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)