Book Inspired Kids Crafts Roundup - I Heart Crafty Things A big hello today to all of you lovely Glued to My Crafts fans! My name is Rachel and I blog

Creative ideas to get kids excited about reading deeper.

Find out about an engaging story elements game that easily works with any fiction text that your students will beg you to play!

Writing stories together can be a great exercise for little ones to develop storytelling, literacy and writing skills. Connect storytelling and yoga by asking kids to write stories about their favorite yoga poses. Use our Mountain Pose template to help kids develop proper story structure!

Introducing an encouraging and uplifting story about perseverance and striving to achieve the things we can’t do quite *yet*~ featured in the MaiStoryBook Library Collection: “The Magic…

By Fausto Gilberti A clever, quirky book about one of the world's most beloved contemporary artists. Yayoi Kusama covers her paintings in hundreds and hundreds of dots. Her dots come off her canvases to cover dresses, tables, walls, and more! She creates mirrored rooms and fills them with glittering balls and lights, u

This product is designed to be used as a follow up activity after reading the story A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue by Julia Cook. What's included: -12 children choices -a tattle tongue to be colored yellow and purple -a tattle and reporting tongue with 8 different indicators for sorting -Bulletin board letters that read, A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue How to use: Print the bulletin board letters onto colorful paper and then cut and hang them for a hallway display. Next, print the craft templates and have students color cut and glue to assemble. Once completed, the crafts are ready to be displayed. This activity is a wonderful way to follow up after the read aloud to review and discuss which indicators include tattling and which include reporting. Follow me to stay updated on new products and freebies! TPT Store Blog Instagram Pinterest

We LOVE activities to go with books! This Free Printable Mouse and Cookie Hat is a fun activity for your kids to recall and retell the story.

I can't even believe May is almost here…. time flies in the spring! This might just be my favorite time of year to teach kindergarten.

Zacchaeus is a real-life example of the power that Jesus has to change our hearts. The goal in this lesson is for the children to feel the darkness and ugliness of sin, and then experience the joy and miracle of forgiveness when Zacchaeus meets Jesus! Bible Truth: Jesus has the power to forgives my sin. Bible Story: Jesus changes Zacchaeus' heart. Bible Study: Luke 19:1-10; I Corinthians 5:7 teach cha-ching! To tell the story of Zacchaeus "hands-on" style gather up these items: children's picture Bible, or flannel graph scenery and characters a small bag or coin pouch loose change a cut-out of a black heart and a white heart Peak your class's interest in your lesson by shaking the bag, and letting them guess what is inside. They will probably easily guess that you have money in your bag! Pass out a coin for each child to hold throughout the lesson. (Remind them that they should never put coins in their mouths!) Read the story of Zacchaeus from a children's picture Bible, or tell it in your own words with visuals, such as flannel graph. Introduce Zacchaeus as a short man, who was a tax collector. His job was to collect money that people had to pay to the king. But Zacchaeus took more money from people than he was supposed to. If someone was supposed to pay one coin to the king, Zaccahaeus made them pay two coins, and he would keep one of the coins for himself. That is called stealing. Zacchaeus was rich and had lots of money, but nobody wanted to be his friend because he stole money from them. He had a dark sinful heart. Hold up the dark heart as you describe Zacchaeus' dark and sinful heart. Go on to tell the rest of the story of Zacchaeus meeting Jesus, as you show pictures from the children's Bible or manipulate flannel graph characters. At the conclusion of the story, talk about how amazing it is that Jesus changed Zacchaeus' heart! He used to be a man that stole people's money, but now he gives his money away to people! Jesus did a miracle! Only Jesus has the power to take a dirty, sinful heart and give us a new clean heart! Zacchaeus repented, he turned away from his sin, and followed Jesus! Hold up the white heart as you describe how Jesus changed Zacchaeus' heart. Lead the class in a prayer, asking Jesus to forgive their sin, and change their hearts so they can follow Jesus like Zacchaeus. After you pray, collect the coins from the children. Tell them that they are giving the money back just like Zacchaeus did after he repented. sing Zacchaeus (was a wee little man) is a Sunday School classic, and the perfect song to reinforce the story they just heard. Be sure to do some actions with the song! The Repent Song is the same song we learned along with the story of John the Baptist, so it's great review and repetition. Follow the link for the lyrics and actions. The Bath Song is a great song about how Jesus washes away our sin with "super soap." The "call back" format makes it really easy to sing along! craft color & paste Here is a coloring sheet from Sermons 4 Kids of Jesus talking to Zacchaeus in the tree. Cut pieces of green paper, or green tissue paper into leaves for the children to glue onto the tree. zacchaeus meets Jesus A good craft is one that helps children retell the story that they learned. This craft does exactly that! You will need: this print out in (black & white) or (color) card stock scissors hole punch yarn green tissue paper glue clear tape crayons (optional) To prepare, print the print out page onto card stock. Cut on the dotted line, and cut out Zacchaeus. Punch a hole at the top and bottom of the tree. Cut out approximately 1" x 1" squares of green tissue paper. Cut yarn into 16" lengths. In class, provide glue for the children to attach the squares of tissue paper to the tree as leaves. Lace the yarn throught the holes and tie it behind the tree. If using the black and white version, provide crayons for the children to color Jesus and Zacchaeus. Tip: Tie the yarn near the top of the page, and attach Zacchaeus to the bottom of the page. It is easier for the kids, if you let them glue on the leaves before you add the yarn. Use clear tape to attach Zacchaeus to the yarn. Tip: Set the clear tape under the yarn, sticky side up, and then press Zacchaeus onto the tape. Move Zacchaeus up and down the tree to retell the story! up and down the tree For this craft you will need: this tree pattern this Zacchaeus pattern green construction paper jumbo craft sticks yarn scissors hole punch crayons glue tape To prepare, cut out the top, leaf portion of the tree pattern, and use it to trace onto green construction paper. Cut out tree and Zacchaeus figures. Punch a hole near the top of the trees. Cut yarn into approximately 7" lengths. In class, provide crayons for the children to color Zacchaeus, and the jumbo craft stick. Help them attach the tree to the craft stick with glue. Tape Zacchaeus to the yarn, thread the yarn through the hole in the tree, and tie the yarn off in the back to move Zacchaeus up and down the tree. Find more ideas and for teaching your child at home about Zacchaeus and his encounter with Jesus, here!

This reading response worksheet is ideal for practicing story elements, reading strategies, comprehension, text connection, author study, vocabulary work and so much more!

Are your students having trouble identifying theme within a story? This step-by-step process scaffolds through several reading comprehension skills to help students get a thorough understanding of theme. Students will be able to determine the theme of a story, poem, or drama from details in the text by first

Kurt Vonnegut published fourteen novels over a period of fifty years as well as numerous short stories, plays and works of non-fiction.

The Teacup Story based on Jeremiah 18: 1-6b. Inspirational Free Printable story. A Beautiful story about your worth. You don't have to be perfect on the outside. You were created with a purpose.

We talk a lot about using picture books in our teaching. I am wondering though if you are using wordless picture books in your lessons. If not, you are missing out on a great teaching resource. I try to incorporate wordless picture book in my lessons for a variety of lessons. picture source Well, besides the fact that a picture is worth a thousand words, there are plenty of other great reasons to incorporate wordless picture books in your teaching: -They lend themselves to any lesson you could think to teach. -They level the playing field in the class. Without text to contend with, you can still teach reading and writing skills/strategies to the whole class or mixed ability groups without needing to level. This is great for your lower performing students and your ELL friends. In fact, I find that my high ability students are often the ones that don't so as well with wordless book activities. They often like to stick to the text and want it to be "right." With wordless picture books, you have a lot of wiggle room which can make them uncomfortable. My lower performing students are often able to take the lead in these types of activities. -It sparks your friends imagination. Without text, you will be amazed at what they read into what they see. -You can use the same books across many grade levels depending on what you ask your friends to do with them. They aren't just for little kids! -A lot of the ways I use these books require my kids to be up and moving or working on the floor in small, cooperative groups. Anything different from seat work is always welcome! -These lessons also often require collaboration, conversation, and decision making as a class. I thought I would share with you some of the ways in which I have used wordless picture books in my classroom. Now, for each of the skills/strategies I list below, I have given an example of how you can teach it. However, there are a bazillion other ways you could teach these lessons. These are just some examples. You could expand the lesson or simplify it as you see fit or maybe you have your own idea on how to do it. Do what works for you! Sequencing -Copy all the pages of your book. Divide the pages into three parts; beginning, middle, and end. Give it to three groups. Each group sequences their pages. Then, bring the three groups together to decide the sequence of the three sections. Once they have decided, I tape the pages in order up around the room and we view the story from beginning to end. As a groups, they can make any last minute changes at this point. We then read the actual book and see if we sequenced the same way the author did. This is where the real lesson comes in. If there were no changes, you can discuss how they determined sequence. It's important for them to verbally justify their reasoning. If their sequence doesn't agree with the book, they have to defend their reasoning. I find that there are times when the sequencing my friends do really does make more sense than what is done in the actual book. It is in the discussions where I hear how my friends are applying sequencing skills. This is great for your ELL friends as it puts them on an equal playing field to the rest of the class as there is no text to struggle with, and still teaches them the skill. Many of the lessons that follow are great for your ELL friends for the same reason. This is also great for the lower grades if you use a simple book. They can organize simply for beginning, middle, and end. Inferencing & Predictions Without words, you must really analyze the story story through the illustrations. When reading the book with your friends, have them make predictions before the next page. Without text to cite, they really must apply some good inference reasoning. When you do this as you read the book, they are always in anticipation of turning the page to see if they were correct. Dialog & Mood Select a page or two that has two characters. What would those characters be saying in this situation? How do I write that dialog? Using just one page for this makes it a good quick hit for a mini-lesson. You can then give your friends another page to write the dialog in independent practice. This is a great way to have them practice crafting power sentences as it forces them to incorporate mood, which they must determine from what is happening in the illustration. You can also just use the illustrations to determine mood without having to write the sentences. In this case, the dconversation you have with your friends is critical. They need to explain how they determined mood. What in the picture gave you that idea? What are the characters doing? What is the setting? Did the illustrator use darker, moodier colors or brighter, happier colors? I find this same technique an excellent way to teach internal monologue. After reading the book with the class, I focus on a page that comes later in the story. At this point, there is something going on in the story, some conflict, so my friends have something to work with. We then focus on one character in the illustration. I ask my friends what this character might be thinking. What would his thought bubble say? We go on to discuss how internal monologue gives us insight to the characters, their feelings, motivations, etc. and how it can give us additonal information that we may not otherwise know. My friends then work in pairs to come up with internal monologue for different characters in the book or for the same character in different parts of the book. Without fail, I find after I do this lesson, my friends begin to incorporate internal monologue in their own writing. Character Analysis After reading the book, what do you know about the main character/protagonist? This really focuses your friends on a characters actions. Create a list of character traits with your friends. The lesson comes, again, in having your friends justify their choices. What makes them say the character is kind or frustrated or loving? You get the idea! Narrative Writing Obviously, there is no text in a wordless picture book. Have your friends write the story guided by the illustrations. This is a good way to teach or review narrative writing. You can write the story on chart paper as a shared writing activity. This way you can be sure to guide them in incorporating the required narrative elements. Or, you can always do this as a small group or independent writing assignment. I like doing it in small groups at the end of the narrative writing unit. I can see my friends applying what we have learned. Also, it is really a lot of fun when we read the stories from the different groups. While we all had the same illustrations to follow, the stories are always different. The plots vary, some go for humor while other groups are more serious. Some groups embellish beyond the pictures, while others pretty much stick to the pictures. Identify Plot Structure, Story Climax For this, I usually have my friends sequence the story first. Then, we discuss the story plot. Once we know what is happening in the story, my friends identify the story page that shows the climax of the story. We can then look at the pages before and after. If you have taped your story along the wall as we do, you can then move the pictures to show the plot mountain. picture source When you tape the pictures in a visual display on the wall, they can then use sentence strips to label the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. It is a very concrete, visual way to teach these elements. Main Idea & Supporting Detail If you've done either the sequencing or plot structure lessons above where you ordered the pages on the wall, you should try this lesson. Have your friends identify the page that essentially shows the maid idea. Once you are all in agreement, have them take down any pictures that don't support that main idea. You will be left with only pages that show events which support the main idea. Again, a very visual and concrete way to teach this skill. I would chart this with words. Write the main idea and then, looking at the pages, come up with a sentence for each supporting detail. I would also just suggest being particular about what book you use. Some wordless picture books tend to be very fanciful and imaginative. This works best with a book that follows a less imaginative, "real" story. Those are just some ideas for lessons you can teach with wordless picture books. Depending on your learning goal and what you require of your friends, I find them to be excellent books to use across all grade levels. In particular, your older students will really get a kick out of using them because it is so different from their norm. So, let's talk books. Wordless picture books can be hard to find if you don't know what you are looking for. In my public library, the wordless picture books are mixed in with all the other picture books. You could spend forever looking for one without words. With a simple Google search, I was able to find a few different lists. Below are two links I think might be helpful in getting you started. I selected these list because they both have books I have used with great success. I'll tell you a little more about two of my favorites that are on the lists. The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has a nice selection of books listed online. One of my favorite books on this is list: The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney. It is a wordless retelling of the Aesop fable and won the Caldecott in 2010. It's perfect for so many different lessons. This one book can easily be used for all the lessons I listed above. The Louisville Free Public Library also has an online list. A few of the books on their list are the same as on the Carnegie list, but there are some different ones. One I like and have used is You Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum by Jacqueline Weitzman. Being just a quick train ride away from New York City, my friends can always make connections to this book as many have been to large museums in the city. What I really like about this book is that there are multiple illustrations on each page. There is usually a larger, main illustration with smaller ones around it. It is like having supporting details on the page for the main picture and is very helpful for your students that need more information or visual clues. Between these lists, you should have a good starting point. There are a lot of great wordless books out there, and these are just a small sample. There are so many others I could go on about. Talk to your school media specialist, and see what they recommend. It would be nice if they had a special section just for these types of books. However, don't be discouraged if you can't get your hands on any wordless picture books or don't have the time to go looking. It is easily solved. Grab your favorite picture book and some Post-It notes. Simply cut the Post-Its to cover up the text. Voila! You can turn any picture book into a wordless picture book. So, is any of this helpful or have I just rambled on? :-) How are you using wordless picture books? Do you have a favorite to share?

I mean...why WOULDN'T you use cootie catchers in your reading block? It makes perfect sense. Ok - remember last week how I was talking about doing a little spring cleaning with some of my TpT resources? Well, I did a little spring cleaning in my file folders on my computer as well. Yikes. Now THAT'S a bit of a rabbit hole. I got in a little deeper than I wanted to, but I figured I might as well finish the job. I got rid of a lot (a LOT) of cringe worthy products that just didn't make the cut anymore, and I got some major organizing done as well. BUT - you know what I found? THIS >>> It's a reading comprehension cootie catcher that I TOTALLY forgot I made! And since it resurfaced for me - I thought I'd resurface it for you! I'm sure I made it for you guys in the first place, but I can't for the life of me find it anywhere on the blog. There's actually 3 different versions. They have different comprehension questions that can be used with any fictional book. They work great as a quick partner review game. You can download them here! Find any long-lost things in your spring cleaning, lately? Pin and Share this freebie:

The Pigeon has to go to school and he's not happy about it! In fact, he's worried. Help kids kick their first-day fears with these fun ideas!

Introducing a back-to-school read about staying true to yourself and sharing your story, featured in the MaiStoryBook Library Collection: “The Day You Begin” by Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael Lopez …

If you're searching for a valuable tool to enhance reading comprehension skills and engage students in exploring literary worlds, short story reading comprehension worksheets are a great choice. Designed for teachers and parents seeking to promote critical thinking and analytical skills, these worksheets provide a platform for young readers to delve deeper into the characters, themes, and plots of captivating short stories.

ALL ABOUT FRIENDSHIP Friendship and conflict solving skills are so important to teach our kiddos. Our job is to teach them important social skills. They need these tools to ensure successful relationships with their peers and adults. It is tricky, but it can be done! I am sharing some

This morning I was feeling overwhelmed with all the little things I had to do today. I was wishing I could do something that "mattered"—and I was sure loading the dishwasher didn't make the cut. I found myself thinking about the boy who gave his lunch to Jesus, and I had one of those "aha!" moments where I realized

Story sequencing cards help kids order story events as they retell the story. These free printable sequencing cards are a great tool to have on hand!

Get your students reading and writing this summer with these fun and engaging enrichment activities for elementary grades.

We LOVE activities to go with books! This Bear Hunt Printable Hatt is a fun activity for your kids to recall and retell the story.

Teaching setting of a story to your first graders in an engaging way with these different activities. Build comprehension skills by teaching this story element.

When it time for kids to do some story writing, often it’s difficult for them to start because either they don’t know exactly how to organize their story or they don’t know what to write about. This FREE Story Writing Pack helps with both problems! *This free printable pack can be found towards the END of ... Read More about Story Writing Ideas for Kids {FREE Pack}

If your child loves telling and writing stories use these free printable story cubes to inspire creativity and get your stories started.

Growth Mindset: The Power of Yet Recently my 1st grade classroom has morphed into a K/1 combination classroom and then resulted in HUGE gaps (academically, socially, & emotionally) between my s…

Fred feels so angry one day! Luckily his parents are here to help him manage his feelings. Read the best bedtime stories, fairy tales and short stories here!

It's another week of teaching bible class to these precious three year olds! They sure loved this lesson of Samuel and the fun activities that went with it. ARRIVAL Just like every week, the first 10-15 minutes of class the children come in and play with toys that are laid out on the table. It is

DaisyDoggy presents "Story Map: Beginning, Middle, End + Problem & Solution." Includes 2 graphic organizer story maps. 1) Used to identify the Beginning, Middle, and End of the story. 2) Used to identify the Problem and Solution of the story. Each graphic organizer also includes space to identify Character and Setting. **UPDATE: As requested, have included version of each with space to include the title of the book.**

If you are looking for some high-interest activities, try using animated shorts to teach inference. Free handouts focus on student learning.

Storytelling activities not only build imagination and creativity, but they can be a beneficial learning tool too! Great for the classroom.

Upper elementary blog with practical, rigorous, classroom tested ideas to implement with your students.

Help your little one understand stories better with our free The Grouchy Ladybug sequencing activity. This playful printable is perfect for early learners! 📚 #readingcomprehension

If you are teaching about Noah's ark, teach using hands-on bible crafts that include the wonderful promises of God. This version of Noah's Ark includes only 4 Steps, yet beautiful and creative!

Short stories are a great way to engage students and teach meaningful skills without having to enter into long units. Middle schoolers love a good suspenseful story that can be covered in a single …

Today’s Wednesday, and that means it’s one day closer to being break for me. And for the rest of you, only three more days ’til the weekend! Today’s post offers you another …

If your third or fourth grader is starting to think about taking up a musical instrument, help him get the basics of reading notes with this handy sheet!

UFLI Foundations and Secret Stories are the perfect pairing for effective science of reading based phonics instruction.

This post shares 15 read alouds for teaching story elements with brief summaries and the specific story element skills each read aloud addresses.