Fun DIY Projects for the Summer

Summer is coming and hopefully you will have a little more time to tackle some of the projects that you've wanted to try all year!

I am a DIYer and love to turn any "trash" into learning tools and toys. Here are a few of my favorite that are perfect to get ready for your year next year. I blogged over at Classroom Tested Resources about a few of my favorite DIY projects.

Head over to get some DIY ideas for your summer...

Make Your Own Font!

Check out my new favorite program!!
MyScriptFont.com has a FREE and fantastic handwriting font creator. I saw this and got so excited.

The process is quick and easy. Download the template from the website, print it out, and fill in your letters.

 If you get outside the faint gray line at all it will cut off your letters.

 It was so exciting when my handwriting was actually on the computer!! If I am this excited, imagine how great it will be for your kids.  My kids were really into this. My son has spent hours creating new sets of letters and trying them out on the computer. This has been a great motivator for writing. He really wants to get on the computer and write ANYTHING!!

You can use these fonts as a motivator for your kids during the summer, or to get them excited about homework during the school year. I can imagine creating a new seasonal font, every time their excitement starts to wane.

Hope someone out there finds this a fraction as exciting as I do!! I would love to hear how you use, or plan to use, this program with your kids...

Read About the Sea!

I blogged over at The Primary Pack with some ideas to get your kids excited about the ocean. Head over to pick up some great ideas!

Here is a list of some of the books, that I love, featuring the ocean and the creatures in it.

A Dolphin Is Not A Fish, by Betsey Chessen and Pamela Chanko

Stars of the Sea, by Allan Fowler

The Biggest Animal Ever, by Allan Fowler

Ocean, by Pamela Chanko and Susan Canizares

Coral Reef, by Susan Canizares and Mary Reid

Friendly Dolphins, by Allan Fowler

It Could Still Be Coral, by Allan Fowler

What Comes in a Shell?, by Susan Canizares and Betsey Chessen

Who Wants a Ride?, by Robin Bernard and Katherine Tillotson

What is a Fish?, by David Eastman and Lynn Sweat

Is A Dolphin A Fish?, by Melvin and Gilda Berger

Really Wild Animals: Sea Babies, by Sandra Markle

Animal Covers, by Luana K. Mitter and Mary M. Wagner

At the Ocean: With Foldout Flaps, Illustrations by Ute Fuhr and Raoul Sautai

Sea Creatures, by Jane P. Resnick and Anton Ericson

Five Little Sharks Swimming In the Sea, by Steve Metzger

Over In The Ocean In A Coral Reef, by Marianne Berkes

Thanks for stopping by! Stay tuned for more ocean ideas...

Milestone Freebie + MORE!

I wanted to give a huge and heartfelt thank you to all of you who have given me support and feedback on my teaching journey! I love to share my ideas with you and LOVE to get your feedback on my products and ideas.

I reached my first milestone on TPT and am excited to be able to share a freebie with you. This pack is free for the week of May 31st, 2015.  I would love to get your feedback on this teaching tool, or any others. Your comments always make my day :)

Scoop up the free math center here.  This center can be used with real match box cars, or with the car manipulatives provided. It is great for your kinesthetic learners!

I also wanted to share one more freebie with you! This will be free for this week only!

 

Thanks so much for all of your support and stay tuned for more surprises!!

 

Buggy Bonanza

 Creepy, crawly insects are AWESOME! Kids love to interact with "gross" and beautiful bugs. Spring is the perfect time to break out the bug activities!

My mom and I got together this weekend and came up with a little song about insects. This song is sung to the tune of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic". Get a FREE copy of the lyrics to "Song of An Insect" here. I even recorded myself singing this song for you to use with your kids. I am a teacher- not a singer, so please don't judge the song quality!! :)

I love using songs to get kids engaged with their learning. It helps them learn and retain information. When you add props to the songs, you make the learning activities even more interactive. This is great for kinesthetic learners.

We used masks to enhance the "Song of An Insect", but you could use puppets, plastic toys, pictures on a stick, or any type of manipulative! Kids use the props to act out the information in the song.

We also used games with an insect theme to practice basic skills. Kids often forget that they are learning, when presented with information in a game format. This allows kids to get much needed practice in a fun way.

"Roll, Say, Keep" is one of my favorite games. It allows kids to practice almost any skill in a fun and easy format.

We used "Roll, Say, Keep" to practice numeral recognition.

Upper and lowercase letter recognition.

 Letter sounds.

I love using the letter and number cards from the "Roll, Say, Keep" game for memory, on the pocket chart, and in so many other ways.

Scoop up the "Roll, Say, Keep" from my TPT store. You can get the Butterfly Numerals here and the Butterfly Alphabet and Letter Sounds here.

"Butterfly Bump" is a great game to get your kids adding! Bump is a great game that allows partners to interact with addition in a fun way. All you need is the board, two dice and cubes of 2 colors.

Get your FREE copy of "Butterfly Bump", for a limited time, here. I would love to hear what your kids thought of the game!

I'll share one more fun game for early learners. You can get my copy here, or use simple manipulatives to create your own. This is a simple counting center.

I included two different types of mats that are differentiated. One set of mats has a model to provide a scaffold for kids that are still learning to count. The other set of mats has no model and students must count independently.

It's a simple, yet fun, center to get kids counting.

 This pack also includes a variety of printables to extend the learning. You can use them in morning work, homework, or in the center. Get the "Catching Bugs Counting Center" here.

Thanks so much for getting buggy with me! I hope you found some great ideas to get your kids excited about bugs. I would love for you to comment with your ideas, too!

Buggy Bonanza!

I blogged today over at The Primary Pack. Head over to see some ideas on insect themed activities! I would love to hear what you think!

 You can also scoop up a math FREEBIE!

 

 

And a FREE song about insect characteristics!

Teachers Make the World Colorful!

I'm so excited to be teaming up with The Primary Pack to bring you this amazing Giveaway! It is in celebration of all of you amazing teachers! We are also giving away one big GRAND PRIZE on The Primary Pack blog to one fabulous teacher, but we are also giving away special gifts on each of our pages!

I am giving away $25.00 credit to my store. I hope you can have tons of fun shopping there!

Enter below in the Rafflecopter to win! The giveaway will run through Sunday, May 10th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

And now, for the GRAND PRIZE!

Over at The Primary Pack, we are giving way a 250.00 gift card to Tieks! That's right, Tieks! The most COLORFUL, comfortable, Italian leather shoes around! We know how much money you have undoubtedly put into your classroom this year for resources and supplies--so this giveaway is all about a splurge just for you! For 250.00, you can even get a fancy pair! To enter, click HERE or click on the image below!

And don't forget to visit each of our blogs for chances to win even more great prizes!

An InLinkz Link-up