Is anyone else ready for spring?

I know I am. Winter is always a struggle for me. I don’t like gray skies and I don’t like cold air.

I literally count down the days until spring returns every year.

So I’m excited to start using some spring-themed activities in lessons. And what better way to jump into spring than by learning about flowers?

Today I’m sharing “All About Flowers” – a set of early elementary flower printables for kids that are perfect for spring learning!

This unit is filled with flower-themed learning activities for students in kindergarten through second grade!

Take a look at the full resource and how to get your copy below!

And if you love these, check out some of our spring math activities, including our Rainbow Number Word Matching Activity and our Flower Repeated Addition Worksheets!

All About Flowers! Printable Flower Early Elementary Unit

This resource would make an excellent addition to science lessons in primary grades!

The short lessons are good for in-class discussions and you can use the activities for reinforcement after class or for homework.

To use this flowers printable elementary unit, you’ll need a few supplies. (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

• Printer (with ink)
• Printer paper
• Scissors
• Laminator (optional – for the flashcards)
• Pencils
• Colored pencils or crayons

This 33-page flower unit includes several lessons and activities for students to test their understanding and review what they’ve learned about flowers.

Use the brief lesson about how flowers grow and the sequencing activity to introduce students to the growth process of flowering plants.

Then get to know the different parts of a flower with a lesson and a labeling activity.

Identification flashcards for twelve common flower varieties are included.

Plus, there are blank label cards with printable labels. These would be great for matching up at centers!

Help students remember each flower’s name with a matching activity afterward.

Challenge them to remember the name and spelling of each variety with a flower naming activity.

They can have a little fun with a few flower activity and coloring pages!

Instructions for each activity are included. And there’s a full answer key for easy grading!

Get a look at the complete product in the video below!

Scroll down to get your copy of these flower printables for kids!

Don’t miss these other spring learning resources!

To get your copy of All About Flowers Printable Unit Study – our flower printables for kids, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store or check it out below!

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]]> https://www.lookwerelearning.com/flower-printables-for-kids/feed/ 6 https://www.lookwerelearning.com/we-got-jazz-ebook/ https://www.lookwerelearning.com/we-got-jazz-ebook/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2021 11:00:59 +0000 https://lookwerelearning.com/?p=2315 As the kids and I have been studying black history, we’ve found so many incredible stories of great jazz musicians. I knew of all of these music pioneers, but learning about their lives and experiences has been so enlightening and it’s been a wonderful lesson for our children. So I thought it would be niceKeep Reading...

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As the kids and I have been studying black history, we’ve found so many incredible stories of great jazz musicians.

I knew of all of these music pioneers, but learning about their lives and experiences has been so enlightening and it’s been a wonderful lesson for our children.

So I thought it would be nice to put what we’ve learned together into a printable black history unit study that’s all about jazz, bebop, and scat!

We are very proud to announce the release of We Got Jazz! – Exploring the Pioneers of Scat, Bebop, and Swing! 

We Got Jazz! is a jazz unit study packed with jazz history, comprehension reviews, and listening activities for kids in grades 1-3!

Read on to see how to get your copy! And, if you need a digital version for distance learning – there’s one of those too.

If you’re looking for more black history lessons for kids, don’t miss our African Kingdoms unit study for elementary students!

We Got Jazz! Black History Unit Study

We have always enjoyed the sounds of jazz.

While we knew about all of these famous musicians, we didn’t know much about how they got started making music or the challenges they faced during their careers.

As we started exploring these figures with the kids, we found out so many interesting things.

Which is why I hope that your students find this black history unit enjoyable too!

We Got Jazz! features five biography units of jazz greats:

• Dizzy Gillespie
• Nat King Cole
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Miles Davis
• and Duke Ellington

The section for each artist includes a comprehensive, age-appropriate biography of their life and career.

This is followed by a question and answer review activity to see what students have learned from the biography.

Then there’s a crossword puzzle, a timeline sequencing activity, and a listening activity (with a link to where to find each artist’s music) to help students learn even more about each artist.

Depending on what your lesson plan includes, you could take one artist a week.

You might try covering the biography with the class. Then students can complete the activities on their own.

Or you could spend a week discussing them all!

Read the biography with the class and then assign them to complete the review activities for homework or independent work.

Plus, a full answer key is included for easy grading!

See the full product flip through below!

Digital We Got Jazz Black History Unit

Are you distance learning this year? Or just looking to save on printer ink?

We Got Jazz! is also available in a digital version!

The digital version, which is compatible with Google Slides, contains all of the information and just as many activities as the print version.

After reading about each artist, students can type their answers to the review questions – directly on the slides.

They can drag and drop the events in each artist’s life into the correct sequence.

Instead of a crossword puzzle, there is a word unscramble activity for each person.

And you can use the digital answer key (which is delivered in a separate file) to grade student submissions in no time!

See the video preview of the digital version of We Got Jazz below!

Scroll down to get the print or digital version of We Got Jazz for your students!

Check out more black history learning activities below!

Looking for the digital version of We Got Jazz? Pick it up in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

>>> Digital We Got Jazz Unit for Elementary <<<

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Penguins are super fun animals. If you get a chance to watch them interact, they’re playful and intelligent and incredibly considerate of one another. Whenever I see pictures of emperor penguins standing together to fight off the cold air, my heart practically explodes.

Read on to see some incredible facts you can learn about penguins – right along with the kids. And for more winter learning, don’t miss our All About Snowflakes unit study! It’s loaded with 30 pages of winter lessons for grades 1-4!

Penguins Unit Study

It’s not just adults. Kids love penguins too! So they’ll love learning about them this winter in this free penguins unit study! There are videos, crafts, books, and more for learning about how these incredible birds live and play!

Penguins Notebooking Pages

Start by collecting a set of printable penguin notebooking pages!

They’re perfect for jotting down facts, organizing ideas for a report, or writing a story about these cool birds!

To get your set free, sign up for our email newsletter! You’ll receive these and lots of other learning printables in our exclusive Subscriber Library!

Penguins Facts for Kids

On to learning about what makes a penguin a penguin! Watch the video below with the kids and then see if they can answer the questions that follow.

1. Are penguins warm-blooded or cold-blooded? (Answer: Warm-blooded)
2. How are penguins different from most birds? (Answer: They do not fly.)
3. Where do penguins lives? (Answer: Antarctica, Africa, South America, Australia, and the Galapagos Islands)
4. How many different species of penguins are there? (Answer: 17)
5. What is the smallest species of penguin? (Answer: Little Penguin/Blue Penguin)
6. What is the largest species of penguin? (Answer: Emperor Penguin)
7. How do penguins stay warm? (Answer: Thick layers of blubber and tightly packed feathers)
8. What do penguins eat? (Answer: Krill, fish, squid, and other small aquatic animals)
9. How many eggs do penguins lay each year? (Answer: One to two)
10. Why are penguins endangered? (Answer: Bad weather, habitat destruction, and overfishing by humans)

Penguins Books and Activities for Kids

Add these penguin books for kids and penguin activities for kids to your penguin unit study for a complete lesson! (This section contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

1. Coffee Filter Penguin Craft – Look! We’re Learning!
2. Penny Penguin Finds Her Way Home by Philip J. Damiani
3. Marshmallow Penguin Snack – Eats Amazing
4. Penguin in Peril by Helen Hancocks
5. A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis
6. No-Sew Sock Penguin Craft – Easy Peasy and Fun
7. Be Brave, Little Penguin by Giles Andreae
8. Penguin Says “Please” by Michael Dahl
9. Waddling Penguin Craft – Buggy and Buddy
10. Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon

For more penguin learning fun, don’t miss our roundup of even more Kids’ Books about Penguins!

And check out even more penguin crafts for kids too!

See more ways to learn about winter animals!

Plus get more ideas for winter learning on my Winter Activities for Kids Pinterest board!

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We’ve already talked about hibernation and this time I wanted to share some information we’ve found about how animals make their homes in various environments.

Read on to check out our Animal Homes Unit Study!

Kids love to learn about where animals live.

And, really, it is  fascinating to study how different kinds of animals adapt to their environments and manage to raise their young, no matter the climate in which they live.

Personally, I don’t think I could get by without heating and air conditioning, but that’s another story…

This simple animal homes unit is a fun way to introduce habitats and ecosystems to early elementary students. Plus, there’s a free animal homes worksheet for you to use with your class!

Want to see more of our homeschool unit studies for kids? Don’t miss our beach unit study or our penguins unit study!

Homeschool Unit Studies: Animal Homes Unit Study

We started by learning about different animal homes in The Usborne World of Animals (part of our BookShark Level 1 curriculum).

As our lesson plan suggested, we went out to explore animal homes in our local area.

We saw this eight-legged guy living in a tree.

We even found insects living under a fallen tree branch on the ground.

Naturally, we couldn’t leave it there. So we went to the zoo to see even more animal habitats.

There were birds living in trees…

…in ponds…

…and in the Arctic!

We saw elephants living on the savanna.

And alligators living in swamps.

The kids thought it was cool that animal homes look so different from one place to another. And, as we learned, the homes vary by region and by species.

So one animal in the rainforest has a certain kind of home, while a different animal has a different kind of home that suits its needs.

But an animal that lives in the rainforest may have a very different home than a related animal that lives in our area.

As our BookShark lesson pointed out, this is no different than people. Different people have different kinds of homes based on where they live and their specific needs.

Learn about the types of homes that different animals live in with this free printable animal homes worksheet for kids!

This is a simple but educational activity to help early elementary students practice matching animals with the names of their homes!

Plus, an answer key is included!

Get your free copy of this printable Animal Homes worksheet by clicking the image below!

To learn more about animal habitats, check out this video and see if the kids can answer the questions that follow!

1. What is a habitat? (Answer: The area where something lives)

2. What do animals need to live? (Answer: Food, water, shelter, and space to live)

3. What is the food chain? (Answer: The model that describes the flow of energy between living things)

4. What is a food web? (Answer: Tangled system that includes every plant and animal in a habitat)

5. Do food webs and food chains look the same all over the world? (Answer: No, they are different, depending on the conditions in each habitat.)

Try the following affiliate animal habitat books and animal habitat activities to add to your Animal Homes unit study!

1. Sea Monster Notebooking Pages – Look! We’re Learning!

2. National Geographic Wild Animal Atlas: Earth’s Astonishing Animals and Where They Live

3. Habitat Sensory Bins – Mama’s Happy Hive

4. Welcome Home, Bear: A Book of Animal Habitats by Il Sung Na

5. Animal Habitat Mural – True Aim Education

6. I See a Kookaburra!: Discovering Animal Habitats Around the World by Steve Jenkins

7. Farm Shoebox Diorama – Look! We’re Learning!

8. Scholastic: Matching Animals & Habitats Lace-Up Cards by Maria Chang

Don’t miss these other science-based unit studies for kids!

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Who loves a trip to the beach?

*ducks as everyone raises their hand*

While we’re waiting for our family trip to the shore this year, I thought we’d try a fun printable beach unit study with the kids.

Which is how this All About Beaches early elementary unit was born!

There’s so much more to the beach than sand and surf!

There are animals that live on the beach, scientific principles that explain how sand is formed, ways to learn about notable beaches around the world, and more that kids can discover in this printable unit study.

This unit is full of beach-themed activities that you can use with young learners and early elementary students.

Read on to see how to get your copy!

Looking for more beach-themed fun for the summer? Don’t miss our list of beach books for kids and our beach play sand you can make at home!

Printable Beach Unit Study: All About Beaches

To use this printable beach unit study, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

• Printer (with ink)
• Printer Paper
• Pencils
• Crayons
• Laminator (optional)
• Scissors (for separating the flashcards)

All About Beaches begins with a two-page lesson about how sand is formed.

Then we’re on to geography with an activity that helps kids place the locations of beaches around the U.S. and around the world.

A full answer key is located at the back.

Complete a fun unscramble activity to spot the names of animals that live on the beach!

And kids who love word games will have fun with a printable beach word search!

There’s a two-page story about a day at the beach, followed by a grammar exercise to help kids review parts of speech.

Several beach-themed coloring pages are also included!

And little ones can practice counting to ten with beach ball flashcards in English…

…and Spanish too! You might want to laminate these for durability, by the way.

Scroll down to get your copy of our Printable Beach Unit Study: All About Beaches!

Don’t miss these other beach activities for kids!

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So this year, we wanted to develop a Harlem Renaissance unit study we could cover with the kids to help them learn even more about the people, movements, and ideas that sprang up in Harlem during the 1920s. I hope you and your kids love the books and activities about the Harlem Renaissance below too!

Don’t forget to check out our printable jazz unit study “We Got Jazz” to learn about the pioneers of jazz and bebop!

Harlem Renaissance Unit Study

This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy for details.

Harlem Renaissance Notebooking Pages

I wanted to have some printables that the kids could use to write down what they learn about the Harlem Renaissance, so I created these Jazz Journaling notebooking pages! Click the image or the link below to download yours free!

>>> Jazz Journaling Printable Notebooking Pages <<<

What Was the Harlem Renaissance?

Watch the video below to get an overview of the Harlem Renaissance and then let your kids answer the following questions.

1. What was the Harlem Renaissance? (Answer: A cultural and intellectual movement that occurred in Harlem, New York during the 1920s)

2. How did Harlem come to be a major African-American cultural center? (Answer: During the Great Migration, many African-Americans moved up north and settled in Harlem.)

3. What branches of thought and entertainment were included in the Harlem Renaissance? (Answer: Music, poetry, writing, art, and philosophy)

4. How did African-American fashion change during the Harlem Renaissance? (Answer: Men started to wear zoot suits, women wore low-slung dresses. Both men and women wore hats. Leopard-print became a popular trend, because of its connection to ancient African culture.)

5. How did the Harlem Renaissance affect the musical culture of the United States? (Answer: African-American art and music became popular with white audiences. White musicians began incorporating African-American musical rhythms and styles into their music.)

6. How did the Harlem Renaissance change the perception of African-Americans in the United States? (Answer: Prior to the 1920s, black people were often thought of as uneducated farmers. During the Renaissance, people came to see that black people were sophisticated, intelligent, and accomplished.)

Among the prominent writers of the movement was Langston Hughes (one of my personal writing heroes). This video is a good introduction to his work.

Books About the Harlem Renaissance:

Share these books about the Harlem Renaissance to bring this historical period to life!

1. The Harlem Renaissance: An Interactive History Adventure

10. Take A Picture of Me, James VanDerZee!

11. Coming Home: From the Life of Langston Hughes

20. The Harlem Renaissance: Profiles in Creativity

Be sure to let the kids dress up in period clothing to match the style of the Harlem Renaissance! We hit up a local thrift store to find an outfit for our oldest daughter.

Many of the African-American jazz musicians who became famous during the 20th century either got their start during the Renaissance or grew up during that time and developed styles based on the modern jazz that came out of the movement.

Check out our unit study We Got Jazz for over 130 pages of activities about some of these artists!

Stop by to check out these other learning ideas!

And see more ideas for teaching history at home on my Living History for Kids Pinterest board!

Want to get exclusive learning resources and printables? Sign up for our email newsletter!

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I have to admit: I’ve been super lax about getting my kids into the kitchen. Tigger knows how to prepare breakfast and lunch for us all, but the boys….not so much.

Since our kids have ADHD, it’s hard to help them exercise caution and take their time, which are two of the MOST important skills you need to learn if you’re going to cook.

So I was glad to get a chance to review this adorable Cooking Lapbook from Knowledge Box Central! With it, our boys got a lesson in kitchen safety and a chance to make their very first dessert!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this resource in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Learning to Bake with a Cooking Lapbook

First of all, we needed to assemble the lapbook, which did take some time.

Here’s the list of supplies you’ll need: (Affiliate links provided here for convenience. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

• Colored file folders
• Hot glue gun with glue sticks (for gluing the folders together)
• Colored paper
• Stapler with staples
• Metal brad fasteners
• Tacky glue (for gluing the minibooks into the folders)

But look how pretty it is!

Here’s the inside of the first folder.

Then the second…

and the third.

We decided to begin at the beginning with the activity “What is the first thing you should do BEFORE cooking?” Anyone have an idea what it is?

*hums Jeopardy thinking music*

It’s “Wash Your Hands”! The lesson plan included in the Cooking Lapbook described how children should be washing their hands before they cook. So we all got up, used warm water, lathered for 20 seconds, and rinsed well.

See the lapbook in action on the next page!

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