13 results for "letters"

Kindergarten - 6th Grade

This activity is appropriate for: kindergarten - 6th grade / 5 - 11 years Have your students write letters with advice for the kids who’ll follow in their footsteps next year! It’s a great way for children to review what they did during the course of the year. Encourage students to emphasize positive, fun things about their school year—they’re trying to help next year’s class get excited about the year, not be anxious about it! Things they might write about include advice on how to get good grades, things to do and not to do, favorite themes or field trips, etc. Store the letters over the summer, and then take them out on the first day of school next year. You can then post them in your room, read parts of the letters aloud or hand them out for students to read on their own. Instead of writing letters, you could have students create a poster for next year’s class. Children can work together to brainstorm what tips they would like to include, and then they can write, draw and color the poster. Students could also create a “Classroom Handbook” full of helpful tips, suggestions and favorite memories. Bind students’ pages together into a booklet, and place it in your classroom library for students to look over next year.

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Pen Pal Project

2nd Grade - 5th Grade

This activity is appropriate for: 2nd - 5th grade / 7 - 10 years Set up international pen pals for your students. (A great website that can help get you connected to other students or classrooms around the globe is www.epals.com.) Encourage them to write to their pen pals to ask about which holidays they celebrate and how they are celebrated. Prompt students to include in their letters explanations and descriptions of their own holiday traditions and celebrations. Have students take pictures of holiday decorations to send with their letters. And don’t forget to invite students to share their letters with the class when they receive a response!

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Name Bar Graph

Pre-K - 1st Grade

This activity is appropriate for: pre-k - 1st grade / 4 - 6 years This activity helps students to feel proud of their names…and familiarizes them with the names of their classmates. It even provides an opportunity to practice essential math skills with a colorful bar graph! Begin by asking students to think about their names. What’s special about their name? Were they named after a family member or a close family friend? Ask them how they would feel if someone called them by the wrong name. After you’ve discussed a little bit about why everybody’s name is special to them, read the story Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. Ask students to describe how Chrysanthemum’s feelings changed throughout the story. How does she feel about her name at the beginning of the story? What about the middle? How does she feel at the end? Why did her feelings change? Then ask students to count the number of letters in Chrysanthemum’s name. On a piece of posterboard, make a classroom bar graph of the number of letters in each student’s name. Who has the most letters in her name? Who has the least?

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Valentine Learning Centers

Kindergarten - 2nd Grade

This activity is appropriate for: kindergarten - 2nd grade / 5 - 7 years Make Valentine’s Day extra special with these fun and easy-to-use learning center ideas! Read Your Heart Out Reading Center Fill your classroom library with a dozen or so age-appropriate Valentine-themed books. Invite students to choose a story and curl up on some floor pillows for reading time! Some suggestions include: The Day It Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond Happy Valentine’s Day, Little Critter! by Mercer Mayer Nate the Great and the Mushy Valentine by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat Amelia Bedelia’s First Valentine by Herman Parish Arthur’s Great Big Valentine by Lillian Hoban The Biggest Valentine Ever by Steven Kroll The Night Before Valentine’s Day by Natasha Wing How Many Hearts? Math Center Students will love solving simple addition problems with this hands-on Valentine math center! To prepare the center, you will need a die, a few small heart-shaped stampers and a red ink pad, as well as several copies of the How Many Hearts? downloadable page. Cut the copies in half along the dotted line. Have each student take a How Many Hearts? sheet and roll the die. Encourage them to write down the number of dots shown and stamp the corresponding number of hearts above the number in the space provided. Repeat the process for the second number in the addition problem. Then, have students count the total number of stamps to find the correct answer. Variation: Instead of stamps, you can use colorful heart stickers! Can You Hear Your Heartbeat? Science Center This easy-to-create science center will introduce young children to the basic concept of scientific observation! Simply provide a stethoscope at the table for students to use. One at a time, have students use the stethoscope to listen to their heartbeats. Then, have them stand up and do ten jumping jacks and listen to their heartbeats again. Ask them what happened! (Note: You may want to have a parent or other adult volunteer stationed at this center to facilitate questions and clean the stethoscope earpieces with alcohol swabs or disinfecting pads between uses.) Valentine Verses Writing Center Set up a center with heart-themed writing paper and fun Valentine pens or pencils. Invite students to write a poem about people or things in their lives that they love. You may want to help them get started by displaying this poem on posterboard in your learning center. Prompt students to copy the lines of the poem and fill in the blanks with thoughts of their own! Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love my _______________ And ________________, too! Or, have students make up their own verses and write them on the downloadable heart-shaped writing template. After the poem is written, mount it onto red or pink construction paper. Display the poems on a bulletin board in your classroom for Valentine’s Day! Valentine Words Language Center Write the word “VALENTINE” in capital letters across a sentence strip and place it in a center. Provide students with paper and pencils and challenge them to make a list of as many words as they can spell using only the letters in that word! For variation, try the same activity with other Valentine’s Day words, such as sweetheart, candy, cupid, flowers, chocolate and so on.

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“A Festive Feast” Brain Teaser Game

Kindergarten - 1st Grade

This activity is appropriate for: kindergarten - 1st grade / 5 - 6 years Students will love cracking the riddle behind this mystery word game! The Set-Up: Announce to students that you are having a Festive Feast for Thanksgiving and they are all invited! Then explain that there is only one rule: Each student must bring something to the party, but it must be something that is appropriate for the Festive Feast. Then give examples such as, “Tara is bringing turkey, Susie is bringing salad, and Ben is bringing balloons. What will you bring?” (Note: The “rule” is that students must bring something that starts with the same letter as their first name. But do not reveal this rule to your students. Instead, challenge them to figure out why Tara can bring a turkey, but Ben cannot.) Playing the Game: Ask students to stand up at their desks. Then ask for a volunteer to start. One at a time, you will ask students to say their name and what they would like to bring. Then you will tell them if they are allowed to come to the Feast. (For example, if Jesse says, “I am Jesse and I would like to bring jelly!” then smile and say, “Come on in!” But if Jesse says, “I am Jessie and I would like to bring rolls,” then respond with “I’d love to have you at the Festive Feast, but I’m afraid that you cannot bring rolls.” You may even want to add as an extra hint: “Robert may bring rolls, but Jesse, you cannot. I’m sorry.”) At first, students may be stumped, but soon, they will begin to catch on—and they will love the challenge of unlocking the mystery! Once a student has been admitted to the Festive Feast, have her sit down at her desk. (As students figure out the game, they may be tempted to reveal the secret to others, so you may want to remind them not to spoil the mystery and allow others to try to figure out the rule on their own!) Throughout the game, be sure to emphasize the beginning letters of the names with the items so that students begin to catch on more quickly.

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Classmates Word Search

Kindergarten - 2nd Grade

This activity is appropriate for: kindergarten - 2nd grade / 5 - 7 years This kid-pleasing activity has students hunting for their own names—and those of their classmates—as they complete a word search created just for them! Just take a list of all the students in your class and put the names into a word search. Try using grid paper to properly line up the letters. You can even provide an extra message within your word search, such as “Have a great school year!” Making word searches can be tricky, so use our word search maker for assistance.

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Alphabet Hopscotch

Pre-K - 1st Grade

This activity is appropriate for: pre-k - 1st grade / 4 - 6 years Use sidewalk chalk to draw a hopscotch court with 26 spaces. Beginning with the space nearest to the starting point, write one letter of the alphabet—from A to Z—in each space. Have students take turns rolling a small rock or pebble onto the court and hopping to the space on which the rock has landed. Once a student has hopped to the space, encourage her to name three words that begin with the letter that is written in the space. Variation: As a challenge for older students, have them name words that end with the letter written in the space.

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Alphabet Activity Game

Pre-K - 1st Grade

This activity is appropriate for: pre-k - 1st grade / 4 - 6 years Pair this versatile Alphabet Activity Game Board with these handy ideas for tons of alphabet fun. Send students on an “Alphabet Hunt.” For each letter on the game board, have them find small items around the classroom that begin with that letter and place the items on the mat. Have students take turns flipping a coin onto the game board. They must name a word that begins or ends with the letter the coin lands on. Print out a copy of the game board for each student. Give them a pencil and have them trace each letter on the game board for added letter-writing practice.

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Science Fair

Kindergarten - 5th Grade

This activity is appropriate for: kindergarten - 5th grade / 5 - 10 years Get children excited about science by hosting a schoolwide science fair! Encourage older students (third grade and up) to conduct their own science experiments and display their results at the fair. Get younger students involved by completing a class project. Follow these handy tips to make your science fair a success: Several weeks before the science fair, talk to students about the scientific method and explain that science experiments are designed to answer questions about the world around us. Send home a helpful parent packet that includes the Science Fair Project Letter, Science Fair Project Guidelines, Science Fair Project Ideas and Science Fair Project Header Cards. Parents can help their child understand what is expected, select an appropriate topic with their child and work through the steps of the project together. Schedule brief one-on-one meetings with students to review their chosen topics and answer any questions they may have about conducting their experiments or presenting their findings. Provide students with a handy Science Fair Project Organizer to help them plan ahead and organize the process as they go. Reserve a location on your school campus for the science fair and allow students access to the room before school to set up their displays. Invite distinguished community leaders or fellow science teachers to serve as judges for the event. In addition to giving awards for first, second and third place, encourage the judges to give awards such as “Most Original,” “Best Display,” “Most Interesting” and “Honorable Mention.” Don’t forget to praise all of the students for their efforts and participation!

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Name That Sound

Preschool - Kindergarten

This activity is appropriate for: preschool - kindergarten / 3 - 5 years Point out an object you see in the classroom or on the playground and say the word aloud. Then, ask students what letter makes the beginning sound of the word. (For example, if you call out “fish,” students should say the beginning sound is the letter “f.”) Give each student or team a point for every question they answer correctly. The first team to get to 5 or 10 points—wins!

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Shopping for Sounds

Kindergarten - 1st Grade

This activity is appropriate for: kindergarten - 1st grade / 5 - 6 years Reinforce beginning letter sounds with this fun-to-play shopping game! Copy a page in a catalog or a store sale flyer and distribute a copy to each student. Choose an item pictured on that page without revealing your choice to the students. If you chose a “hat,” say, “I want to buy an item that starts with ‘h’!” Then invite students to search the page and guess which item you’re thinking of. When they guess correctly, write the name of the item on the board, so students can visualize the word. Tip: To eliminate confusion, go over the pictures on the page together, so that you agree on the names of the items (e.g., “hat” instead of “cap” or “box” instead of “carton,” etc.).

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The Name Game

Kindergarten - 3rd Grade

This activity is appropriate for: kindergarten - 3rd grade / 5 - 8 years This popular game helps familiarize students with the names of their classmates. Have students sit in a circle. Ask each of the students to think of an adjective that describes them. The adjective must start with the same letter as their name (for example, Happy Holly, Fun Felix, Silly Sarah, etc.). Brainstorm adjectives for each letter, if needed. Have the student sitting to your left begin. Ask her to say the word she chose along with her name (Happy Holly). The student sitting to the left of Holly goes next. He will begin with Holly’s descriptive word and name, and then follow with his own (Happy Holly, Fun Felix). Keep going until you get back to Holly—now she has to name the entire group! If students get stuck along the way, others can offer to help. If Felix or some of the other students who followed him want to try to name the entire group, let them give it a try!

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Student of the Week

Preschool - 1st Grade

This activity is appropriate for: preschool - 1st grade / 3 - 6 years Spotlight the individuality of your students by giving each child a week to shine! Try a few of these creative ideas to make your Student of the Week feel extra special. Create a bulletin-board display featuring the Student of the Week. Send home this parent letter and Star of the Week reproducible. Invite the student to fill out the form and bring it to class along with a few favorite photos. Showcase the items on the board so everyone can learn about her unique interests and hobbies! Encourage the students in your class to identify characteristics they admire about the Student of the Week. Assemble written notes in a folder that the student can take home to share with his family at the end of the week. Or have students write their sentiments on star templates and display the stars on the Student of the Week bulletin board. Tip: Have younger children dictate a few kind adjectives or a brief compliment for you to write on the star template. (For example, “She shares toys with me,” or “He is nice.”) Be sure to include the student’s name so that the recipient will know who said the kind words. Throughout the week, offer the Student of the Week fun privileges, such as serving as line leader, running special errands, or selecting music or games for free time. Send home a letter at the beginning of the week and invite parents to share things about their child that make them proud. At the end of the week, read the comments aloud to the class and watch the student beam with pride! Select a day for a Student of the Week lunch. As a special treat, invite the honored student and two classmates of her choosing to join you for lunch in the classroom. Encourage your Student of the Week to select a favorite storybook to share with the class. One afternoon during the week, you or the student can read the story aloud. Invite your Student of the Week to create a Special Sharing Sack! Ask him to bring three items from home that tell about people, interests or activities that are important to him. Throughout the week, invite him to reveal each item to the class and share one or two sentences about it.

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13 results for "letters"