Special Days - June

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This Summer, Let Them Write Every Day

Here's a suggestion I passed along to my classroom parents. Go to the dollar store and let the child pick out a journal. Then, every day during the summer, let them write a sentence (or two or three) down on a page. You can pick a word for them to include in the sentence, or they can randomly decide on what they want to write. If they want, let them draw and color a picture - just be sure they use crayons, as markers tend to bleed through the paper.

Not only will they keep their skills up and ready for First Grade, but you'll end up with a wonderful keepsake in later years.

Make It Challenging

In one of my math stations, I have each group of students put together a giant floor puzzle. But what do you do when a particularly bright group puts the puzzle together in record time, and you still have a few more minutes left on the clock?

The kids came up with their own solution! They took the puzzle apart, turned it upside-down so they couldn't see the colorful side, mixed up the pieces, then attempted to put it back together!

Talk about challenging! But they loved it!

A Different Kind of Weather Graph



We needed to graph the weather for seven consecutive days in science. But I wanted to do something other than a standard graph. I started with a sentence strip, and had the kids fold it 3 times. Unfolding it gave us 8 nice-sized squares.

 

For the next 8 days, we checked and marked the weather on our graphs. That included putting the date, drawing a pictoral of the weather, and marking the temperature. (We made sure to check the temp at the same time every day.)

 



As we worked on them, we hung them overhead, making for some neat decoration.

My Math Stations for the Weeks of 5/19 and 5/26

These are the last math stations for the school year.

Station #1 - Watermelon Bump
You can get this freebie here.

Station #2 - Put together a floor puzzle.
In this case, it's four separate puzzles.

 

Station #3 - Lucky 7
I made several copies of the word SEVEN on index cards. To play, the students roll 2 dice. If the total is seven, they get to pick one letter. First person to spell out the word SEVEN wins!

Station #4 - Calendar Math
We're working on the month of May.

Station #5 - Number Line Race
I marked off a sentence strip in inches. Each child picks a token. They shake a penny cup.
Heads = +1 space forward
Tails = -1 space back
First person to reach the end wins!

My Language Arts Stations for the Weeks of 5/19 and 5/26

These are the last language arts stations for the school year.

Station #1 - Guided Reading and Sight Word Flash Cards

Station #2 - Listening Station and Computers
On the computers, we're working on typing our sight words.

And at our listening center, we're reading...

 

Station #3 - Highlight-a-Letter
We're finishing up with the year with Y and Z.

Station #4 - Ladybug Words (Short u sounds)
I found a ladybug picture on the web, which I blew up and printed off 2 to a page. I then found a bunch of pictures with short vowel sounds. To play the game, the children pull a card from the box and name the picture. They then decide if the word has a short u sound. If it does, they get to cover a dot on the ladybug. If it doesn't, they put the card back in the box, and the next child takes a turn. First person to cover their ladybug wins!

Station #5 - Make a Sentence
Using these word-like unifix cubes, the children are challenged to make as many complete sentences they can in the time allotted, and write the sentences on their paper.

Another Game Board With a Word Die

Remember me telling you about that package of 3 word dice I got from the dollar store? And how I used one of them to make a dinosaur word game board?

This time, using another one of those word die, I found an old "make it yourself" game board sheets to adapt.

First, here's the die I'll be using. The sight words on it are MY, SAID, HELP, UP, THREE, and YOU.

Here is the made-it-yourself gameboard I copied from a workbook.

After trimming the edges, I glued the game board to a folder. 

Then I wrote the words on the spaces.

Add some color, and - Voila'! - a new sight word game board!

There are two ways to play. The fast way is to move your marker to the next word you roll.

(Ex: If you're on "my" and roll "three", you skip "said" and "you".)

The slow way is you can't move to the next word until you roll it. 

(Ex: If you're on "my", you can't move to "said" until you roll it.)

Winner must roll a "you" to land on the hive and win.

Substitute Teacher Idea - How Many

I'm having a substitute teacher in the class tomorrow while I take a day off to for a doctor's appointment. And while trying to figure out something for the kiddos to do, I came up with this idea.

Each child gets a half-sheet. (You can click on the jpg picture above to get a full-sized version you can save and print.). Before I ran off the copies, in the big rectangles I wrote such items such as TV, CHAIRS, TABLES, FLAGS, COMPUTERS, etc. The smaller rectangles on the right are for the kids to write the quantities. 

It's rather like a combination scavenger hunt and inventory game. I'm hoping they get a kick out of it. Plus I can keep a master to make other similar "hunt and count" activities.

End It, Begin It

I introduced this game to my class last week, and they beg every day to play it.

I call it END IT, BEGIN IT, and the rules are simple.
The students are divided into groups.
I write a word on the board. One of their sight words.
The first group has five seconds (I count down aloud) to collaborate together and come up with a word that begins with the last letter of the word. If they give one, I write the word on the board, and give them a point. Now the next group has a go. If that group doesn't come up with one, I skip to the next group.
The winning team gets to be "in front" of the line whenever we leave the room.

Cinco de Mayo

Here are three adorable art activities you can do for Cinco de Mayo, or any time you study Mexico.

First, there are the Paper Plate Parrot Puppets

Next, take a copy of the Mexican flag (run off 2 to a sheet) and have the kids glue construction paper to the outer sections after they color in the center emblem.

Finally, the activity that came out the cutest is the hot chili peppers, with their googly eyes and black pipe cleaner mustaches.

Ole!

My Language Arts Stations for the Weeks of 5/5 and 5/12

Station #1 - Guided Reading and sight word flash cards

Station #2 - Highlight-a-Letter
These two weeks we'll be working on the letter W and X

Station #3 - Computers and Listening Stations
Our book and CD these two weeks is

Station #4 - POP for Sight Words Game
Link here.

Station #5 - Match It! Spelling puzzles

My Math Stations for the Weeks of 5/5 and 5/12, With a Freebie

Station #1 - Race to Draw It
I made a simple worksheet, and a die with six basic 2D shapes. They throw the die, draw the shape, and first person to fill in 4 in a row wins!

Get your own copy of the sheet below!

(Click the jpeg image for a larger version you can save and print.)

Station #2 - Doubles Aren't Trouble!
You can get this freebie here.

Station #3 - Capture 4
You can get this freebie here!

Station #4 - Popsicle Puzzles!
I took popsicle sticks and wrote the alphabet, numbers, and shapes on them. (Two sticks per.)

Station #5 - Addition Chart
I couldn't remember is this game used dice or not, so I did a little adapting by making the 0s into 6s. (Sorry, but I dug this out of my filing cabinet, and I can't find where I got the original.)

Now what they do is throw 2 dice and cover the "intersection". It's very similar to the TENS AND ONES game I created. (And where you can get a freebie copy of that board.)

Making a Game Board From a Coloring Page

Several months ago, I found these 3 dice packaged together at the dollar store. I took the blue die on the left for this game.

First, I found a big coloring page. I chose the dinosaur to get the boys interested.

Next, I drew rectangular blocks on the paper, enough so that each word on the die gets 3 spaces.

The next step was to write the words in the blocks.

And then I colored the sheet, and glued it to a sheet of black construction paper, which I later laminated.

Simply enough, the students roll the die, and cover the word on the game board with their marker. When all the words have been covered, the person with the most markers on the board wins!