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

Sand Letters

Some reading programs use tactile or sensory experiences for students to learn letters or letter sounds.  Montessori schools for example, use sandpaper letters as students develop literacy skills.  The Orton-Gillingham reading intervention program also uses sensory experiences, such as students tracing letters in sand or rice.

Materials:  index cards or oak tag (if using oak tag- scissors or a paper cutter), pencils,  liquid glue such as Elmer's glue, colored sand from a craft store, measuring spoons/small scoop, a container to hold the sand
- you may want newspaper or paper on the table & probably a dust pan and brush for afterwards!

 Process:

This activity can be made with the students and used in a variety of ways.

 1.)  On  an index card or pre-cut piece of oak tag and write the letters in pencil.

2.)  Students go over the letter in glue (either by squeezing the glue bottle or going over it with a Q-tip and glue). 







3.)  Students take a scoop of sand and sprinkle it over the letters.  Shake off the excess sand and leave it to dry for a couple of hours.

Uses:

I often just make the vowels with the students to take home, but have a set of the whole alphabet.

•  in reading groups
•  students say the letter name and sound and trace over them with their fingers
•  the students can hold up a letter when they hear the letter sound in a word
• creating a short vowel word
• doing a crayon rubbing over the top of the letter

Gingerbread Houses

Building gingerbread houses with the students is a seasonal activity that also develops oral language, reading and writing, and integrates Common Core Standards of science and technology.  Before we built the houses, we read some books about gingerbread houses (Jan Brett's The Gingerbread Baby) and a few different versions of the Gingerbread Boy.



We have also been writing and reading directions about building a gingerbread house.  For older students, they read a passage from ReadWorks.com and answered questions.  With the younger students, we wrote out on chart paper directions for putting together a gingerbread house.  Later children wrote about constructing their gingerbread houses in an informational piece and wrote a fiction

Materials for house construction:

Non-edible:  paper plates, muffin tin liners (for holding various decorating candies), small cups (Dixie cups work well for icing), popsicle sticks or knives for spreading icing, a bowl for mixing, hand mixer, if you are feeling adventurous- sandwich bags to use to "pipe" the icing


Optional:  a disposable table cloth, paper towels, small (rinsed and emptied) milk or juice cartons to build around

Food items:  egg whites (Egg Beaters are a good bet, they are pasteurized and no need to separate eggs), confectioner's sugar, cream of tartar, and graham crackers.  For decorating- the lighter the candy, the more likely it is to stick- sprinkles, Nerds, M & Ms, chocolate chips, more traditionally- gum drops and candy canes, but they are both heavy!

There are a variety of recipes for Royal icing, the white icing that hardens when it dries, here is one that I used:

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar  
•  2 egg whites, beaten
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar 

        Royal icing can be colored with food coloring
        - makes 4 cups
 (*if kids eat the icing, the eggs should be pasteurized)

Process: 
1.) Set up and out all of the materials 
     Each child receives:  a paper plate, a milk carton, a small cup for icing, a popsicle stick or   disposable knife, 6 graham cracker pieces
 
2.) Make the royal icing according to recipe

3.)  Children build the houses around the milk carton

4.)  After 5-10 minutes of drying time (they can read or color after washing their hands) start decorating
 

This was mad with gluten-free graham crackers, so proportions are different.

This is a super messy (but fun) activity-  be prepared!  

Leaf Rubbings

Such a great autumnal activity for any age group, because it can be extended and used in so many ways.  I do this with my preschooler just for fun and to create fall decorations, but at school, we can write leaf haikus, categorize leaves, as part of a nature study, for descriptive writing, leaf graphs- the possibilities are endless.

Materials:

leaves
paper (copy paper or scrap paper works well)
crayons (with paper peeled)

The first step is collecting leaves that are fairly freshly fallen and not too dry and brittle.  
Collect them in varying shapes and sizes (though smaller leaves are easier for smaller children). 

Place the leaves under the piece of paper and with the side of the crayon, rub over the top of the paper.  The outline of the leaf and all of the spines will appear.

Read alouds to support:

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

Ghost Word Work Cups

An easy, low prep activity for welded sounds, blends, etc. 

Materials:  cups (plastic or small coffee cups work well), permanent markers, scissors
                  - adjust cup size to the development age/fine motor skills of child

Steps:  Pre-cut rectangular windows on each cup.

          1.  Give each child a permanent marker and have them write a blend or welded sound next to
              the rectangle.

          2.  Stack the cups.

          3.  In the window, have the child write the rest of the word.

          4.  Rotate one cup and in the next space, write the another word part.

          5.  Continue to rotate until words have been written in each space.

         6.  Draw eyes at the top of the cup and a mouth around the word rectangle.

         7.  Have the students read the words.

You can create a group of ghosts that review several sounds or have all children write the same words.

Halloween Spiders

A quick Halloween activity for kids. 

Materials:  circular objects or circles traced on oak tag, scissors, white colored pencils or crayons or googly eyes, pipe cleaners, thread or string, hole puncher

Steps:

1.  Have the kids trace a circular object on black construction paper for a head shape and a second, slightly larger circle for a body.

2.  Staple or glue the circles together.

3.  Draw eyes with a white crayon or stick googly eyes on. 
 
4.  Punch eight holes around the body circle.

5.  Cut pipe cleaners in half and feed them through the holes, twisting them near the body so that they stay in place. 

6.  Bend the legs.

7.  Punch a hole in the head and put thread through the top to hang it.