Win a Nook Color HD at Top Teachers Blog

 

Hi, I just wanted to drop a little to note to let you all know that Tips for Top Teachers: A Smorgasboard of Teaching Resources blog, a blog that I also write for, is having a giveaway for a Nook Color HD. (Go ahead and follow me know before you leave.)


Head on over there and register to win a Nook! Just click {HERE}!


Robin

Life Cycle of a Christmas Tree: 3-D Life Cycle of a Conifer

It's the most wonderful time of the year and the time of the year and Christmas tree farmers in the NC mountains are sharing their wonderful Christmas trees with all around. I love teaching about the life cycle of the Christmas tree, and I created this fun little Christmas tree craft to make the topic more meaningful.

This conifer life cycle craft is perfect to reinforce the topics taught during this science lesson and it works well as a science center too. Plus, it's a craft too! Students add the conifer life cycle sequencing cards to the trees to create a 3-D display. This will make a perfect Christmas craft for all students in your class or homeschool.

 

The 3-D Conifer Life Cycle Craftivity includes original art graphics from me, directions, patterns, conifer life cycle sequencing cards, a black and white conifer life cycle poster, and a color conifer life cycle poster. The four conifer life cycle sequencing cards are for pinecone, seedling, young tree, adult tree. You can ask students to add labels if you wish.

You can find it at my teaching resources store {HERE}.

ESL and ELL note : The life cycle of conifer poster in this packet is also in Spanish and reads reads Ciclo de vida de las conifera (there is an accent mark above the i in the product) This is not included in the page count.

Tip: Have clothespins on hand for the little ones to hold the pieces together and you can even tape the backs together.

3-D Life Cycle Craftivities by Robin Sellers

I've been busy adding to my 3-D life cycle craftivites collection. I have a frog life cycle, Christmas tree life cycle, apple life cycle, pumpkin life cycle, and a water cycle set. More are on the way soon. Head over to my TpT store to check them out.

Thanks,
Robin @ Sweet Tea Classroom

TpT Best Sellers and Cyber Monday (and Tuesday) Sale

If you'd like to stock on on some great teacher-created teaching resources, head on over to Teachers Pay Teachers for a super deal for Cyber Monday and Tuesday too. Just use the promo code CMT12 to get an additional 10% off your purchases. (2013 Update--- the code is CYBER ) The items in my store are on sale for 20% off, so with this code, you get 28% off.

I appreciate your support and wanted to share a few of my best sellers so far for this sale.

Check out my 3-D Water Cycle Craftivity. 

It's a really BIG seller already this morning.

My other best sellers is my Christmas Story Starters. These cute writing promtps are common core aligned and also make a really cute Christmas writing center. Plus, the kiddos have fun writing.

Plus, here's a list of some other best sellers for today from other TpT Sellers.

 (Sellers, you can add one of your best sellers for Cyber Monday to the list. Just link up to a blog post on your blog and link back to this post. Please don't link directly to your TpT store.)

You're welcome to co-host the linky too. Here's the code to add to your blog.
<!-- start InLinkz script -->
<script type="text/javascript">
                document.write('<script type="text/javascript" src=http://www.inlinkz.com/cs.php?id=215773&' + new Date().getTime() + '"><\/script>');</script>
<!-- end InLinkz script -->

Frog Life Cycle Craft: 3-D Life Cycle of a Frog Craftivity

I'm super excited to share my latest 3-D life cycle creation with you. This frog life cycle craft is super special because it contains original art work. I really wanted to use realistic looking frogs for the frog life cycle sequencing cards, and I'm happy to say that I'm happy with the results. Enjoy this frog life cycle for kids fun.

Use this 3-D Life Cycle of a Frog craft when you teach about the life cycle of frogs by adding sequencing cards to the water lilies with this So Sweet Craft.

 

This craft is perfect to reinforce the topics taught during this science lesson and it works well as a science center too. Plus, it's a craft too!

This 3-D Frog Life Cycle Craftivity includes original art graphics from me, directions, patterns, frog life cycle sequencing cards, a black and white frog life cycle poster, and a color frog life cycle poster. The four frog life cycle sequencing cards are for eggs (frog spawn), tadpole, froglet, and adult frog. You can ask students to add labels if you wish.

ESL  and ELL note : The life cycle of frogs poster in this packet is also in Spanish and reads reads Ciclo de vida de las ranas (this is not included in the page count)



Click {HERE}to find this at my teaching resource store.

Classroom Pumpkin Projects

October and Halloween give us the best opportunity to add a little bit of art to our classes. It's time for the Great Pumpkin Classroom project. Here's a peek at some of our classroom pumpkin projects.

 

I love this classic idea. We happened to be reading the Reading Street 3 selection Top & Bottoms and I'm all about integrating subjects. We used the characters in the book for our pumpkin project. Here's a pumpkin decorated to look like Hare.

 

Here's our science lesson and art lesson combined. This is my Life Cycle of a Pumpkin Craftivity. I'm so proud of how this pumpkin project turned out. I'm going to use this one as a table centerpiece through Thanksgiving.

Here's another pumpkin decorated to look like a black cat. It's fun to create other Halloween themes with pumpkins too. Ask kiddos to turn their pumpkins into bats, cats, spiders, or monsters. I'll let you in on  secret, we're keeping this pumpkin.  (It's plastic.)

I'm linked up at the It's The Great Pumpkin Classroom Project Linky hosted by, yep, me--Sweet Tea Classroom!! Click {Here} to check out my other post and add your pumpkin projects from school or home to the pumpkin linky party.

  

Enjoy!

Robin Sellers @ Sweet Tea Classroom

Eek! My Favorite Halloween Classroom Freebies

We're celebrating the Halloween season with class this week! We're having a ball with my Halloween Story Starters,  Life Cycle of a Pumpkin Craft, and my super hilarious and fun Spider Hat.

I also decided to sweeten the pot and add a few more Halloween resources, and I'm excited to share my super sweet and FREE finds with you!  

 

Here's what else we're working on. Please visit the blogs from these ladies and you'll find a link to the products or their TpT stores where you can download the free Halloween classroom freebies. Just look for a link like this one. (You can use this one to visit my store too.)





I think this group of resources works well for grades 2-3. They cover other grades too, so check them all out.

• Early Finishers Halloween at Teaching in the Early Years  (I'm so hooked on this. I'm going to need to get the ENTIRE set.)

• Spin a Spooktacular Poem at Bunting Books, and Bainbridge

•  Pumpkin Report by Simply Kinder

• Who Wore What A Fun Halloween Logic Activity by Common Core Math Ideas

• Halloween Magic Squares by Hojo's Teaching Adventure

•  Chomping Nouns by Dragon's Den Curriculum

Enjoy!
Robin Sellers @ Sweet Tea Classroom

A Tops & Bottoms Reading Street Resource

I'm always on the lookout for additional resources to supplement our Reading Street selections. I ran across a site called Study Stack that looks a bit promising. I was able to access the materials without signing in or registering. There was an option to embed the resources onto my site, so I thought I'd give it a try.

If it works, here's an interactive supplemental resource to go along with Top & Bottoms. It looks like the spacing is off, but I cannot adjust it.

Vocabulary Match

by StudyStack.com

Flashcards

by StudyStack.com

Quiz by StudyStack 

 It may be worth the time to give the site a look and use the search field to see what else is available.

Teaching Cursive Writing Strokes with Watercolor Paint

Learning should be fun, but when you're teaching cursive writing, it can be a challenge to make learning cursive writing fun. Today, we threw in a bit of art (shame on all you administrators for taking it out of classrooms) and we learned how to write cursive letter strokes using watercolors.

A student will make more fluid natural strokes using a paintbrush, so this is a super way to connect watercolor painting and cursive writing.

We started with the basic cursive writing strokes: undercurve, downcurve, overcurve, slant, and connector.

 

Using a paintbrush, it's easy to work with moving the brush and holding the brush in the right way to make the strokes.

The kiddos used different color paints and practiced their strokes across the sheet of paper. Oh, did I mention that they had fun learning cursive too? Art belongs in the classroom. It's a super teaching tool.

Thanks for stopping by,
Robin Sellers @ Sweet Tea Classroom

Pumpkin Art Kids: Kids Pumpkin Painting

It's that time of the year. While the pumpkins fill the fields and even street corners, go ahead and create some pumpkin art for kids to adorn your classroom and homeschool walls. Here's a super sweet and fun pumpkin painting technique for kids for you from Sweet Tea Classroom.

First, draw two lines across the paper. Think of making an X. The lines should intersect, but they can do this anywhere on the paper. The lines can be straight, curvy, or even zigzag lines.

Then draw a shape for the pumpkin on one of the corners. You can have either a landscape or vertical picture, but the pumpkin needs to be in  a corner. Then draw a few curved lines on the pumpkin and add a stem.

 Next, break out the paints. Use only three colors: red, yellow, and black or green. All colors in the pumpkin painting need to be mixed from these colors.

Start painting. Each section of the pumpkin should be a different shade orange and each section formed by the lines should be a different color--white is fine too.

 You then should paint the black or green outlines on the painting. Follow the lines and pumpkin outline from earlier.

Then choose two of the colored sections and create a dark pattern on top of it.  Woo-hoo, you've done it. Enjoy your super sweet and easy pumpkin painting.

If you liked this art project, check out my art project with a science connection {HERE}

My Friday Weekly Kid's Co-op Linky Party

Come join the fun and check out the great ideas and activities for kids in this week's Weekly Kid's Co-op. You can also join in the fun and add your link to your great ideas for kids too. I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with this week, and I hope to be able to feature your ideas real soon.

My Friday Weekly Kid's Co-op Linky Party

Come join the fun and check out the great ideas and activities for kids in this week's Weekly Kid's Co-op. You can also join in the fun and add your link to your great ideas for kids too. I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with this week, and I hope to be able to feature your ideas real soon.

Fine Motor Skills Activities, Color Recognition, and Dinosaur Themed

If you know me, I'm big on fine motor skills for the little ones. I created this dinosaur themed activity for all who love to teach about dinosaurs. My main goal was to create an activity that promotes fine motor skills in a fun way.

Plus, plus special education students and students with autism often need help developing fine motor skills and I think that this activity is a good fit too.

Learning Center Folder

This is a super way to teach color recognition as well as get students to work with letter and word recognition. Why just teach one topic when you can teach more at the same time, right? Integrate fun!

Here's how it works. Let your little ones paint a set of clothespins. Paint one clothespin for each letter in the words for the colors that you'll use. So you will paint three red for R-E-D. We used tempera paint cakes. This is one of my classroom must-have items. Forget the jars or even the... gasp..powder. Use tempera cakes.

Then add the letters to the clothespins with Sharpie markers or any type of permanent marker. You'll need to do this step.

Now, what the kiddos will do is match or clip the clothespins to the stegosaurus that is the same color. Older kiddos will match the letters too. Notice how I left the letters off of the orange and yellow clips. This is for students who will have difficulty matching the letters too. 

One student can work on this dinosaur folder center or you can make a dinosaur train for a small group activity. Place the dinosaurs in a circle and put the clothespins in the center.

This is a perfect way for little fingers to work with fine motor skills as they clip each clothespin to the dinosaur's back. Plus, they'll have fun learning. You can find out more about this activity at my teaching resource store {here}

Fire Truck Craft: {A Color, Cut, and Paste Shapes Fire Truck Shapes}

I'll let you in on a secret. I love to integrate subjects when I teach in a fun way. It's time for a fun fire safety activity for kids. 

Here's how you add a craft, a social studies lesson about community helpers like fire fighters, a math lesson on shapes, and work with fine motor skills like coloring, cutting and pasting. 

 Create a Shapes Fire Truck Craft and work with coloring, cutting, pasting, and shape recognition with your little ones.

This So Sweet Craft is perfect for fall or Autumn or during Fire Safety Week. It also works well when you are teaching about the Letter F. This fire truck craft includes photos, directions, and patterns.

You can find out more {Here}.

My Friday Weekly Kid's Co-op

Come join the fun and check out the great ideas and activities for kids in this week's Weekly Kid's Co-op. You can also join in the fun and add your link to your great ideas for kids too. I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with this week, and I hope to be able to feature your ideas real soon.

Printable Spider Hat Pattern: A So Sweet Craft Spider Hat

Are your little ones studying spiders? If so, I have a perfect spider craft. Check out my spider hat craft. This is the first product in my So Sweet Craft series, so be on the lookout for more sweet printable crafts from Sweet Tea Classroom. 

You can create a spider hat craft this fall or throughout the year when you are studying spiders in science. This So Sweet Craft is perfect for fall or Autumn, Halloween, and even as a craft to go with any spider book you're reading in class. 

Click {here}to learn more.