Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell, and Freebies

Book Cover for "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell"

Hello everyone!  Have I ever told you that I am obsessed with matching things?  Clothes, furniture, and, yes, teaching stuff too!  I'm going to the beach today, and I had an idea to do a beach post.  So, here it goes.

On Monday, at summer school, I'm going to read There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell by Lucille Colandro.  I'm going to bring some shells back from the beach, some sand, and whatever other treasures I can find.  I really believe in connecting real life objects to books that we read in the classroom.  I'm going to use these retelling cards to help the children name the objects in the story as well as the order in which the old lady swallows them:

Old Lady Swallowed a Shell Sequence by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

I've noticed that when I use these cards, the children are more attentive during the story and it gives them a chance to stretch their legs by getting up and putting the card on my magnetic whiteboard.  After we finish that, to really check for understanding, they'll do this worksheet:

Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell Sequencing by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

To stay with the beach theme, I want to sing "Five Little Crabs" by Dr. Jean.  You can purchase the album that this song is on by visiting the Songs for Teaching web site.  I also made these crabs with numerals on them to add a visual component to the experience:

Crab Numbers by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

Songs for Teaching also sells a really great album by Jack Hartmann called "I've Got Music In Me", featuring a song that counts up called "Five Little Fish".  Here's another freebie for you: fish with numerals on them.  This file is in black-and-white so that you can print it on any color of paper that you like.

Fish Numbers by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

I don't know how many of you still have water or sand tables, but there's an excellent toy from Lakeshore called Sift and Find Alphabet Shells:

I've used these shells both in sand and out of sand, and the students really love them.  They can find letters in their name or their friends' names, or words that relate to the beach (crab, sand, fish, clam, wave, castle, water, etc.).  As another way of helping your students practice beach vocabulary, you can use this word search that I made:

Beach Word Search by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

I hope you like this beachy post!