Whimsy Workshop Teaching

Whimsy Workshop Teaching

Teacher Clip Art, Literary Resources, Classroom Ideas

Directed Drawing Videos: Doodle Leaf

by

WHY DIRECTED DRAWING?

There are many reasons to try directed drawing with your students! Here are a few skills and benefits:

improve skills in following directions and attention to detaila fun way to practice fine motor developmentincreased stamina in focus and attentionincreased self-expression and communicating ideasgrowing skills in drawing and appreciation of artperfect for celebrating seasonal content and decorate the classan easy center activity to switch out each weeka fun activity to do at home! Send the link to parents and ask [Read More…]

Directed Drawing Videos: Polar Bear

by

WHY DIRECTED DRAWING?

There are many reasons to try directed drawing with your students! Here are a few skills and benefits:

improve skills in following directions and attention to detaila fun way to practice fine motor developmentincreased stamina in focus and attentionincreased self-expression and communicating ideasgrowing skills in drawing and appreciation of artperfect for celebrating seasonal content and decorate the classan easy center activity to switch out each weeka fun activity to do at home! Send the link to parents and ask [Read More…]

Directed Drawing Videos: Cool Sun

by

WHY DIRECTED DRAWING?

There are many reasons to try directed drawing with your students! Here are a few skills and benefits:

improve skills in following directions and attention to detaila fun way to practice fine motor developmentincreased stamina in focus and attentionincreased self-expression and communicating ideasgrowing skills in drawing and appreciation of artperfect for celebrating seasonal content and decorate the classan easy center activity to switch out each weeka fun activity to do at home! Send the link to parents and ask [Read More…]

Reluctant Writers: Tech Solutions

by

10 Apps for Encouraging Reluctant Writers

Do you have ipads in your classroom this year? Are you looking for ways to encourage your reluctant writers? I am always on the lookout for fun new activities for my young writers.
 

Each year, I have students in my class who just LOVE to write. When I ask them to write one sentence, they write five. If I give them a few scraps of paper, they’ll staple it and create their own fully illustrated [Read More…]

Fairy Tales – Masks, Scripts, Writing and Phonics

by

 Fairy Tales are well proven vehicle for Readers’ Theater, but the engagement and learning increases significantly when you also incorporate masks and interactive play.
Here’s how we explore fairy tales in my class.

Character Masks

Creating masks is a fun way to incorporate art into your literacy activities. They are so fun, and sometimes I almost can’t recognise the students underneath!

I love that there’s lots of laughing when the kids walk around with these on!
 

Letter Writing

Letter writing to the fairy tale characters is also [Read More…]

Time Tested Early Literacy Strategies

by

Does your early literacy time sound like this:

 Teacher, how to you spell….?
“What does this word say?

 

When early readers hear the answer “Just sound it out”, do they really know what you are talking about?

Do they know what that means?

How can we support them further with the risk-taking involved in early reading strategies?

So many students feel anxiety when left on their own to read, and as we know, this anxiety greatly impedes their ability to process information and focus.

Over the last [Read More…]

Ted Harrison Art and More!

by

 
 

 
If you’ve read many of my posts, you’ll know by now that we integrate almost all of our content areas in class.  Rarely do we let an opportunity for writing go by, and using our own art is so motivating!

But we do keep it simple! For example, we recently studied the art of Ted Harrison, who painted in the north of Canada. His colorful but simple images are perfect to study with elementary students.

We googled his artwork and simply talked [Read More…]

Quotation Station: Writing About Quotes

by

 
I’m a big fan of good memes or quotations, and love to share and discuss them.
If a quotation is educationally meaningful, I often will share it with my students. They are perfect for inspiring meaningful discussions and higher level thinking! Sometimes we use these quotations or sayings as a springboard for journal writing.
While collecting quotations for students, I thought: Why not add them to my writing center choices?

 
Because I teach primary students, I created templates to support student writing by [Read More…]

Writing Templates For The New Year (Free)

by

The first days back at school after the winter holidays can be hard to plan for. Everyone is thinking about goals for the new year, and this is a great topic for writing and reflection with students. Don’t be afraid to model that kind of goal setting with them!

First, we reflect back on the year that past.
We write the highlights, and think about things we’ve learned or experienced for the first time.

 
 
Next, we think ahead to the future with goals [Read More…]

Integrate Writing and Math With Building

by

You know how some students (especially in the first weeks of school) just sigh when you give them writing or math jobs because what they really want to do is play with blocks or Lego all day?
Here’s how I got those students excited to do some writing and math (while still letting them build and use their imaginations.)
Just add a writing or counting task after they build! Create a recording page similar to those pictured below (or you can see [Read More…]

Would you like to access free teacher downloads? Join our VIP list - it's free!