Kid's Co-op Linky Party: Post #2

It's a Kid's Co-op Linky PaRtY!! Let's share some kid-friendly fun for the week of March 30th. This Little Blogfish is a happy girl to be a new Kid's Co-op host along with many other great bloggers! I hope that you'll bookmark Little Blogfish and follow me here and on Pinterest too. 


Please stop by again next week and in between too. Join this fun collection of family & kids play-based ideas and more. Scroll down and check out all the great stuff being shared or add your ideas too. 


One favorite from last week was The Artsy Craftsy Mom's Kandinsky's Water Color Circles. Here is what she linked up last week. 

Another favorite was Kitchen Counter Chronicle's Spring Flowers for the Front Door. Here's she linked up last week. 

Be sure to follow the links and check out these posts. I plan to feature some of my favorite kid-centered ideas here next week too. 

I hope that a few of you will be excited to be featured here next week. I look forward to checking out your links and following and discovering some new blogs...even little blogs like this one.

Now, let’s see what fun this week brings. The Kid's Co-Op link up is co-hosted by these awesome bloggers and will show up on their blogs as well.  Don't forget to add a link back to this Kid's Co-op party somewhere in your post and include our button somewhere on your blog. 

Please stop by and like the Kid's Co-op! Facebook page. 

<a href="http://www.littleblogfish.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://rainydaymum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/comeplayatkidsco-op.jpg" alt="Kids Co-op" width="125" height="125" /></a>

Enjoy and thanks for joining the "school" at Little Blogfish!

How To Add a Pinterest Pin it Button to Blogger Posts Video Tutorial

Would you like to add a Pin it button to your Blogger posts? I have created a video just for you that explains how to add a Pinterest Pin it button to your Blogger posts. I hope you enjoy my video.

If you enjoyed this video, Pin it, follow my blog, and follow me on, Pinterest, of course.
Robin @ Little Blogfish

Kid's Co-op Linky Party Fun: Post #1

It's a Kid's Co-op Linky PaRtY!! Let's share some kid-friendly fun. This Little Blogfish is a happy girl to be a new Kid's Co-op host along with many other great bloggers! I hope that you'll bookmark Little Blogfish and follow me here and on Pinterest too. 


Please stop by again next week and in between too. Join this fun collection of family & kids play-based ideas and more. Scroll down and check out all the great stuff being shared or add your ideas too. 


I plan to feature some of my favorite kid-centered ideas here next week. I was so excited to featured on B.Inspired, Mama and Toddler Approved last week. Check out my son's O'Keeffe inspired flowers and tips for making them too Here.

I hope that a few of you will be excited to be featured here too. I look forward to checking out your links and following and discovering some new blogs...even little blogs like this one.

Now, let’s see what fun this week brings. The Kid's Co-Op link up is co-hosted by these awesome bloggers and will show up on their blogs as well.  Don't forget to add a link back to this The Kid's Co-op party somewhere in your post and include our button somewhere on your blog. 

Please stop by and like the Kid's Co-op! Facebook page. 

<a href="http://www.littleblogfish.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://rainydaymum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/comeplayatkidsco-op.jpg" alt="Kids Co-op" width="125" height="125" /></a>

Enjoy and thanks for joining the "school" at Little Blogfish!

Our School's Georgia O'Keeffe Art Lesson

Art lessons from the classroom: With spring blooming at our backdoor, we tossed most of our textbooks aside for a while and decided it was time for some spring art. We've had fun learning about Georgia O'Keeffe and her artwork. I thought I'd share an art technique with you that will help your budding artists.

Our lesson started with a whirlwind tour of The Georgia O'Keefe museum HERE. I've said it before, but I don't know if I'd make it as a homeschool teacher without the internet. We were able to tour this museum from our home. Now that's great!! I sorted the artwork by category first, so we were just looking at the flowers. You'll need to do the same because not all of her work is for the kiddos. 

We talked about the colors and her techniques. My student was interested and ready to go. 

Next, I armed him with his camera and sent him outside with simple directions. Take pictures of the flowers in our yard the same way a bird or bee  would see them. The images to the right of the post are my 2nd graders O'Keeffe inspired collection of what's blooming in our neck of the woods.

This is the picture that I liked the best. While it's not a flower, my kiddo still followed my directions. This is from a bird's eye view. Can you guess what it is?

With our photos ready, it was time to work on some art of our own. This is a simple technique that can have great results in your classroom.

1. Ask your kiddos to place one dot on their paper. No matter where they put this dot, it becomes the middle of the flower.

2. Now, for the next set of directions. Choose either Wide or Narrow. This choice will determine the width of the petals. My kiddo chose narrow and I chose wide.

3. Next, draw the narrow or wide petals out from the middle of the flower with pencil. The only rule is that the petals must go off the edge of the paper on all four sides. This is what gives us the bird's eye view.

4. Then we traced our pencil lines with colorful permanent markers.

5. We finished up our flowers with your standard water colors. I really loved the results.

My Kiddo's Flower

My Flower

I hope you're able to use this technique in your classroom no matter where your classroom may be.

Enjoy!

Robin @ Little Blogfish

Spring Education Linky Party and Spring Egg Printable Freebie

Happy Spring! Welcome to the Spring Education Resources Linky Party 2012. I'm looking forward to teaching about spring and sharing some fun classroom and educational ideas. We're gearing up for our local 4-H science fair and already have lots of spring topics on our To-do education list including spring crafts, spring life cycle projects, and glyphs.

Printable Geometric Eggs Freebie
I've been busy working designing more products for the classroom, and I created these printable geometric Easter eggs. Your kiddos can use paint, color, use ink or markers. It's your choice with these geometric coloring eggs. This packet contains 11 geometric eggs created with 2D shapes. Use the eggs to help review shapes in your geometry units and add a Spring and Easter fun twist. Your students can be creative as they color these eggs in their own unique way. Let them try coloring the sections where shapes overlap with one color and the other shapes another color for their own masterpiece. These are free for a limited time. Head on over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store to download your copy: Click Here As a favor, please follow my store and rate this product for me while you're there, and check out my Kite Glyph, Bunny Glyph, and Easter Chick Glyph too.


Spring Education 2012 Linky Party: Join the FUN!

Pin It One of the best things about being an educator whether you're teaching in a classroom, online, or at home is sharing with other educators and parents. So, join my Spring Education Linky Party or check out the resources below. If you're blogging about spring and it's educational, please add your link. Add your spring educational products, spring crafts, spring lessons, spring word work, spring math, spring craft ideas, spring art, spring Easter egg hunt, spring printables. If it's about education and spring, link up---I'm not picky! Please Pin our Spring Linky Party so that others can join the fun!

St. Patrick's Day Fun and Linky Party

It's time for some St. Patrick's Day Fun with leprechaun traps, St. Patrick's Day word challenges, leprechaun glyphs, shamrock glyphs, and if that's not enough...add a St. Patrick's Day Education Link Up!!!

Set a Leprechaun trap

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all! Are you decked out in green? Are you prepared to catch a leprechaun?

Here is a fun, free way to enjoy this Saint Patrick’s Day with your children: Create a leprechaun trap!

Sounds fun, right? Avoid hearing, “I’m bored.” Challenge your children to build a leprechaun trap. Arm the kids with the recycling bin, access to kitchen drawers (depending on their age), natural resources outdoors (this could be a green activity), or even craft supplies.  You may want to provide some rope or string if the trap will need to be set by pulling.

Then send your children outdoors. Let them be creative and come up with their own leprechaun bait. What would lure Leprechauns in? Perhaps rainbows, marshmallow cereal pieces, shiny coins, or special shiny rocks would do the trick. 

Then your students build the trap. This is a great idea for a group project or even a team event. Perhaps you could include the concept of using simple machines. Can they design a trap that uses a lever, wedge, or pulley?

Then, set the trap in motion. If no leprechauns show up near your trap, use an item like a tennis ball and see if the leprechaun trap can hold it. Good luck! But I’ve heard that sometimes we never see them. We only see the gold dust or glitter that they leave behind!

Do your kids need some inspiration? Check out these links:

Family Fun

To Catch a Leprechaun

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/to-catch-a-leprechaun-710897/

Flickr

Image of Leprechaun trap

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42873250@N00/3360068961/

Scholastic

Leprechaun Traps (teacher tip)

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3746825

Have a Word Challenge

See who can make a word using the most letters from LEPRECHAUN or ST. PATRICK'S DAY. Click  HERE to go to my free St. Patrick's Day Word Challenge Freebie. It include letter tiles for each letter in the words above and a record sheet to list the words you make.

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Create a St. Patrick's Day Glyph


Glyphs are great classroom tools that teach students about following directions and using a glyph (or in this case a pattern of a St. Patrick's Day shamrock and leprechaun) to represent ideas. For example, if a child's favorite color is green, their leprechaun will wear a green vest. If it is another color, they will put a yellow vest on the leprechaun. Then, they can work together and use their shamrock or leprechaun glyphs to create graphs. Please come by my Teachers Pay Teachers Store to check out my Leprechaun Glyph and my Shamrock Glyph for St. Patrick's Day.

Click here to learn about my Leprechaun Glyph

Click here to learn about my Shamrock Glyph.

Join the St. Patrick's Day 2012 Linky Party or Check Out More Ideas Below

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Are you looking for an St. Patrick's lesson for the classroom? Would you like to find a St. Patrick's Day craft? Perhaps you're looking for a St. Patrick's Day writing project. Perhaps you have one of these items to offer. If your St. Patrick's item has to do with education, link up. Please add your link or check out a link below. Have fun and happy St. Patrick's Day 2012!


Robin @ Little Blogfish


Click the blue add your link button to get started.

{FREE} Teaching Short A and Long A Vowel Sounds Game: Literacy Center

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Ready to Learn Short and Long Vowel Sounds

Is your child ready to learn about vowel sounds? Let's start at the beginning and teach about the long A and short A sound. First, the short A makes the sound you hear in words like back, ban, bank, and bat. The long A sound is heard in words like bake and bay.

Play a Game to Learn the Sounds

I use a dice game that I created to teach more about these vowel sounds.  Download my FREE Short A and Long A Vowel Sounds Literacy Pack HERE from my Teachers Pay Teachers store. If you like this freebie, please follow my Teachers Pay Teachers store and rate my product.







This literacy game and packet will help your students learn to recognize short A and long A vowel sounds in a creative and fun way. Students enjoy games, so they will have fun when learning. This material is intended for students in 1st-3th grade, and it can be used as a literacy center activity. Your packet will include a letter to the teacher, Teacher Directions, a Literacy Center Folder Cover, Student Directions, one set of Student Score Forms for three students, Dice Pages to print and assemble five playing dice, and one blank Student Achievement Certificate.

Letter Dice A Fun

With your child, toss all five dice. Each of you should work for a set amount of time (depending on the child, set your own time limit), and try to create as many words as possible with the letters that land facing up. You and your child should each write these words on a sheet of paper. Then, to determine who wins the game, each person gets one point for each word. Then, if the child correctly identifies the word as having a long A or short A sound, the child gets an additional point. before the game, plan to play until one player get to a particular point value. We like to play to 25.

For example, if you roll an ACK, AKE, B, T, and V, a child may list words like back, bake, tack, and take. He's get 4 points for the words with 4 bonus points for identifying back and tack as having a short A sound and bake and take having a long A sound.That's eight points for the first round.

Extra Practice

If you'd like to work with some long A and short A words before you begin the game, here's the list of ending sounds from the dice. We used these ending for writing practice and spelling tests when we added letters to the beginning.

Short A Sounds

• ack
• an
• ank
• ap
• at

Long A Sounds

• ail
• ake
• ate
• ay

I hope you enjoy this lesson. Be sure to check back to my follow my blog and my Pinterest page for more classroom tools and tips.



Recommended Fun Read-- Suzy Mule: Teaches Long Vowel Sounds
 

Enjoy,
Robin at Little Blogfish
www.littleblogfish.blogspot.com