Oh, those country roads were spectacular, and those teachers were just as outstanding last week when I was in Princeton, WV. And, I didn’t come home empty handed!
On a “no rain” day take students outside with their paper, pencil, and clipboard. Have them lay or sit on the ground and look for images in the clouds. Talk about what they see and then write/draw about it. (Encourage capitalization, punctuation, etc.)
Blending Stick (Donna Carson)
Take a free paint stick and color 1/3 green, 1/3 yellow, and 1/3 red. The students can use their blending stick to sound out words.
/c/ (touch green) /a/ (touch yellow) /t/ (touch red) = cat
Note! I didn’t have a paint stick so I just used a jumbo craft stick.
Homemade Pocket Chart (Amber Calloway)
Seal letter size envelopes and cut them in half. Glue the halves to poster board to make a chart.
Counting by Two’s (Melanie Hope)
Have students identify body parts what come in sets of two. Stand and county by 2’s as you touch the following body parts:
2 – hands on eyes
4 – hands on ears
6 – hands on elbows
8 – knees
10 – feet
12 – eyes
14 – ears….
You’ll be able to count to 100 by 2’s before you know it!
Water Cycle Song (Amanda)
(Tune: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”)
Evaporation (Start at floor and twinkle hands up to standing.)
Condensation (Hands above head like a moving cloud.)
Precipitation (Hands move down like rain.)
On my mind (Point to head.)
This is just the water cycle and it happens all the time.
Game Time (Sue Luterick)
The last 15-20 minutes of the day let the students play games at their table. Put different activities in baggies and let the tables rotate games each day. Children can learn to problem solve, communicate, and develop many other skills as they play. Here are some examples:
*sewing cards *tic-tac-toe
*puzzles *dots
*modeling clay *dice roll
*math game *reading game
Fraction Step Book (Angela Damon)
Use a step book to demonstrate fractions as shown.
Alphabet Center (Myra Wright)
Glue alphabet flash cards from the dollar store to a poster board and laminate. Let the children match alphabet beanbags to the letter on the poster board.
*Use the poster board for other letter recognition and sound games.
Sensory Bottle (Terri Sheppard)
Clean and remove the label from a water bottle. Pour in ½ bottle of Elmer’s glitter glue. (It will fill the bottle about 1/3 full). Fill the rest of the way with warm water. Glue the lid on and shake well to mix the glue and water.
Rick Ball invited me to Princeton and gave me a special farewell:
We love you a little.
We love you lots.
Our love for you would fill 10 pots, 14 kettles, 16 cans, 60 cups, and a big old dish pan!
I was also in Dyersburg, Tennessee, and what a DYNAMIC group of teachers!
Clean and remove the label from a water bottle. Pour in ½ bottle of Elmer’s glitter glue. (It will fill the bottle about 1/3 full). Fill the rest of the way with warm water. Glue the lid on and shake well to mix the glue and water.
Rick Ball invited me to Princeton and gave me a special farewell:
We love you a little.
We love you lots.
Our love for you would fill 10 pots, 14 kettles, 16 cans, 60 cups, and a big old dish pan!
I was also in Dyersburg, Tennessee, and what a DYNAMIC group of teachers!
How about this giant pencil with my name! See why I LOVE what I do!!!!
