Your GREEN PAGES: 53 Skill-Building Activities You Can Use Right Now!

Teaching Pre K-8, Feb 2005 by Swartz, Elizabeth

INTERMEDIATE GRADES

Word Families

21 POETRY/PHONICS Read the following poem to the children. Then read it again and have them listen for words that rhyme with snow. List these words on the board. Make a snow shovel out of cardboard. The next time you read the poem, select one child to stand at the board and point to each rhyming word as it is read. . .

The Snow Show

The playground's growing heaps of snow,

I cannot see the swings.

The piles of snow are never low,

They're hiding slides and SPRING,

This kind of snow is blow and grow,

The seesaw I can't see.

My dad should tow it fast, not slow

He owes that much to me.

I saw the monkey bars, you know,

But they're piled high with snow.

The ladders and the climbing rings

We/I, hardly even show.

The playground's growing so much snow

The snowmen in a row

Cannot throw any basketballs

The net is packed with snow!

Where is the trampoline below?

Not covered with a bow.

The playground is a garden, white,

Without a seed to sow.

I cannot mow this glow of snow,

Or feed it to a crow.

But I can wait for Mr. Sun

To make a melting flow.

by Jacqueline Schiff

Library Lovers Unite

22 RESEARCH What is it that peopie like most about their libraries? When and why do they go there? Use this as a opportunity for your students to plan and carry out a research study. Write questionnaires to hand out to public library patrons during this month. Tally the responses. What was learned? What kinds of services do libraries in your area offer? Which services are used the most? Have students compile results into a written report.

America's Library

23 SOCIAL STUDIES During your celebration of Library Lover's Month, introduce your students to the Library of Congress. Check out their website at www.americaslibrary.gov/cgibin/page.cgi

A Raisin in the Sun

24 SCIENCE Use soiar energy to make raisins in your room. Let the students wash and dry 4-6 grapes. Write each student's name on a small paper plate and have them place their grapes on the plates. Place the plates on drying racks in a window that gets a lot of sun. The racks will allow air to circulate and as-! sist the drying process. If you wish, cover the plates with cheesecloth. Let the plates sit for 5-7 sunny days. Have your students check progress and record observations every few days. Compare these raisins with store-bought raisins. How are they alike or different? What do your students think caused the changes in the grapes?

Fill in the Blanks

25 WRITING Go to the library and sign out a stack of wordless picture books. Give the books to a group of students and ask them to write a plot that goes with the stories. They should also include dialogue, descriptions, etc. As a culminating activity, ask the class to write the story in words that the illustrator has done only in pictures.

Meet Mr. Handel

26 MUSIC/HISTORY Read a|oud a biography of Handel and play selections of his music to the class. Display pictures of what the clothing, transportation, etc., of the time looked like. Have each student or group of students select another musician to write a report for class. Be sure that music throughout different ages is represented. Ask your students to include sound bites in their reports. Be sure to include the librarian and the music teacher in this unit.