Acorns Keep Falling on my Head!

Acorns keep falling on my head!  Really!  Our oak trees are dropping acorns like a rainstorm. Ouch!  But, kind of like Newton and his apple, those pecks on the head inspired me to create some acorn centers.

One of the centers is Acorn Patterns.  There are 2 sizes of acorns and each size points in 4 different directions. By providing that number of variables, it will be easy to differentiate instruction for my students. They can make a simple a-b-a-b pattern with sizes. Or, I can challenge my G/T students to create something far more complex. Because the acorns are uncolored, students can make even more complicated patterns by the way they color them. 

You can grab a copy of my Acorn Pattern math center at Google Docs.

In addition to the math center, I made 3 literacy centers: Collecting Acorns (compound word match), Acorn Contractions, and Acorns & Leaves (long vowel sort). If you like the patterning center, and I hope you do, you can get the whole set on TpT.

Other fall products you may be interested in:

 

Family Reading Night

It's time, teachers, to celebrate National Children's Book Week.  

At my school, we have Family Reading Night in which families return to school in the evening. They are encouraged to visit up to 3 rooms where guest readers are sharing some favorite books. Our committee works hard to find some local celebrities to read.  We implore radio personalities, the weather girl on the local TV station, a player or coach from the U of I's athletic teams, ...  Ironically, the most popular reader is always the retired kindergarten teacher who touched so many of our children's lives and invoked their love of literature.

One of my favorite activities for National Children's Book Week incorporates my passion for poetry.  I share the following poem with my students:

I love to challenge my kiddos' creativity while helping them focus on the /ook/ rime.  To that end, I point out the lines,

          "Chefs read cookbooks,

          Pirates?  'Hook' books!

          Little kids read lift-and-look books!"

Working together, we think up other "-ook" books and readers.  For example, fishermen read bait and hook books.  Or, Chess players read rook books.  My students never fail to amaze me with the lines they create.   The all-time favorite line came from a student who had just returned from vacation in the Pacific NW.  Her line was "[Native Americans] read Chinook books."  (I inserted the pc term; she actually said, "Indians.")  Can you imagine???

If you are looking for a set of books that promote reading and a love of literature, I recommend the following:

• Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair by Patricia Polacco
• The School Mouse by Dick King-Smith
• Wild About Books by Judy Sierra
• Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen
• Born to Read by Judy Sierra
• Reading Makes You Feel Good by Todd Parr
• The Best Book to Read by Debbie Bertram & Susan Bloom
• The Best Place to Read by Debbie Bertram & Susan Bloom
• The Best Time to Read by Debbie Bertram & Susan Bloom
• Miss Brooks Loves Books (And I Don't) by Barbara Bottner

If you like this poem and activity, you can find more fall poetry, teaching points, skill lessons, and activities in my product, Poetry Possibilities - Fall.

It is available in my TpT Store or in my TN Shop.

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Poet-tree

Just outside my classroom window, there is a beautiful maple tree.  My kiddos and I love to watch it grow and change throughout the year.  A while back, I decided to make a paper version of that maple and posted it just outside my classroom door.  Then, as a class, we  would mimic the changes the real tree went through.  

I start with a brown, craft paper trunk. 

Prior to school opening in the fall, I use the school's Ellison Die Cut machine to cut bunches of green maple leaves.  Writing each student's name on a leaf helps to make them feel a part of the group and welcomes them back to school.

                

I put the leaves on the trunk and pretty much leave it alone for awhile.  

As the leaves begin to change colors and fall, we make our tree do the same.  (Swapping the green leaves for the fall leaves is a great activity for early finishers.)

The tree transitions from fall to winter and we replace the leaves with snow (stretched out cotton balls).  All of this is in conjunction with scientific observations of our tree.

Because I do this with 1st graders, the tree does not become a Poet-tree until spring, when they are more skilled writers.  Then, as they write poetry, they make a copy on the computer and print it.  Recycling the green leaves from the fall, my students glue their poems to a leaf and put them on the tree.  It never fails to amaze me how motivating that is for 1st graders!  Before long, the tree is full.

Our tree buds with budding poets!