5 Little Pumpkins - Hands on

Halloween is fast approaching and I'm squeezing in some last minute activities.  I wanted to do the poem "5 Little Pumpkins" with the kids and I wanted it to be more hands-on than felt or paper pieces.  My lower kiddos really need the hands-on, "real" practice.

My original intention was to get some mini pumpkins for the kids to use but I couldn't find them in the grocery store this year.  I went to the farmer's market but I couldn't justify the price they wanted for the little ones.

Instead I ended up using a bag of clementines.  It was only about $4 for a bag and I got a couple of sets of Jack-o-lanterns out of it.  This way I could have a couple of children doing the poem at the same time.

Use a sharpie to add a face to the clementines.  Tip: Do this when they are warm.  The marker doesn't write well on cold clementines.  

I used a piece of wood for the "gate".  A large block from the block center would work too.

As I read the poem I had the children pick up each of the "Jack-o-Lanterns" in order.

5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate

The first one said "oh my it's getting late"

The second one said "there are witches in the air"

The third one said "but we don't care"

The forth one said "we are ready for some fun"

The fifth one said "let's run and run and run"

So ooooow went the wind and out went the lights.

And the 5 little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

At this point I push all the pumpkins off of the gate and have them roll on the ground.

After a few adult readings I found the children were able to do the poem on their own.  I placed all the materials in an accessible location for them to go to and act out. 

Free Kindergarten Halloween Alphabet Match

Halloween is just around the corner and we are working on the alphabet.

We have been putting the alphabet in order.

Uppercase

And lowercase

We have been matching the uppercase to the lowercase.

We have also been playing a matching game.  Depending on the level the children are working at, we have done this with matching lowercase to lowercase, uppercase to uppercase and uppercase to lowercase.

You can pick this up for free by clicking on the picture below.

Free pumpkin calendar numbers

October is just around the corner.  Are you ready?

If not, here's a little freebie to get you started.

Use the numbers on your calendar.

Use them in your math work stations by having the children put the numbers in order.

Make two copies and have the children play a memory game.

Halloween Adding and Subtracting No Prep

Halloween is coming up fast and my grade one's are working on their adding and subtracting skills.  Because most of them have poor printing skills, I made these simple pages so they would only have to cut and paste (which is a much easier skill for them).

Trick or Treat Blog Hop

Fall is upon us and that means it's time for some  Teaching Trick and Treating!

That's right - I have teamed up with my Freebielicious friends again to share some 

teaching tricks and special free treats for you!  

My tip is pretty simple.  And inexpensive too!

I grabbed these cute Halloween boxes and ice cube trays to jazz up one of my math centers.

We have been working on ten frames and because many of my students have poor fine motor skills, I find that manipulatives such as erasers tend to end up on the floor.  

Having the children put the erasers in the tray keeps them from the floor and is a great visual for them.  They are also great for children with visual difficulties as they can feel where the erasers are.

Now, for my treat.

I made this little game to practice our sight words.  Choose the words you are working on and place them face up on the table.  Hide the word "BOO" under one of the words.  Don't let the kids peek!  Then, have the children read a word, if they get it right, they get to look under the ghost to see if the "BOO" is there.  If it is, they win!  Click on the picture below to grab it for free.

Hop along to the next Freebielicious friend to see what their Trick and Treat is!

Pumpkin No Prep

My students are getting so excited about Halloween coming up.  I finished my Pumpkin No Prep just in time to practice some math skills before the big day.  They will be half-price until Sunday.

Monster Colours Interactive Books

I've had several requests for more Halloween Interactive books, so I did one with a monster theme.

I've also added to this pack, 4 sets of take home books, one for each of the big books.  These will be perfect for the children to take home.

This set also contains both U.S. and Canadian spellings.  

You can pick up this pack for 1/2 price until the weekend.  Click on the first picture in this post.