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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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Letter to Next Year’s Class
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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Ice Cream…in a Bag!
Preschool - 3rd Grade
This activity is appropriate for: preschool - 3rd grade / 3 - 8 years Students of all ages love this cool activity—making their own ice cream! You will need the following ingredients: 1 tablespoon sugar ½ cup milk or half & half ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract 6 tablespoons rock salt (the bigger the granules, the better) Ice cubes Pint-size zip-close food storage bag Gallon-size zip-close bag Combine the sugar, milk and vanilla extract in the pint-size bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible, and then seal it tightly. Next, place the ice and rock salt in the gallon-size bag, and then place the smaller, sealed bag inside as well. Seal the larger bag, again squeezing out as much air as you can. Wrap the bags inside a towel to protect your hands from the cold. Shake the bags until the mixture hardens (about 5 minutes). Feel the small bag to check whether it’s done. When it’s done, remove the smaller bag, and then add in extra treats like crushed cookies, chopped fruit, etc. (Makes about 1 cup.)
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Spin and Write
1st Grade - 6th Grade
This activity is appropriate for: 1st - 6th grade / 6 - 11 years Spark your students’ interest in writing by creating handy Writing Idea Spinners. To make the spinners, simply print out and follow the instructions. Then ask a student volunteer to spin the spinner and—whatever topic the spinner lands on—encourage the class to write about it!
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Spring Learning Centers
Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
This activity is appropriate for: kindergarten - 3rd grade / 5 - 8 years This month, set up some fun learning centers with these creative ideas for spring! Read & Learn Comprehension Center Encourage children to sharpen their comprehension skills with these engaging, spring-themed reading passages! Print out several copies of the Comprehension Cards and place them in a file folder. Have students read the passages silently or with a partner and answer the questions. Kite Scenes Geometry Center Place light blue construction paper and pattern blocks in a center. (If you don’t have pattern blocks, simply download this pattern blocks template and reproduce it for students to use.) On separate index cards, write the name of each pattern block shape, such as triangle, square, trapezoid, parallelogram, rhombus and hexagon. (Be sure to review the name of each shape before having students work independently!) Invite students to choose two or three cards, find the corresponding pattern blocks, and trace the blocks onto a 9" x 12" sheet of blue construction paper. If using the template, have students cut out the shapes and glue them onto the paper. Encourage them to use colored pencils or crayons to add details to the picture so that the shapes look like kites flying in the sky. They can draw the kites’ tails and strings, grass, flowers, clouds and more. After students have completed their pictures, have them describe the shapes they used in their pictures. Or, for older students, provide copies of the Pattern Block Kites reproducible and have them fill it out to describe their picture. Display the pictures with the students’ descriptions on a spring bulletin board titled “Pattern Block Kites.” Nature Detectives Science Center Take your students on a nature walk around the school grounds, and help them collect plant samples to bring back to the classroom for observation. (Or you can have them bring plants from home.) Provide each student with a magnifier and a Plants & Flowers Observation Sheet. Encourage them to examine their specimens and record their observations. After students are finished, invite them to tape their specimens to the top portion of a sheet of construction paper and attach the observation sheet to the bottom portion. Collect the pages, bind them together in a class book and place them in a science center for students to enjoy! For younger students, collect several specimens from plants common in your area, such as a fern, flower, branch and magnolia leaf. Attach each specimen to an index card and label it for added literacy exposure. Then place the cards at a center with magnifiers. Have students choose a specimen, observe it with the magnifier and draw it on a piece of paper. For additional writing practice, challenge students to label the picture by copying the name of the specimen. Little Ladybugs Counting Center Reproduce the ladybugs template onto red construction paper. Cut out the number tiles and ladybug counters, and place them at a center. (You can also laminate the pieces to make them more durable.) For young students, have them choose a number tile and count out the corresponding number of ladybugs. For older students, create additional tiles with math symbols such as an addition sign, a subtraction sign and an equal sign. Then prompt students to create math problems and use the ladybugs to find the answers! Write About It! Spring Language Center Reproduce these Spring-Themed Writing Prompts and place them at a center with pencils and crayons. Invite students to let their creativity flow as they write and illustrate their own stories!
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Getting to Know You Scavenger Hunt
2nd Grade - 6th Grade
This activity is appropriate for: 2nd - 6th grade / 7 - 11 years Children can learn a lot about their new classmates with this fast-paced activity for 2nd–5th grade classrooms. Start by printing a copy of the Getting to Know You Scavenger Hunt list for each student. Pass out the lists, and let students know that they will have fifteen to twenty minutes to approach each other in hopes of filling in the entire list. Some of the items on the list are physical traits such as finding the tallest person in the class, but others will require that students ask each other questions. For example, students must find “someone who went camping this summer.” When students find a match, they fill that person’s name in the blank. The first student to fill in all the blanks “wins,” but you may want to continue the game until many students have completed their scavenger hunt lists. For preschool and kindergarten classrooms, write these questions on butcher paper or chart paper. Meet together on the rug and fill in the scavenger hunt together as a whole class.
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Classroom Map Hunt
1st Grade - 3rd Grade
This activity is appropriate for: 1st - 3rd grade / 6 - 8 years The sooner students feel comfortable in the classroom, the sooner they can take advantage of all your great classroom resources. Help familiarize students with their new classroom through this fun map hunt. Draw a map of your classroom. Don’t worry about your artistic ability, just make sure to include all the important classroom features, centers, and furniture you want your students to be familiar with. Your map will probably include things like a listening center, library, student tables, teacher’s desk, math center, sink, door, student cubbies, pencil sharpener, turn-in-your-work area, and so on. Consider using grid paper—it makes it easier to get the size relationships right. At the bottom of your map, include a list of directions. The directions should direct students toward the classroom features. Your list of directions might be something like this: Go to the place where you would listen to a book. Go to the place where you would pick up your mail. Find the place where you would turn in your assignment. Find the place where you would sharpen your pencil. Find your seat. Go to the place where you would find a book to read. Go to the place where you could wash your hands. Before you give each student a copy of your map, provide a tour of the classroom. Point out everything on the map, and explain (if necessary) why these features are important to their classroom experience. Then, pass a map out to each student. Give students 15-20 minutes (depending on the length of your list) to find all the places on the list. When they find a place, they should put an x next to it on the list. When the time is up, go through the list with the entire class.
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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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