Megan Sheakoski's Blog
Posted by Megan Sheakoski
Laura Numeroff's popular holiday story If You Take a Mouse to the Movies [HarperCollins, 1998] follows a mouse and a little boy as they set off on a series of silly adventures beginning with a trip to the movies. Kids love the light-hearted story and teachers can use the book to teach reading, writing, and math lessons.
- The Language Experience Approach Lesson Plan: Make Popcorn With Kids to Teach Them How to Read Their Writing helps students increase language arts skills by writing about the shared experience and making popcorn and using their story for reading and grammar lessons.
- In How to Teach Elementary Kids Compound Words: A Reading Lesson Plan Featuring If You Take a Mouse to the Movies students play a popcorn themed compound word match game to practice identifying and using compound words.
- During the Elementary Snowman Glyph Math Lesson Plan: Teach Kids How to Follow Directions to Create a Non-Standard Graph students answer questions to create a snowman glyph non-standard math graph that tells a story about the person who made it.
- The If You Take a Mouse to the Movies Reading Lesson Plan: Increase Comprehension Skills by Teaching Kids How to Sequence helps students increase their understanding of text by learning how to order plot events.
Teachers who are unfamiliar with the children's book If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff can browse through the story on the HarperCollins website.
Posted by Megan Sheakoski
Halloween is an exciting and motivating topic for elementary kids. Teachers can use the following Halloween themed lesson plan articles to create a fun elementary unit for their students.
- Halloween Reading Lesson Plan and Activity: Use Halloween by Jerry Seinfeld to Teach Purpose and Main Idea
- Halloween Creative Writing Lesson Plan: Teach Elementary Students How to Use the Writing Process
- Halloween Snacks for a Primary School Party: How to Make Easy October Treat Recipes for Elementary Kids
Have fun learning and celebrating Halloween with your students!
Posted by Megan Sheakoski
Pumpkin themed lessons are fun for both teachers can students. Use this collection of pumpkin lesson plan articles to create an exciting October unit plan for kids.
- Ten Little Pumpkins Poem and Math Lesson: Finger Play and Circle Time Activities for Kindergarten Kids
- Pumpkin Snacks and Treats for Kids: Ideas and Recipes for a Fall Themed Elementary Classroom Party
- Elementary Repeated Reading Lesson: Teach Primary Students to Increase Fluency and Comprehension
- How Pumpkins Grow Lesson Plan: Teach Elementary Students About the Life Cycle of Fall Vegetables
- Pumpkin Themed Science Lesson Plan: Teach Kindergarten Kids How a Pumpkin Grows
- Teach Elementary Students About Rhyming Couplets: Pumpkin Poem Lesson Using The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin
- Fall Leaf, Apple, and Pumpkin Writing Prompts: October Themed Primary Journal Topics, Story Starters, and Projects
- Pumpkin Pie Math and Science Cooking Lesson: Teach Primary Students to Measure, Estimate, and Use Fractions
Posted by Megan Sheakoski
Fall is an exciting time of year for both teachers and students and the perfect time to plan pumpkin themed lesson plans. Ten Little Pumpkins is a counting poem can be taught to kids as a finger play during circle time or as the introduction to an addition and subtraction pumpkin math lesson.
Ten Little Pumpkins Poem and Finger Play
by Megan Sheakoski
Ten little pumpkins growing on a vine,
One was picked and then there were nine.
Nine little pumpkins looking really great,
One was picked and then there were eight.
Eight little pumpkins counting to eleven,
One was picked and then there were seven.
Seven little pumpkins rolling through the sticks,
One was picked and then there were six.
Six little pumpkins bigger than beehives,
One was picked and then there were five.
Five little pumpkins sitting on the floor,
One was picked and then there were four.
Four little pumpkins underneath a tree,
One was picked and then there were three.
Three little pumpkins wearing little shoes,
One was picked and then there were two.
Two little pumpkins having lots of fun,
One was picked and then there was one.
One little pumpkin sitting all alone,
One was picked and then there was none.
Have fun using the Ten Little Pumpkins counting poem with your students this fall!
Posted by Megan Sheakoski
It's back to school time again and teachers eveyrwhere are busy getting ready for the first day of school. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault [Simon & Schuster, 1989] is great book to use at the beginning of the school year with kindergarten students.
The article Kindergarten 1st Day of School Activity explains how Kindergarten teachers can get students excited about the first day of school by sending them welcome postcards at the end of the summer. The Chicka Chicka Boom Boom theme can be carried into the classroom with a beginning of school bulletin board.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Activities and Projects contains many lesson plan ideas including how to:
- Make Chicka Chicka Boom Boom counting coconut tree books
- Make a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom alphabet letter bulletin board
- Make an upper case and lower case matching game
- Make handprint coconut trees with pasta letters
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom can also be used as an elementary lesson plan to teach kids how to make predictions and to use ABC order. Kids will have fun guessing what will happen next and putting letters in sand buckets into alphabetical order.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom can be used for lots of fun Kindergarten lesson plans!
Posted by Megan Sheakoski
April is National Poetry Month and a great opportunity for elementary school teachers to create lesson plans that teach students how to write different types of poetry.
- Parents and teachers can read Write ABC, Haiku, Quatrain and Concrete Poems for explanations and examples of four types of poems to write and read with kids.
- A Poetry Guide for Elementary Students outlines how to write acrostic, alliteration, cinquain and diamante poems and gives sample poems for each poetry type.
- Elementary kids can use their poetry and photographs to create poetry scrapbooks after reading the article How to Make Vacation Poetry Scrapbooks.
Karma Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Bear Snores On [Simon and Schuster, 2002], has written a poetry collection titled What's The Weather Inside? [McElderry, 2009] filled with over 120 poems to read with elementary kids.
- For a review of the children's poetry book kids, parents and teachers can read Review of What's The Weather Inside? Poetry Book.
- Elementary teachers can also use the article Use Poems to Teach Elementary Kids Language Arts for lesson ideas on how to use What's The Weather Inside? to teach students about rhyming patterns, homophones, and connotation.
Happy National Poetry Month!
Posted by Megan Sheakoski
Spring is almost here and primary students everywhere are ready to learn all about caterpillars and butterflies!
Use these lesson ideas to plan an integrated caterpillar and butterfly themed unit for Kindergarten, first, and second grade kids.
- Grow live butterflies in the classroom with the Butterfly Life Cycle Lesson Plan. Primary students learn about the egg, caterpillar, pupa and butterfly stages of the life cycle using pasta and then watch real caterpillars grow with a butterfly garden.
- Kindergarten students practice the days of the week, how to count and learn how a caterpillar grows into a butterfly during The Very Hungry Caterpillar Kindergarten Lesson.
- AABB, ABAB, and ABC caterpillar math patterns are fun to learn during the Caterpillar Butterfly Math Lesson Plan. In this lesson students also learn what symmetry is by creating a symmetrical butterfly wing craft.
Having fun in the elementary science and math classroom makes it easy for primary students to learn all about the butterfly life cycle, the days of the week, how to count, math patterns, and what symmetry is.
Posted by Megan Sheakoski
This March elementary students can learn language arts and science concepts as part of a St. Patrick's Day unit plan. Teachers can use the color green or shamrocks to tie lessons together and get students excited about learning.
A green theme is lots of fun for primary students. Teachers can use the Green Eggs and Ham Language Arts Lesson Plan to teach students about different types of sentences and punctuation and to increase students' comprehension skills using a felt board. The class can also learn new cooking vocabulary and what a chef is and then make and eat green eggs using the story.
Primary school students can plant and grow shamrock clover seeds during a How Plants Grow Elementary Science Lesson. Students plant the shamrock seeds under different conditions and record observations in journals. They determine that plants need soil, air, sunlight and water to grow and create a How Plants Grow pamphlet outlining their knowledge.
Teachers do not need to stop their regular teaching to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. They put a green or shamrock themed spin on their lesson plans and watch their students learn and have fun!
Posted by Megan Sheakoski
Read Across America, better known to elementary kids as Dr. Seuss Day, is celebrated every year on or near March 2nd. It is an initiative of the International Reading Association to get kids everywhere reading with parents, teachers, and other adults.
Primary teachers can use the following collection of lesson plans, activities, games, and crafts to celebrate all things Dr. Seuss!
The Cat in The Hat Language Arts Lesson Plan
- Teachers can use the classic Dr. Seuss book to teach rhymes, sight words, and how to write a poem. Teachers can also use PVC connectors to create whisper phones for students to use to practice oral reading fluency.
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish Lesson Plan
- Primary students will have fun creating a class book, completing Word Wall activities, practicing math patterns and eating a blue fish themed snack.
Green Eggs and Ham Language Arts Lesson Plan
- Use Green Eggs and Ham to teach primary students how to make green eggs, food and cooking vocabulary, what a chef does, three types of sentences and punctuation, a fun way to try new foods, and how to use felt cut-outs to help with recall.
Dr. Seuss Writing and Vocabulary Lesson Plan
- Use And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street to teach elementary students to be better readers and writers.
Dr. Seuss Sound Words Language Arts Lesson Plan
- Teach students how to identify and use onomatopoeia with Mr. Brown Can MOO! Can You? by Dr. Seuss.
And for lots of Dr. Seuss Day fun read Dr. Seuss Themed Games and Activities for games and crafts perfect for Read Across America on March 2nd!