I Love
My Flag (Cindy Tabor)
(Tune: “Yankee Doodle”)
I love my
flag,
My
country’s flag,
The red,
white and blue.
It has
broad stripes
And fifty
stars
And stands
for freedom, too!
Phonics
Books
Use a flip
book for diagraphs.
Make a step
book with three sheets of paper for a vowel book.
Cooking
in the Classroom (Julie Wilson
and Chandra Phillips)
Cook things
for each letter of the alphabet.
It’s a great way to teach letters and sounds as well as math measuring
skills and cooking safety.
Holiday
Brain Breaks (Sharon Smith)
Melt like a
snowman…
Polish your
halo like an angel…
Roll like
an ornament…
Flicker
like a candle…
Prance like
a reindeer…etc.
*Adapt for
different seasons and themes.
Reindeer
Shirt Day
At the
beginning of December ask parents to send in T-shirts. Make reindeer on the shirts by tracing
the child’s footprint with fabric paint for the head and their handprints for
antlers. Add a red pompom nose and
googly eyes. Wear these every
Friday in December. Watch the
cartoon version of “The Grinch” and invite a guest speaker (superintendent,
principal, Santa) to read the book.
Compare and contrast the book and the movie. Serve cocoa and cookies.
Letter
Cards
Write
letters on cards and hole punch on each side. Use links to hook the letters together to make word wall
words.
Punch
Cards for Rest Time (Kelly
Lohr)
After
children rest quietly, they get a punch on their card. If they get 10 punches they get a
coupon for “Craft Quietly” or whatever they choose.
Problem
of the Day (Hiba Qasmi)
Each day
write a math problem on the board that is a review of the previous
chapter. All the students write
their answer on a piece of paper and put it in the “lucky box.” At the end of the day have a “lucky
draw.” The student whose name you
pick gets a prize.
Book Presents
(Danielle Underwood)
In December
wrap holiday books up like presents.
Randomly choose a name out of a popsicle tin and let that child unwrap
the present. After reading the
book, display it for the children to look at during free time.
Craft
Stick Spacers (Danielle Underwood)
Use jumbo
craft sticks as spacers for those students who struggle with spacing.
*Remind
them to use meatball spaces between words and spaghetti spaces between the
letters in a word.
Wheel of
Fortune
Tell the
students you are going to give them a secret message. Write the message on the board with blank spaces for the
letters.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.
The
children get to fill in the letters until they can read the message.
(I like my
little dog.)
The winner
gets something from the treasure chest.
Bubble
Wrap Words
Create a
paper with sight words on it that will match up to bubbles on the wrap. Lay the wrap on top of the
worksheet. Children get to pop the
bubbles as they read the words.
Egg
Stories (Penny Cooper)
Cut up
parts of a sentence or a story.
Place the pieces for a story in the same color of eggs. Children find the eggs and then create
a group with the same color. The
group must then assemble their sentence/story and illustrate it.
Class
Jobs (Jenny Drang)
Create
class jobs that are REAL jobs.
Post office
person helps pass out Friday folders
Meteorologist
helps with the calendar
Host/hostess
- pass out napkins
Water/waitress
– pass out straws
Police
officer – keeps the floor clean
Coach – checks
lockers
Teacher –
helps put stickers on papers
Pencil
Grip (Cheryl Rose)
Put on your
seatbelt. (Put a rubber band on
your wrist and wrap it around the end of the pencil.)
Mom and dad
ride in the front seat. (Reminder
that pointer and thumb hold the pencil.)
All the
kids (remaining 3 fingers) ride in the back seat.