Dr. Jean's August 2014 Activities

SL.K.1b  I can take turns listening and speaking.

Ear and Mouth
Glue a copy of a mouth on one stick and an ear on another stick.  Two children sit facing each other.  Each chooses a stick.  The one with the mouth talks while the one with the ear listens.  Take turns switching sticks and listening and talking.

Beanbag Story
Two children face each other.  One holds the beanbag and begins telling a story.  After several seconds the talker passes the beanbag to the friend who continues the story.  Children take turns adding to the story.

SL.K.2  I can ask and answer questions about what I have heard.

Question Sticks
Write “Who?” “What?” “Where?” on jumbo craft sticks and place them in a sock.  Children sit facing a partner.  One child chooses a stick and asks their partner a question using the word.  The partner answers and then takes the sock and chooses a word.  Children continue asking and answering questions.
•Add sticks that say “Why?” and “When?”

SL.K.3  I can ask questions about something I don’t understand.

I Wonder Wall
Write “I Wonder” on a poster board.  Children take sticky notes and write things they would like to know more about and put them on the board.  At group time, choose several notes and read them to the class.  Encourage peers to add information or suggest how they could find out.
•Make “I Wonder” books for children by stapling several sheets of copy paper in a sheet of construction paper.  Children write “I Wonder” on the front of their book.  Encourage them to write or draw things that they would like to know more about in their books.

SL.K.4  I can tell about people, places, things, and events.

Pick a Picture
Download art masterpieces or unusual photos from the internet and glue to cardstock.  Children take turns choosing a picture and describing what they see to a friend.  What are the people saying?  What happened before the picture?  What will happen next?

Sequencing
Cut comic strips out of the newspaper and cut them apart.  Can the children put them back together and retell the story? 

Magazine Puppets
Let children cut sports figures and other famous people out of newspapers or magazines. 

Tape to a straw to make a puppet.   What would your puppet say if it could talk?  What questions would you like to ask your puppet?
•Ask students to write a story about their puppets.

SL.K.5  I can use drawings to add details.

Poetry Songbook
Each week choose a song, nursery rhyme, or poem to use as a large group reading activity.  Run off a copy for each child and place it in a center.  Children can illustrate it and save it in their “Poetry Songbook” (aka folder).
Do not put pictures for the children to color on these.  Let them use their imaginations and the words to add details.

L.K.1a  I can print my upper and lowercase letters.

Highway Letters
Download highway letters at makinglearningfun.com.  Insert them in clear sheet protectors with the uppercase letter on one side and the lowercase letter on the other side.  Children can use toy cars to drive over the letters. 
•Let children trace letters with a dry erase marker.  That way they can erase what they did and you won’t be wasting paper.
•Use Wikki Stix to place on top of the letters.

Play Dough Plates
Print letters on clear plastic plates with a permanent marker.  Children can roll play dough and put it on top of the letters.  Can they make an object with play dough that begins with that sound?

Disappearing Letters
Children can use a small sponge and a cup of water to practice writing on a chalkboard.
•Insert the sponge in a spring clothespin and use like a paintbrush.

Rub Overs
You will need a sheet of plastic needlepoint canvas, crayons, and copy paper for this activity.  Place the paper on top of the canvas and write letters (or words) with the crayon.  Press firmly.  Children trace over the letter as they make the sound. 

L.K.1b  I can use nouns and verbs.

Name Cards
Make name cards for the students in your class from 8” sentence strips.  Write each child’s name and glue their picture on the card.  Use these for writing prompts in a center.

Wacky Sentences
Write nouns and picture clues on 5 index cards and verbs on 5 index cards.  Place them in lunch bags labeled “nouns” and “verbs.”  Children choose a noun card and a verb card and write a sentence using the words.
Hint!  They love to use nouns with their teacher’s name, principal, and other stars.

Nouns
Fold a sheet of paper into fourths.  Write “people, animals, places, things” in the sections.  Give children old newspapers and catalogs and ask them to cut out pictures of people, animals, places, and things and glue them in the appropriate section.  Can they label their pictures?

L.K.1c  I can make a noun plural by adding /s/ when I say it.

“S” Block
Cut paper the size of a rectangular unit block.  Write common classroom objects on the paper and tape them to blocks.  Trace around a square block, cut it out, and write “S” on it.  Children read the words and then add the “s” to the end.   Can they say or write a sentence with the word?

T-Chart
Children draw a T-chart on a sheet of paper.  On the left side they write the singular form of nouns.  On the right side ask them to write the plural form.  Can they read the words?

Busy Bees
Make a list of nouns.  Cut the shape of a bee out of yellow construction paper and write an “S” on it.  Tape it to a straw.  Children place the bee at the end of the words and read.

L.K.1d  I can use question words.

Roll and Read
Write “Who?  What?  Where?  When?  Why?  How?” on sticky notes and tape to a large foam die.  Children roll the die and then use the word they see on the top in a sentence.  Can they write a question with the word?