Today's Lesson: St. Patrick's Day

We are taking a break from our American Revolution unit studies, to learn about St. Patrick's Day.  There are lots of interesting videos about the history and traditions of St. Patrick's Day on History.com... and lucky for us there are TONS of free worksheets on the internet.  I found a few that we will be learning on TeachersPayTeachers.com.  (Make an account, it's free! To search free resources type in what you are looking for, then sort by price.) Gift of Curiosity.com, also has a really nice selection of free printables, that are great for younger kids.  You can also find some great, free printables on InAllYouDo.net.

This would also be a good time to start a unit study or lapbook on Ireland.

In addition to our traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner, we are also making shamrock pretzels.  Use a basic pretzel dough recipe, add a few drops of green food coloring and shape into shamrocks.

No St. Patrick's Day is complete with out a craft or three...  We are making torn paper shamrocks! Print and cut out a shamrock template, we used this one from allkidsnetwork.com.  Tear green construction paper into small pieces then glue on.  Let dry then hang to display your handy work.  Add glitter if you have it.  St. Patrick's day mobiles are easy and fun to make and so are Lunchbag Leprechans.  Then make quick and easy paper chain snakes.

-Have Fun Learning!

Today's Lesson: Chinese New Year

We are taking a break from our American Revolution series to celebrate the Chinese New Year! Luckily the interwebs has TONS of great educational resources for FREE! 
This website has free printables for math and reading comprehension as well as fun stuff like crossword puzzles. You don't need to log in to print, simply download. Want to learn about silkworms? You can download this sheet for younger kids.  The kids can decorate their own poster, to welcome in the new year.  Read about the origins of the Chinese Zodiac with this online book. This year we are celebrating the year of the horse, print your coloring sheet here.
The kids can also find their animal and what it means, then color their animal sign.

Make your own word bingo cards and play, and great way to practice with beginning readers.  Paper lanterns are a fun and easy craft, and make great decorations!

Make some Sesame Soy Noodles for lunch and eat them with chopsticks. Don't know how to use chopsticks? This worksheet shows you how and teaches proper etiquette.

Have Fun Learning!