are so many beautiful changes here that make it one of my favorite seasons:  warm days, crisp nights, football, and the beautiful fall colors on the trees.  To make your life (and mine) easier, I've combined important concepts with fall ideas in these Fall No Prep Activities!

One of the best parts about Fall in New England?  Football! I've got plenty of Football Resources! Just click the images for each link!

Here's a sample from the set above: 

Students LOVE these football-themed BINGO games!

Here's a collection of several football-themed games!

Here's a fun football-themed math problem-solving activity on Boom Learning!

This October bundle is marked down for you, with plenty of fun learning activities!

Enjoy these October Resources!

Thanksgiving Resources

Wow, Thanksgiving is practically upon us!  

Can you believe it? After that, Christmas, then another year! Life, please slow down?

 

Well, I want to spend the next seven school days celebrating Thanksgiving. It's a great opportunity to "throw in" a little history and enjoy the things we are grateful for!

How do I squeeze all this in? Well, I always start with loads of books. Here's a collection of books I've loved. Some are fun, and some are informational. I like to have a lot of books for each interest and each reading level so they all can enjoy them at independent reading time! (These links are affiliate links to Amazon.)

10 Fat Turkeys

Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks

The Night Before Thanksgiving

The Story of the Pilgrims

A Turkey for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving at the Tappletons

Thanksgiving is...

If You Were at the First Thanksgiving

Sarah Morton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl

The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving Story

Books are always a great start. Movies are another fun way to enjoy the holidays!

See the above image for a link to BrainPOP Jr's free Thanksgiving video! Don't you love BrainPOP?

Here are some movies I've found on YouTube with a Thanksgiving theme. Feel free to preview them and choose what is suitable for your group!

I try to incorporate the holidays into all my subjects. This resource has loads of math and literacy activities with the Thanksgiving theme. I'll be using these all week!

Thanksgiving No Prep Activities

A few Thanksgiving-themed items are in my November Science and Social Studies Printables!

There's an information mini-book about turkeys with fun facts, vocabulary practice, comprehension questions, and a reflection page. (My kiddos LOVED this, especially the fun facts!)

 

This resource is also available as a stand-alone resource here:

or as part of this bundle:

Plus, there's a sorting activity, where the children have to decide whether facts might have happened in 1621 or if they couldn't have happened then. Be prepared for giggles!

 

Here's a math game with a Turkey theme to practice those +9 facts. My kids LOVE this one!

Turkey Nines!

I can't let Thanksgiving pass without mentioning football! As a kid, we always had a football game in the morning and a turkey in the afternoon. (My dad was a football coach!)

Here are links to a couple of football games my kids love!

Football Game Board and Cards

Counting to 1,000, plus short and long vowels:

Here's a favorite with my boys:  Football Past and Present Verbs! Yes, all these verbs have something to do with football!

 Want still more football learning? Try this bundle!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Learning About Learning from Teaching Golf

I helped out my gentleman friend with his golf camp this week. 

Yes, that really says golf camp, but don't faint, I didn't actually teach golf. I know better than that!  I just helped with crowd control.

I really don't know anything about golf. I've always been terrible at sports, and really don't have any desire to go there. But I enjoyed watching my guy in action, and it got me thinking about teaching and learning.  

In a way, I'm envious. What he teaches is far less complicated than what I teach. He has far fewer students and only has to teach a few different skills, that just keep getting practiced for the rest of the week. I'm also a bit envious because the kids that are learning golf have far greater attention spans than the kids I work with! These kids are ages 9 - 16.  My second graders are 7.

I found myself comparing my job to his job. I guess teachers always make those connections, it's who we are!

These are some things I noticed happening at golf camp, that also happen in the classroom:

• Feedback is essential. In golf, the ball gives the feedback. If it goes where you wanted it to, you're doing it right. If it doesn't go where you want it, you need to adjust.

• There is a lot of repetition on important points. These guys worked all week on the basic strokes, and they often were quizzed... "How is chipping different from pitching?"

• The vocabulary is used over and over until it flows naturally. Yes, I really do know what chipping and pitching are!

• Even golfers need a break to let their learning settle before they hear something new.  

• It's important to practice correctly. Practicing incorrectly could create a bad habit. Those bad habits are harder to correct than learning to do it right to begin with!  (Accuracy has more value than speed in reading!)

• Talking about it helps! Those conversations about what you're learning helps you understand what you're learning.

• Movement helps the learning. In golf, that's easy! Once they get the feel for each stroke, they can focus on the details, it's all about moving. It's not so easy to include movement in the teaching of reading, but it helps!

• Making connections helps the brain remember information. When the golfers were taught each stroke, they heard connections to other sports and other movements, particularly when it came to the "follow through" of each stroke. Readers make connections to the books they read. The brain needs these connections!

• The use of humor is necessary and appreciated. Brain research tells us that emotions help learning stick. My guy tends to slip jokes into his demonstrations, even though a few of them were over the heads of the kids. I admit, I tend to do that in the classroom, too. If the kids aren't entertained, at least I am!

• Even golfers have assessments! On the last day, the boys were asked to "teach" something they had learned to the others. It was very impressive! They were a little quiet about it, but they used the right vocabulary, and described the details of the different strokes! My gentleman friend got the feedback he needed on his teaching skills.

Interestingly enough, most of the above items go right along with what brain research has taught us about how the brain learns! Isn't it amazing how much teaching golf has to do with teaching reading? or math? or social studies? or science?

The other day I was inspired to make this Par 3 Math game:

 You can find a smaller, free version of this same game here: Par 3 Math Sampler

 

It was so well received, that I was inspired to make another golf-themed game! I made this phonics game.

 It also works like a Bingo game, and works with dice. There are enough game boards so it can be played with a whole reading group.