50+ cheap Halloween candy alternatives and non-food Trick-or-Treat giveaways

Hi friends! Teacher Omi here with some non-traditional Halloween alternatives. Now don't get me wrong. I like Halloween well enough. Some of it is over the top. And too much money is spent on it. And the spooky stuff is concerning. But for the most part, it's tame enough, I guess. And yes, I can juxtapose that with my Catholic Christian faith by avoiding the parts that don't fit (not just the ghoulishness but also the overspending.) I see nothing wrong with kids making cute little costumes, that make the neighbors smile. 

Having said that, Halloween is an ironic holiday. All year long, parents teach kids to eat healthy. They tell them not to take candy from strangers. Then on Trick or Treat, parents dress kids in costumes and tell them to beg for candy door to door! Then all that candy has to be sorted and half gets thrown away. Then kids eat too much sugar and get wild or sick. So, how about we mix it up a bit with some Halloween candy alternatives? Here are 50 cheap non-candy Trick or Treat giveaways kids will love.

Non-candy giveaways work for kids with ADHD, allergies, special needs, juvenile diabetes, or other health conditions. Use these Halloween candy alternatives for the classroom, scouting activities and Halloween party planning. These non-food Halloween giveaways will work for Trick or Treat handouts at libraries, banks, businesses, restaurants and any other places. These treats will be less messy and cost effective as well. 

 All non-food Halloween candy alternatives can be found for around $1.25 per dozen or less. (Remember it's not Dollar Tree anymore, lol it's the five quarters store as my husband calls it) Check the Oriental Trading catalog, too. Target has a cheap toy section as well. Plus most stores have a bulk section, cheap holiday giveaway and clearance shelves stores. Look for birthday party prizes too. Online sites are offering free shipping around the Halloween season. 

Here's my list of suggestions for Halloween candy alternatives. 

Give school supplies for Halloween candy alternatives. Pass out pencils, rulers, mini marker sets, crayon sets (look for glow-in-the-dark Halloween crayon packs), colored pencils, mini stampers, pens, tablets, note pads, stickers, scissors, glue sticks (from back to school sales). Little coloring books and reading books are always well-received in Trick or Treat bags.

Give pocket toys and birthday prizes as Halloween candy alternatives. Pass out adjustable rings, tops, bubbles, glow bracelets, squirt guns, friendship bracelets and rings, key chains, compasses, slide flutes, sticky hands, little yo-yos, tiny decks of cards, whistles, puzzle games, Chinese handcuffs and parachute toys. Give Halloween themed toys like fake fangs, spider rings, skeleton rings,glow-in-the dark bugs, fake fingers and squishy eyeballs. 

Give books! Check Amazon for job lots of kids' books. 

Give little game sets: ball and jacks, ring toss, finger puppets. Noisemakers are popular, Give science gadgets (Teacher Omi's personal fave) like magnifying glasses, geodes, prisms, putty, play dough in little cans and kaleidoscopes. Kids love the "growing"creatures in capsules (sponges in pill capsules that expand when put in water). Give out toy animals, soldiers or figures for Trick or Treat. 

Cheapest Halloween candy alternatives are balloons, Band-Aids (seriously, kids love these!) sticker sheets, temporary tattoos, rubber band bracelets, mini notepads, plastic rings, bouncy balls and play spiders. These sell for about $6 a gross from Oriental Trading. 

Some Halloween candy alternative foods include mini muffin packs, popcorn, pretzels, fish crackers, healthier gummy bears, cheese sticks, jerky, juice boxes and other snack treats. Kids might like Trick or Treat candy alternatives better than Halloween candy! Though when writing this my husband did gasp that I was advising not to give candy! He said "they'll mutiny!" Traditionalist that he is. But teacher Omi doesn't believe you would do that,  would you children? I think you'd love these ideas! 😘

 

Cross-curricular Lesson Plans for puzzles and kids' mystery stories with Halloween activities

 Hello friends of the Omschool! As Halloween nears, it's the perfect time for some mysteries. Teacher Omi here with free printable cross-curricular multi-disciplinary lesson plans based on kids' mystery stories. I'm using Ghost Town Treasure for third and fourth graders and Mystery at the Docks, Robbery at the Diamond Dog Diner,  A Bargain for Francis and Something Queer is Going on Here for younger students. But these lesson plans could fit a variety of children's mystery books. 

Besides the reading, writing, STEM and social studies, these lesson plans address higher order thinking skills of synthesis, evaluation, analysis, process and outcome-based thinking, problem-solving, lateral thinking, deductive and inductive reasoning. I've also included other literature connections and Halloween themed activities. 

1) Create a treasure hunt game board game. First, establish the setting: rooms in a house, a farm or forest, your backyard, a city. Next, create a map to attach to the a folded piece of cardboard or to the inside of large flat box. You can also draw directly on the cardboard.  Make a path of footprints or squares to mark the path around the board game. Here are some free printable board game templates. 

Next, collect ten 3D found or recycled items that can be opened or lifted so that the treasure can be hidden under or inside. Examples: paper cup, clean food container (not clear), plastic bag, box, clean aluminum can, envelope, toilet paper tube, jar. Students should decorate items to look like things you would find in the real setting chosen (barn, silo, chicken coop, pig pen, hayloft for barn scene or tree, river, rock, bush, cave for forest scene. Don't attach them to the board. That way they can be rearranged each time you play. You will also need a very small representational treasure (coin, rock, small bag or treasure chest).A non-player hides the treasure in or under one of the places before play. 

Students will need to write a list of rules and make 20 or so cards with directions on them telling where to move the player's playing piece. To look in or under each place a player must land directly on the space. Directions to write on card  include things like: 

go forward two spaces

go backward one space

skip two spaces

move to (name hiding place)

move to the next red space

2) Play Mystery Ingredients food box challenge. You can give each student the same or different ingredients. I prefer to do different with children to avoid frustration of feeling someone else's idea was better. This is to boost creativity not competition. Winning the challenge involves using all ingredients not beating someone. Write your recipe and add it to the family recipe book. Have a tasting party. You can do Halloween or fall themed foods. 

3) Play charades having children act out different animals, occupations or characters from the book. 

4) Make an obstacle course or maze in the yard. For an obstacle course, set out different obstacles for people to find creative ways around. Make a map of the obstacle course and a list of directions: hop over the puddle, swim across the pool, scoot under the fence, swing for minutes, walk backwards up the ramp, skip down the path, step on every crack of the sidewalk, crawl through the tunnel in the treehouse. 

For a maze, arrange cardboard boxes, pillows, bales of hay, pieces of furniture, tubes to crawl through, or whatever your imagination can come up with. Make a list of directions. 

5) Play Clue or Memory. 

6) Makes your own masks or Halloween costumes. Here's my blog post of 25+ easy, homemade, no-sew Halloween costumes to make cheap or free. These are so super simple that the youngest learners can help make them. Then everyone dresses up and have a costume parade. Collect an assortment of fabric, old towels, old clothing, hats, fake flowers, buttons, ribbon, yarn, sheets, anything you can think of. The recycle bin will have lots of stuff you can use. Paper plates or paper bags work well for masks. Just cut eye holes and decorate however you want. Here are free printable mask patterns to cut and color. 

7) Play The Price is Right grocery cost guessing game. Assemble different groceries or use the ones in your mystery ingredient box. You can simply have kids estimate or arrange the groceries on the table with cards listing various amounts that they match. Put stickers with answers on the bottom. The students should  organize this game. This will teach them estimation math skills plus awareness of how much food really does cost. 

8) Sensory exploration identification game. There are several ways to play this, from easy to more complicated. The easiest way it to put an object in a bag. Kids may use all senses but sight to figure out what it is: touch, taste, smell, feel, sound. You can do this with any objects but it's especially fun to play using new and unfamiliar foods: eggplant, daikon radish, fennel bulb, broccolini for example. You don't have to hide it  then,  just have them explore it. 

Another way to play is the Creepy Halloween Foods game. This can be kind of gross and may trigger kids on the spectrum and or frighten others You put out the foods and have them touch, taste, feel and smell them then give them the spooky explanation of what they are (for example: popcorn is mummy brains). Spooky-tastic Halloween foods. Have kids write the labels and prepare the treats. 

9) Write a mystery story, cartoon or graphic novel. It can be true or invented. Illustrate and "publish" by making a cardboard cover. To make a cartoon, just fold a piece of paper in half long way and then in half again and then in half one more time. You will have 8 frames. 

10) Science Chem-ysteries. Perform some magic with my article on Harry Potter Magic tricks and Science mysteries.  Kids should assemble all materials and practice ahead of time. The only one an adult needs to do is the Magic Fire Shield of Invincibility. 

11) Kids can watch Blues Clues, Odd Squad, Scooby-Doo or Busytown Mysteries while they are drawing illustrations for their mystery story.  Youtube has Scooby-Doo episodes here. 

13) Spelling words: mystery, puzzle, clue, detective, Halloween, problem, solve, solution, explore, investigate

Harry Potter Wizard Magic Tricks, Chem-ysteries and science Experiments with literature connections

Hello friends of the Omschool! Halloween is the perfect time for some magic tricks, spells and potions, chem-ysteries (chemistry mysteries) science experiments. And the perfect person to introduce these is Harry Potter!  He can't do magic outside Hogwarts but you can with these chemistry magic tricks and wizard science experiments any time you want. Hocus pocus up some Harry Potter fun with kitchen science experiments. Teachers and homeschool parents, impress, educate and engage apprentice wizards with these chemistry magic tricks! Use these these weird science experiments for a Harry Potter Halloween party! Children's literature selections are given for follow up. Be sure to test experiments. My magic fire shield failed and I incinerated a perfectly good bandana. 

Eerie ectoplasm. Ectoplasm is really the outer surface of cytoplasm, but in paranormal speak, it's the  stuff that comes out of someone's mouth to show a spectral presence. Gross, right? Well you can make play ectoplasm with these super simple kitchen science experiments. Mix equal parts Elmer's school glue and liquid laundry starch. Work together with fingers until it forms a rubbery putty. This is also called "farting" putty (or more politely, noise putty) because air bubbles pop burps when you fold it. Like a balloon, air is trapped inside and has no where to go. Teach students that this is how you prove that air takes up space and has pressure. Read Dr. Seuss "Bartholomew and the Ooblek" or "The Cat in  the Hat Comes Back."

Alchemist Magic. Turn copper pennies silver and then gold by first cleaning them with vinegar and salt and then dipping them in zinc dust dissolved in hydrogen peroxide. They will turn to silver and then by heating them with a spirit burner you make an alloy called brass which looks like gold. This one requires adult presence. Read Rumpelstiltskin. 

Disappearing rust experiment. Clean pennies in Coke beforehand so they are shiny clean. Then posit what you used to clean them. Try lemon juice, different kinds of soda, vinegar, water, etc. You'll find that Cola words the best. Next have kids explore what ingredient none of the others have. (phosphoric acid). 

Liquid Dynamite: This is the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment. But instead of just blowing up the bottle, have students experiment with others sodas or candy to see if it works with anything else. And then explore ingredients in both that react together. Kids will learn that this is a physical not chemical reaction. The tiny holes in the surface of the candy speeds up nucleation and Diet Coke has aspartame that helps too. A narrow neck plastic bottle makes the effect more dramatic. 

Spooky Spirit Writing or Invisible Ink. Use these chemistry magic tricks to make ghostly writing appear from nowhere. Lemon juice makes the perfect invisible ink. Use a cotton swab or toothpick to write a message in invisible ink. To solve this chem-ystery and read the invisible ink, you must hold it over a warm light bulb, candle or flame. The writing will magically appear.

Rubber Bones. Prestidigitate any ordinary chicken or turkey bone into a bendable rubber bone with simple kitchen science experiments. Scrub a chicken bone clean and soak in white vinegar for 24 hours.  When you take the bone out of the vinegar, it will bend and not break. Tell students that you have cast a spell upon the bone to make it bend. The chemistry behind the mystery is that the vinegar breaks down and dissolves the hardened calcium and mineral deposits it the bone. Read William Steig "The Magic Bone."

Magic Unbreakable plastic. Tell students that you have special magic bags that will not leak even if you poke them. Fill a Ziploc bag with colored water. Seal it and then gently push a sharpened pencil through the bag and remove it. The magic is that plastic is a polymer that stretches and seals the hole so no liquid spill. Plastic actually means anything moldable. Teach kids the cute song "There's a Hole in the Bucket" or read "Basil Brush Gets a Medal."

Wizard Magic Fire Shield. Tell students that you have a magic handkerchief that can walk through fire.  Show them how you coat an old bandanna with the wizard fire shield solution. Dip it in rubbing alcohol, squeeze it out but don't let it dry. While it's still damp, hold a match to the tip of the bandanna.  Flames will engulf the bandanna but it will not burn up. After a moment, the flames will burn out and  the bandanna will be untouched. These magic tricks are obviously dangerous and adults-only science experiments. The chemistry principle that makes this work is that alcohol burns quickly and at a very low heat. It's combustible but not hot enough to burn the bandanna. This is how an alcohol burner or canned heat (Sterno) works. Restaurants use these flaming drinks and desserts (Cherries Jubilee, Bananas Foster, Greek Saganaki cheese). For a good children's literature connections, read the classic ballet story "The Firebird" or the Aztec legend of the Quetzel-coatal or Phoenix (the bird who rises from the ashes of a fire and is clothed with all the colors of the fire).

Haunted beans. These are actually called Mexican Jumping Beans and are little beans with a live  worm dwelling inside. When you hold the beans in your hand, the worm moves the beans jump and  wiggle. You can pretend to talk to the beans, ask them questions, etc. The beans will seem to move in answer to your questions. Order Jumping Beans from Amazon. 

Fairy popcorn.  Perform a similar trick with popcorn. Tell kids that an wild little sprite lives inside and wants to get out. As you heat popcorn, he escapes. Children's literature tie-ins are the fairytale "Jack and the Beanstalk" or the Greek myth "Pandora's Box" and "The Popcorn Book" (Tome DePaola).

Magic exploding rainbow. This is really chromatography or spectrum splitting science experiments. Gather an assortment of black markers of different brands and styles (water color or washable only, will not work with permanent or dry-erase). Dampen one piece of paper towel for each marker. Touch marker tips to the wet paper. Watch each ink blob diffuse and separate into an array of colors. The chemistry principle behind this is that black isn't a color but a combination of all other colors. So the ink is made up of many colors. Wetting breaks down the spectrum. Read "A Color of His Own" by Leo Lioni.

Fleeing magic fleas: Fill a pie tin with water. Add black pepper and then red pepper. The different  pepper types will repel each other like magnets. What's really happening is that the pepper is disturbing the meniscus--or molecular force that holds water inside a glass. You can show the meniscus principle by slowly over-filling a bottle. The water will actually rise above the level but stay in place by the meniscus "skin" till too much is added and it breaks. Read "The Flea's Sneeze" by Carla Firehammer. Or read Anansi the Spider African folk tales.

Genie in a bottle. Rinse a glass bottle and freeze it. Place a dime atop the bottle and then call the genie out. Slowly the dime will lift to let trapped air escape. Then the dime will clink back in place. It will repeat this several times. What's happening is that as the frost inside the bottle melts, it expands and forces air out of the bottle. Read Arabian Nights "Aladdin's Lamp" or any of the wonderful Persian "One Thousand and One Nights" stories of Scheherazade.

To round out these literature based kitchen science experiments unit, read the Norman Juster classic "The Phantom Tollbooth" along with this experiment. In the story, Milo is Bored (a word coined in the  early1960's to reflect teen response to post-war complacency). Through a series metaphorical allusions, Milo, Tock (a Watch Dog), and the Spelling Bee learn to look at things differently, to really look at things and enjoy them.

Easy, homemade no-sew cheap or free animal Halloween costumes

 Hello my friends of the Omschool? Need inexpensive Halloween costumes fast? Here are 25+ cheap, quick, easy, homemade, no-sew

 kids' animal costumes for trick or treat. Use these fast, simple improvisations for great Halloween

 costumes. You can make them from recycled household items so they will cost next to nothing.  These costumes are also warm and roomy enough to wear extra underneath--for chilly October trick or-treating or outdoor Halloween parties.

 Body for homemade no-sew animal costumes: Use recycled plain color leggings and long-sleeved T-shirt, sweat  shirt and sweat pants, blanket sleeper with feet cut out in the color of the animal the child is going as.

 Wear grey for a donkey, whale, dolphin or elephant. Choose brown for a turkey, bunny, bear, dog or  horse. Yellow works for a duck, lion, leopard, tiger, bird or Pooh Bear. Pick red for a ladybug, centipede or caterpillar. Use purple for a dinosaur or butterfly. Black works a bat, cat or dog costume. Blue can be a fish, bird, dinosaur, butterfly or caterpillar. Green is a frog, turtle, toad or snake. White works for a rabbit, cat, dog, horse, whale, turkey or tiger. And of course, tie-dye is great for a unicorn or mermaid. 

 Draw stripes, spots or other body markings on animal costumes with permanent marker, paint pen or fabric paint. To make no-sew paws, draw or paint black pads on the palms of knit gloves. For lion,  leopard, tiger or cat claws: Cut bits of recycled felt or other stiff fabric then cut small holes in gloves.  Insert part of felt piece and tie off or glue inside the glove. The part poking out will look like claws.

 You can also glue on bits of plastic cut from recycled tubs or use a set of artificial nails from a dollar  store. For hooves, webbed feet or flippers, stuff old mittens; stuff them if you wish. These homemade  paws will keep kids warm for Halloween too.

 For homemade no-sew head of animal costumes, use a cheap single-color knit hat to match costume.  Cut holes for ears. For long animal ears, stuff old pair of socks with paper. Poke open ends through holes in knit  hat. Cut slits in sock ends and tie in knots to hold in place. For stand up antennae or ears, insert loops of wire or coat hangers into stuffed socks and bend to shape for rabbit, donkey, elephant, mouse or others. For cat ears, cut paper or felt triangles, poke through holes and staple in place.

 For homemade no-sew fur, hair or mane for animal costumes, cut pieces of yarn twine 2x the desired length of hair. Tie the pieces together in the middle with one piece of yarn. (this will be the part in the  hair). Attach to top of head with bobby pins. Arrange hair around head. Cut bangs or braid if desired.

 Make tails as you did standup ears. Stuff a long sock. Insert coat hanger bent to desired shape of tail.  Pin to back of pants. Then pants can be recycled and reused after Halloween.

 Paint face with animal whiskers, nose, mouth, eyes and markings. Use Halloween face paint or your  own cosmetics. 

These homemade animals costumes are so simple to make that children can create their own. Save them for the dress up box when trick-or-treat is over. 

Spooky-tastic Halloween party foods and ghoulish-cious gruesome goodies for Trick-or-Treat

Hi there! Are you hosting a Halloween party? Want to scare up some spookytastic fun Halloween snacks and ghouliliciously gruesome goodies for your  little hob-goblins? These spooky snack recipes will guaranteed will gross out the bravest guest. We'll organize them by Halloween creature. Use these to play a blindfold touch and feel game. Have guests guess what  foods are. Set out labels so guests know what creepy confections they ate. Note: make sure guests know what you will be doing in case they may be opposed to this kind of activity. Also know that kids on the spectrum and even some that aren't may find this frightening. They can play along by just tasting the foods. I'd save the Halloween imagery for older kids. 

 Ghosts--flesh: marshmallows--guts: marshmallow fluff or vanilla frosting--ghost guts cookies: pinwheel cookies--ghost blood: milk--brains dipped in ghost blood: raw cauliflower dipped in ranch dressing

 Vampires--teeth: red apple wedges dipped in Hershey's Strawberry Syrup (blood)--bloody fingers : hot dogs with ketchup

 Haunted Jack-o-Lantern--pumpkin blood: orange juice

 Bats--teeth: black and orange candy corn--wings: fruit leather or prunes

 Mummies--brains: popcorn (being dried out, mummy brains are shrively and crumbled.--people mummies brains: make popcorn balls with marshmallows and red M&Ms.--cat mummy brains: popcorn and red M&Ms (Egyptians loved their cats and mummified them).--zombie Barbie brains: whole walnuts--wrappings: cotton candy--guts: assorted dried fruit--hearts and ears: pretzels

 Skeletons--fingers: mozzarella cheese sticks or pretzel rods--faces: yogurt-covered pretzels

 Witches--brains: broccoli--blood: milk and green food coloring, limeade--guts: pistachio pudding or guacamole (serve with tortilla chips called dragon scales)--eyes: green grapes or sliced kiwi--Witches' brew: mulled spiced apple cider. Have children watch as you describe and prepare. Heat

 monster blood (apple cider) with eye of newt (whole cloves), dragon claws (cinnamon bark),

 Slenderman eyes (lemon slices), toad eyes (raisins), dash of skeleton paste (butter) and ground  scorpion (nutmeg).--Witch blood slushies: frozen honey dew melon or kiwi, blended with Greek yogurt and lemonade.

 Miscellaneous--Frankenstein --Nuts and Bolts: Chex Mix or Cheerios Trail Mix--zombie sandwiches (as in for, not made of): Sliced lunchmeat (brain cross-section) sandwiches with

 guts and blood (mustard and ketchup).--eye slices: sliced kiwi or cucumber--werewolf gut and blood sandwiches: PBJ sandwiches--toasted spider legs: chow mien noodles

 Serve these monstrously healthy snacks before trick-or-treat, to prevent tummy crummies from candy

 overload.

Free printable color coding chart for phonics, spelling and syllabication

Hello my omschool friends. Here's my revised and updated Color Coding chart for spelling, phonics and syllabication. 

CONSONANTS AND CONSONANT-ONLY PATTERNS

 DARK BLUE:

·         Color individual consonants blue if they only make one sound within the word (if they’re not part of a digraph or blend):  B, D, F, J, K,L, M, N, P, R, S ,T,V, W, Z.  

·         Also color C and G blue when they make their hard sound (when they are followed by A,U,or O)

o   c as in cake

o   g as in gun

·         Also color H and Y blue when they begin a word.

o   H as in happy

o   Y as in yellow

·         Note: -g as in -ing and other digraphs or diphthongs will have a different color

PURPLE: “Soft” consonants followed by I, E, Y

·         C as is cider, cyst and cent

·         G as in gem, gym and ginger

LIGHT BLUE: Beginning and ending blends. Although the consonant sounds do not change, I do note the blends slightly differently to help students learn to connect the sounds.

·         Beginning: bl-, br-, cl-, cr-, dr-, fl-, fr-, gl-, gr-, pl-, pr-, sc-, scr, -sk-, sm-, sn-, sp-,spl-,spr-, st-, str-, sw-, tr-, tw- vr

·         Ending: -ft, -lb, -ld, -lf, -lk, -lm, -ln, -lp, -lt, -nd, -mp, -pt, -sp, -st

 GREEN: Digraphs: two consonants that make a single, different sound.

·         -ch-, -sh-, -ph- , -th- (can come at the beginning, middle or end of a word)

·         -tch (comes only at the end of a word)

·         Special rule about -th- TH can be voiced or whispered when it comes at the beginning or middle of a word. “Think” or “though”. It’ s only voiced in the middle “father” and only whispered at the end like “moth.”

DARK BLUE and YELLOW: Digraphs that make the sound of one of the letters only or are double consonant digraphs. Color the spoken consonant letter blue and the silent partner yellow.

·         -ck -(only at the end)

·         wh- (only at the beginning)

·         -ff-, -gg-, -ll-, -ss- (only found in the middle or end of a word. In the middle, they indicate a syllable division, like or muffin, yellow, toboggan, fluffy and at the end like staff, egg, small, mess.

·         -bb-, -dd, -mm, -nn-, -tt-(only found in the middle of words as syllable dividers; are generally only doubled when adding a word ending or in consonant -le patterns as in rubber, rudder, common, winner, waddle, matter, drummer.

 VOWELS

 ORANGE: regular short vowel sounds (found in the middle of words after consonants).

·         A as is cat, paddle

·         E as in bed, setter

·         I as in lit, hidden

·         O as in hot, bother,

·         U as in cup, butter

 RED: long vowels, or as we sometimes call it “vowels that say their name.” 

 YELLOW: silent letters and vowels. Some letters are randomly silent such as W in wrong. All long vowel sounds require a silent vowel to make them long. Y and W are silent vowels when the follow another long vowel, with some exceptions.

·         Silent E at the end of the word or syllable with the CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant, silent E pattern) lake, tide, duke, rode. There aren’t many CVC-silent E words with long E.

·         silent vowel partners. The first vowel usually says it’s name and the second is silent. But the silent vowel must be present so the first can say its name. Remember the poem “when two vowels go walking the first does the talking and second says nothing.”  In this case, the vowel which says its name is colored red and the silent partner is yellow, reminding students that it makes no sound.

o   Long E silent vowel partners.  This vowel is tricky. Sometimes she’s the second vowel who is normally silent. And sometimes, she can be shy about saying her name and needs two silent vowels to help. There are a few CVC-silent E words with long E but not many. (Eve, recede, replete) There are more with these patterns.

§  EA in the middle sometimes needs that second silent partner as in peace, ease, weasel. Sometimes it doesn’t like in meal and bean.

§  EA at the end doesn’t a second silent vowel, like sea, flea, plea

§  EE may or may not need the second silent vowel. See, keen and feel are fine with just one. But sneeze and cheese need the second.

§  IE may or may not need help BUT it’s the first I that’s the silent partner that makes E say her name (believe, achieve, chief, thief) IE is also pronounced as Long I which we’ll get into later.

§  EY--Y is a vowel, and the silent partner,  when it follows another vowel like in key. This pattern is most usually found at the end of a word like donkey.

§  EI is really tricky. She says long A most of the time on only long E after C. Remember this: “ I before E except after C.” like in Receive or receipt) Most of the time. There are some exceptions.

·         Long A

§  CVC-silent is the most common way to spell the Long A sound. Cake, make, male, lame, lace, made, safe, gate, rare

§  AI – this is a crazy one because it can say long A as in paid or tail short E as in said, short A as in plaid.

§  AY- In syllables, the long A sound is spelled AI when followed by a consonant (claim) and AY when it ends the syllable or word. Play, played.

·         Long I

§  CVC-silent E in words such as like, spice, mile, lime, tide, mite, white

§  IE as in tie and lied. It’s not as commonly spelled that way.

·         Long O this one can be tricky too.

§  CVC-silent E in rode, hove, hole, poke, tote

§  OA as in float, load coal, roast

§  OE as in toe

§  OU as in dough (see the special OU rules in the diphthongs section)

§  OW as in blow and row (W is a silent partner).  

§  Long O is usually spelled OA when followed by a consonant and OE when it ends a word or syllable.

§  OMB, OST There are some blends and digraphs in which no silent vowel to make the O long, such as most, ghost or comb. But OST can also say -aw like in cost or Long U as in tomb.

§  OLD This pattern requires no silent E to make the O long, and is the most common pronunciation of OLD words, like gold, old, cold, hold, bold.

·         Long U (pronounced -ew or -oo)

§  CVC-silent E in ukelele, mule, cute (said -ew)

§  UI as in suit (not a common way to pronounce it and usually only found before T. UI is long I in guise for example.

§  UE as in glue, flue

§  OMB is an exception in words like tomb where the O with no silent partner says OO. The B however, is silent in tomb and comb.

PEACH and GRAY are for diphthongs or vowel slides in which the vowel combination makes both vowel sounds or a different sound altogether. If the same combination makes different sounds, use peach for one and gray for the other.

·         AW as in claw, flaw

·         EU which says Long E and Long U.

·         OO can be long U in hoot, food, school, pool, room, noon, soon and groom (peach). Color it gray for OO as in hood, good, look

·         EW can be Long U in flew and new.

·         OW as in how and owl

·         OY as in boy and ploy (usually spelled this way at the end of syllable or word)

·         OI as in coin and foil (usually spelled this way when followed by a consonant)

 

 CONSONANT/ VOWEL COMBOS

 PINK: irregular vowel/consonant blends

·         EIGH as in sleigh, and sleigh

·         AUGH as in caught

·         ING (ring), ANG, UNG, ONG and UNG

 

 TURQUOISE: - R- controlled vowel sounds

·         AR as in car

·         ER as in her

·         IR as in bird,

·         OR as in cord

·         UR as in hurdle

·         Write OR as in word and AR as is war,  in turquoise outlined in black to show it’s a rule-breaker that sort of follows the rule and sort of doesn’t.

 RED/BLUE/YELLOW: IGH and IGHT Because the I says its long sound, it is red, GH is silent and therefore yellow, and the T is blue because it makes its usual sound.

BROWN SHADES: For OU and OUGH since there are several pronunciations for these, indicate by using different shades of brown.

·         CREAM--ough (ow as in bough)

·         TAN--ough (aw as in bought)

·         BURNT ORANGE--ough (awff as in trough)

·         BRICK/ RED BROWN--ough (uf as in rough)

·         CHOCOLATE--ou (oo as in should)

·         OLIVE--ou (oo as in you)

·         BLACK–ou as in dough

 

 WORD ENDINGS/SUFFIXES

SILVER -tion, -ion, -ous, -cian, -y, -ily, -est, -er –est

PREFIXES:

GOLD pre-, un-, re-, a-, mis-

Back to school activities: make nature science detective kits

Hello my dear friends of the Omschool! A hearty welcome to the next year in our adventure--back to school! Here are some nifty back to school STEM activities and lesson plans geared for all ages from 3 to 103! Make nature science detective kits to explore wildlife science concepts. Use this activity to welcome kids back to school. Kids will love playing nature CSI investigators! Homeschooling parents will love these multiage inexpensive, hands-on science lesson plans too. 

You will need one of each of these items per student:

--large gallon size zipper bag or cheap carry-all bag to store supplies

--plastic magnifying glass (available in bulk at Great Party, Party America or Oriental Trading)

--cheap one-subject notebook

--pocket folder (cheap at Walmart, Staples, Target, Amazon)

--plastic disposable gloves (choose latex free; give each student one pair)

--tweezers or cotton swabs (both would be useful, but use cotton swabs to save money)

--3 or 4 specimen bags (snack size Zip-Loc)

--3-4 larger specimen bags (sandwich size Zip-loc)

--sheet of label stickers

--pen and pencil

-- roll of invisible Scotch tape

--several pieces of yarn or string

--box of crayons ($.25 at back-to-school sales)

--ruler or measuring tape (here's a free printable rulers and squares.) check for other free printable measuring tools. 

How to Use Nature Detective Kits:

Make kit assembly part of the lesson. Set out supplies in stations and give students gallon zipper bag and supplies list. This provides experience in counting, sorting and organizing.

Using stickers, kids label notebook: Investigator (name)____________ or Detective (name)____________. Label bags: Exhibit A, B, C or Evidence. As evidence is collected, data and date should be added. For example: 'beetle exoskeleton 9-3-2015.

Go on nature investigation hunts around your neighborhood, school playground or camp. Assign students different items to investigate, native to your area. Students should not keep living specimens, but they might bring a bug box to temporarily house and examine a living critter. Look for evidence of living creatures: bug carcasses, exoskeletons, fallen leaves, feathers, owl pellets, seed pods, rocks, fallen nest, bits of animal fur, bark samples, plants, flowers and rocks.

Have students draw living creatures, homes and habitats: spider's web, bird's nest, wasp's nest, rabbit hole, ant hill, scat (animal droppings). Students should record when and where they observed it. Students shouldn't touch but may observe scat(animal droppings) or dead animal remains.

In class, have children discuss and hypothesize on findings at their level of reasoning. Students might create a natural history museum displaying what they have found. Students can act as young docent guides, explaining discoveries to visitors. This makes a superb activity for parent-teacher conferences, which come early in the year before teachers have had time to collect much student work. It's ideal for summer camp, too. 

Save money at Back-to-school sales and give school supplies as Halloween candy alternatives

Hello friends of the Omschool! I'm so excited! As much as I'm sad to see summer go, Back to school is one of my favorite times of the year! It deserves a celebration all it's own. But I'm also cognizant of the fact that everything costs more and back-to-school shopping is no exception. As mom to a large family and now Omi to a much larger crew, I'm all about saving money. So back to school sales are a great way to cut costs not only on BTS items but also gift giving occasions. Repurpose school supplies for Halloween Trick-or-Treat giveaways, Christmas stocking stuffers, party prizes, birthday presents and more. As for Trick-or-Treat, it's high time to start thinking outside the candy wrapper anyway. Here are 70 Halloween candy alternatives you can pick up cheap as you do your back-to-school shopping. Non-candy treats are perfect for kids  on special diets. Teal Pumpkin Project participants, use this list of treats for diabetic candy-free alternatives for kids with food allergies and ADHD.

 All or these items can be found for $1-$2 per dozen or less. Shop for back-to-school at Walmart, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Target, Dollar General, Aldi and Meijer. Check Oriental Trading catalog. Shop bulk and clearance bins and shelves at party supply stores for inexpensive birthday prizes. Look for tax free days and free shipping on BTS purchases at Amazon and other online vendors. 

Give school supplies as Halloween candy alternatives. Give pencils, rulers, drawing compasses,  markers, scissors, mini-markers, mini stampers, crayons, glue sticks, scissors, pencil sharpeners, tape, mini  staplers, notebooks, books and folders. Give craft supplies instead of Halloween candy. Kids love  cheap craft sets, activity booklets, mini paint sets, decorated pens, scented pens, gel pens, play dough, goop, putty and colored pencils.

Give birthday party prizes for Trick or Treat. Children's favorites are: adjustable rings, navigational  compass, key chains, fake fangs (very popular), slide flutes, Chinese handcuffs, tops, mini kazoos,  party poppers, noisemakers, yo-yos, glow bracelets, slide puzzles, mini games, finger puppets, fake  fingers, finger gliders, mini puzzles, ring toss games, squishy eyeballs, glow-in-the-dark insects, plastic toy animals, toy soldiers, toy cars, ball and jacks sets, snap bracelets, prisms, bracelets, necklaces, puzzles, squirt guns, squirt rings, whistles, kaleidoscopes, sticky hands, harmonicas,  paratrooper toys (with plastic parachutes attached) and growing creatures in capsules (these look like pill capsules and when put in water, expand).

 Need super cheap Halloween giveaways for large crowds of kids? Give out balloons, stickers, Band Aids (seriously crazy popular), temporary tattoos, spider rings, friendship rings, bouncy balls, bat rings,  jumping spiders, Comparison shop and you'll find cheap prizes cost about the same as candy. 

And when choosing Halloween candy alternatives or any toy prize giveaways, think more educational and less cheap landfill fodder. School supplies are perfect to this end. So are prisms, musical instruments like kazoos and harmonicas, kaleidoscopes, gyroscopes, plastic animals and insects. The little paratrooper toys, Chinese handcuffs and expanding pill capsule creatures help demonstrate physics principles to simple object lessons too. 

Love to you all and best wishes as we head back to school for another adventure filled year! 

Blueberries for Sal and Mystery in the Night Woods lesson plans with free printables

Hello friends of the Omschool. I've got great news that I'm very excited to share! We're going live! (or virtual live). Starting this week, my grandkids and I are going to begin doing lessons collaboratively on Zoom. We're doing multi-age, cross-curricular, STEM and social studies heavy units based around classic literature. We begin by reading Blueberries for Sal (youngers) and Mystery in the Night Woods (upper elem). You are welcome to join us! I'll be recording some of  our sessions for Youtube. Hear is our itinerary of lesson plans. 

further recommended reading:  

Time of Wonder

One Morning in Maine

Green Eggs and Ham

Teddy Bear Picnic

The Biggest Bear

Mousekin’s Golden House

all Mousekin books

Smokey the Bear books

Lesson plans:

·         Spelling words: can (canning), jam, blueberries (and other berries), Mother, Bear (bare), hill, little, pail (pale), winter, summer, crow, stump, Sal (pal, call, ball) child (wild), tremendous

p  practice one way each day

·         Write poem with rhyming words

·         Book discussion 

·         (BFS) Comparison/contrast of kids’ lives then and now chart. What they have that we don’t and what we have that they don’t  (toys, cars, homemade things) 

·         (Both) Hibernation, animal habitats, animal-human interactions 

·         (BFS) Grammar: onomatopoeia Plink, kerplunk, kuplink, boom, crash, smash, munch, caw (Read The Bells, EA Poe, my poem)

·         (both) Nature hike (look for animal signs, fur, slime trail, prints, eggshells, nests, scat, owl pellets, fossils, rocks) GA and O Here’s a rock guide and see below for animal tracks. https://miningmatters.ca/resource/rock-identification-guide and here’s a scat guide Scat-Identification.pdf (gross, I made myself sick)

·         (BFS) Make a recipe from blueberries (jam, pie, canned blueberries, muffins, salad, flag cake, soup, BBQ sauce) (O for ideas, GA)

Ø  (BFS) Write recipe and add to family recipe book. An easy one would be fruit flag salad with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and white cheese cubes. Or fruit kebabs with blueberries, strawberries and white cake or cheese cubes.

Ø  (BFS) Plant parts chart: list across top (root, stem, leaves, flower, fruit, seeds) then cut out or draw pictures of different fruits and place in categories. 

Ø  (Both) Stuffed animal graph (collect animals and place them in rows to show what animal group they are: insect, mammal, fish, bird, reptile, amphibian (O then GA)

Ø  Hide and Find. Make a treasure map showing where to find the bear and blueberries she has hidden, or a map for FS to get off the island and back to his tree.

Ø  Make toys for babies and toddlers with found objects (like Sal’s canning rings) 

Ø  Write to Maine tourism board for free travel info or search Google to find a secret link to a free travel brochure you can download. (IT)

Ø (both) Make clay animal tracks or play animal tracks matching game animaltracksposter.pdf this can be colored, cut and assembled or just printed for reference. Here are flashcards https://explorationamerica.com/free-printable-animal-tracks-explorer-id-cards/ Kids should discuss in their group meeting differences between each animals footprint, whose are webbed, whose show nails, etc. Teach term scat.

Ø  (both) Make animal puppets from scraps.

MITNW

Ø  Words: mystery, night, woods, weasel, squirrel, owl, bat, badger, toad

Ø  Nocturnal/diurnal animal chart

Ø  Act out story

Ø  Read aloud, round robin

Ø  Character web (how each relates to each other)

Ø  If/then or cause and effect choices flow chart:

Ø  Character traits of each

Ø  Make a hearing aid like the ear horn

Ø  Tree chart of who lives where, food chain

Ø  Research animals: badger, flying squirrel, bat, snowy owl, weasel (mink, ermine) stoat, bullfrog

If/If/ then or cause and effect chart. If FS had seen Miss Owl as a friend, not a possession. If he had respected her. If  he had not kidnapped her. If he’d allowed her free choice to be with him. If she had been angry and not forgiven him. If Weasel had worked with FS not betrayed him. If FS had not made good his bad choices. Where did FS start going wrong and where did he correct it? And how? What was FS’s major character flaw and how did he, if ever, correct it? Which events were caused by FS’s pride? Seven deadly sins. 

 

Extensions

Ø  Art (pen and ink drawing)

Ø  Caldecott medal

Ø  Maine travel exploration

Ø  Animal scat sorting game with free printable animal scat 

 

Supplies list

·         Blueberries

·         Book copies

·         Clay or playdough

·         Ingredients for whatever recipe they choose with berries

·         Folder

·         Calendar or planner (tons to print online)

·         Two notebooks or five subject (will be reused)

·         Tweezers, zip bags, gloves, magnifying glass

·         Cellphone would be nice

·         Recycle bin scraps to make animal graph, plant graph, toys for littles

and maps (let them spill coffee on maps and crinkle to look old, lol)

·         Paper for plant parts chart

·         Markers

·         Magazines to cut scraps

·        Cardboard

·        Tape or brads

Scissors