Reindeer Heads

Fast and easy!  It just required brown, dark brown or black, and white construction paper, glue and a marker.  We cut out the shapes of the heads, the kids drew the antlers and pasted everything on.  Using a glue stick, minimal mess!

Word Sort with Beads

We do a lot of word sorts, which are great for ESL students and help with discriminating between words and reading visually similar patterns.  This week we were working on sn and sw words.  We did two different activities using our beads, a listening activity and then a visual identification activity.

For the listening activity, each student had two beads, a blue for words beginning with sw and a green bead for words beginning with sn.  I read down their list of words, and for each word, they would put the corresponding bead on the desk.

For example, the word snail, they would put a green bead down, for swim, a blue bead, and so on.

The second part of the lesson, they had the word list and seven green beads and seven blue beads.  They would place a bead over each beginning blend.  It is easy, quick, minimal preparation and minimal clean up!

Biography TImelines

A quick and easy way to separate main idea and details, while reading biographies and learning about the genre, is to create a timeline of a person's life.  This also solidifies the idea of chronological order, has children return to text to seek out information, and gives them the opportunity to learn about an influential person. 

Here are a few examples of timelines of Walt Disney's life, based on one particular biography, but we did additional research using other sources also.

Younger children or children with limited English can simply draw big events and perhaps label them, while older children can additionally write about the person's life, highlighting their accomplishments.

The Noisy Paintbox/Abstract Art Activity

Here is a fun activity that I did with third grade students after we read The Noisy Paintbox a biographical picture book of Vasya Kandindsky.  I also supplemented the lesson with images on an iPad showing paintings of his.  The children did a watercolor painting inspired by his work and then wrote a short paragraph about why they chose to do this particular painting.


Here are some examples of their work:

Halloween Marshmallow Ghosts

A quick and fun Halloween activity that works on fine motor skills. 

Materials:
black construction paper, liquid glue, mini marshmallows, (little tongs if wanted)

Steps:
1.  On a piece of black construction paper, draw an outline of a ghost. 
2.  Go over the outline with a line of Elmer's glue.  (an preschooler could also do this, great for strengthening hand muscles).
3.  Place mini marshmallows on top of the glue line, forming an outline of marshmallows.  Tonging the marshmallows is also good for strengthening and developing the pincer grip.

4.  Let it dry and add eyes or mouth details with a white colored pencil or crayon.


Hang it for Halloween!

Watercolor Ice Cubes

This is a good, easy, hot day activity.  The only things needed are watercolors, ice cubes, and a few paintbrushes.

Then the ice cubes melt, which is also cool to observe, and if you put them on white paper, leave faint water color stains.

Ice and food coloring is also very fun, when old clothes are available and fingers being stained aren't an issue.

Sand Art

A fun summer activity, best done outside!  The kids create a outline of a simple drawing and then paint it with watercolors.
When the watercolors are dry, they go over the outline with a line of glue.  Using a scoop they sprinkle sand over the outline and shake off the excess.  Then, let it dry again!


Materials:  Paper, pencil, watercolors, water, cups for water, colored sand, liquid glue (cardboard sheets /backing is good for to keep the paper stiff), glue sticks (if using cardboard backing)

Phones

These are pieces of PVC elbow pipe, available at big hardware stores, such as Home Depot and Lowes.  I use them for primarily three things: reading fluency, hearing letter sounds, and revising writing.

The sound through the pipe accentuates what they hear and they are more cognizant of how they are pronouncing.   It really helps some children hear the vowel sounds that they are making.

The kids love using them and are excited to reread a book or poem while they "listen" to themselves read.  They only have to read at a very low volume to hear themselves, so several children reading at the same time is not a problem.

When we are revising writing, I have the students read their writing quietly to themselves (usually sitting at an area like a writing center) and then go back and read it a second time using a blue pen to make changes.  Sometimes they are reading for flow, sometimes with a purpose, such as adding strong verbs or similes and metaphors.

The piping is inexpensive and can be decorated with puffy paint, stickers, or names written in Sharpie (it wipes off with rubbing alcohol at the end of the year).  It's a fun tool to have in the classroom.

Sight Word Path

When teaching and/or reviewing sight words, sometimes we use a sight word path (this also works well in the hallway).  I write the sight words on index cards and place them on the floor, the kids walk the path reading the sight words aloud (it's great to laminate them first for reuse).  If you have a group of kids, you can have one child go until they misread a word and then stop and the next child starts and so on.  
The can also walk the path with a clipboard and record certain words (like all the words beginning with 'c,' etc).  There are many variations, including integrating laying them out and collecting them into the reading of them, hopping, pointing with a yard stick, or taping them down for extended use.

Tall Tales

After reading several tall tales aloud and different versions of the same tales, my students wrote their own tall tales.  We edited and revised them and typed them.  The students created the main character and pasted the exaggerated tales on their bodies. 

Sand Tray Letters

One tactile way of developing letter-sound correspondance skills is by using sand trays to trace letters.  I usually use this in one-on-one situations or small groups.  I hold up a card (Fundations or Orton-Gillingham cards are ideal), but any letter card works and say the name of the letter and then the sound while they repeat the sound and trace the letter.  For younger children we work on one a few letters at a time until they have built a knowledge bank and than add additional letters.

Eventually we move into using the cards to create cvc words that they trace in the sand.  A gentle shake of the tray with erase/reset the sand for the next letter, and eventually it is a quick process.  The kids love the tactile input and some kids truly excel when learning is "hands-on."

Direction Words

 This can be created with any theme.  We used Saint Patrick's Day, which is commonly celebrated in this area of the United States, but most of my English language learners know nothing of it.  So to familiarize them with the day and to review direction words, (and for the kindergarteners work on colors), we made rainbows out of construction paper.  They then colored leprechauns that I had drawn (that are also readily available as clip art) and cut them out.  They pasted them above, below, next to, and under the rainbow and labeled them.

Clouds

We read a few cloud books and followed up with painting clouds.  This activity can be used for younger children with creating clouds and developing fine motor skills, or with older children studying weather and cloud types.  It's also a great way to paint snow or snowmen!


 

The cloud book we started with was Little Cloud by Eric Carle.  We read the book out loud a few times and then created our own clouds on blue construction paper.  To create our cloud mixture, I mixed equal parts liquid glue (such as Elmer's) and shaving cream.  It forms a sticky, fluffy substance (great for developing oral language and discussion) that can be painted/sponged/finger painting/foam brushed onto paper.  It will dry almost as puffy paint, in a textured, raised bubble, depending on how much is applied.  The children then wrote a story about a cloud.

Various clouds by kindergarteners.

This activity is also perfect for the Cloud Book, by Tomie De Paola and creating each type of cloud.

Valentine's Wreath

A quick and easy Valentine's craft with minimal materials and preparation.  They can be hung around door knobs for a decoration.


Materials:

cardboard or a paper plate, construction paper, scissors, glue or glue stick, heart pattern (for younger students)
Optional: stickers, glitter, doilies

The easiest way to do this is with paper plates, but in a pinch a piece of cardboard works well.




Process:

1.)  Create a circle for the wreath base.  If students are doing it, have them trace a circular based object and fold the circle in half to cut out the interior circle.

2.)  Cut out hearts.

3.)  Glue a ring of glue around the circle.

4.)  Paste the hearts on, overlapping to hide the base.

Violet the Pilot

Violet the Pilot by Steve Breen is a wonderful book for teaching about children being different because of their interests, while encouraging the idea of girls achieving feats in male dominated areas.  It's a fun story of a creative heroine who builds her own flying machines from junkyard scraps.

After we read, the students created their own blueprint designs of an airplane or flying machine that they would create with common household objects or discarded items. These were based on the blueprints on the end pages of the book.  They labeled the diagrams and then went on to write a story about an adventure in their flying machine.

Materials:  a copy (or multiple copies) of Violet the Pilot, white colored pencils, dark blue paper or construction paper

Eric Carle's Rooster's Off to See the World

After reading Rooster's Off to See the World, we made mini books with the animals who traveled with Rooster.  The children had pre-drawn animals to cut and glue in their books and then they labeled each one to practice their numbers and words.  Some children choose to write sentences on each page. 

The children then painted watercolor roosters for the covers of their mini books.

Materials:  pre-made mini books, stapler, staples, pencils, glue sticks, images of animals for students to cut, watercolors, brushes, cups of water