Welcome to Becca's Heart for Early Childhood Education blog! My artsy-crafty heart got inspired from an item used now for scrapbooking! Using a baseball/trading card pocket sheet protector page has been a variation for scrapping for a couple of years now. About the same time, artists and crafters came up with the mixed media or paper-crafting version of a baseball card called Artist Trading Card or ATC for short. The pocket openings are about 2.5" wide and 3.5" deep/long.
Last night I got busy sorting through some environmental print and photos repurposed from magazines and managed to get the total of 6 phrases made with the combination of cut-out text and photos.
Word Work for short phrases and/or sight words SIDE A=
Above: row 1= made with love
row 2= stand by me
row 3= save the plant
I penciled the words in lowercase letters unless it was a command sentence like "Save the plant." For now I'm going to leave that in pencil as if it is a subtle suggestion for the children. At some point in the future, I might go over that in marker.
Target age group: Kindergarten to Grade 2
Target subject: English Language Arts/ELA
Target concept areas within ELA: word work, sight words, starting grammar usage of nouns, verbs, prepositions, or article/adjectives
Target ELA focus: environmental print, picture identification to help prompt word choice
SIDE B=
Above: row 1= bake a batch
row 2= right at home
row 3= the new lamp
The trading card pocket pages are usually sold in sets of 10 or 25 and can be found in the office supply and/or scrapbooking craft supply sections of stores. I know teachers are using the full page sheet protector pages but may not have thought about how to use these 'bubble gum' cards-size 9 pockets for classroom use. (There is a slightly smaller version in the size area of the pockets known as the business card holder sheet protector pages. Take a look at those and see which size fits your class needs best.)
The sheet can be added easily to a 3-ring notebook binder or for a 3-prong center pocket folder.
Easy-peasy for adding to or taking away as students' needs change and need to be challenged!
Hope you like this activity idea and let it spark more re-purposing to think smarter and not work harder for your teaching needs.
From the USA heartland,
Becca S
B.S. Secondary-Home Economics
M. Ed. Elementary Ed w/ ECE emphasis
certification endorsements in IL for FACS grades 6-12 and Birth to Grade 3 (ECE); and approval for general science grades 5-8
My passions in early childhood education are creativity and science. Creativity interests vary from developing phonemic awareness through rhythmic music lyrics to math concepts in music to opportunities to be artsy with different mediums. Science interests include early age and gender involvement in "lab"-like experiences to inter-connections of math and science concepts to giving science equitable classroom time in elementary classrooms.
A love for teaching young children
Supporting parents in the educating of their child