It’s apple season again, and I have another fun literacy snack idea to go with your apple theme this week! We are reading The Biggest Apple Ever, by Steven Kroll.

As a new school year begins in Mouseville, the students are diving into a lesson all about apples – kicking things off with a contest to discover the biggest one ever! Clayton, the town mouse, and Desmond, the country mouse, are both eager to win. But even after teaming up, the two friends can’t seem to find the largest apple. Will they admit defeat, or will they find another way to come out on top?

The simple text and lively illustrations make this book ideal for story time, keeping the kids entertained and perfect to go along with our apple theme!

Teachable Moments: The story naturally opens up conversations about cooperation, problem-solving, and kindness, great values to reinforce at home or in the classroom.

Encourages Discussion: You can use the rivalry between Clayton and Desmond to talk about competition, when it’s fun, and when teamwork matters more.

To go along with the book this week, for our snack, we will be having apple pie just like Clayton and Desmond made to share with their class!

Snack Idea

This week’s snack is a super simple one! Pick up an apple pie (or two, if you have a larger group) and serve each student a small slice to enjoy!

Be sure to bring along some small plates and plastic forks as well!

Free Printable

I also made a free printable to go along with the book! It’s perfect for your students to work on while they are enjoying their apple pie snack! They’ll look at the pictures in each box, number them in the order they happened in the story, and then color the illustrations. It’s a simple, fun way to practice retelling and sequencing!

You can download the Literacy Snack Biggest Apple Ever Read-Aloud Free Printable by clicking on the green box below.

If you’re looking for some more fun apple activities, you’ll want to check out our 7 hands-on Apple Week Centers! From crafts and snacks to measurement and phonics, these print-and-play activities make learning sweet and simple! Check out the apple week centers here.

I hope your students enjoy this fun apple-themed read aloud, and of course their special apple pie treat! See you next time!

Jenette

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Let’s go on a leaf hunt! Collect some leaves and then use this Free Printable Leaf Investigation to help your students learn about their leaves!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

There are so many great books about fall leaves to go along with this leaf investigation activity. Start off by reading one or a few of these books with your class. You can find out more about each book here.

Next, take your students outside to go on a leaf hunt. Have them help gather a bunch of leaves to bring to the classroom. They can each choose one for themself or pick from ones that have been gathered when back in the classroom.

Now it’s time to explore their leaves! Give each student one of the free printable leaf investigation pages, and have them investigate their leaf. They will get to draw their leaf, measure it using snap blocks, describe their leaf, and more.

Another fun activity to do after the leaf investigation is to make a class anchor chart graph to compare with the other student’s leaves. You could graph by color, size, texture, lots of different options.

Click the green box below to download the free printable leaf investigation.

If you’re looking for even more leaf fun, you’ll love these leaf crafts with writing prompts. They look adorable hanging in the classroom door in the hallway for fall. Click here to check them out now.

Do you have any other fun activities that you like to do with fall leaves? Share with us in the comments below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Leaf Investigation appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

The leaves are chaning colors, the morning air is crisp, you know what that means, autumn is here! This week, we have a Literacy Snack Autumn Leaves Read-Aloud. We are reading, The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming.

A worried squirrel thinks that SOMEONE is stealing his tree’s leaves. HIS leaves! Even though his friend Bird tries to help him, Squirrel doesn’t seem to understand the changes that the fall season brings like leaves changing color and wind blowing them off the trees.

It’s funny and illuminating — and will spark helpful discussions about the characteristics of fall– with a hint of a winter surprise at the end.

For our snack this week to go along with the book, we are making our own fall trees.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack idea

Each student will need

• 1 large pretzel rod
• 6 prestzel sticks
• a handful of Fruit Loops

To Assemble

To make the fall tree snack, have your students start with the large pretzel rod as the trunk of their tree. Next, have them add the pretzel sticks as the branchess of the tree. Last, they can add on the cereal as the fall colored leaves.

Free Printable

I made a free printable for your students to work on while they are enjoying their fall tree snack. They will get to draw and write about who the leaf theif is and also what their favorite thing to do with leaves is.

Click the green box below to download the Literacy Snack Autumn Leaves Read-Aloud free printable from my TpT store.

If you’re looking for more fun activities for fall, your students will love getting outdoors to do this Autumn scavenger hunt.

You can find all of the other scavenger hunts I’ve shared here. And if you would like the printable version, you can find that here.

I hope your students enjoy making their fall trees and this silly story!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Autumn Leaves Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

Do you need a quick, easy and yummy snack idea for your class party? I’ve got you covered with this harvest mix! Make sure to grab the Free Printable Harvest Mix Bag Topper too!

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Supplies Needed

• pretzels sticks
• chocolate chips
• Autumn candy mix
• Rice Chex cereal
• mini marshmallows
• bowls
• spoons
• snack bags
• stapler
• scissors
• free harvest mix bag topper (download at the end of the post)

Before the party, you’ll want to download, print and cut out the harvest mix bag toppers so they are ready to go. To get ready for the party, you’ll want to put each snack item in their own bowls and add a spoon.

During the party, it is easiest to have the students come up 4 students at a time. They will each need a snack bag, and they can fill it with items from the table to make the harvest mix. When they are done, they can take the bag topper, fold it in half and shape it to the top of the snack bag.

They can then take it home if you just want this to be a fun activity or they can enjoy their snack in class. Another option would be for you to pre-make this for each student and let them enjoy it during your fall class party.

Click the green box below to download the Free Printable Harvest Mix Bag Topper.

If you need some more ideas for your fall class party, I share a ton of easy ideas here.

I hope your students have a fun time making their harvest mix snacks!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Harvest Mix Bag Topper appeared first on Primary Playground.

Happy October! Today I have the new October Joke Of The Day free printable for you!

Have you been following along on Facebook the past couple of months where I share a joke of the day? Just a fun little way to make you laugh each day.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

I’ve put all of October’s jokes together into a printable version so you can print it out and have it handy in your classroom to share with your students each day. During morning meeting, as your heading out to lunch or home for the day is a fun time to share these with your students.

It’s available to print in both color and black and white.

free printable

You can download the October Joke Of The Day free printable by clicking the green box below.

You can find the August joke of the day printable here and the September joke of the day printable here if you missed them.

Do you have any other fun jokes you like to use in the month of October? Share with us below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post October Joke Of The Day appeared first on Primary Playground.

Have you been following along on Facebook where everyday I share a joke of the day? We are having such a fun time with these jokes and love knowing they are putting a smile on your face each day. I’ve put together all of jokes for September into a new September Joke Of The Day printable so you can easily have them ready to go to share with your class or your own family each day.

You can find the printable August Jokes Of The Day here.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

I have all of Septembers jokes ready to go now too! I have some really fun animal ones this month that I think the kids will LOVE!

You can download the free September Joke Of The Day printable by clicking the green box below.

If your students are loving jokes, then they’ll LOVE our crack the code math. Each set comes with ten pages of either addition and subtraction or multiplication. They figure out the math answer and use the answers to help break the code or joke. You can find all of the different themes that we have here.

I hope your kids are enjoying these jokes each day as much as we are! Does your child or class have a favorite joke that I’ve shared so far? Or do you have a joke you’d like to see added? Let me know if the comments beflow!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post September Joke Of The Day appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Thanksgiving will be here before we know it! I have another fun read-aloud perfect to add to your Thanksgiving book collection. Today, we are reading Peyton Picks the Perfect Pie.

In this book, Peyton is very particular. She doesn’t like it when two foods touch on her plate. Peyton doesn’t like green foods. Or orange foods. Or red foods. Peyton doesn’t like foods that are gooey or gummy, sticky or slimy, frosted or flaky. And Peyton most definitely doesn’t like chunky or lumpy foods. She decides that this Thanksgiving, she is going to try one new food, and decides that it will be pie. But there are sooo many pies to choose from, which one will it be?

The illustrations in this book are fantastic, all of the guests are diverse and the spirit of the dinner is happy and spirited. The book is a celebration of food, family, and community and being open to trying new things.

For this weeks snack to go along with the book, we’re having pie!

This article works well with these resources from Primary Playground.

Snack Idea -Thanksgiving Pie

In the book there is a wonderful recipe for apple pie if you’d like to make that. To keep it simple for the classroom, we used small individual pies that you can find in the bakery section at Walmart. They are $.50 each so it works out to be a doable cost. We chose 2 pies for each student to taste. They have all different types of flavors of pies to choose from so it’s easy to enocrage the students to try one of the pies that they haven’t tasted before. If you’re giving tastes of the pies, you can easily split each pie for 3-4 kiddos.

Free Printable

I made a free printable for the kiddos to work on while they are enjoying their taste testing of pies too. They get to draw in their favorite foods they have on Thanksgiving, and then also draw in one new food they would want to try this year.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

I have another fun activity that I’ve shared in the past that you can do along side this book too. Instead of trying different pies, the whole class could do a taste test to see if they like pumpkin pie or not. You can grab the free printable activities here.

And here’s few more fun activities that go well with the book too.

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Thanksgiving Pie appeared first on Primary Playground.

Do your little learners love to collect things out on recess? Have them gather up some acorns for you and bring them inside to practice their countings and numbers with these Free Printable Acorn Ten Frame Cards.

This article works well with these resources from Primary Playground.

There are so many fun fall book ideas that have to do with acorn and the changing of the season. We used Squirrel’s Fall Search for our read aloud as a jumping-off point for us to use acorns with our math practice.

We share a bunch of our favorite fall books here that includes some great books with acorns in them.

Getting Started

The setup is super easy for this activity. Simply download and print the Free Printable Acorn Ten Frame Cards by clicking the green download box at the bottom of this post. Cut them out and laminating the cards is suggested for durability. Have your little learners gather up some acorns to count with and you’re all set! You can store them in a sandwich-size bag or we like to use clear plastic 4X6 photo cases too.

To play

These Free Printable Acorn Ten Frame Cards are a fun addition to your math center for the kids to work on counting, one-to-one correspondence, and even decomposing numbers. Each card has the number and the number word for recognition. Have the students fill in the correct number of acorns for the squirrel that match the number on the card.

Click the green box below to download the Acorn Ten Frame Cards.

If you’re looking for another fun activity to use the acorns with, you might like our Squirrel Acorn Counting Mats too!

I hope your kiddos enjoy this fun hands-on way of practicing their numbers and counting!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Acorn Ten Frame Cards appeared first on Primary Playground.

Do you need to create a simple math center to help your students practice numbers to 10? Our Free Printable Clip Counting Spiders are easy to prepare, perfect for October and your little learners will love them! They’re not only an easy and interactive way for children to practice counting and identifying numbers, but they will also work on developing their fine motor skills too.

They will be a great addition to your math centers.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Getting ready

This game/center is super quick and easy to make. All you need is to download and print the Free Printable Clip Counting Spiders from the bottom of this post, cut them out, and add in some clothespins and you’re all set! You don’t need to laminate these sets, but they will last much longer if you do.

How to Play

Each spider has a number on it. The student picks up a spider and looks at the number. Encourage them to say the number aloud. Then they clip the correct number of clothespins onto the spider creating legs.   Repeat until all the spiders have clothespins on them.

These are perfect to use during October, for Halloween, during your spider unit, or even for your nursery rhyme unit to go along with Little Miss Muffett or The Itsy Bitsy Spider.

You can store the spider in a bag or container with the clothespins, so the game is always ready to go or be safely put away for next year.

These Free Printable Clip Counting Spiders are a fun and hands-on way to practice counting and identifying numbers. This simple, low-prep activity is perfect to use as a math warm-up at the beginning of class, during small guided math groups, or to put out at a math station. They can easily be printed and sent home for students to practice counting with their families too.

You can download the Free Printable Clip Counting Spiders by clicking the green box below.

If you’re looking for another fun way for your little learners to practice their numbers and counting, you may like our spider counting mats. These are numbers 1-20. We use little plastic spiders and the kids just love it! You can find the counting mats here on TPT.

Let us know if you have any other fun ways that you’ll be using these Free Printable Clip Counting Spiders.

See you next time!

Jenette

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It’s no secret that I LOVE books. Fall is such a fun season with so many fantastic activity possibilities. . I’m sharing with you today The Best Fall Read Alouds.

Fall is such a fun season to learn about. There are so many fun activities that can be done alongside all of the books below. The first few books in the list are about fall in general and then books about squirrels and acorns and then a few scarecrow books. We share all our favorite books about fall leaves here in this post.

This article works well with these resources from Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

the best fall read alouds

Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kenard Pak

In this book, you follow a young girl as she takes a walk through the forest and town, greeting all the signs of the coming season. In a series of conversations with every flower and creature and gust of wind, she says good-bye to summer and welcomes autumn.

Pete the Cat Falling for Autumn by James Dean

Pete the Cat isn’t sure about the changing of the seasons from summer to autumn. But when he discovers corn mazes, hayrides, and apple picking, Pete realizes there’s so much to enjoy and be thankful for about autumn.

Hello, Fall by Deborah Diesen 

A grandfather and his granddaughter welcome fall in this sweet, whimsical story about finding beauty and wonder in every moment. The illustrations are are the highlight of this book.

In the Middle of Fall by Kevin Henkes

This book has a thoughtful/thought-provoking storyline, fall vocabulary, and is calming. The illustrations are gorgeous and truly make you feel like you’re in a late fall day.

Mouse’s First Fall by Lauren Thompson

Mouse’s First Fall is a beautifully illustrated, simple story about a mouse experiencing his first Fall. The book encourages children to look at the colors and shapes of the leaves and think about the sounds the dry leaves make as they are stepped upon. It’s a great introduction to the Fall season!

Little Fox’s Surprise by Trace Moroney 

Little Red Fox is missing from the Annual Fall Fair and he leaves clues for Big Red Fox to find him. Friends like Little Squirrel, Little Bunny, etc help Big Red Fox look for Little Red Fox. There’s a glimpse of him in each picture; a bit of tail, a sock… fun for the students to try to *find* him in each scene.

We have a literacy snack and FREE printable to go along with Little Fox’s Surprise too. Click here to check it out.

Sophie’s Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller 

This book is the perfect mix of heart and humor. It’s fun to have a story about an unusual vegetable that’s associated with fall dinners. But the story also connects to other themes like attachments, winter, and the miracle of growing things.

Because of an Acorn by Lola M. Schaefer

Because of an acorn, a tree grows, a bird nests, a seed becomes a flower. This is a perfect book to illustrate the vital connections between the layers of the ecosystem. The book makes it easy for little learners to understand the cycle and how everything works together.

See our snack idea and grab the FREE printable that goes along with this book here.

Little Acorn by IglooBooks

This book teaches in a very nice way about how an acorn becomes a tree, the rhymes are short but very captivating, and the pictures are so colorful and beautiful

Your students will have fun making our acorn craft to go along with these stories. It also comes with writing prompt pages too!

The Golden Acorn by Katy Hudson

Squirrel takes off at full speed through the autumn leaves. But slam on the brakes, because this year The Golden Nut Hunt race is a team event. Squirrel reluctantly enlists her friends and is not impressed. In the end, this book proves that winning isn’t everything, talks about friendship, teamwork, and forgiveness 

Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri 

This is a super cute book about a very busy squirrel getting ready for the winter. The words are simple and illustrations are bright and beautiful.

The Scarecrow by Beth Ferry

This is a sweet book about a scarecrow that scares off all of the animals but befriends a black crow and in turn the crows family comes to live with him in the end.

Here’s a fun scarecrow craft with writing prompts that goes nicely along with the book too. You can see it here on TPT.

Otis and the Scarecrow by Loren Long

This is a great book about a scarecrow being introduced to the farm and him looking sour. The story is good at demonstrating how to be a friend to someone who doesn’t conform to normal expectations, and helping the other farm friends accept the new friend on the farm.

Here’s another scarecrow activity that you may like to go along with these last two scarecrow books too. You can grab it here for FREE.

Do you have any other books you like to read with your little learners for fall?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post The Best Fall Read Alouds appeared first on Primary Playground.

Since the official start of fall is this week, I’m sharing with you today The Best Read Alouds About Fall Leaves. Fall is a great time to get outside and explore.

There are so many fun activities that can be done alongside all of the books below. Here’s our Autumn scavenger hunt perfect to go alongside these books too!

This article works well with these resources from Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

The Best Read Alouds About Fall Leaves

Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro

We love this series: Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science. This nonfiction book explains the science behind leaves changing colors.

The Leaves on the Trees by Thom Wiley

Based on the classic song, “The Wheels on the Bus,” THE LEAVES ON THE TREES explores all types of trees making the magical transformation. This would be a great book to read right before you head out for a nature hike to look for different types of leaves.

Leaves Fall Down: Learning About Autumn Leaves by Lisa Marie Bullard

This is an engaging book that introduces autumn leaves in a simple way. It touches on difficult concepts like chlorophyll and decomposition but does not go into great detail about them. There are plenty of parts the students will connect with, (taking a walk to look at leaves, raking, and playing in a leaf pile.

We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger

There are lots of beautiful fall leaves to find! Three friends have a big adventure hiking over a mountain and through a forest to collect leaves of all kinds and colors. What will they do with all their leaves at the end of the story? Jump and play in them, of course!

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves!  by Lucille Colandro

That wild old lady is back swallowing fall-themed items. What can you make from leaves, clothes, a pumpkin, and rope? That’s right, a scarecrow!

Make sure to check out our literacy snack idea and free printable to go along with this book. Click here to check it out.

Leaves by David Ezra Stein

It’s a young bear’s first autumn, and the falling leaves surprise him. He tries to put them back on the trees, but it doesn’t work. Eventually, he gets sleepy and burrows into the fallen leaves for a long nap. When he wakes up, it’s spring, and there are suddenly brand-new leaves all around, welcoming him.

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson

Fletcher the fox has a special tree outside his den that he loves to visit and he doesn’t understand why its leaves are falling so he tries desperately to save the tree’s leaves but of course, he is unsuccessful. The day after the last leaf has fallen off the tree by quite literally blowing out of his hand as he was trying to hold it down on the branch, the first snow falls and blankets the tree with glistening icicles that Fletcher thinks are beautiful and he is no longer sad the tree has lost all of its leaves.

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

Fall has come, the wind is gusting, and Leaf Man is on the move. Is he drifting east, over the marsh and ducks and geese? Or is he heading west, above the orchards, prairie meadows, and spotted cows? No one’s quite sure, but this much is certain: A Leaf Man’s got to go where the wind blows. 

After reading this book, it presents a great opportunity to head outside and have the children create their own leaf people from items they find.

Leaf Jumpers by Carole Gerber

This book is a great discussion starter for the kids to share about times they’ve enjoyed playing in leaves. The illustrations are all in fall colors. The last page of the book includes individual photos of the leaves used in the book along with the names of the leaves. This page also explains why leaves turn colors.

My Leaf Book by Monica Wellington

When the seasons change, a young girl visits the arboretum to collect fallen leaves and make a book with them. Brilliant illustrations show each variety of tree the girl encounters, from the common oak to the lesser-known gingko.  It shows leaves up-close to help young children learn to identify them.  Perfect to get them ready to go outside and gather leaes to make their own Leaf Books!

Do you have any other books about leaves you like to read to your little learners?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post The Best Read Alouds About Fall Leaves appeared first on Primary Playground.

It’s no secret that I LOVE books. Throw in some pumpkins and fall fun and you have some of my favorite types of books. I’m sharing with you today The Best Pumpkin Read Alouds.

Pumpkins are such a fun topic to learn about. There are so many fun activities that can be done alongside all of the books below.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

The Best Pumpkin Read-Alouds

From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer

In the fall, pumpkins are everywhere: in the garden, in the supermarkets, and on doorsteps. But do you know how they grow from a tiny yellow seed to a pumpkin? This is a great book for young kids to learn the life cycle of a pumpkin.

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?  by Margaret McNamara

Charlie, the smallest boy in his class, is left to count the seeds of the smallest pumpkin.  Both he and his classmates are surprised when his pumpkin has the most seeds.  This is a great way to introduce counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s.

Our pumpkin seed counting mats would be a fun extension to the book too. Use real pumpkin seeds to practice counting.

Mystery Vine: A Pumpkin Surprise by Cathryn Falwell

This book provides a simple, colorful tribute to growing a pumpkin just in time for Halloween. Children plant seeds for a garden; a mystery vine appears, “First came lettuce, crisp, and crunching. Bright green peas, so good for munching. Radishes all in a line…But what was that young Mystery Vine?” They tend it and the other plants and come fall discover that the mystery plant is producing pumpkins just in time for Halloween.

These life cycle hats from seed go perfectly with the above books as your little learners are learning all about how pumpkins grow and their life cycle.

Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington

Although this book has few words, it’s wonderful to teach the life cycle of a pumpkin. This is a great book to teach that pictures sometimes tell more of the story than the words. The seed, sprouts, the sprout grows into a plant and gets bigger on each page. The words don’t tell this, but the pictures do. Students are engaged as they search for changes in a pumpkin’s life cycle. The pictures are a bit muted, but I still like the book for its simplicity.

Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell 

In this book, you learn about the life cycle of a pumpkin through this charming story of a boy who named his pumpkin ‘Jack.’ After Halloween, the ‘Jack’ begins to rot and goes through the seasons until his seeds sprout in the spring–starting all over again. 

Our How Does A Pumpkin Grow? fill in the blank book is an easy activity the can go along with this book too.

Pick A Perfect Pumpkin Learning about Pumpkin Harvests by Robin Koontz

This is a great book about a boy and a girl’s visit to a pumpkin farm. It touches on everything from how pumpkins grow to all the different colors and sizes of pumpkins. A great book to read before or after your field trip to the pumpkin patch.

Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White

When she was young, Rebecca’s family was so poor that they ate pumpkin after pumpkin.  Now a white-haired older woman, she can’t bear the sight of them. So when a truck accidentally drops a pumpkin in Rebecca’s garden, she won’t even look at it.  But after growing season she’s astonished to discover a whole garden of big, beautiful pumpkins.  Rebecca makes the most of it, and we love what happens next. It’s a wonderful lesson about helping others.

The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll

Two little mice, a village and a field mouse, both have their hearts set on a beautiful pumpkin.  During the day, the village mouse carefully tends the pumpkin – and at night, the field mouse does the same. One can’t wait to bring the pumpkin to the county fair, while the other wants to make it into a giant jack-o’-lantern.  This is a cute story and I love that the mice become friends at the end of the story.

We also have a literacy snack and free printable to go along with this book too. You can check that out here.

How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow? by Wendell Minor

This is a great book with vibrant illustrations. It includes neat little facts about states while incorporating math and comparison concepts.

I Like Pumpkins by Jerry Smath

I Like Pumpkins is a cute rhyming book that shows children all the ways to compare and contrast pumpkins.

Pete the Cat: Five Little Pumpkins by James Dean

This is the Pete the Cat version of the classic poem Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate. It’s always a favorite.

We have a super fun free craft activity to go along with this book too. It’s a great way to help them retell the story. You can get the details and download it here.

Splat the Cat and the Pumpkin-Picking Plan by Catherine Hapka 

In this book, Splat the Cat heads to the pumpkin patch to pick a perfect pumpkin. Getting it home will be a challenge in itself in the end. This would be a fun read-aloud before you head to the pumpkin patch.

Our pumpkin patch bingo is perfect to play before or after your field trip too!

The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano 

Spookley the Square Pumpkin was different. All the other pumpkins teased him until Spookley proved that being different can save the day! 

Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

Duck, Squirrel, and Cat live together contentedly, each with his own job to make pumpkin soup – until Duck decides he wants a different job.  When Squirrel and Cat won’t let him switch, he runs away.  The book ends with a peaceful solution. The kids will be able to relate to the difficulties that come with friendship.

Little Boo by Stephen Wunderli

The story is about a little pumpkin seed who wants to be big and scary but has a hard time waiting for it to happen over time as he grows. He keeps trying to scare grubs, caterpillars, a shovel, and other garden items, but he’s sad that he isn’t scaring them. The seed grows into a sprout, then a vine, (story skips over the small green pumpkin part of a pumpkin life cycle), a big orange pumpkin, and finally a Jack-o-Lantern.

Our pumpkin craft is a fun one to make alongside this book.

Do you have any other favorite pumpkin read alouds that you would add to our list?

See you next time!

jenette

The post The Best Pumpkin Read Alouds appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Does anyone else LOVE Thanksgiving as I do? Don’t get me wrong, I’m super excited for Christmas and am totally already listening to Christmas music, but I also love celebrating Thanksgiving. I think it’s so important to teach our little ones about being thankful and grateful for what we have.

Today I’m sharing these adorable free printable thankful turkey hats, perfect for your Thanksgiving feast or lunch at school or even to send home for your students to wear on Thanksgiving with their families.

Sometimes it’s hard for your little learners to understand what it means to be thankful or show gratitude for things. Here are some of our favorite tools to help.

Videos and Songs About Being Thankful

What Does It Mean To Be Thankful? by
TheBackyardMenagerie

This is a cute little video that helps show little learners what it means to be thankful.

Thankful by The Juicebox Jukebox

And this is a great song about all of the things we have to be thankful. It has some larger vocabulary words too it uses like appreciate and compassionate that would be great to go over with the kiddos.

Let’s Give Thanks by Zebra Nursery Rhymes

This is another cute little song that shares a bunch of things we can be thankful for.

Thankful Read Alouds

Here are some of our favorite read-aloud all about being thankful and showing gratitude.

Thanksgiving Is For Giving Thanks by Margaret Sutherland

This book has colorful illustrations along with simple text to share what they are thankful for. Family, friends, and the holiday that brings them all together.

Little Squirrel’s Tale About Being Thankful by  Trace Moroney – I ordered this one from Scholastic

This is a cute story about the little squirrel feeling sad, so his mom sends him on a walk to deliver acorn cookies to his gram. She asks him to think about all of the things he’s thankful for on the way.

Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Marker

This book is one of my favorites. It reminds us of all of the things we have to be thankful for and the illustrations are fantastic. I feel like I find something new each time we read it.

Little Critter Being Thankful by Mercer Mayer

We always love Little Critter books and this is another great addition. It teaches gratitude in a simple way. It gives ideas you can talk about to do with the children to remind them to be grateful.

Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson

In this book, bear wants to invite his friends to his cave, but when he looks in his cupboard, he discovers that it is empty. Each of his friends brings something to his cave and the bear is sad because he has nothing to offer them. They reassure him that he has stories that he can tell them and that they are happy to be with him. This is a great lesson about the nature of friendship and the concept of thankfulness.

Free Printable Thankful Turkey Hat

And now that we’ve shared how to be thankful to our little ones, it’s time for our fun thankful turkey hat. Simply Print out the hat and have them color the front. There are 3 different options for the back strap. A blank one to have them draw what they are thankful for, and 2 different lined ones to use whichever fits your students the best.

If you need to make the hat larger simply print an additional page or attach a sentence strip.

Click the green box to download the free printable thankful turkey hat.

If you’re looking for even more ways to keep the conversation going on being thankful, I share a fun thankful tree craft here that also incorporates math into it.

Are there any other ways you like to teach your little ones about being thankful? Share with us below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Thankful Turkey Hat appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

One of my most favorite Thanksgiving traditions with my family is watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade together. I host Thanksgiving but make sure everything is ready and prepped to go, turkeys in the oven etc, so I can spend this awesome time with my family. The book that we’re reading this weeks Literacy Snack Parade Balloons Read-Aloud is Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet.

This book is the true story of the puppeteer of Macy’s parade. In the book you meet Tony Sarg, puppeteer extraordinaire! It tells the story of the puppeteer Tony Sarg, capturing his genius, his dedication, his zest for play, and his long-lasting gift to America—the inspired helium balloons that would become the trademark of Macy’s Parade.

In the story, you learn that they used to have live animals in the parade but young children started getting scared so eventually he created the balloons which at first were all animals. So this week, we’ll be making our own animal balloon snack.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Ingredients

For each student you’ll need

3 animals cookies–crackers

1 pulled apart piece of a Twizzler Pull-n-Peel

Assemble

Have the students pull apart their twizzler piece into 3 different pieces to use as 3 different balloon strings. Give each student 3 cookies or crackers. The students can lay the twizzlers down coming from the bottom of the animals as pretend balloon strings.

Free Printable

While your kiddos are enjoying their snack, I made a free printable for them to work on. They get to draw in their favorite balloons during the Macy’s Parade. The could be ones they saw in the book or ones they’ve seen on tv at home.

You can download the Literacy Snack Parade Balloons Read-Aloud free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store below.

I also have a fun scavenger hunt for your students to do while watching the parade with their families on Thanksgiving. You can find the digital version here and the printable version here.

Do you watch the Thanksgiving day parade at your house?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Parade Balloons Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

Can I share a secret with you? I don’t really like cake. For my birthday (in December) when I was young, I used to ask my mom for a pumpkin pie instead of a cake. It’s my favorite! So every year I blew out my candles in a pumpkin pie. Today I’m sharing with you how you can make your very own pumpkin pie in a cup in the classroom this month with your kiddos.

The best way I have found to make the pumpkin pie in a cup in the classroom, is to break the students up into groups of five, or less. If you do it this way, each group will be small enough for each person to get a turn to help make the pumpkin pie filling and see how it’s actually being made.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Ingredients and supplies needed

graham cracker crumbs – mine was a 15oz container, enough for the whole class

box of vanilla instant pudding mix – each box will make enough for 5 students so adjust the number of boxes you need to students in your class

1/2 cup of canned pumpkin – you want to get 2 15oz cans if you have a class of 25+

milk to make the pudding with

whipped cream

pumpkin pie spice

small plastic cup

plastic spoons

measuring spoons and cups

can opener

prep work

You’ll need to make the instant pudding either the night before or the morning of the day you’ll be making the pumpkin pie in a cup. Depending on how much time you’ll have in class, have the pudding ready to go in bowls each package made so you know how many kids cups it’ll make.

Or if you have a little more time in class, you could make the instant pudding with them. It doesn’t take long, you’ll just need the instant pudding mix, milk and a bottle/jar with a lid that it’ll fit in. You could pass the jar around and have each one of the students help shake the jar to make the pudding.

Or another option is to skip making your own pudding and buy pudding cups from the store.

Instructions

Once you have your first group of 5 students, you’re ready to go. Start by sharing the pudding you’ve made and have a student help stir it for you. Have one student help measure out 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin into the bowl.

Have another student mix the pumpkin into the pudding. Next, have another student measure out 1/2 teaspoon of the pumpkin pie spice and pour it into the bowl. Have another student mix it in. Now your filling is ready.

To assemble

Give each student a cup and a spoon. Taking turns, they can each scoop 1 tablespoon of the graham cracker crumbs into their cup.

Next, they will each fill-up the 1/2 cup measuring cup and carefully spoon/pour it into their cup on top of the crumbs.

Last, they will add some whipped cream to the top and time to eat!

This cooking class how to make pumpkin pie is a great addition to share with the kids how to make a real pumpkin pie. It’s a fun and engaging addition to tie the whole lesson together.

And we also have this fun FREE pumpkin pie taste test you could do after everyone eats their pumpkin pie in a cup.

And if you need ever more pumpkin pie like I do, we have these adorable pumpkin pie counting mats that the kids can use cotton balls as whipped cream to practice their counting.

Do you have any fun ideas to do with pumpkin pie?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Pumpkin Pie In A Cup In The Classroom appeared first on Primary Playground.

Are your little learners working on their beginning sounds? I have a fun Gobble Gobble A Beginning Sounds Game for you today to help them practice those letter sounds!

I’ve been playing this game with my own kids for many years and now get to play it with my nephews on Thanksgiving. We all sit around after eating our yummy Thanksgiving dinner, some people looking at the ads and getting their Black Friday shopping lists ready, some cleaning up and I get to play this fun game with the kiddos!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

the setup

To play the game, all you need to do is download the printable at the bottom of the post. Cut out all of the squares and laminate so you can play the game over and over again. You will also need some kind of container to put the cards in. I used a basket I had in my decoration stash, but you can use anything you have on hand.

to play

This game can be played with one student or many. You will put all of the cards into the container and shake them up. Have a student pull out a card, look at the letter, and say the sound it makes. If playing alone, choose another card and repeat. If playing with other students move to the next person to take a turn.

There are also some cards that say, Gobble! Gobble! If a student chooses a Gobble Gobble! card, they gobble like a turkey and put all of their letters back in the container and it’s the next players’ turn or they can start over again if playing alone.

There are both uppercase and lowercase letters. You can choose to use them both or just one set, the game will work the same either way.

My little friends love playing this game so much and get so into saying gobble gobble like a turkey. They hope to pull those cards!

You can download the Gobble Gobble A Beginning Sounds Game below. 

If you’re looking for more beginning sound activities, we share all of our favorites in this blog post here.

Do you have any other fun games you like to play to practice beginning sounds?

Thanks for stopping by!

jenette

The post Gobble Gobble A Beginning Sounds Game appeared first on Primary Playground.

Have you started teaching sight words? This Free Printable Fall Color By Code Sight Words page is always such a fun way to reinforce those sight words with your little learners.

This article works well with these Primary Playground resources

This Free Printable Fall Color By Code Sight Words is an activity that can be used in a variety of ways. Color by code sight words works well for morning work, early finishers,  literacy centers, or as homework. It’s a great way to reinforce the sight words they’ve learned at school and for them to practice them at home again easily.

The first time the students do this activity, encourage them to color the crayons first so they can easily see which color the sight word needs to be.

To do the color by code sight words, the students will carefully color the picture one area at a time using the matching color for the sight words. The students will continue coloring the sight words until the entire picture has been completed. They will then be able to see their hidden picture!

If your students enjoyed this Fall Color By Code Sight Words, they’ll love these fall-themed color by code sight words. There are 50 pages that include the pre-primer Dolch words.

Or these winter themed color by code sight word pages.

You can download the free printable below.

What are some of the other ways you like to have your students practice their sight words?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Fall Color By Code Sight Words appeared first on Primary Playground.

Have you ever played minute to win it games in your classroom? The games are obviously always fun, but really they can also be categorized as stem activities too! We are also practicing our fine motor skills and sorting but your little learners won’t even realize it I’m sharing 5 of our favorite Fall Minute To Win It Ideas with you.

These games are perfect to play during your fall class party. You can set up 5 different rotations and separate the class into groups. Ask for parent volunteers to come in and help be a guide for each game.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

I’ve made table tents that you can print as well with the game’s name on them along with the game’s instructions. It’s made it so much easier when I use these in the classroom. My parent volunteers can just read the back to get the instructions and it makes things so much easier for us all. You can download them for free at the bottom of the post.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Harvest Sort

You’ll need:

a cup

a tray

different sorting materials – we used candy corn, candy pumpkins, plastic leaf table scatter I found at Hobby Lobby, and acorns.

instructions: In this game, the students will sort as many of the items in the cup as they can in one minute.

Candy Corn Stack It

You’ll need:

bag of candy corn

Instructions: The students will see how many candy corn they can stand up in one minute.

Leaf Blower

You’ll need:

2 leaves, they can be real leaves that are dried out or fake leaves.

straws

Instructions: Two students will use a new straw to blow/race the leaf to the other end of the table.

Pumpkin Toss

You’ll need:

A bag of candy pumpkins

2 cups per team of 2 students

Instructions: There are two students per team. Have them stand 6 feet apart. The students will try to toss as many pumpkins in the cup their teammate is holding as they can in one minute.

Buckets of Acorns

You’ll need:

2 bowls

jumbo kid tweezers

A bunch of acorns – if you don’t have acorns where you live, you could use brown pom poms.

Instructions: The students will have one minute to try and get as many acorns as they can into the empty bowl using only the tweezers.

You can download the Fall Minute To Win It Ideas game table tents below.

Do you have any other fun games you like to play?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Fall Minute To Win It Ideas appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Have you ever made applesauce? It’s one of our favorite things to do in the fall. This week for our Literacy Snack Applesauce Read Aloud we are reading Applesauce Day by Lisa Amstutz.

This is a fantastic book about a families tradition of making applesauce together each year. It takes you along through their entire day from picking the apples to making the applesauce and then heading home excited to do it all again next year.

So for our snack this week, we are of course having applesauce.

This is a great activity to do as part of your apple unit Our Cooking Class How To Make Applesauce. is a fun way to incorporate many different learning standards. In this pack, the students are learning writing, sequencing, retelling, life skills, and much more. It’s a great hands-on activity to get the students excited to learn.

Snack Idea

Reading Applesauce Day and then making applesauce as a class in the crockpot would make for a fantastic hands-on activity. I give you all of the details of how to do that here.

But if you don’t have enough time, use store-bought applesauce for the snack. You can buy it already in the individual cups or buy a few of the large jars and pour it into some small cups.

Free Printable

While your students are enjoying their applesauce, I made a free printable for them to work on. They will draw and write about what the family did on their Applesauce Day. It’s a great way for them to practice their comprehension and retelling skills.

You can download the Literacy Snack Applesauce Read Aloud free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store below

If you’re looking for another fun apple activity to add to your unit, you might like our apple bingo. Bingo is always one of the kid’s favorite things to play in class and is a great way to help build vocabulary.

I hope your class enjoys this book, it really has become one of my favorite apple books. Do you have any favorites?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Applesauce Read Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

With Thanksgiving quicking approaching, we just have to read a story about a turkey! For this week’s literacy snack idea, we’re reading, How To Catch A Turkey, by Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton.

It’s a cute book about a turkey that doesn’t realize he’s about to be in the Thanksgiving school play and decides to run away. The whole school attempts to catch him and he ends up back on stage having a blast.

For our snack today, we’re making a turkey!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Ingredients

Each student will need

1 Oreo cookie

1 candy corn

2 small candy eyeballs

9-10 pretzel sticks

Assemble

To make the turkey, have the students carefully twist their cookie just a bit to loosen the 2 sides. Next, have them place in their pretzel sticks in between the two cookie sides into the cream filling. It’s easiest for them to do this when it’s laying down. Last, have the students put on the candy eyes and candy corn beak. Cute and easy little turkey!

While the students are enjoying their turkey snack, I made a free printable for them to work on. They get to write and draw a picture about how they would catch a turkey.

Click the green box below to download the Literacy Snack Catch A Turkey Read-Aloud free printable from my tTpT store.

If you looking for some more fun turkey ideas over the next couple of weeks, this Cooking Class How To Make A Turkey is a fun one! Cooking class is a fun way to incorporate many different learning standards. In this pack, the students are learning writing, sequencing, retelling, life skills and much more. It’s a great hands-on activity to get the students excited to learn.

Or making a turkey craft is always a favorite with different writing prompts you can choose from.

And if you’re looking for more fun Thanksgiving book ideas, I share all of my favorite picks here.

I hope your students enjoy this Literacy Snack Catch A Turkey Read-Aloud and their turkey snacks this week!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Catch A Turkey Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

November is a great time to learn about things long ago. You’re easily able to tie it into Thanksgiving and into how they did things long ago. Making butter in the classroom is one of our favorite activities to do this month. Perfect to fit right into your social studies and science time.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Supplies you’ll need

small baby food jars -ask friends or students parents that have babies to save them for you. I’ve even got them from a local swip-swap page before for free.

heavy whipping cream

bread to taste the butter with

making butter in the classroom

Label clean, small baby food jars with the student’s names.  I like to pair the students up for this activity as it gives them an opportunity to work together to make the butter. Fill the jars about half-way with cream and secure the lid on tightly.

Now comes the fun part. Have the students shake their jars vigorously. Having a partner allows each child to have plenty of time shaking the jar but also gives them a break. They will need to shake the jar for about 10 minutes until the butter has congealed into a little ball (there will also be a separated liquid called whey). Viola, you have butter!

While the students are taking turns shaking their jar, I made a free printable for them to work on.  It’s a fun page to go over the ingredients, how they made the butter and whether they like it or not when they tasted it. You can download the free printable at the bottom of the post.

Now comes the best part, tasting the butter! I just brought a loaf of french bread from the grocery store and had the students add their butter.

After we were all done making the butter and with our papers, we went around the room asking if they like the butter or not and we created an anchor chart to graph our findings. It was a majority yes in our class.

You can download the free printable by clicking the green box below.

I hope your students enjoy this fun hands-on activity.

We’ll see you next time!

Jenette

The post Making Butter In the Classroom appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Kids love learning about owls! There are so many things we can learn about from them and so many fun ways to teach about them. For this week’s Literacy Snack Idea Owl Read Aloud, we’re reading, “Little Owl’s Night“, by Divya Srinivasan.

“It’s evening in the forest and Little Owl wakes up from his day-long sleep to watch his friends enjoying the night. Hedgehog sniffs for mushrooms, Skunk nibbles at berries, Frog croaks, and Cricket sings. A full moon rises and Little Owl can’t understand why anyone would want to miss it. Could the daytime be nearly as wonderful? Mama Owl begins to describe it to him, but as the sun comes up, Little Owl falls fast asleep.”

It’s a perfect book to incorporate into learning about nocturnal animals. The pictures are wonderful and show many of the nocturnal animals, along with some diurnal animals sleeping which make for a fantastic discussion starter to compare the two.

For our snack this week, we’re of course making Little Owl.

These resources work well with this article.

Ingredients

Each student will need

1 frozen waffle

2 Oreo cookies

2 apple slices

1 candy corn

2 candy eyeballs

Assemble

I grabbed a few boxes of pumpkin waffles from Trader Joe’s since they were in season and my own kids are obsessed with them so I thought they’d be a fun treat to make the owls with. Toast all of the waffles ahead of time. Have the students carefully twist their 2 Oreo cookies apart. Place the side with the white filling up as part of his eyes. Place the candy eyeballs in the center of the Oreos. Have the students add the candy corn as the owl’s beak. Last, add the apple slices are his wings.

Free Printable

While the students are enjoying their Little Owl snack, I made a free printable for them to work on. They get to think back to the story and draw some of the friends that Little Owl saw at night.

You can download the Literacy Snack Idea Owl Read Aloud free printable from my teacherspayteachers store below.

You might also like to incorporate this owl craft with writing prompts to take the story even further.

I hope your students enjoy their Little Owl snack!

Jee you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Owl Read Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

I love using different manipulatives for the students to practice their counting with. Working on counting to 20 is so much more fun when counting candy corn.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Prepare

This is a quick and easy one to prepare. Simply download and print the counting cards below, cut and laminate for durability. You’ll want to grab a bag of candy corn or any other fun manipulative you may have on hand already such as pom pom balls or mini erasers. I also used little cauldron containers I found in the Dollar Spot section at Target, and some other fun similar size containers I happened to find brand new at the Thrift Store.

To Play

There are so many different ways you can use these counting cards.  Simply put the cards in a stack. Have the student turn a card over and count out that many candy corn.

You can mix it up and have the students practice their counting while using a pair of plastic tweezers/ tongs and mini erasers to help with their fine motor skills.

Or pom poms are a fun way to change it up too.

You can also just give the stack of cards to the students, and have them put them in numerical order to practice their number sense. Or if they’ve mastered that, use them to practice sorting into piles of even and odd numbers, or practice skip counting. Tons of fun possibilities with these free printable candy corn counting cards!

Click the green box below to download the Free Printable Candy Corn Counting Cards.

If you are looking for even more ways to have fun with candy corn and math, your students will love practicing their ten frames with these candy corn ten frame task cards.

Or practicing their number bonds using candy corn

Do you have any other fun ways that you could use these free printable candy corn counting cards in the classroom? Let us know in the comments!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Candy Corn Counting Cards appeared first on Primary Playground.

I’m all for making math fun when I can! With this free printable candy corn math, the students get to practice greater or less than using candy corn!

All you need to do is grab a bag or two of candy corn, print and you’re ready for some math fun!

I’ve included several sheets in the free download so you are able to easily differentiate for the students from single digit to triple digit greater and less than.

I’ve included both Halloween-themed sheets and fall-themed sheets depending on when you want to use them. They’re also available in both color and in black and white. Print them in color, laminate them and add them to a center or print them in black and white on colored paper for a fun element.

You can download the free printable candy corn math from my teacherspayteachers store below.

If you’re looking for more ways to reuse your candy corn for more math activities, your students will love practicing their number bonds using the candy corn.

Or if you want to incorporate some candy corn into art and writing this candy corn craft looks adorable hanging in the classroom!

Hope your students enjoy this fun time of year using candy corn!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Candy Corn Math appeared first on Primary Playground.