Books to Celebrate Ramadan

This year, in the United States, Ramadan begins on the evening of Sunday, May 5 and ends the evening of Tuesday, June 4.

Some books that teach and depict Ramadan, for elementary school students, include:

Lailah's Lunchbox which tells the story of a young girl from Abu Dhabi who is fasting for the first time and has recently moved to the United States.

Under the Ramadan Moon a beautifully illustrated book that describes a family celebrating during Ramadan.

Hena Khan writes the favorite character of Curious George into a board book for younger children, where George celebrates with his friend Kareem. It's Ramadan Curious George

Another popular author for younger children, Karen Katz, wrote a board book titled My First Ramadan which introduces toddlers to the holiday.

Scholastic members might like this lower level non fiction book with colorful photos from around the world. Ramadan

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!

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)

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.

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

Mighty Girls Books

The website amightygirl.com offers huge amounts of resources for teachers (and parents) to empower girls.  One tool that is currently offered, is their top picks of read-alouds featuring strong women or girls.

The website itself is amazingly categorized, rich in history, contemporary women, literature and even television and movies.  Definitely worth perusing!

Below is the reading list link:

Mighty Girl reading list

Personal Timelines (Vertical format)

There are so many ways to do timelines, here is one example from an ESL summer program in which I teach.  Students chose major events from their lives (birthday, a sibling's birth, entering school, etc) and recorded them on a rectangular piece of paper.  We then hung them with ribbon and the students presented their own timeline to the class.  This was primarily a speaking exercise, but can be used for developing writing skills also.  I have used this at varying grade levels, though these students are fifteen years old.

Display of class timelines.

Close up of timeline.

Another rectangle on a student's timeline.

Character Summaries

To look at characters in a book, this activity can be tweaked for various levels and analysis of characters (events, character traits, appearances, etc).

Take a large piece of paper and fold each side in so that it meets in the middle.  Choose two characters from the story (the protagonist and antagonist are easy to work with).  On the inside, choose a scene, or the students can choose a scene, in which the two characters interact.

The example below is from fourth graders who read the Roald Dahl book The Twits.  They each drew Mr. and Mrs. Twit on the opposing cover flaps.  On the interior they choose one or two jokes that the Twits played on one another, illustrated, and described them in writing.

Sequencing

Two literacy extension activities the we have done recently are sequencing, during and after reading books.  With older students, I give them Post It notes or index cards to keep track of major events in books.  With younger students, I keep track of the events (though we discuss them as a group), on chart paper or a sequencing map.  When we are finished reading, the students retell the events orally and in writing, and illustrate the sequence.

Examples of students' work from their respective reading groups:

A series of pictures from a second grader showing the Saguaro Cactus life cycle,
as shown in A Cactus Hotel.

After reading Abe Lincoln's Hat, a fourth grader took three major events
from the beginning, middle, and end of the story, described them
and drew illustrations.

Puppets

Puppets are such a great way for students to practice language and literacy.  I have been working with students in various grades and making puppets lately.  One of my second grade groups read a few plays and wrote their own, another group is performing a version of Cinderella that they read, and my fourth graders just finished Greek myth plays (from Scholastic printables).

This time, I gave them paper plates, popsicle sticks, and paper.  I drew a form for the younger kids and they used it to create their puppets.  The older kids wanted the freedom to make there own.  Here are a few:

Easter Egg Bunnies

I found this activity in Family Circle magazine.  It's quick and easy and inexpensive.

Completed bunny.

Materials needed: 

• plastic Easter eggs (the larger ones are easier to use & make sure they have holes on top and bottom)
• pipe cleaners
• a Sharpie or permanent marker
• pom poms or cotton balls for a tail
• a hot glue gun and glue stick
• (goodies for inside if you are so inclined)

Steps for making the bunny:
         
Open the egg and feed the pipe cleaner through and back through the same hole to create an ear.
Pull it back through and do the same with the other half of the pipe cleaner.
Do the same for the feet.  (You can also cut the pipe cleaner in half for the feet).
Draw a face on the front with the Sharpie.
 Glue the pom-pom on the back, with the hot glue gun, for the tail.

Some books related to this activity: 

The Bunny Who Found Easter- Charlotte Zolotow
The Easter Egg- Jan Brett
The Story of the Easter Bunny- Katerine Tegen

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Mice

Here is a fun snack to make after reading The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear, by Don and Audrey Wood.

They can be made with young children, though the decorating may need a steadier hand.  There are variations on this activity.  I have seen the mouse ears made with leaves from the strawberry (though then they're not edible).  Licorice lace is a fun variation on the tail, however, it has been hard to find in the stores lately!  

Not our best attempt but fun to make!

Ingredients and materials:

Strawberries, dipping chocolate, raisins (or candy) for ears, icing tube for decorating, wax paper, baking sheet

1. To make the mice, you can leave the strawberry intact, or cut off the top with the greens.
2. Prepare any decoration/mouse part that needs to be affixed with the chocolate.  For instance, I use raisins for ears, so I cut them in half beforehand.  
3. Melt the chocolate (I cheat and use Dolce's Dipping Chocolate found in the produce section of our local grocery stores).
4. Dip the strawberries one at a time and lay them on a baking sheet (it helps to put down wax paper or parchment paper first).
5. Affix mouse parts to wet chocolate.
6. When the chocolate is dry, use icing to decorate the rest of it.  

Butterfly Snacks

I have seen this done in a variety of ways, with cheesy snacks, popcorn, veggies, or with different baggies or a clothespin caterpillar center.  I just did a quick and easy pan of popcorn on the stovetop, put it in a snack baggie and tied a pipe cleaner around the middle.  It is looped at the top to create antennas.  These can be as detailed or simple as you want.

Magnetic Boards for Learning

Any magnetic board is a fun way to practice multiplication facts, spelling words, writing letters, answering teacher questions.  One year I found several at the dollar store and was able to use them in small groups at reading and math time.  You can be as creative as the kids with the uses.  Also a great center activity!

                                                       
                                                     Early letter formation work

Vegetable Tray Letters

To work on more tactile letter formation and pencil pressure, vegetable packaging trays are a great resource.

Using a pencil, I model a letter and then have the child or student try to write the same letter.  They can trace over the modeled letter with their finger, then their pencil, and then try to write it.  A good reason to save a stack of trays!

Dirt Cake

I used to make this when my fourth graders read How to Eat Fried Worms.  Recently my son made it, it's so easy to make and fun to eat!  You can also tie it into studying plants, life cycles, measurement, etc.

Ingredients:  Instant chocolate pudding, milk, Oreos, gummy worms

(If you can find a flower pot that a bowl fits into, it's a fun way to serve it, as above).

1.)  Make the pudding according to directions and based on how many servings you want, in the corresponding serving container.  I have made this in individual portions in clear cups when doing it for the students at school and in a bowl for parties.  

2.)  Crush chocolate sandwich cookies and sprinkle them on top.  

3.)  Refrigerate.

4.)  Put gummy worms on and in mixture.  (you can do this before step 3, but they get a little hard in the fridge and are more chewy for little kids to eat).