Fall craft ideas for teachers grades K-4

Hello again! It's been a wild first few weeks of school.  I haven't had the opportunity to post and I do apologize for that but hopefully now the craziness will begin to settle and I can give you some more great ideas to use in your classroom.  

I was looking for a great way to incorporate the look of fall trees in the room.  I noticed that a fellow teacher had a really cool paper bag tree in her classroom and that got me thinking....Then of course I found this pin on Pinterest and I figured I would share.  I added the link to the original blog post so you can get more detailed ideas.  One thing I might add would be to have the students make thumbprint "leaves" in fall colors and hang them from the branches.  

OMG in LOVE this one! Especially if you have an owl theme in your room! 

Well isn't this just adorable! So easy to do too! 

Kinda easy- Kinda self explanatory.  Really like! I would recommend doing this in a two day process.   Those plates need a lot of time to dry! 

OK admit it- This is different! I don't think I have seen this done in a classroom before.  I kinda like the hands on idea.  Especially if you are doing a farm visit and going through a corn maze.  Would like to give the kiddos an idea of what actually grew on those stalks.  

   

Ahh yes it's also sunflower season here in the north east.  Can't forget those beauties! 

The fall time just lends itself to so many different ideas and the best things to make with your students are things that are found in nature,  I know that as a parent I tend to hang a lot of my kiddos art work but the ones that last longer on the walls or fridge are the seasonal pieces.   

My new favorite books!

Hello! Today I want to share with you my three favorite books! All three are relatively newly published and all are about one of my favorite subjects....Dogs! The coolest thing is that the authors from each of these books are from northwest Connecticut!

Here's #1! Macy's ABC Cross- Country Adventure by Susan M. Goodenough.  I love this book because I followed the authors Facebook posts as she and her husband were travelling across America with their camper.   Macy is the adorable pup of Susan and Paul Goodenough.

Click on book in Amazon sidebar to purchase.

Amazon description: 

What better way to see and learn new things than by having fun while gaining new knowledge with a new friend?In this book, follow the adventures of a dog named Macy as she introduces you to the alphabet and the wonderful things to learn about the United States. Accompany Macy as she travels from state to state all the way from Connecticut to Ida-ho and learn about the alphabet along the way.

My second favorite book is Roxy's Forever Home by Teresa Pelham.  I met Mrs. Pelham and Roxy during a school tour in Plainville, CT.  Two of the main characters in the book is a mom named Melissa and her daughter named Emily.  Consequentially we ended up adopting our own Roxy shortly afterward (Although she is of the feline persuasion).  You can go to www.roxysforeverhome.com for information on rescue heroes who save thousands of dogs every year.  

Click on book in amazon sidebar to purchase

Amazon Description:

 "Roxy's Forever Home" is a children's book based on a rescue dog's journey from the streets of Tennessee to her forever home in Connecticut. A portion of proceeds from the sale of this beautiful hardcover book will go directly to dog rescuers. The main character of the book is a little brown dog, who is now a certified therapy dog. Each copy is signed by both the author and Roxy herself.

My third favorite today is another rescue story and it is called: Neville: A Dog With A Secret. by Stephanie Ferguson.  Animal lover Stephanie Ferguson was drawn to the plight of shelter dogs when she and her husband adopted Neville.  Upon learning that up to twenty percent of adopted dogs are returned to the shelter, she was inspired to write this informative and eye-opening children's book.  When you buy this book, not only will Neville donate 100% of the proceeds to Passion 4 Paws, he will autograph the book for you. Just note the name of the recipient in the box at check-out.

Click here to purchase Neville's story

Neville is being adopted.  But his secret could destroy his chance at a "forever" home. Humorous and playful, but delivering an important message on the responsibilities of pet adoption, this is the sort of book children of all ages will enjoy over and over.  Join Neville as he discovers no one is perfect, but with a little bit of luck and a lot of hard work, dreams really can come true.

All of these books would make an amazing addition for your classroom! I know I will be sharing these books with my students this year.  If you are interested I believe all of these authors are available for your school or daycare programs.  I assume they charge a fee but you never know unless you call.     

Book Sale! A great opportunity to increase your classroom library! FREE SHIPPING!

Hello! I am so excited that I found this deal! Thrift Books is offering a buy 3 get one free Back to School sale. So you buy 3 books.  If the three books are from the same seller (very easy to do- you'll see once you check it out) then you get .50 off each additional book.

1st book= full price (I say full price but it is really inexpensive)
2nd book- Same seller- .50 off
3rd book- same seller- .50 off
4th book- FREE!

That is an awesome deal- Just saying!

This is not a book club or anything like that.  Just a really decent site that gets you great books at a low price.   I have been using them for two years now to purchase books for my Kindergarten students I work with and they are always prompt with delivery.

click here to go to site

Shhhh! Another Teacher's Pay Teacher's Sale!

WOW! Can you believe it? For the first time EVER Teacher's Pay Teacher's is offering a second opportunity to get quality merchandise at a discount price.  

My store will be on sale for 20% plus the additional 10% TPT is offering!!! Not a bad deal if I do say so myself! 

I have many literacy items available in my store.  Here are a few of my favorites! 

click here

Very cool journal pages with pre-made prompts for the first month of school. A great way to get to know your students as well as assess their writing capabilities.    

click here

I need to work on this cover- haven't fallen in love with it yet but the inside is amazing! Teach your students how to expand their writing one sentence at a time.  Work with them to add information now will result in less time consuming conferences later.   

click here

My most pinned item! Love this as a center activity. 

  Keep posted I will be creating more of these during the school year! 

~~~~~Here are a few hidden gems~~~~

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Who doesn't love Edward??

click here

Perfect for Spring- Get a jump start NOW while it's on SALE! 

click here
Leo Lionni's Birthday is in May! Get it now at a discount! 

click here
Another awesome treasure.  Comes complete with book suggestions and a discount place to buy them!

Check out all these and more at my Teacher's Pay Teacher's store! 

Please remember that for everything you purchase you can get TPT points.  Just click on MY TPT then MY PURCHASES.  There will be a list of every item you have downloaded.  Next to each item will say provide feedback.  Give positive feedback for that item and you will get points that you can use towards future purchases.  I save my points for the sales because you get more bang for the buck! 

Classroom ideas on a budget

I have been looking for inexpensive ways to make classrooms easier to manage.  I found a few but any suggestions would be helpful.  

Bookmark for interactive notebooks! What a quick and simple solution.  A lot of this kind of ribbon can be found at yard sales and who wouldn't like cool duct tape.  Students can even assemble this themselves.  Wish I knew this when I taught fourth grade.  Totally loved waiting forever for students to find the next page- NOT! 

How many times have I had to fix those tags on the classroom mailboxes.   What a great idea to use binder clips to identify who belongs to which slot.  I also had students who used to get confused as to which box was theirs- The one above or below the clip.  I may add an arrow just to show which box.  

 

Cute and inexpensive way to have students match upper and lower case letters.  This would make an awesome center activity.  You can also use this for addition/subtraction facts.  

Okay so I have pinned this several times.  Totally LOVE this idea! 

Stops the line from forming over and over again. 

I LOVE these little cups! Can't wait until the end of summer when I can get some in plastic! I use these for sight word practice all the time.  This is a cute activity involving the bear.  I usually just write the sight word on the bottom of the cup and allow the student to read them off.  For every one they get right they get to hold the cup.  Afterward they make a pyramid with the words they know.  

Cute classroom crafts for the teacher!

Trolling the Internet this week looking for some adorable Back to School teacher crafts to share with my cooperating teachers! Way too many ideas out there to choose from but I did come across some great ones!

 Add some duct tape to mini binder clips and you take the ordinary and make it extraordinary. 

What a great birthday idea.  Something you can prep ahead of time and put them away.  I am not sure about giving students that much candy but maybe a pencil sharpener, erasers, pencil and hey- maybe their own personal clips from above photo!

I have seen this done before! What a great way to know EXACTLY where your kids are.  Also something you can grab quick during a fire drill if you have some excitement in the room right beforehand.  

OMG how simple of an idea can save so much time! LOVE this! I remember always having a LINE of kids waiting to be seen during writing time.  Most of the time they would end up fooling around and getting themselves into trouble.  What a great way to get them to keep working! I would add some more suggestions on what they can do in the meantime though- sketch a snapshot of a scene in their story, re=read to see if there are any missing words., etc..

I am completely doing this with my little pirates and princesses! Eric Carl's Very hungry Caterpillar! 

Oh WOW! What an amazing find- Change a garage sale find into a classroom treasure! I don't know about you but I would definitely duck tape this bad boy! 

I've always wanted a chair like this! Maybe I will make one for my daughter's teacher.  

OOOHH I like this! Can make it to fit any theme too! 

Ok I better run now! Getting ready for camping in the outer banks! I will post another blog entry once I get settled! Be sure to follow me on Blogluvin and google +.  

It's the best of the best of the best!

With the sale on Monday I thought that today would be a great time to highlight some of my high wish listed/ purchased items.  These are items that have been tested either in my groups or in my "test classrooms" (I love my cooperating teachers).  Of course if you see something that could be improved feel free to email me at kraftyteacherz@gmail.com and if I use your idea I will send you an updated copy of the item.

Click here to check it out!

These incentive bookmarks have been popular.  Relatively inexpensive ($3)- copy onto card stock and cut. (nice activity to give your room mom)  You can either stamp, paper punch or sticker the square for good behavior/books read/ on task and once students fill the book mark they can choose from a pre-designated prize.  

Click here to check it out

Another popular wish listed item for this sale is my stretch this sentence.   I start with simple sentences and encourage students to expand them.  ($3)  There are enough for 20 days- the first month of school.  Next month's edition will come out soon! Follow me on TPT for updates! 

Click here to check it out!

LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS!   This has several pages of sight words with plenty of room to use stamps or tiles.  There is also a section where you can rainbow write (write and color) the words. ($2.50)

Click here to check it out!

This item is a spin off of my popular summer journal.  It has enough pages for the month of September along with a choice of 2 possible journal covers.  Each page has a prompt and students are encouraged to use that prompt to write.   This is a great supplemental or warm up writing activity.  I have also used similar prompts when I had a substitute teacher in the room.  Students are writing freely but still on the same topic.  They also love sharing at the end of the writing period.   ($5)

Click here to check out!

Click to check it out!

These items are very similar.  They both have book recommendations inside as well as a template for informational writing.   The lady bug piece has a craft to complete. Both are excellent for spring! 

I hope that some of these items are useful for you.  I loved creating them! Please be sure to follow me on google +, pinterest, blogger and Teachers Pay Teachers.  TPT is the most important as you will know about releases before I post it on my blog.   :) Click here to go to my store!