You’ve got to love
this T-Shirt that a teacher wore last week in Missouri!
Here are some
fantastic ideas that I gathered in Springfield and St. Louis.
SMART Exchange -
exchange.smarttech.com/
Where have I
been? I can’t believe I didn’t
know about this website, so I’m assuming some of you might not know about it
either. You can get incredible
activities to use with SMART boards (or other types of technology). There are some fantastic PowerPoints to
use with my songs and tons of free resources.
The Old Man Who
Swallowed Letters (Nikki
Mueller, Belleville, IL)
Nikki adapted this
song for a program her class presented.
She used a flesh colored sheet and used giant felt pieces to make a
face. The kids wore letter vests
and walked through the sheet and were “swallowed” as they sung the song. Each child got to think of their own
words for the letter they were wearing.
For example: I know an old man who swallowed an
A. What would he say if he
swallowed an A? /a/ What could he eat if he swallowed an A? Avery, asparagus, astronauts… Adorable A!
B and D (Mary Ann Rosier)
Make a fist with
each hand and put up the thumbs with fists facing each other. “B” comes first in the alphabet so the
stick is first. “D” comes after
“B” so the stick is on the right.
B vs. D
(Mary Myers)
Here’s another
idea for helping children distinguish these letters. “B” has the bat (stick) and then the ball (circle). “D” has the donut first (circle) and
then the door (stick).
Music Box
(Brandy Zollman, FLW, MO)
Keep a music box
on your desk and open it when it’s loud in the room. If there’s music left in the box on Friday they get a “sweet
treat.” Brandy gives Smarties. Why? Because they’re smart!
Word Wall
Searches (Jeannie Meyers, El Dorado Springs)
Write word wall words
on different colored paper. After
reading small books or poems the students locate the words they know and color
them the appropriate color. They
can also color words in old newspapers, magazines, etc.
Voice Box for
Interest Boosters (Diane Beckham)
On individual
cards write different styles for speaking (opera, mouse, monster, happy,
scared, slow, etc.) Place these in
a box called “The Voice Box.” Each
day a student chooses a new voice to practice counting, reading word wall
words, etc.
Circle Time
Song (Christine Bailey, Willard South El.)
Christine made up
this song to the tune of “My Darlin’ Clementine” to help her kids form a circle
and get seated quietly.
Make a circle,
make a circle,
Make a circle big
and round.
Make a circle,
make a circle,
Set your bottom on
the ground!
Colores (Sherry Hughes, Springfield)
Use Spanish words
for the colors in the story “Scat the Cat.”
Rhyming Queen (Teresa
Davison, Springfield)
When teaching
rhyming words sing this song, “I am the rhyming queen. The best you’ve ever seen. I am the rhyming queen.” (Mama Mia) Then as the kids catch on to rhyming you can sing, “You are
the rhyming queen/king…”
What’s Up Your
Sleeve? (Brenda Olivares)
Cut the sleeve off
an old shirt. Stuff name cards up
the sleeve and pull out one letter at a time as children predict what the name
is. You can also pull sight words
out of the sleeve.
I’ve got lots “mo” great ideas from MO for
you! However, I'm off for the IL ASCD Conference so you'll have to wait until Saturday.