Tuesday 9 April 2013

Christmas Activities - Activity 3: Holiday Homophones


In December, some colleagues and I planned three activities that could be used in an activity centre for the holiday season. Each of these activities can easily be adapted from Christmas to winter activities, or objects from any other season! I'll post alternative ideas under each Christmas activity.


Activity 3: Holiday Homophones 
Planned for use with Grade 2+


Quick Review:

A homonym is one of a group of words that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings. 
A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose (flower) and rose (past tense of "rise"), or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two and too.



The Activity:

Purpose:
  • A fun way for students to review homonyms 
Materials:
  • Construction paper, markers, ruler, scissors, glue, bristol board, laminator, velcro (optional)
Instructions:


Approximate sizes based on legal size (8.5 x 14 inches) paper.

Assembled fireplace
  • Trace each shape on coloured construction paper as indicated in the picture above (I made 4 of each, but any number can be used)
  • Draw bricks on the red construction paper with a thin black marker or black pen
  • Write homophones in black marker on white pieces of construction paper (the fireplace mantel) and glue to the top of the red fireplace.
  • Glue the black pieces of construction paper at the bottom of the fireplace in the centre
  • Write homophones in black marker on the yellow pieces of construction paper 
  • Glue the yellow pieces on a piece of bristol board and glue the fireplaces on the bristol board
  • Laminate the bristol board and cut the pieces out
  • Optional step: add a small piece of velcro to the back of the fire pieces and a small piece in the centre of the fireplaces
  • Ask students to match the homophones on the fire pieces with the words written on the fireplaces

Finished Product

Note: Do not glue flames to the fireplace. 
They are meant to be removed after each use but can be temporarily attached using velcro pieces.


Adaptations:
  • Use fish tanks and fish for an activity that is appropriate year-round. This would look especially effective if teaching words with more than one homophone (eg. sent, scent, cent) 
  • Replace the fireplace with the fish tank, and the fires with fish
 









Christmas Activities - Activity 2: Word Endings

In December, some colleagues and I planned three activities that could be used in an activity centre for the holiday season. Each of these activities can easily be adapted from Christmas to winter activities, or objects from any other season! I'll post alternative ideas under each Christmas activity.



Activity 2: Stocking Word Endings
Planned for Grade 1, can easily be adapted for other grades

An envelope to hold all of the pieces.
I would recommend a more durable envelope for classroom storage



The Activity


Purpose:
  • A fun way for students to review word endings (also - word families, rhyming words)


Materials:
  • Construction paper, markers, scissors, glue, bristol board, laminator 


Instructions:
  • Print pictures of stockings or draw stockings on red construction paper and cut them out (stockings should be at least half of a sheet of construction paper)
  • Draw the white "fluff" for the top of the stocking on white construction paper and cut it out
  • Glue the stockings on white bristol board and glue the white fluff at the top of the stockings. It should stick out around the top about a 1/2".
  • Write the word ending at the bottom of the stocking in black marker.
  • Draw or print pictures of three (or more) candy canes on white construction paper. Decorate them and cut them out.
  • Write words with matching endings on the candy canes in black marker (see picture above and below)
  • Glue candy canes on the bristol board
  • Laminate the bristol board and cut out the stockings and candy canes.
  • Cut a line with scissors or a utility knife in the middle of the white fluff leaving an inch of construction paper on each side (see picture below).
  • Explain how to match the candy canes and stockings to your students.

That's it!
Here is the finished product:









Alternatives:
  • Use a flower shape - Write the word ending in the middle and have words on each petal



Christmas Activities - Activity 1: Mood Match

In December, some colleagues and I planned three activities that could be used in an activity centre for the holiday season. Each of these activities can easily be adapted from Christmas to winter activities, or objects from any other season! I'll post alternative ideas under each Christmas activity.


Activity 1: Face and Mood Matching Game
Suitable for Kindergarten - especially for Language Arts and Religious Education outcomes

Make sure you have an envelope to hold all of the pieces. 
I would highly recommend laminating the construction paper or using a more durable envelope.


The Activity 


Purpose:
  • Match the mood on the faces to the mood listed on the body to review concepts about moods in class
  • Note: Kindergarten students may need help reading the words 
Materials:
  • Construction paper, markers, glue, scissors, bristol board, laminator 
Instructions:
  • Print various pictures of toys or draw your own on construction paper (make sure they're at least half of a sheet of paper so you can draw or see the expression on the face)
  • Draw the head separately, or cut the head off the picture and lay aside. Create a "stem" at the bottom of the head (see above picture).
  • Glue the body and head piece on bristol board and laminate the bristol board. This makes the pieces thicker and more durable.
  • Cut out the body and head pieces. 
  • Use scissors or a utility knife to cut a line across the neck of the body piece. This allows the head piece to slip in.
  • See picture below for finished product.



 Ta Da!

 Explain to your students how the pieces fit together and then you're ready to go!



Alternatives:
  • Use pictures of children in summer clothes for a summer activity
  • Use pictures of students in school clothes for use at the beginning of the year
  • Use popular TV characters to motivate hesitant children to get involved with the activity




Saturday 30 March 2013

How To: Make a Headband Game!


Make your own headband game for any subject!



I made the headbands out of construction paper and printed images and attached the pictures using a paper clip. To make a version that will last longer, follow the directions below:

Materials: Construction paper, tape or glue, scissors, velcro, a laminator, printed pictures

1. For this activity, I used pictures taken from the BBC worksheet page for Religious Education, but other pictures can be used to play this game in any subject! 

2. Print pictures from a template such as the one I used, or collect and arrange pictures in a table created on a word processor and print the document

3. Cut out each image and attach it to a piece of construction paper to make the paper thicker, or print using cardstock. Cut the picture out.

4.  Cut construction paper of various colours into strips to make the headband. Attach more than one strip to make the headband larger if necessary. 

5. Laminate each picture and each strip of construction paper. Cut the laminated pieces leaving a small border around the pictures and headbands (this keeps the laminated border sealed)

6. Add small pieces of velcro to the ends of the headband to make the size adjustable

7. Add a small piece of velcro to the back of each picture, and one piece on the middle of the headband. This allows pictures to be attached and removed easily


That's it! A simple reusable game for any subject!


How To: Make a "Caring for Creation" Tree!

This project was originally created with a colleague for a Religious Education activity, but this can so easily fit science curriculums as well! 



Materials: Construction paper - black, brown, green, Glue stick, Scissors, Pencils, Black marker

Instructions: 

1. Have students select a piece of construction paper to use as the background colour and lay it aside
- We chose black to make the tree stand out - dark blue would also look great!

2. Ask students to trace an outline of their hand on brown construction paper, cut out the outline, and lay it aside 
- This will make the trunk of the tree

3. Ask students to draw and cut out different sized hearts on green construction paper 
- This will make the leaves of the tree

4. Have students glue their hand outline at the centre of the bottom of the page to create the tree trunk

5. Have students glue the hearts around the fingers of the hand outline to create the leaves of the tree

6. Allow the glue to dry, then ask students to write "I care for the environment by..." on the trunk of the tree, and ways they care for the environment on the leaves of the tree.
- Have students write their ideas in pencil first and then outline in a thin black marker


That's it! This makes a great piece of work for students to post on a wall in the classroom and gets them brainstorming about ways they can contribute to helping the environment!

Friday 29 March 2013

How to: Make a "Guess the Picture" Game


Here are the steps I used to make my Guess the Picture game for my Religious Education activity centre!






1. I made a 3x8 table on google docs (you should be able to do this on any word processor)

2. I added one picture per square and resized them to about the size of a Guess Who game piece (I printed off a test page when I had a couple of sqaures filled to see if they were the right size and did the rest based on that)
3. Once I figure out the proper size, I printed off the good copy of the pictures and cut each square out to be the same size as the original game pieces (print 2 copies, each Guess Who board uses 24 pictures)

4. When I had all 48 pieces cut out, I just popped out the original pieces, and taped the new pictures over them 

5. Then I replaced the pictures into the frames!



That's it! A reusable game for any subject!


Learning Centre - Religious Education Part 1

Part of our curriculum in Newfoundland and Labrador focuses on world religions. The following pictures are from a Religious Education learning centre that I created to coincide with the outcomes covered when grade three students learn about Buddhism, Christianity, and Sikhism.

The four learning centre areas were Research, Writing, Crafts, and Activities.




Research Station

Instructions for the first activity:



Worksheet for the Contributing to a Cause activity:

Students can research a person or group, or fill out the worksheet about someone from their own community. The worksheets are intended to be collected and bound together to create a class book. A great way for students to see the product of their work, or a nice collection to show parents during parent teacher interviews!


Bonus Activity Instructions:

Thank-you cards can be posted around the classroom as a display piece, or sent to members of the community.

Writing Station


Instruction sheet for a writing section focusing on Buddhism and Christianity:



Sample of the process and finished product:

A great excuse to make a cup of tea while you work!



See my other post for part 2!
*All clipart images used on the worksheets were found on Google Image search

Learning Centre - Religious Education Part 2

Part 2 of the learning centre for grade three Religious Education!


Craft Station
(This station has two activities)

Instructions for the first activity:



Sample of the finished product:

Based on a craft from Pinterest


Second Activity:

This idea came from a board on Pinterest
To promote caring for the environment, I used a recycled water bottle instead of a glass jar. The plastic bottle is definitely safer for use in a classroom! This craft was inspired by meditation as a part of Buddhism.


Finished Product:

You can see the glitter starting to settle in the second picture. It really is calming to watch!


 Activity Station
This is the section of the learning centre where students can put the information they learned to good use -- with GAMES!


Instructions for the first activity:

Guess Who inspired game with the original idea from Pinterest


The Religious Education version:

I collected 24 pictures from Google Images and BBC lesson resources and taped the pictures over the original pieces. A little time consuming, but not difficult to do! Instructions for how to make your own version can be found here.


Instructions for the second activity:

A HedBanz inspired activity of my own creation which uses many of the same images from the Guess the Picture game - an extra activity so children won't have to sit out and wait their turn. 
Edit: step four should say no not know...oh dear!

Additional activity idea if students are uncomfortable with displaying religious symbols on their heads: Remove the cards from the headbands and play using the cards as a matching game.


Finished Product:


I created this game by printing out images from the BBC website (listed above) and attached the pictures to construction paper. 

I made the headbands out of construction paper and printed images and attached the pictures using a paper clip. To make a version that will last longer, simply laminate the pictures and headbands. Velcro can be used on the back of the image and on the headband instead of a paper clip, and on the ends of the headband to make the size adjustable.


Math Fair!

Let's Go Camping! is a math problem that Ms. Kikuchi and I prepared for our math fair based on the Hot Potato problem from galileo.org educational network.

What is a math fair? Click here to find out! 

Click here to see the original Hot Potato problem!
Click here for Ms. Kikuchi's Twitter and Blog!



Let's Go Camping!



Our math fair display:



The purpose of our math problem was to create a student-centred activity where they could work independently or collaborate with their peers to find the answer. No "right" answer was given, they had to prove to us why their answer was the right one and how they found their solution.

We provided hints which included ideas such as "Try using a manipulative!" and "Try drawing a diagram!" which we placed behind the "Hint" labels on the backboard so that students wouldn't accidently look at them before trying the problem on their own first.
Extensions for our problem were placed in our extensions tent.

Overall this went very well! Definitely an idea that I'll keep in mind for my own classroom.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! 

As a preservice teacher, I have been doing a LOT of teaching activities by myself and as part of a group, and with all of this spring cleaning going on around me, I've been looking at my growing pile of "MUST KEEP" class projects and thinking there must be a better way to do this...Then it hit me! I'm going to make a blog version of all of my favourite projects!

I'm hoping to keep somewhat up to date on all of my "keepworthy" lesson plans so I have something for myself and others to reference without all of the clutter in my house! Please feel free to comment on or use any of the lessons that I post here.

Stay tuned!