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5 results for "plastic baskets"
End-Of-The-Year Olympic Games
Kindergarten - 5th Grade
This activity is appropriate for: kindergarten - 5th grade / 5 - 10 years Celebrate the end of another great year by staging your own classroom Olympic Games! Divide the class into a few groups, and let them choose a name and make a flag for their group. Start the games with an opening ceremony, letting kids march around the playground or classroom, waving their group flags. Next, have the teams compete in a series of events. Below are some possible events you might stage. Balloon Race: Kids put a balloon between their knees and run or hop to the finish line. Children can compete as individuals or as relay teams. (Note: Don’t inflate the balloon all the way. Leave some room so that the balloons can be held comfortably between kids’ knees.) Balloon Hug Relay: Place a balloon between two kids’ bellies. Have the kids move sideways to the finish line without dropping the balloon. The first team across the finish line wins! Drinking Straw Race: Have each child hold a drinking straw, balanced on her upper lip. Show kids how to curl their lips to hold the straw in place. Then have a race to see who can run to the finish line without letting their straw slip. Feather-In-My-Toes Race: Have racers take off one shoe and sock, and fit a feather in between two toes. They then race, trying to cross the finish line without losing their feathers. (If they do, they have to go back to the start.) Egg-On-A-Spoon Race: Have children try to balance a plastic egg on a spoon while walking to the finish line. This can also be done as a team relay race. In a relay, children have to transfer the eggs from their spoons to the next child’s spoon before the race continues. Backwards Race: Have children walk backwards to the finish line. Make sure that kids don’t try to run—they are likely to fall if they try to go too fast! After the games are over, have a closing ceremony. Let everyone march around with their teams and flags again. You may want to encourage kids to sing songs or chants to help make things festive! Healthy snacks can also be served at the closing ceremony.
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Beanbag Blend Game
Kindergarten - 2nd Grade
This activity is appropriate for: kindergarten - 2nd grade / 5 - 7 years Reinforce beginning sound blends and digraphs with a fun-to-play reading activity! Use a marker to label the outside of six large plastic cups with a different blend or digraph (e.g., bl–, cl–, pr–, sh–, cr–, tw–, or any other combination you would like your students to practice). Then tape the cups securely to the floor or onto the surface of a table. Next, divide the class into two teams. One player at a time, the teams take turns tossing a beanbag into the cups. When the beanbag lands in a cup, the player supplies a word with the same beginning blend or digraph. For example, if the beanbag lands in the “cl” cup, he might supply the word “clock” or “clip.” His team then has one minute to continue to come up with as many words as they can think of that begin with this blend. As they call out words, write them on chart paper or on the blackboard. Continue playing until each team has a chance to supply words for three blends. At the end of the game, have students read each word as you point to it on the chart or board. For additional practice, mix it up by writing these variations on the cups: Ending blends or digraphs (e.g., –ck, –lt, –ch, and so on) Word families (e.g., –ow, –ate, –ug, and so on) Vowel sounds (e.g., “short a,” “long o,” “short e,” “long u,” and so on)
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Science Safari
Preschool - 3rd Grade
This activity is appropriate for: preschool - 3rd grade / 3 - 8 years Spring is the perfect time of year to engage students in observing the natural world around them. Give students small paper or plastic bags and guide them on a “Science Safari” nature walk around the school grounds. Encourage students to collect two or three specimens along the way, such as blades of grass, leaves, rocks, flowers or even a pinch of dirt. Once you are back in the classroom, divide students into pairs and provide each pair with a magnifier. Tell students that scientists use their senses and pay attention to detail to make observations and new discoveries. Invite students to observe their specimens under the magnifier and describe what they see. Have them categorize the items according to their descriptions (e.g., by color, shape, texture, size, and so on). If possible, try using microscopes instead of magnifiers!
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Celebrating Earth Day
1st Grade - 5th Grade
This activity is appropriate for: 1st - 5th grade / 6 - 10 years Earth Day is April 22nd! Celebrate our planet with these engaging Earth Day ideas: Read All About It—Set up an Earth Day reading corner with interesting and age-appropriate books, such as Earth Day—Hooray! by Stuart J. Murphy, Let’s Celebrate Earth Day by Connie and Peter Roop, and Earth Book for Kids: Activities to Help Heal the Environment by Linda Schwartz. Invite students to read the books (or you can read them aloud to the class) and discuss ways they can help preserve our planet! Plant a Plant—Provide students with small terra-cotta pots and paints to decorate them. Then help students put soil in the pots and add seeds so they can grow their own plants! Remind students that planting trees and plants helps preserve the natural environment of our planet. Eco-Friendly Lunch Challenge—During the month of April (and throughout the rest of the year as well), encourage students to bring their lunch and snacks in reusable containers instead of disposable plastic or paper bags. Have students help you estimate the number of bags the class is saving by investing in reusable containers! Save-The-Planet Posters—Set up a center with markers, posterboard, construction paper and stickers, and have students make Earth-friendly signs. Encourage them to write slogans such as “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!” and “Keep our planet clean!” Post the signs around the school for the month of April! Pennies for the Planet—Invite your students to join in a nationwide effort to promote conservation efforts by contributing pennies (and other spare change) to Pennies for the Planet. Click here to learn how your class can get involved in this environmental effort by the National Audubon Society.
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Class Time Capsule
1st Grade - 6th Grade
This activity is appropriate for: 1st - 6th grade / 6 - 11 years If you want to show students how their ideas have grown and changed from the beginning of the school year to the end, the Class Time Capsule activity is perfect. Print the Class Time Capsule worksheet, and give each student a copy. The worksheet gives students the opportunity to first describe the highlight of their summer, then predict what the coming school year will be like. Collect all the worksheets. Fold them and place them into a “time capsule.” (You can use anything from a shoe box to a plastic storage container.) Place the time capsule in a safe place somewhere in your classroom. On the last day of school, hand out the students’ worksheets so they can see if their predictions were right!
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