Criss Cross
Applesauce
Harry has come up
with another great adaptation for getting children to sit quietly. Check it out at:
Let’s Look
Important! (Diane Ringer)
Use this idea
instead of criss cross applesauce.
Would you like to
know how to look important? Put
your right hand over your heart like this. (Demonstrate)
Put your left hand
across your chest and fold your arms like this. (Demonstrate)
Lift up your chin
and smile importantly. Now look at
all my important people!
Song Requests (Heather Cline)
Make a box for
song requests. Children write
their favorite song on a sheet of paper and put it in the box. Pull requests each morning and sing.
End of Day
Chant (Linda Wood)
Sit in a circle
criss cross applesauce and start the chant with this rhythm:
Slap knees two
times
Clap two times
Snap two times
Clap two times
“Linda, Linda,
what do you say?
What did you like
at school today?”
The child has to
tell what they liked best that day.
It’s a good way to remember what they learned as you reinforce oral
language.
Weightlifting
Count to 100 (Amy Gibson)
Pick up your
weights and count 1-20 as you do bicep curls; 21-40 for shoulder press; 41-50
tricep press; 61-80 butterfly press; 81-100 overhead.
Wipe brow!!!
Caterpillar
Finger Play (Linda Drake)
Here comes the
caterpillar on the green leaf.
(Place
one hand flat and use one finger from the other hand to wiggle across
the flat hand.)
Inside the
chrysalis for two whole weeks.
(Squeeze
hand around caterpillar with thumb up.)
Out he pops as
pretty as can be!
(Lock
thumbs and flutter fingers.)
He is a butterfly
as you can see!
(Move
hands like a butterfly in the air.)
Portable Word
Wall (Winter Babko)
Get some
McDonald’s French fry containers.
Cut yellow strips and write words on them and put them in the fry box.
*Adapt for
letters, shapes, numerals, etc.
Diagraphs
(Heidi Brunner)
Teach children
these gestures to help them remember the sounds of “th”, “sh,” and “ch.”
“TH” – Stick your
tongue out at the teacher. It is
the only time you are allowed to stick your tongue out at a grown up!
“SH” – Hold your
finger next to your lips like you are going to tell someone to be quiet.
“CH” – Put one
hand down flat and use the other hand to pretend to chop something.
Sing the blends to
the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus.”
The T and H say
/th/ /th/ /th/…all the time.
Who Let the
Letters Out? (Diane Woods)
As you sing this
song and other alphabet songs make the motions from “No More Letter of the
Week.”
Hint! You can also use sign language,
Animated Literacy, Visual Phonics, or Zoo Phonics motions as you sing alphabet
songs.
Soul Train
Scramble (This was such a cute idea, but I lost the name of the teacher who
shared it with me. Email me and I’ll
make it right!)
Place letters in
students’ names or sight words on a magnetic board. Play the ABC song by the Jackson Five. Students have until the end of the song
to unscramble the letters to make the word.
It’s a
Wonderful World (Celeste M. Jones)
- Sing the song “It’s a Wonderful World”
by Louis Armstrong with the children.
- Write the words to the song on chart
paper and track as you sing.
- Write the words on sentence strips so
the children can place them in a pocket chart.
- Students illustrate the words to the
song to create a class book.
Rules Rap Hand
Signals (Sharon Walston)
Review the “Rules
Rap” daily using these motions:
- Point finger for “follow, follow,
follow directions.”
- Hold up hands and point to feet for
“feet and hands to yourself.”
- Stoop down and cup hand over mouth for
“small voices.”
- Stand up with hands in the air for
“tall voices.”
- Clasp hands for “work together” and
shake head no for “don’t fight.”
Rhyming Game (Kim
Thurston)
Teacher says, “I’m
thinking of a word that rhymes with “hat.”
The students can’t
guess using the word. They have to
describe the word.
Students say, “Is
it an animal that says meow?”
Teacher says,
“Good guess, but that’s not it.”
Students say, “Is
it an animal that flies?”
Teacher answers,
“Yes, it is a bat.”
Color Game (Maureen Goonan)
You will need
magnetic crayons. Review colors
and then have the children close their eyes as you take one away. Can they tell what color is missing?
What are you
wearing?
Red – just stand
up and touch your head.
Blue – touch your
shoes.
Green – look real
mean.
Yellow – wave to a
fellow.
Purple – draw a
circle.
Brown – act like a
clown.
Black – pat your
back.
Pink – blink,
blink, blink.
White – look at
the light.
Orange – peel an
orange.
You’re great cause
your colors are straight and
you’re cool
because you learn at school!
The Robot Game
(Valona Markovich)
Teacher stands in
front of the room and stiffly mimics a robot.
Students have to
give the writing strokes to make a letter.
For example D:
Start at the top
Come down
Back to the top
Curve around to
the bottom
The key is no
yelling. They have to speak in
voice with the group or the robot shuts down!
Letter Pointers
(Mindy Pierson)
Make pointers with
craft letters on the tip. (You can
buy these at Michael’s)
Play BINGO using
children’s names and googly eyes.
“I spy the letter R “ and the children cover it up with a googly
eye.
Place alphabet
letters or numerals in a pocket chart.
Put a hand behind random letters or numbers. Children clap when there is a hand behind the card.
White Board
Clipboard (Suzi Burton)
Attach a large
butterfly clip to individual white boards for each child. Voila! Clipboards!
Fishbowl
Families (Robin Singleton)
Write word
families on fishbowls (an, op, ill, etc.). Write words using the different rimes on fish shapes. Children pick a fish out of the pond
and put it on the correct bowl.
Adapt for color
words (word on fishbowl and fish of different colors), number words (number on
bowl and dots on fish), or letters (letter on fish bowl and pictures of objects
that start with that sound on fish).
Category Game
The children
repeat after the teacher:
“Pink is a
color.” (Children repeat.)
“Purple is a
color.” (Children repeat.)
“A square is a
color.” (Children yell NO!)
Adapt for shapes,
objects in a house, rhyming words, numbers, and other categories.
Dot on the
Clock (Peggy Smith)
Put a dot on the
classroom clock at the numeral 2 and then teach this poem”
Tick tock, 2 on
the clock.
Up and over and
around you go.
This is the way to
make an “O.”
Heidi and Nellie (Ginny Van Keuren)
nellieedge.com and heidisongs.com are two great websites with lots of free downloads. The Kid Writing videos on nellieedge.com are fantastic.
ASL also has free downloads with signs for alphabet letters and heart words/aka high frequency words.
ASL also has free downloads with signs for alphabet letters and heart words/aka high frequency words.