A blog by Melanie Lloyd (From the Pond) about classroom activities and printables for K-3 learners.
Ladybug! Ladybug! Fly away home. We drew ladybugs here in our creative space recently and would love to show you the steps we took so you can draw one too. Steps to draw a ladybug 1. Draw a big curve - like a tall rainbow! 2. Draw a second, smaller curve on the inside. 3. Draw a line across the bottom. 4. Draw six legs and little feet underneath. 5. Draw some curly antennae. 6. Draw some big oval eyes. 7. Draw some rosy cheeks and a big happy grin! 8. Draw some big beautiful spots on her body! 9. Get your paints out and add some color! We do hope you get a chance to do some ladybug drawings too. We have a huge range of directed drawing packets over in our TpT store. Find them HERE <
Create a positive and well-managed classroom environment with our class rules posters and activity book! This editable resource features 6 simple, yet powerful, classroom rules designed to foster a bright, happy, and productive learning space. These visually appealing posters serve as constant reminders for students to follow expected behaviors, helping them stay on track with positive actions. This comprehensive classroom management tool includes six essential rules that cover most behavioral expectations in any classroom: Listen Be Nice Try Hard Be Safe Share Care To suit your classroom’s needs, we’ve provided three display options: Full-page posters for prominent visibility. Half-page landscape posters for a streamlined look. A consolidated "All on One Page" poster for quick reference. These rules are written in positive language, making them easy for students to remember and apply to various situations. For example, "no running" aligns with "be safe," ensuring that every expectation is clear and simple. To further reinforce these rules, we've included a student activity book where students can draw pictures for each rule and create their own personal copy of the classroom rules. Plus, the editable versions of all rule posters and activity pages allow you to customize the text and font to perfectly match your classroom's needs. What's Included: 6 Editable Classroom Rules Posters in 3 Display Options Student Activity Book: Encourages students to engage with and understand each rule. Editable PowerPoint File: Customize text and fonts to fit your classroom style. Return to our store home page here
If you are unable to integrate Halloween spookiness into your curriculum, think beyond the ghosts and ghouls! My recent post on wombats and the many comments and emails I received about how utterly fabulous wombats are, got me thinking. There are so many wonderful wombat stories, and one of my favourites is 'Wombat Stew' by Marcia K. Vaughan. Wombat Stew Wombat Stew is the story of a dingo who captures a nice fat wombat, with plans to cook him up in a stew. Various other Australian bush animals happen by and offer Dingo suggestions as to what he should put in his stew before adding the Wombat. Dingo follows their advice, adding all sorts of weird and wonderful bush ingredients. In the end, Dingo is encouraged to give the stew a taste test, and let's just say that our lovely plump wombat friend is saved! The text has a lovely, captivating rhythm and the illustrations are very entertaining. A Non-Spooky Halloween Alternative The billy can that is used to make the stew, looks a lot like a cauldron! It would be great to read to your class in the lead up to Halloween along with, or instead of stories of witches, spells and cauldrons. Meg's Cauldron is one you find find appropriate for kindergarten. After reading Wombat Stew, you could possibly follow it up with a writing lesson on procedural texts. Talk with your class about the purpose of procedural texts and the organisational features of them. Procedural Text Project My daughter and I jointly constructed part of a procedure for Wombat Stew (see photo above). We just did the first half - 'what you need' part. In the classroom, I might have done the what to do part as well. We cut a simple billy (cauldron) from black paper, and a worried looking wombat from brown paper. I then helped her recall the text and find the ingredients that were needed to make wombat stew and wrote each of a different piece of coloured paper. Making an enlarged version of the procedure will help students to understand the organisational features of the text type. You can have it in your classroom to not only talk about and discuss, but as a decorative display. Here is a writing worksheet that you may like to use in conjunction with Wombat Stew or another story in the upcoming weeks. Your students can decide what they will make in their cauldron and list the ingredients they will need. I'd love to share it with you from Google Drive: Wombat Stew Writing Page
School bus free back to school craft.
Our Wrist Wraps will make acknowledging positive student behavior and achievement fun, engaging and easy-to-prep! We have carefully illustrated 10 gorgeous bands and provided them in color and blackline versions for you to simply print and cut. Wrap them around the wrists of your students and apply a piece of tape or dab of glue to secure. Included in this file so far are the following brag bands: Great work Well done I am wonderful I am a super star I am kind I am an awesome helper I worked hard today I do not give up I am amazing I did excellent work Little learners would love to color a blackline version using crayons or bright pencils before you wrap it on their wrist! In each of the 10 designs, we've provided 5 different color choices. Hop over to TpT to find this new printable in our collection!
My little one LOVES to pokey pin! Why Pokey Pin? It can be a perfect way to help cranky, agitated little ones relax and refocus. It helps with fine motor coordination. Once finished, the pages make a great window display in the classroom. Some of your kids will also enjoy the sensory experience of running their finger along the lines created at the back of the page when its finished. Alphabet Pokey Pin Pages I have made a new set of 'Pinning Pages' for my TpT store. Just print of the relevant page. Staple it to the front of a coloured piece of paper. How to Pokey Pin Provide your students with a drawing pin (push pin) - I like the giant push pins (Amazon affiliate link). Show them how to work on a soft surface or stack of newspaper. Demonstrate and emphasise the safety rules of working with pins. I show them that we always point the pin down, and never move around the classroom with it. Also emphasise the importance of putting the pin away correctly when the activity is finished. I have never had any problems with this activity after a thorough mini-lesson on safety. We have created a set of printable rule posters if this would help you. Students push their pin through each dot on the page to create a small hole. Then once finished, the white cover paper is removed to reveal the design. This spider is just one design out of 26 included in my new "A-Z Pinning Pages" product. Free Sample Pokey Pin Page If you would like to try out this activity we share this pumpkin page with you over in our free Coloring Club library! We know your little learners will love it!
Sam and I made this bee project this morning over breakfast. True story! We almost cleaned the brush in my coffee a few times instead of the water cup. I drew, he did most of the painting. Kindergarten has got him all creative, which is lovely to see. This weekend, it has been ALL about painting. You can make this 'Bee Mine' drawing (or painting) with your sweeties too. Follow the steps we took using these photos, or hop over to TpT where I have added a printable guide to our store. The steps here are free for you to follow, the printable pack is part of our paid store collection. Start with a nice big piece of paper. Draw a heart. Draw a circle or oval around the heart for the bee's body. Draw heart shaped wings. Eyes on top - and eyeballs! Add a smile, antennae and a stinger. Add some stripes to the bee's body and extra hearts within the wings. More hearts - or your own pattern for the background! And voila, a cute bee for Valentine's Day. Now you can paint, crayon or color and finish off by retracing in black marker. We added oil pastel after the paint dried for extra pop! Hop over to our TpT store to find the directed drawing instructions in printable formats including writing papers! Find more directed drawings in our TpT store HERE to support amazing creative lessons for your little learners.