Your green pages: 55 skill-building activities you can use right now!

Teaching Pre K-8, Oct 2003 by Swartz, Elizabeth

PRIMARY

Packing Categories

1 MATH Pack a suitcase, beach tote, purse, briefcase, lunch box, grocery bag, etc., with several items it would normally carry, and one item that does not belong, such as eggs in the suitcase. Invite students to unpack the container, naming each item and picking out which one does not belong.

Fading Brightness

2 SCIENCE You'll need red, orange and black construction paper for this activity. Cut the piece of black paper in half and attach one half to the red and one to the orange piece of paper, so that the black paper covers half of each of the other pieces of paper. Place the papers in direct sunlight. After several hours, have the students check the papers. Where did the color go? Can you get the color back? What does this tell us about sunlight?

Follow My Pointer

3 READING Bring in some old curtain rods or broom handles. Invite students to decorate the rod with pompons, pipe cleaners and streamers. Use the special pointer to lead class reading.

Alligator Clip

4 ART/SCIENCE Step 1: Paint a wooden spring-type clothespin green and let it dry.

Step 2: Glue a wooden ice cream spoon to one side of the clothespin. Glue on two wiggle eyes near the handle. Glue on two green beads near the end for the nostrils.

Step 3: Use a black marker to draw lines for the ridges on the face and body.

Step 4: Make a habitat box for the clothespin alligator.

Farm Animals Worldwide

5 SOCIAL STUDIES On October 2, we celebrate farm animals all around the world. Check with your librarian for books and videos about various farm animals, then go to www.farmusa.org Discuss the importance of farm animals in different parts of the world and what types of animals live in different areas. Collect pictures online and from magazines. Make a class booklet of worldwide farm animals.

Twist That Tongue

6 WRITING Give each student a picture of one animal. Have each of them write an alliterative tongue-twister about his or her animal, such as: lazy long-legged lions leap lightly. Have students write their tongue-twister at the top of a piece of construction paper, then ask them to illustrate their tongue-twister. Their illustrations can incorporate the original picture.

Living Clocks

7 MATH Read the following poem to the children, then have them stand straight and tall like clocks as you call out various times. Help the children to position their arms to depict the time you have called out.

I'm A Clock

It's fun to play that I'm a clock,

And move my arms that way,

It's fun to play that I'm a clock,

To learn the times of day,

Straight up, straight down, arms side to side,

Then 'round and 'round they go,

And not before too very long,

It's telling time I'll know.

by Martin Shaw

Read it, Then Do it

8 READ Enjoy the following poem with your students, then give each of them some soft dough and have them manipulate it according to what the poem says as you reread it. Find other poems that describe doing things, or write some with your students. Then act out the activities described in the poems as you read them aloud.

Playing With Dough

I roll it.

I fold it.

I give it a pinch.

I mash it.

I catch it.

I stretch it an inch.

That's how my play-dough

often gets treated.

But mostly my play-dough

likes to be kneaded.

by Heidi Roemer

Floating Paper Clips

9 SCIENCE Get two paper clips. Bend one so that half of it is at a right angle to the other half. Now hold the vertical part and place the second paper clip on the horizontal part of the first paper clip. Then gently lower the paper clips into a glass of water. They will float for a long time. Experiment with removing first one paper clip and then the other. What is the relationship between the two paper clips? Which one floats longer? Why? Record your observations.

Sinking a Paper Clip

10 SCIENCE Here's an extension of the previous experiment. What chemical will break the surface tension of the water? List the children's suggestions, then conduct experiments. Liquid detergent will break the surface tension. Refloat the paper clips in fresh water and try other substances such as alcohol, vinegar, cooking oil, etc. Do these work?

How Much Longer?

11 MATH/TIME At various points throughout the day, call out, "time," and have the students write down what time it is. Later in the day, figure out the amount of time that elapsed between each "time call." Some days, you can develop a pattern, on other days you can keep it random. In addition to building your students' math skills, you'll also be helping them to develop an awareness of the passage of time.

Fall Fabric Scrap Trees

12 ART Use stiff 9''x12'' paper for a background. Cut the tree trunk and some branches from brown construction paper. Lightly shade the sky with blue chalk or Cray-Pas(R). Add dark lines onto the trunk to look like bark. Provide a basket of small fabric scraps for students to glue on as pieces of the fall tree's crown of leaves.

Getting the News

13 SOCIAL SCIENCES Prepare for National Newspaper Week, October 5-11, by contacting your local newspaper. Some papers will provide free multiple copies of a daily paper for classroom use, or send in advertising professionals to talk to students about how, when and why ads are put together. After studying your local paper, write and produce a class newspaper.