Primary Chalkboard

Stamp a Story: A Fun Writing Activity

When I taught first grade, my students LOVD making sticker stories (click here for that old post) and they loved to "stamp a story." I usually used this as a writing center or early finisher activity. This takes a little more bravery on your part. Let's be honest, ink is a pain. If you leave it open, it dries out. If kids get over excited, their is ink all over their hands, clothes and paper. Yikes. But let's get serious here. If it gets them writing, then I'm all for it! 

The Easter Bunny brought stamp-a-story into our house this year and reminded me how fun it is. Thank you Amazon! (Side note: These little stamps solve a lot of the problems with the big mess because there isn't a separate ink pad that can attract little fingers and smear all over. Wishing I had these when I taught first grade!) 

After Shawn made a few random pictures with stamps (by random I mean as many stamps on a page as he can fit,) I suggested we make a story with the stamps. First, I set the stamps up so we could see the picture. We talked about which stamps could be characters and which stamps could be part of the scenery. Then we brainstormed different ideas for stories with these characters. I asked simple questions like, Where are your characters? What are they doing? 

Before he started stamping, we also talked about what the scene would look like. I told him this is going to be like a picture, similar to if he were to draw it. We started with the grass, then added in flowers and animals. Last, he added in the butterflies and dragonflies. 

Finally, he was ready to do his writing: 

Keep in mind he is a kindergartener. A first grade student may choose to add more detail to their story. (I would add a back page of lines for a first grader.) After writing this, he said he wanted his next one to be all about forest animals in spring. Informational writing... BOOM!

Here are my tips for the classroom when using this as a center:






Where do you find stamps? Amazon baby! 
The top row are all little stamps. The benefits are that they are not as messy and you don't have to purchase a separate ink pad. The negative is that they run out of ink faster and you are stuck with the color they give you BUT you can always use an ink pad with these little stamps after they run out. The bottom row are bigger and you can choose the color based on the ink pad you choose. They are slightly more expensive, but not too bad. They are easy to use when creating a scene though. :) 

Click on the picture to download the links to these stamps. 


To get started, download this template by clicking here or on the picture below.


If you have any additional tips, I'd love to hear them! Share your tips or experiences in the comments. :) 

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Earth Day!

Hey friends! It's Karen from Mrs. Jones's Class.  

So...I'm one of those "Earth Day every day" people. I am a stickler for reusing, recycling, and trying to live as green as I can. Needless to day, I {heart} Earth Day!

Are you interested in becoming a little more "green" too? It is really not that hard, and just a few little changes to your daily routine can help.

One bigger change I made last year was that I joined an organic CSA. A CSA is an acronym for Crop Sharing agriculture. Basically, we buy a "share" of a local organic farm. Ours is small and family owned. We pay a yearly fee and each week in the summer season (May-October) we get a big ole' box of organic produce that is grown and harvested right at our farm. We also visited a few times last year to pick. We are eating healthier, and feel good that we aren't contributing to unnecessary chemicals being added to our food and our earth. Here are some pictures of our weekly goods, as well as from our trips to the farm. What is better than pulling your own carrot from the ground, wiping it off, and eating it! :)
I would highly recommend googling "CSAs" in your area and looking in to it!

Back in the classroom, I like to show my kids how we can be green a little "greener" to help the Earth too!

I created this Earth Day mini-unit to show my little ones the importance of Earth Day, every day! 

Included is this super cute Mosaic Earth Day craftivity, which you can use some some of those scraps of construction paper up with. 

You can find it here in my TpT shop. 

You can also grab this little Earth Day mini-book 


Peace, love, and green!
xoxo
Karen 


Hoppy Easter Friends

Hi my friends!  I'm so excited to be posting on EASTER!!!  It's Vicky from Teaching and Much Moore and I hope you are having a blessed Easter with your family.  I just want to share a quick little freebie for y'all as a gift on this special holiday!  I head back to school after 2 glorious weeks off for Spring Break so my mind is getting back in the game.  If you are still in school right now I'm sure this will come in handy right after Easter.  Enjoy and have a wonderful Easter!!! 



                                                                xoxo, Vicky








Celebrating Easter in the Classroom

Hi friends! It's Haley from My Silly Firsties! I wanted to stop by and share a little bit of Easter fun we have had and things we will be doing for the rest of the week! :) I have babies of many different religions in my room so I definitely keep it very non-religious! We still have tons of fun though! 




First, we did a fun little skip counting activity! We are working hard skip counting by 2s and immediately I thought of bunny ears! We used Jennifer's directed drawing. First, I showed them how to do it once. Then I gave them a LONG sheet of butcher paper and let them go to town!


Then they skip counted above the bunnies to count the ears! It really helped solidify not counting each ear, but counting by 2s to make it more efficient!

We had state testing today and it was a LONG day for us. My babies had to be quiet and that just does NOT come natural to them, hahaha. I needed a fun "break" this afternoon that would still let them practice their writing! We did this precious craftivity from Cupcake and I'm so glad we did!! I barely ever do crafts where they just cut/glue but it was too cute to pass up. Plus, like I said, I just needed a break, haha!

 A few years ago, I made this simple little write the room freebie that you could easily print and use this week!

I also made these SUPER fun math and literacy centers! My sweeties LOVE them! I can't wait to use these this week! You can click the pictures to see it on TPT! :)










Here are some of my favorite Easter read-alouds!


And finally, if you want some more holiday ideas, be sure to follow my holiday board on Pinterest!

I hope everyone has a fabulous Easter! I'd love to know how you celebrate!

For the 'Pun' of it: Fun Ideas for Teaching About Puns!

Hello Friends!!  


I am excited to share the fun way my kids have been learning about different puns.  


They have been having a blast getting their own secret pun each day and creating a visual display for the literal and non-literal meanings behind each pun.


Puns can be found by simply searching google.  I found a great FREE resource that I used.  Check it out!




And here are some of the fun ways my kids have described these fun puns:







I hope you can have as much fun with your class as we have learning about puns!


Happy Teaching!
Jen Bengel


Who Wants to Go to VEGAS?!?!

 Have you ever been to VEGAS?!?!?!
Sparkling lights, amazing sights, and delicious bites...can't you just picture yourself in VEGAS?

 

Well Primary Chalkboard and SDE are giving you a chance to visit LAS VEGAS!


That's right!  Primary Chalkboard and SDE are giving away your choice of any SDE session in Vegas.

But that's not all, we're also giving away a $25 gift card to the Crystal Springs Bookstore, so you can have a little something to take home with you!

Still, that's not all!  Primary Chalkboard is also giving you $300 in cash to help pay for your transportation, room, food, or whatever expenses you have!

NOW can you "Picture Your Selfie" in VEGAS?

I'll bet you're asking yourself how can you enter to win this fabulous prize, right?

Well, here's how to do just that.

Each of us has a "tip" for visiting Las Vegas.  You simply visit and "like" each page below.
On each tip, you will find a card and on that card is a number.  Keep track of those numbers and add them together.  You will enter that on the Rafflecopter below.

You can also get an additional entry by posting a selfie on Instagram holding a sign telling us why you want to come to Vegas.   
Be sure to use #primarychalkboardsendmetovegas so it will count.

We hope we see YOU in VEGAS!



 

Teaching Kids about Bees- Freebie

Hello, Katie here form Teacher to the Core! Is there anything better than the Springtime? Yes, summer vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  But for the moment the world is blossoming and so are our students!!!

 Bees are fascinating to children, thus making them the PERFECT material for reading, writing, close reading questions, and smart art!
Busy Bees Freebie From Teacher to the Core- Enjoy
The passage is about  a RR 16, Level H/I, and Grade level 2.0 with questions to test comprehension.  It’s a freebie for you!!! Enjoy my loves!
Download now new
If you would like to buy this unit it is on TpT. You can click {here}.
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