I LOVE POETRY

This is a simple way to make sure your students are exposed to poetry even though you have a full curriculum and very busy days.   Gather some poetry books and them put on a shelf or in a crate.  I actually put the books in a picnic basket and then stored them that way when we were not using them.  Make sure you have all of the Shel Silverstein books.  Children love that poet.  Copy at least a weeks worth of the worksheet and put out near the poetry books or where you put papers for your students to access. Do one with the students to show what you expect of them.  I would always demonstrate with one of my favorite childhood poems by Robert Louis Stevenson: 'The Swing'.  Below is a sample with out the student drawing.  Expectations for students:  neat handwriting, detailed drawing, and neat coloring .  This could be worked into a great center area if you wished.  I assigned one a day during the month of April - National Poetry Month.  This gave my Third Graders extra penmanship practice with cursive handwriting.  You might end up with 20 completed for each child at the end of the month.  This makes a nice booklet to send home or even a nice Mother's Day Gift.

JIGSAW BOOK REPORT

This is a really nice book report concept.  Students read their book for the month.  Get a white cardboard for each student.  Teacher can decide the size that is appropriate for the age group of the students.  Students draw a detailed picture about the book on the front of the cardboard.  At the top of the poster have the students write the name of the book, the author, and their name in black marker.  Students can then color the picture with crayons.  Remind them to fill all of the space, cover the white, and color in one direction neatly.  All of this can be done in class if you wish.  On the back of the poster students need to draw lines (with pencil) to represent puzzle pieces.  You may need to demonstrate on the board.  Teacher decides how many pieces are required.  Each piece will be a part of the book report requirement.  This will depend what you are studying in class and what your concept requirements are for your grade level.  Some requirements:  series of events; title author, copyright, number of pages; character...
The student will give his book report using a piece of the puzzle.  Teacher will need to have something for the student to put puzzle together on.  I used a cork board and gave the students push pins.  At the end of the report all of the puzzle pieces are together and the students get to see the picture.
I find this report keeps the students engaged since they are watching a picture come together.

COVER YOUR SNEEZE

AIMS SCIENCE: FALL LEAFS ME HAPPY

Question: What can we find out about fall leaves?
Material: Worksheet, Leaves, Magnifier, Map Colored Pencils
Directions:
Measure 4 leaves - use inch measurement
Pick 1 leaf to look at closely with a magnifier.
Carefully draw the leaf, the veins...
Color with map pencils.
Write a paragraph on the leaf paper.
~ tell about leaves
~ what is the same about them
~ what is different about them
~ what can you say about the colors
~ what do you know about touching the leaves
~ what can you say about the shapes
~ how did the leaf look different under the magnifier

TONGUE TWISTER FUN

Children have a lot of fun with tongue twisters.  Use this joy with our language to practice penmanship, encourage reading, and adding a touch of art.  Make sure you have a few tongue twister books available.  Let students spend a few days reading and enjoying the tongue twisters.  Students choose the item they want.    Then each child needs to figure out and explain what the tongue twister is all about and why it is funny.  I would make copies of chosen pages so that the books will not be needed to do the paper work.  Set aside time for students to neatly copy the tongue twister neatly on handwriting paper.
The paper needs space at the top for the student illustration.  Instruct that tongue twisters are written in a certain way like poetry is.  Students need to copy exactly.  Once writing is completed, student gets page checked by teacher for neatness and correctness in spelling and formation of letters (especially, if you are teaching cursive).  Then student get to draw a detailed picture to illustrate their writing.  That should be checked by the teacher also, just to encourage lots of detail and care, with less rushing to get done.  Then student can color.  We used crayons so there would be a choice of colors.  Have one artistic student illustrate your cover and one student with neat handwriting do a contents page.  Then put on the web and into a class book and watch students flip through it, reading and enjoying for many months.  Remember at the end of the year, to transfer papers to Journal/Memory Books.

HERE'S THE SCOOP

This is a great way to begin to understand the newspaper.  Begin by having the students make a Pressman's Hat.  All children love origami and this is a cute way to include it in a lesson.  You might want to give the directions and model doing it for the class.  Later, you can publish the directions in your newsletter to your parents.  While students are working on their hats, you need to bring in newspapers.  You might need to send a note home a few weeks in advance to get enough papers.  Discuss the statements on the worksheet before you hand  it out.  Give directions how to use scissors, cutting and gluing neatly, and appropriate noise level for the activity.  Talk about maintaining the border of the paper.  You do not want students choosing pictures that are too large for the page.  Spend an appropriate time to get this job started and a few completed.  Show these to the class to encourage others to complete in a timely manner.  Eventually, this will have to become a center or free time activity.  You can post these papers on a bulletin board, in the hallway, on your website, in a class book... When you are finished remember to put it in the student's Journal/Memory Book.

SIZZLING SUMMER ACTIVITIES

You can make sure your students do a bit of reviewing over the summer with this activity.  Copy the activity page for the number of students you have.  Use a paper cutter to quickly make a packet for each child.  Students need to color and cut out the pattern.  Magic Markers are brighter and you can then laminated if you wish.  Attach the activities, making sure students have their names written on the front. Project is ready to go home with a great packet of skill reinforcement.

FAMILY MEMO PAD

Send a small gift home at the end of the year that will remind your students the year.  Give each student white construction paper to draw a picture of their family members.  You might lightly draw a guide line showing where you will staple the Family Memo Sheets.  That way none of the important part of the picture will be covered.  Make sure students use a lot of detail, covering all of the space.  Use markers if you wish the picture to be bright and colorful and you are thinking about laminating it; otherwise crayons give more color choices.  Copy about 12 memo sheets per child.  I put four on a page so each child would get 3 pages.  Have students cut out the memo sheets carefully and neatly.  You need a long arm stapler to attach the memo sheets to the child's picture.  Then send home!

MAY CEILING HANGINGS

The end of the year is near and you want to get one last art project done.  This is it!  This project needs done in several steps.  1. Students color butterfly.  Encourage neatness. Prior to coloring show different pictures of butterflies so students get the idea of how a butterfly looks.   2.  Students cut out butterfly on outside of line, putting name on the back, neatly.    3.  Students draw a picture of their face on a small paper plate.  Encourage lots of detail - mirrors help so students can see their face.   4.  Trace a circle on a large white construction paper a little smaller than the paper plate.  Show students how to draw flower petals around the circle.  Talk about Spring Colors.  Students need to color the petals of the flower.  This needs done with crayon very dark.  It will take time.  5.  Adult helper or teacher put the projects together - see pictures.  Use colored yarn to hang the pictures.Put child's name in the bottom center of the face side with black sharpie.

APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS BULLETIN BOARD

INTERACTIVE BULLETIN BOARD.  This board allows students to review one syllable word families.  It also gets students out of their seats and moving in a purposeful way in the classroom.The bulletin board needs a blue background.  Make 4 inch circles and label with your word families you have studied: ing, ot, ug, ed, ow, ad, in, an, iik, ar, at, ow, ad, .  To make sure you have enough raindrops to fill each petal, write on the back of the circles all of the words that can be made:  ad - b, c, d, f, g, h, l, m, p, s.  This can also be extended to more than one letter gl, br.  Make enough raindrops and attach velcro to each raindrop tip and to the petal.  Make flower stems and leaves, staple the empty petals onto each stem, staple your raindrops all over the sky and you are ready.  Title APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS.  Then let your students "work" the bulletin board.  This could be a CENTER if you do them, or free time.

POETRY BOOKLET

Do you want your students to experience a variety of poetry in a short time?  This is a great idea.  The teacher needs a lot of children poetry books as a resource in the classroom.  The students choose a book and read through the poetry.  Once they find a poem they like, they fill out the I LOVE POETRY sheet.  I usually started this after standardized testing.  Once students have completed a couple of sheets and understand how to handle the assignment, I let them choose to do this project during free time-center.  You may put the first pages completed in a CLASS BOOK, so everyone can see what the other students are doing and what poems were chosen.  It's amazing how quickly, the students find a poet they like.  This also shows the teacher, students that are "into" poetry.  It's a lot of fun and an easy project to bring into your classroom.  At the end of the year, have your students make a cover and insert their favorite poems for that year.  This could be a GIFT PROJECT for MOTHER'S DAY if you wished.

DOT STICKER ARTS AND CRAFTS

This is a neat art project for intermediate classrooms.  You need lots of different colored dot stickers, Ed Emberly Books, scissors, imagination, and patience.  Explain and demonstrate a variety of these items and then let the students go.  OR, at the end of a unit on ocean, try an ocean scene.  Can you think of other ways to use these items?

SHAMROCK SHENANIGANS

MATERIALS:

~ Shamrock Tracers - one per student, made from tagboard

~ Octagonal Tracers - several, or teacher pre-cuts the green octagon, or press with die cut

~ Crayons
~ Watercolors

DIRECTIONS:

1. Trace shamrocks onto white paper with green crayons.  DO NOT OVERLAP.

2. Decorate each shamrock with a different design.  (Brainstorm a variety of designs prior to project)

3. Watercolor wash with green.

4. Glue onto green octagon.

OPTION:

~ Write a poem to attach to the back of the octagon.  Hang from the ceiling.
~ Instead of tracing each shamrock, have students run off the shamrock with a line of green crayon.  This is a wider tracing area.

ST. PATRICK'S FUN BOOKLET

MATERIALS:

~ Patterns for hat shape, black strip, and buckle

~ Green, black, gold construction paper, (gold or silver foil for buckle is wish)

~ Worksheets copied, cut in half, and stapled into a small booklet to fit inside hat

DIRECTIONS:

Students fold green construction paper in half, trace and cut hat pattern, making sure to leave the fold at the top of the hat.  Trace, cut, and glue the black strip and buckle.  Place name beneath the band, adding and O' to the last name.  Insert booklet that teacher pre-made and stapled.

Teachers this is an opportunity to review lots of skills that your class has been working on.  Just go through material you have and take out anything that has to do with March/St. Pat's.  Below are skills used for 1st-3rd.  Have fun.