Stacked: Learning with Styrofoam Cups

Check out my post at We Are Teachers: Ways to teach English Language Arts (featured above), Math, Social Studies, and Science using styrofoam cups!

Syllable Hunt

Students are given a word and stick it to their shirt. They must go around the room and find peers that have a word with the same number of syllables as their word. Once they have found their group, they stay together. The teacher goes around the room checking the groups and assessing the children's knowledge of syllables.

Action Verbs

Objective: Students will silently act out action verbs and try to guess what verbs their peers act out.

Objective: Wearing special verb investigator glasses, children will observe their peers playing, spy an action that represents a verb, write it, and draw a picture of it. 
Objective: Students will publish their writing using Little Bird Tales with guidance from an adult.

Acting Out Action Verbs (whole group)
One at a time, each child goes up to the front of the classroom and draws a card from a paper lunch bag. Next, the child acts out the verb on the card without saying a word. They can only move their body. The rest of the children try to guess what he or she is acting out. (list of verbs)

Verb Investigators (small group)
For small group instruction, children are called over to the work table to become Verb Investigators! They put on special glasses (crazy sunglasses that have the lenses popped out of them) that will help them observe verbs in action around the classroom. Wearing their glasses, they look around the room and observe their peers playing at each center. Once they spy an action verb, they write a sentence, "I spy _____." Then, they draw a picture of the verb.

Digital Publishing
Children collaborate and create a video story using Little Bird Tales with the teacher's guidance to publish their writing to share with their families. Here is a link to the tale we created on action verbs.

Reinforcement

Verbs in Space game on the SMART Board: (http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/grammar/verbs.htm)

Differentiated Assessment - This activity can be differentiated based on each child’s developmental level. Higher-level thinkers can act out more complex verbs. Children with difficulty can be given a simple verb to act out. During the small group activity, the students are challenged to find a verb. They must use their problem solving skills. Advanced children might find a verb that is not extremely noticeable. While other children could point out a verb that is obvious. Teachers can use scaffolding to help them find a verb in the classroom if needed. For example, “What is Joe doing in the games and puzzle area?”

After the lesson, students assess themselves using a rating scale: GREEN = I got it!, YELLOW = I'm getting it!, RED = I need some help! (printable) Click here for a teacher checklist assessment.

Wind Spelling

Practice spelling with the power of air! Kids are split up into teams. Teams are given a word. They figure out the spelling. They write each letter of the word on a separate square piece of paper (light weight works best). Then, they get in a line and have to pass each letter of the word (in the correct order) down the line using a straw! The team that creates their word the fastest get a point!

Check out Sophie's World (featured above) for instructions on how to "pass the paper!"

Word Family Dance Steps

Trace around your shoe to create a shoe shape. Next, write different words from various word families on the shoe shape. Then, mix them up and tape them to the floor to create a path (curved, straight - whatever you'd like!) of shoe prints. Kids move (dance / hop) to words that belong to the same family!

Donut Words

Kids practice creating three letter short vowel words with donuts! Write A, E, I, O, U on 5 paper plates. Then, give kids a box of paper donuts with two letters on the sides of the donuts. Kids place the donuts on the plates, so the vowel shows through the hole of the donut. You can find a list of short vowel words here!

Playground Prepositions

Take your students out on the playground to explore prepositions!

P.O.S. Musical Plates

materials: paper plates (3 for each child)
Write a noun, verb, or adjective on each paper plate. Lay the plates out in an open space outside. Play music and kids dance from plate to plate. When the music stops, the child picks up the plate and keeps it. The goal is to collect one noun, verb, and adjective plate. If the child lands on a noun when the music stops, and he already has a noun, he doesn't keep the plate. Once everyone has each part of speech, they use their creativity and imagination to create a unique sentence using the words they collected on their plates!

SCOOT - IPN

Practice irregular plural nouns by playing Scoot! Kids scoot from one chair to the next and write down what they think the plural is for each noun card!

Scoot Directions (good explanation)

IPN Cards (only cut around the rectangle and the center lines - example above) - 32 cards

Time Warp!

Lay out the time warp mats, give kids a sentence, and have them run to the correct verb tense mat! Once on the mat, they identify the verb within the sentence.

Example:
He ate an orange! (Child runs to the "past" mat and calls out "ate") 
He eats an orange everyday!
He will eat an orange!

HOT WAD

Practice vocabulary with a twist on hot potato! On scraps of paper write down different objectives for kids to conquer! Then, wad up the scraps to make a ball. Have kids sit in a circle and turn some music on. Kids pass the ball clockwise until the music stops. The one holding the ball has to unwrap a piece of the scrap paper from the ball. The teacher gives the child a word and the player answers. For example, what part of speech is it?! If the player answers correctly he stays in the game.

For younger kids, you can write their sight words on the scrap paper. Kids have to say the word they unwrap!

For more vocab. fun, check out word wheel and roll and...

Note: This game could also be used to practice simple multiplication facts. Write down equations on scrap paper. Kids figure out the product to stay in the game!

Spelling in Braille

Practice your spelling words in braille from the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry! You will need dried beans (or round cereal), glue, construction paper, and a braille chart (for each student). Write the spelling words on pieces of scrap paper and toss them into a paper lunch bag. Have each child choose one word from the bag. Tell them to keep their word a secret! Students write their word in beans, using a braille chart, by pasting them onto a piece of construction paper. Then, they trade their bean braille with a friend and try to figure out their friend's word. Remind them to keep their eyes closed and try to figure out each letter, rather than the whole word at once. They use their braille chart to help them.

Digraph Die

Students take turns rolling the die. After each roll, all players must come up with one word that contains the digraph. When finished playing, players add up their words, whoever has the most words wins! Visit the Weekly Hive for another phonics activity with the h brother words: H Brother Superhero Scavenger Hunt! 

Car CRASH! Contractions

Two words crash and what happens: a contraction! Integrate contraction surgery with car crash contractions. Two words crash and come together! The word had a minor injury when it magically transformed. Therefore, it's time for contraction surgery! Kids give the word a bandaid where the apostrophe should be and presto: a contraction! Click here for contraction surgery details. Below is a free printable:

Morse Code

Turn off the lights, grab a flashlight, and practice your spelling words using Morse Code! Kids have to pay close attention to the flickering light to figure out each word. You could also come up with a different tapping sound for the rectangle and circle in Morse Code. Kids have to listen closely to differentiate the tap! Furthermore, you could have them draw the code and then have a friend solve it. Below, I made an original and colored version of Morse Code. You could use the colored code for drawing words or making a fashion statement! Kids could create a necklace or bracelet of beads, using Morse Code (check out Classic Play). Then, see if their friends can figure out their secret word!

3 in a Row: Vocab.

Classic Spelling Tic Tac Toe: Kids choose three activities in a row, to do with their spelling or sight word list throughout one week.

1. Word War aka vocabulary war - explains rules
2. Fraction Words - count up the total number of letters in their word. Then count the vowels and consonants and write a fraction for the vowels and consonants.
3. Word Worth 
4. Word Search - puzzle maker, create a word search and solve it (or have a friend try to find your words)
5. Word Cloud - create a design using your spelling words
6. ABC Order Words - Type words on the computer or write them out in alphabetical order
7. Word Patterns - Write letters of each word in different colors to create various patterns.
8. Scrabble Words (free printable tiles, as well as other nice looking freebies)
9. Flash Words - flashcard maker, also use for word war. Kids could simply write words on index cards if they don't have access to a computer or printer at home.

Forget X's and O's

Replace X's and O's with synonyms and antonyms in the classic game TIC TAC TOE. One player thinks up synonyms for the given word. Player two has to come up with antonyms. Great way to expand kids' vocabulary!

Name Synonyms

photo via anna langova: public domain

What does your name mean? Can you find synonyms for your name's meaning?

REWRITE!

Practice using a thesaurus by rewriting a simple song or poem. Check out Oh' Boy 4th Grade and Brannack's Bobcats take on The Itsy Bitsy Spider. Brannack's Bobcats demonstrate how to use VoiceThread in an elementary classroom (click slideshow link)! Students broadcasted their version, so parents could view all the kids' work and hear their voice. Voice Thread is a fantastic, free tool because parents are able leave a comment on students' work (text, video, or audio commentary).

BOGGLE for the Smart Board

How many letters can you chain together to form a word? Point value: 3-4 letters = 1 point, 5 = 2 points, 6 = 3 points, 7 = 5 points, 8 or more = 11 points. Goal: Try to form as many words as you can before time runs out! Visit Teacher Led for a free letter generator to project on the Smart Board (just click the Go button)! Click here for Boggle Rules from Hasbro.