It's About Time, Teachers!: GATE

Showing posts with label GATE. Show all posts

Monday, May 1, 2023

IT'S ABOUT TIME for END-of-the-YEAR CRAZINESS!

Once May begins, some students think learning ends. You can quell that craziness with activities that are so engaging your students will beg to do them. I'm talking about SQUARE PUZZLERS. These brain teasing puzzles exercise critical thinking & problem solving, build perserverance & stamina, and stimulate the mind. Similar to Scrambled Squares^TM, these differentiated, logic puzzles must be reconstructed so that the images match on every interior side.

You can try SQUARE PUZZLERS for FREE with this product:

My store is stocked with dozens of SQUARE PUZZLERS and they are all on sale this week. Puzzles are reduced 20% and SQUARE PUZZLERS BUNDLES are discounted 30%. Find all of my SQUARE PUZZLERS here. Following are a few to pique your interest:

Watch this video to see how SQUARE PUZZLERS work:

For students learning sight words, I offer SQUARE PUZZLERS featuring Dolch words for pre-K through 3rd grade.

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

IT'S ABOUT TIME for HINK PINKS!

If you are not familiar with HINK PINKS, you are in for a treat. They are word riddles that pack a ton of serious learning into a super, fun activity. The clues to the riddles lead to a 2 word answer. The solution words must rhyme and each have just one syllable. Here's an example:

The answer is SWEET TREAT.

The vocabulary skills exercised include definitions, synonyms, parts of speech, rimes, & tenses. Research skills are involved, too, if you provide dictionaries, thesauri, and their technology versions. At the same time, learners will interpret data, make inferences, draw conclusions, and analyze new information; i.e. work with H.O.T.S. In addition to all these good things, HINK PINKS are so popular among students that you will be amazed. Mine literally beg to do HINK PINKS every day.

If you are curious about them, check out this free set:

HINK PINKS have been a staple in my teaching for decades. Hence, my TPT Store offers more than 3 dozen HINK PINK products and their cousins HINKY PINKIES and HINKITY PINKITIES. I even have HINK PINKS and HINKY PINKIES for Kinders that challenge students to determine the rhyming words based on pictures; no reading required. Here's the FREE version of those:

You can find HINK PINK units at a 30% savings if you opt for the bundle.

There are also bundles for HINKY PINKIES and HINKITY PINKITIES.

There are combination units for holidays, also bundled for additional savings.

I offer combination units with specific themes, too.

Now is a great time to stock up on HINK PINKS, et al. There are a few hours left in TPT Site Sale. But, if you missed it, my store will remain on sale 3/30 & 3/31/23 at 20% savings. That's 20% off the already reduced bundle prices.

Thursday, February 9, 2023

It's About Time for Presidents Day!

I reached into the archives to pull out this craftivity. It's a fun way to make a Presidents' Day display.

For every student you will need 1 sheet each of red, white and blue construction paper. I used 8" x 8" square sheets, but you can avoid a lot of cutting by using 9" x 12". You will also need cardboard patterns of Washington & Lincoln. I found silhouettes online, printed them, and then traced them on cardboard. Cut them out and your resources are ready.

Since paper weaving has been around forever, I'm assuming you know how to create the woven background. After each student has chosen which 2 colors to use for the weaving part, ask them to exchange 1 of those sheets for about 6 - 8 pre-cut strips of the same color. I supply the 1" strips.

When the weaving is completed, each child should borrow the silhouette pattern of their choice to trace on their remaining sheet of paper.

The beauty of this project is that by encouraging your students to choose 2 colors of their choice for the background, saving the 3rd for the silhouette, you will give your classroom a burst of color without having all 20+ projects look the same.

Following are some resources for Presidents' Day that I think you will love: