Christmas Patchwork! A Creative Twist On Color by Code Subtraction

I love color by code math activities, and we all know that our students do, too. I mean, coloring, right? What more could a kid ask for?

Personally, what I don't love is the less than satisfying cookie cutter results. Plus, let's be honest, we know that some of our students are either peeking around to duplicate what everyone else's picture looks like or just coloring the picture to make it make sense. Pumpkins are orange and candy canes are red and white, right?

Well, not necessarily. Take a look at these Winter Patchwork activities. They're a creative twist on color by code math activities!

Whether it's played as a game with a partner or small group or independently, the math part is just basic fact practice: use two dice, roll and add or roll and subtract, according to the directions on the page.

So, what's the twist? Your students make their own choices of the colors they use!  A space labeled four could be colored pink, or green, or red, or any color ... and the next space labeled four could be a completely different color!  Giving choices means more confidence, more creativity, and more engagement - each work of art will be unique!

The same page can turn out completely different!

Patchwork math pages are a great opportunity to integrate art and math. Here are a few ideas for you to try.

* Take a few moments to talk about color choices before your students begin their patchwork page. Introduce art concepts like primary and secondary colors.  A color wheel (there are lots online) is a great tool for introducing complementary colors. Discuss the possibilities and encourage your students to commit to a set of colors before they start to roll and add or roll and subtract.

* Some students might like to try a page using just one color, but with a variety of shades, like lime green to pine green with everything in between!

* Of course, it's also fun to let your students create a crazy quilt of colors! Add an interesting challenge.  Can they complete the picture with no two spaces of the same color bordering each other?


Here's another twist that Patchwork math provides. It's not just a one time activity. 

*  You can laminate the finished pages to create addition and subtraction practice games for your December math centers. Put them into your centers with dice and some of those cute mini-erasers you've been collecting. Your students can play Bump, or Roll, Add/Subtract, Cover.  Student ownership means that motivation will be high!

*  Your students can cut out the shapes for a colorful display for a holiday bulletin board.  They'll also make a beautiful display on your classroom windows - they'll glow like stained glass when the sun shines through them.  The variety of colors will make your display unique and beautiful!


Would you like to try a free Christmas Patchwork page? This one will be especially fun if your students spend December looking for That Crazy Elf!  Just click to get your free download!

Happy Teaching!   

A Christmas Story

Dear Teaching Friends,

 

 

Christmas is the story of a baby. More than that, it's the story of God come down from on high to live on this Earth as one of us. It's a story of boundless love and undeserved grace. As one of my friends recently said, it's an incredible concept, impossible to believe until you actually open your heart to the possibility and  do  believe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd like to share a Christmas story with you today. One of the things that I'm most privileged to do in my retirement is to spend some time volunteering at a local pregnancy center. At the center, we see miracles daily as God makes his presence known to us and to the frightened and confused young girls who come to us. We are so honored and humbled to be used as instruments of His work here as He works in their hearts.

 

Here's a portion of an email I received today.

 

 

Some of you remember that several months back we sent an urgent prayer request out for a gal who had come to us from the abortion clinic down the street. She was distraught and overwhelmed and could see no way to have a baby in her life at this time. Her boyfriend had moved on and she was very much alone. But...God.

That day we asked you to pray as she lay on our ultrasound table. A new nurse sonographer, a new ultrasound machine, a new client, could have produced an anxious atmosphere, but instead, Peace reigned in that room that day. And just while you were praying, a little hand waved from the screen at a mom who had no hope....and just at that moment Hope showed up. The moment that little hand waved, that mommy changed her mind and with tears rolling down her face, she decided then and there to have her baby.   She will tell you herself that is was that little hand that did it!

Gavin was born two weeks ago...a stunningly perfect, beautiful boy! Gavin's daddy was right there when he was born! Reconciliation has come to this family. Theirs will be a very special Christmas indeed. Mommy just hugged us and cried and cried with thanks that we were there when she needed hope and help. Mommy said she made the right decision. She said she can't imagine her life without Gavin.

 

 

Now that's a Christmas miracle! May the Lord who raised that sweet baby's hand to call out to his mommy's heart also touch your heart this Christmas. 

 

Christmas blessings to all of you!

 

Holiday Roll-and-Write FREEBIE!

Hi, Teaching Friends!

What are your students writing this month?

They're writing...

... lists (they're writing lists of the presents they hope they'll get!)

... directions (they're writing directions for making holiday cookies!)

... letters (they're writing to you-know-who!)

... opinion pieces (they're writing about why they deserve the above-mentioned presents!)


You can't fight this. :) So, why not go with the flow? Here's a simple-to-prep freebie that will keep your little writers busy writing funny holiday stories. Nice and silly. Just the kind kids love best.

Download it free from my Teachers Notebook shop or here from my TpT store. Enjoy!


Happy Teaching!

Using Christmas Songs for Literacy Learning ... + a freebie!

Hello, Teaching Friends!

Have you heard one of your little ones singing Christmas songs under her breath ... or more likely a whole table full of your kiddos belting songs out at full volume, accompanied by lots of laughing? Our kids are just so.... well, jolly at this time of year. So, why not use that enthusiasm for some extra literacy learning?

This little collection of holiday songs can be the basis of lots of December literacy experiences in your classroom. There are three songs here, chosen because they're most likely familiar to your students, they're somewhat secular (to keep them usable in more of your classrooms), and they're all in the public domain. You'll probably want to expand your collection by adding the songs your students love! I'll bet your music teacher will have some suggestions, too.


The words to a lot of seasonal songs are already familiar to many of our little ones. That knowledge will give your struggling learners the support they need to make the song reading activities successful for them. They'll also be helped by the wider than usual spacing between words and the extra spacing between lines.


How can you use the song sheets in your classroom?

* Show the lyrics on your interactive board or copy them on posterboard.  Demonstrate directional movement, return sweep, and one-to-one match. Discuss the vocabulary.  Frame phrases for fluency practice. Note and discuss punctuation, especially the commas. Practice intonation.


* Make individual copies and assemble little song books for each child. Spend a few minutes each day singing the songs together. Teach strategies, like keeping your place on multiple lines of text by moving your finger down the left margin as you read each new line. Sneaky Teacher Tip: As your students practice this strategy, you'll be able to quickly observe who's really reading and who's just singin' along with the gang!


* Write the words to a song on sentence strips. Then cut apart and have students reassemble them as a pocket chart literacy center activity. Be sure to keep a complete copy of the song nearby for those who need the extra support. You might put a cute holiday pencil or an small ornament glued to a dowel as a pointer in this center, to encourage one-to-one matching.


*  Use copies of the song sheets for word work. Think of the possibilities! Highlight (they do love those highlighters, don't they?? ) word wall words, capital letters, rhyming words, punctuation, multi-syllable words, vowels, digraphs,...


*  Performances! Use holiday songs as Readers Theater. Have groups of students read alternate lines or verses. Be wandering carolers on the day before break, reading some carols and singing others.


* Do you use Song and Poem Notebooks? Copy the carols for rereading all through the school year.

Click here to download your set!

How will you integrate Christmas songs into your literacy program?

Happy Teaching!

String of Lights Games Giveaway!

Hello, Teaching Friends!

Busy, busy, busy December days! How can you keep one set of elves busy and learning while you take some other elves aside to do some glittering, painting, and all that other holiday bling-ing?

Here's a set of math games that might come to your rescue!

There are three games in this set: subtraction, addition, and addition with an odd/even sum sort. They're to be played by two or three players. The novel twist here is that each game has two ways to win, which will keep your little mathematicians computing, strategizing, engaged longer! Print up lots, because they'll want to keep switching partners to play again and again!

Click here or on the cover to see more at my TPT store.

Would you like to win a set of "String of Lights"?  Be one of the first ten to pin this resource (thank you!) and leave a comment below. Please be sure to include your email in your comment, so I can send your free set out to you.


Happy Teaching!

Christmas Traditions and a Winter Sale

Hi, Teaching Friends!

I always enjoy getting an occasional peek into a fellow-blogger's outside-of-school life, so today I thought I'd take a few moments to share some of the Nelson Family Christmas with you.

 

Welcome to our home! This year, I put together a little pot of greens to sit on the table next to our front door, accented with a friendly snowman holding a birdhouse. It's a table that we use in the summer on the front porch, but I thought that with a plaid topper to disguise it, my poor husband wouldn't have to lug the heavy table into the basement this year!

 

 

 

I saw this idea in a local gift shop. They used a napkin holder to display Christmas cards. I substituted an upright desktop mail organizer that I already had. I like the way you can easily change out the "display card" in the front (although that one says it all, doesn't it?). We hang all of the photo cards on the fridge, but I think this makes a cute display for the front hall. See the wooden reindeer?  We've had that since our daughters were little, and now the grandkids play with him.

 

 

Like many families, we use an Advent calendar to mark the days until Christmas. I made the ornaments from acrylic clay (Sculpey)  many years ago. Way back when I was home with our daughters before they started school, I used to have a small business making them and lots of other ornaments.

 

Here's a close-up of our Christmas tree. Most of the ornaments are birds and nature... pinecones, tiny birdhouses, lots and lots of birds! Many are handmade, and some were even given to us when we got married 38 years ago! See that shiny pink bulb in the middle? That was from my parents' first Christmas together in 1949.

Here's one of the little birdhouses. Inspiration tends to strike me late, but once the idea is in my head I find it hard to let go of it. So one year about 3 days before Christmas, there were a dozen of these little guys lined up on our kitchen window sill,  still in the process of being "decorated". My mother calls me "Last Minute Linda", but I prefer to think of it as an Elves Working Late in the Workshop atmosphere! :)

This is new this year! This display is up on top of a glass-fronted cabinet next to the tree. My older daughter Andrea made the beautiful counted cross stitch bird pictures for my birthday, and my almost 5 year old granddaughter Milana picked out the fat little birdie, which I think accents it perfectly! Are you sensing a bird theme here? :)

Here's another lovely winter scene she made for us last year. I really like being able to change out wall art seasonally.

 

This one is not at our home, but I wanted to share what our other creative daughter is doing over at their house. Those are real cranberries poked into a styrofoam ball, perched on a pillar candle. Laura also cuts the letters (freehand!) for these little framed pieces she makes. That's a family Christmas tree at the left. She's got an eye for these vignettes, she's getting ready to begin homeschooling, she used to do editorial work for a magazine, she even cooks organically ... this girl has got Future Blogger written all over her!

End of tour!  I hope I didn't bore you, and hope even more that you might have found some inspiration for your own Christmas decorating!



Were you about to give up on hearing about a sale? Here it is!

In honor of the first day of winter, Casey at Second Grade Math Maniac has set up a linky party of TPT sellers who are having a Welcome Winter Sale this weekend.

 

 

All of my Christmas and winter items are 20% off throughout the weekend. You can click here or on the TPT widget in the left column to go to my TPT store. If you click in the picture above, you'll go straight to Casey's linky, where you'll find more than 40 other TPT authors who are also having sales.

Have a great time - I hope you'll find some goodies to make some winter fun for your classroom!

 

Happy Teaching!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas ... 2 Gifts for You!

Good morning! It's overcast with a prediction of temps in the high 50's in NJ today... no White Christmas for us, but I hear that many of you are buried!! How beautiful! (okay, not the shoveling...)

In any case, I have 2 Christmas gifts for you today! First, I'd like to say "Welcome Aboard" and "THANKS!" to those of you who have arrived via "What's the Buzz in First?". For those of you not yet familiar with Jaime's super blog, today is the time to visit, because she is hosting an amazing giveaway! 16 TPT teacher/authors have donated prizes, in celebration of the arrival of Jaime's 600th follower. You must visit her blog by Friday to enter. 'though, so follow this link and hurry on over! Good luck!

The second gift is from me to you - a winter freebie to help you get your centers ready for January!
It's a set of ABC order cards that can be differentiated at 3 levels. By the way, did you ever say the words "ABC order" out in the world? People give you a funny look... go figure. We primary teachers are a different breed... and proud of it! :)

So, click on the picture to get your free copy!

Christmas blessings to all of you, and my best wishes for a new year filled with promise and joy!

                                                                                                               Linda