Happy November! I’m back today with the November Joke of the Day 2nd Edition, ready to print and go for you!

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November Joke of the Day 2nd Edition

Have you been following along each month as I post a different joke of the day on Facebook?

Since this is the second edition, there are all new jokes this month! You’ll find some silly animal jokes and a bunch of Thanksgiving jokes this month. Each month, I also turn them into a printable so you can easily print them out and have the page handy all month to share with your class or your own family at home.

These jokes are a simple, fun way to connect with your students and make them laugh. This month we have fun jokes that are sure to make your little ones giggle and maybe get some eye rolls.

Share the jokes with your class during your morning meeting, getting ready to go to lunch, or when you are packing up for the day before you go home.

I made the joke of the day printable available to print in both color and black and white.

You can download the November Joke of the Day 2nd Edition printable by clicking the green box below.

In case you missed the first edition of the November Joke of the Day printable, you can find that here.

I hope your kiddos will enjoy this new set of jokes just as much as the first!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post November Joke Of The Day 2nd Edition appeared first on Primary Playground.

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!

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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.

Do your kids love jokes? Today I’m sharing the November Joke Of The Day Printable for you to share with your students each day. You’ll be sure to get some giggles and maybe a few eye rolls!

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Each day I share one of these jokes on my Facebook page. This month, I have some super silly animal jokes and a bunch of great Thanksgiving jokes. If you have any other favorites, be sure to share them below in the comments!

I’ve made it in both color and black and white for you. Share a joke with your students each day during your morning meeting, when you get from lunch or are leaving for the day.

Click the green box below to download the November Joke Of The Day Printable.

In case you’re missed any of the other months of jokes that I’ve shared, you can find them here.

August Joke Of The Day

September Joke Of The Day

October joke Of The Day

Make sure to come back next month to grab the December jokes!! See you next time!

Jenette

The post November Joke Of The Day Printable 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.

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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.

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 quickly approaching next week, I had one more turkey read-aloud literacy snack idea I wanted to share with you. This week, we’re reading The Very Stuffed Turkey by Katharine Kenah.

In this book, Turkey has five homes to visit — Horse, Pigs, Sheep and Goat’s, Cows, and Mouse’s –Turkey knows there’ll be a ton of food to eat. But there’ll also be friends and their families who can’t wait to celebrate the holiday with Turkey!

Your little learners will enjoy following him along on his adventure from house to house spending time with friends and there’s even a parade at the end!

For our snack this week, we’ll be making Turkey!

This Resource Works Well With

literacy snack idea

each student will need

1 Ritz cracker

2 candy eyes

5 apple slices -approx half of an apple If you sliced the apple a bit thinner you could get 3 or even 4 students’ feathers out of one apple.

And an extra small piece of apple skin to use as the turkey wattle

A small triangle piece of sliced cheese as the beak.

Assemble

Have the students start by laying out their 5 apple slices as the feathers. Place the Ritz cracker at the bottom of the apple slices. Put on the eyeballs. Add the triangle beak and the small slice of apple for the wattle and they’re done!

Free Printable

While your students are enjoying their turkey snack, I made a free printable for them to work on. They will work on their sequencing skills and number the pictures in the correct order of the houses that Turkey visited in the story. They can then color the pictures.

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

If you’re looking for even more Thanksgiving read-alouds you can find some of our favorites here.

I hope your students enjoy their Turkey snack! See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Stuffed Turkey 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.

Being Thanksful

Teaching our little learners to be thankful is something that is very important to me. I’ve shared some of my favorite books about being thankful here in the past.

And even have a cute free printable I’m Thankful Turkey Hat too that your kiddos can fill out what their thankful for. They can take them home to wear on Thanksgiviing with their family.

This year, I was searching for a new book about being thankful to add to my collection this year, and came across a new book, I Am Thankful.

I Am Thankful is an adorable, rhyming book that follows three different families as they celebrate Thanksgiving with their own traditions, acts of kindness, and ways of giving back. I absolutely loved this book!

This Resource Works Well With

In the back of the book, it gives some great suggestions of how your students can show that they are thankful. They can all be adapted to be done both in the classroom or at home.

Taking a tip from the book, I made a Free Printable I Am Thankful Turkey Placemat so you can easily do it with your class.

Free Printable

For the I Am Thankful Turkey Placemat, you’ll simply start by downloading it at the bottom of this blog post. Print one for each student. They can fill in one thing or a few things that they are thankful for. They can fill it in on the line at the bottom. Or maybe they want to add some more, they have enough room to fill in each of the leaves and turkey with additional things they are thankful for.

Have them color the placemat to finish it up. You can then just send them home with your students. Or you can laminate them so they can be used and wiped like a placemat. Or another fun option is to have them use a glue stick and attach them to a larger piece of colored construction paper and then laminate to make it more of a holiday gift/decoration to send home.

A little twist on an all-time classic turkey handprint. It just isn’t Thanksgiving without one is it?

Click the green box below to download the I Am Thankful Turkey Placemat.

I hope you are able to check out this fantastic new book, it really is a great addition to your class library for November.

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable I Am Thankful Turkey Placemat 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.

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.

Are you little learners working on learning their 2D shapes right now?  I made this Free Printable 2D Shape Sort for a fun way to review. They’re perfect to add them into your center rotation or to use in small groups. The students always love these sorting games.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Getting Started

Download, print and cut out the shapes and game pieces. Laminating is suggested if you’ll be using in the classroom for durability.

To Play

To play the shape sort, you can start with just a few shapes that your students are learning about. Let’s say like the picture above, square, circle, and triangle. They will then sort through the pictures of real-world objects and find one that matches the shapes and place them on top.

There are 4 objects to match with each shape. As your students learn more 2D shapes, add in the more as they grow to the sort game.

The 2D shapes that I have included are a square, triangle, circle, rectangle, hexagon, oval and rhombus. If you haven’t introduced all of the shapes yet the students can still play the game with a portion of the shapes.

If you’re looking for more ways to practice 2D shapes, we have many other fun activities like these 2D shape hats.

Our 2D and 3D shape spin and covers, and a fun activity for small groups or the whole class, 2D shape bingo.

And our all time favorite 2D shape picture crafts. And you can get our free scarecrow one here and our free flower one here.

You can download the Free Printable 2D Shape Sort below.

What are some of your favorite ways to teach and review 2D shapes in your classroom?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable 2D Shape Sort 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 is a great time to talk about character traits and tying it all into being thankful and grateful. I have the perfect book to help with teaching character traits to little ones this time of year. This week, we’re reading for our Literacy Snack Idea Cranberries read-aloud, we’re reading Cranberry Thanksgiving, by Wende Devlin.

Every year Grandmother invited a guest for Thanksgiving dinner and allowed Maggie to do the same. “Ask someone poor or lonely,” she always said. Thanksgiving was Grandmother’s favorite day of the year. The cooking was done and her famous cranberry bread was cooling on a wooden board. But she wasn’t happy to find out Maggie had invited Mr. Whiskers to dinner. Would her secret cranberry bread recipe be safe with him in the house? 

This book has so many great lessons in it. From a good reminder to the adults that not everything has to be perfect to invite people over to teaching the kids not to judge someone on looks and to give everyone a chance.

So for this week’s snack, we’re of course having Grandmother’s famous cranberry bread.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack Idea

Below is the recipe from the back of the book. Make 2 loaves (double the recipe) for your class. You can tell them one is for them and one is for Mr. Whiskers! If you do not want to or have time to actually make the bread, by all means, stop by the grocery store and pick up a couple of loaves from there!

Grandmother’s Famous Cranberry Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup butter, very cold
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 tsp grated orange peel
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups light raisins

If you choose, you may substitute cranberries for the raisins to have all cranberry bread. -This is what I did.

Preparation

1. Butter or lightly spray a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan.
2. Sift together into large bowl flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
3. Slice butter into 1/4 inch cubes; Cut butter into flour mixture until it is crumbly.
4. Add egg, orange peel, and orange juice; stir briefly until just mixed.
5. Gently fold in cranberries, and walnuts, and/or raisins, if desired.
6. Bake at 350F for 1hr and 10 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
7. Remove from the pan, and cool on a wire rack.

Yield

Makes one loaf.

Free Printable

While the kiddos are enjoying their cranberry bread, I made a free printable for them to work on. They will get to reflect on what lesson they learned from the story and draw a picture of Grandmother’s famous cranberry bread.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store below.

Do you have any other fun activities you like to do with this book? Share with us on our Facebook page or in the comments below.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Cranberries 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.

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.

November is a great time to teach about corn. There are so many fun things you can do, from tying it to the Native Americans to turning it into a science experiment and growing sprouts from a cob. There are so many amazing facts about corn and things they are able to make from it, I feel like I learn something new every time we go over it. So for this week’s Literacy Snack Idea Popcorn, we’re reading The Popcorn Book by Tomie de Paola.

This is a fun book with almost 2 stories in one. Twin brothers go through the process of making popcorn all while one of them reads different facts and legends about popcorn.

So of course for this week’s snack, we’re having popcorn.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack Idea

There are a few different ways you could do popcorn for your class. Go super easy and buy pre-popped popcorn from the store, Costco has a great big bag that’s yummy. Or bring in microwave popcorn so the kids can hear it popping. Or ideally, make air-popped popcorn in an air popper. That way the kids can see and investigate the unpeopled kernels like they see in the book and then get to see the change that happens while popping. If by chance you have access to a stove at school that would be an awesome way for the kids to see it pop too.

Free Printable

While the kids are enjoying their popcorn snack, I made a free printable for them to work on. They will get to draw a picture in each popcorn piece to show 3 things they learned about popcorn from the book.

And if you are looking to take it even further your class will love our Cooking Class How To Make Popcorn.

You can download the Literacy Snack Idea Popcorn free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store below.

Do you have any other fun activities you do to teach about corn?

More popcorn ideas for you. Real and nonsense word sort and counting practice to 20 with popcorn.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Popcorn 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.

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.

I love sharing different cultures with my kids. I think it’s important that they know and understand how and why other people celebrate different holidays. Dia De Los Muertos or Day of the Dead is quickly approaching so this week for our Literacy Snack Idea Dia De Los Muertos-Day of the Dead, we’ll be reading, Rosita y Conchita by Eric Gonzalez.

This is a fantastic book that tells how and why they celebrate the Day of the Dead on November 2nd each year. It teaches that it is not a scary holiday but one to remember loved ones that have passed away and all of the different ways they celebrate from making an altar, music, and food.

For our snack this week we will be making our own version of a sugar skull.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Ingredients

A skeleton cookie cutter for the class to share

Each student will need

A piece of bread

A small amount of whipped cream cheese or white frosting

1 mini Oreo

2 large candy eyeballs

1 raisin

3 m&m’s

A few black sprinkles

Assemble

To make the sugar skull snack, The students will need to share the cookie cutter and cut a skeleton head out of their piece of bread. Next, they’ll spread some whipped cream cheese or white frosting onto the bread. Take the mini Oreo and twist it apart and place them as part of the eyes. Put the candy eyeballs on top of the mini Oreos. Use the raisin as the nose and add the black sprinkles as his mouth. Use the 3 m&m’s to decorate above the eyes.

Free Printable

While your students are enjoying their sugar skull snack, I made a free printable for them to work on. They will get to decorate their own sugar skull and color the Marigold and guitar.

You can download the Literacy Snack Idea Dia De Los Muertos-Day of the Dead free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store below.

Do you have any fun activities that you do with your class to teach about the Day of the Dead?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Dia De Los Muertos-Day of the Dead 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.

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.

November is a great time to teach about community, working together and being thankful. For this week’s literacy snack idea, we’re reading Stone Soup, by Jon J Muth.

“Three strangers, hungry and tired, pass through a war-torn village. Embittered and suspicious from the war, the people hide their food and close their windows tight. That is until the clever strangers suggest making a soup from stones. Intrigued by the idea, everyone brings what they have until– together, they have made a feast fit for a king!”

Most students can relate to the feast the people are having in the story this time of year. Family members bringing dishes to come together for Thanksgiving.

So for our snack this week, we’re making our own stone soup.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Ingredients

There are a couple different ways that you could make the soup. You can ask your students to each bring in a different item to help make the soup, or you can just pick up the ingredients on your own which is what I did today. Depending on which version of Stone Soup you are reading, you may want to change up the ingredients a bit.

In our soup, we used

a bag of frozen peas

a bag of shredded cabbage

a box of vegetable broth

2 cups of water

mushrooms

half of an onion diced

3 carrots chopped

salt

pepper

a stone that you have cleaned thoroughly

crockpot

bowls & spoons for tasting

Assemble

Have a student carefully place the clean stone in a crockpot to start the soup. Have the other students help combine all of the other ingredients in a crockpot and set on high for 4 hours.

When the soup is done, it’s time for tasting! Ladle a bit of soup into a bowl for each student to try.

While they are tasting their stone soup the class has made together, I made a free printable for them to work on alongside it.  They get to color the pictures of the items that the class added to make the stone soup.

You can download the Literacy Snack Idea Stone Soup free printable from my teacherspayteachers store below.

This is such a fun activity with everyone coming together in the class to create something to share!

We’ll see you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Stone Soup appeared first on Primary Playground.

Everyone likes chocolate chip cookies right?! I made these free printable cookie counting puzzles to go along with one of our favorite books If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Have you seen the animated show they’ve created on Amazon? It’s been a huge hit with my kids and they’re up to 3 seasons now!

I’m always looking for new ways to make practicing math fun. These free printable counting cookie puzzles work perfectly as a center or for small groups. You could even print them and send them home with your little learners that may need a little extra help.

To Start

Start by downloading the free printable cooking counting puzzles at the bottom of the post. If using in the classroom in small groups or a center, you’ll want to print them on card stock and laminate them for durability.  Cut out all of the puzzle pieces and you’re ready to play!

To Play

Mix up all of the puzzle pieces. Have the student choose a number card with Mouse on it.

Have them look for the matching number of cookies to make the puzzle match and set it aside. Have them continue matching all of the puzzle pieces. There are numbers 1-10 for them to practice counting.

To store them, you can save them in a plastic baggie, or my favorite way is to store them in small plastic photo boxes that I get from Michaels for $1.00 They are nice because I can stack them and easily find what I’m looking for in the future.

You can download the free printable counting cookie puzzles below.

Another favorite activity to do alongside these free printable counting cookie puzzles are these milk and cookie counting mats. The kids love using mini chocolate chip cookie cereal to physically count out the numbers and practice writing.

And this milk and cookie real and nonsense word sort is perfect to add as one of your ELA centers.

Or even turn it into a craft and writing activity with this mouse craft with writing prompts. They look adorable hanging in the classroom!

I hope your students enjoy all of these fun chocolate chip cookie activities as much as mine do!

We’ll see you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Cookie Counting Puzzles 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.