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.

Robots

This is another speaking exercise in which students work in small groups to brainstorm ideas and then execute the illustration (or build a model if you are so inclined)!
The assignment is to design a robot that helps society in some way.  You can make the assignment broad or more specific.  The last time I gave it, it was with a group of fifteen year olds and we only had a half an hour to work with, so I left the assignment open, but with a time limit.  When they had completed their work, they had to explain it to the class and be open for questions and conversation.

A fun extension to the assignment is to have the students write a (fiction) story about some of the robots that their classmates have designed.


Materials:  chart paper, markers or crayons

one example of a robot

another example from the same group of students

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.

Letters for Geometry

To practice flips (reflections), slides (translations), and turns (rotations), I make the first letter of the children's names, and the students cut them out.  We then use these letters as manipulatives, so that they can demonstrate each movement on their desktop, as I call them out.

These letters can lead into another activity:

Activity link

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.