Your Green Pages August/September 2003
By Elizabeth Swartz

For a printable version of Your Green Pages click here

Primary Grades
1. Shapes In Motion
   Math Gather the children in a circle. Look through books and magazines for pictures of circular objects. Discuss and demonstrate how round objects move. Then experiment with squares and other shapes. Make a large circle on the floor with yarn or tape, then walk on it. Then walk on a square reproduced on the floor. Discuss the differences.
2. Circle Snacks
   Math Arrange an assortment of circle-shaped foods on a table (banana slices, pineapple slices, crackers, pickles, etc.). As the children snack, discuss whether the snacks grew in a circular shape or whether they were cut or molded into a circle. Brainstorm other circular foods and their origins.
3. Sentence Set-Up
   Writing Provide students with a paper that has the headings of Who and What, under which students can write sentences. Later, add the word Where and then, even later, When. As students' writing progresses, show them that those labels can be moved around in the sequence of building sentences.
4. Watching the Time
   Poetry/Math Read the following poem to the children and then write it on a large poster board to place in the center of a bulletin board.
   

   A Quiet Watch

   by Martin Shaw

   Although my watch can't speak to me,
   And say the words I say,
   It still tells me what I should do,
   And tells me so each day.

   It tells me to get up or sleep,
   To eat and when to play,
   For something that can't speak a word,
   It sure has lots to say.

   Have the children make paper plate watches with specific times on them. Illustrate lunch time, recess, bed time, etc.

5. Natural Frames
   Art/Math Have students collect and measure five-inch twigs and three-inch twigs. Arrange the five-inch twigs into a square, overlapping them one inch in from the ends. Use string to tie the corners in an "x" pattern. Repeat with the three-inch twigs. Center and glue the larger frame on top of the small one, as shown below. Turn the frame over, run a thin line of glue around the inner three-inch twig and press front of a photo onto it, as shown below. Let it dry.

6. Slippery Spelling
   Spelling/Reading Place a brightly-colored piece of construction paper on a table. Give students a bold marker with which they can write the spelling or vocabulary word that gives them the most trouble. Then provide a can of sprayable whipped cream for students to use to trace the word.

7. Fall Leaf Rainbow
   Art Collect an assortment of colorful fall leaves. Make a game of sorting the colors and sizes. On the bulletin board, create a fall rainbow by attaching arched rows of colored leaves. Use remaining leaves to make a border.
8. One Block, Another Block
   Math Provide students with numbered cards and tape. Have them count and label the bricks, cement blocks or floor tiles in the hallway. Remove the even numbers, count by fives and put a sticker on the fifth card each time. Send a child to color the card on the fourth block blue, draw a smiley face on the fourteenth block or sit down by block 50.

9. Man Overboard
   Directionality Use large sheets of brown paper to make the deck of a ship on your classroom floor. Have the children sit in the "boat" in rows. When the child who is designated "captain" calls out "left," the children on the left will row, "back" means all children will lean back, etc. When "man overboard" is called, everyone exits the ship and a new captain is chosen.
10. Story Bricks
    Reading Make a "brick wall" bulletin board. Give students red construction paper and a pattern for the bricks. Have each student make at least one brick and write on it an element from a story the class has just read. Sequence the bricks from the bottom up to symbolize how a story grows. Join the bricks with white construction paper "mortar."
11. Where Were You?
    Reading Ask students to bring in postcards or photographs of where they went this summer. Discuss setting. Divide the postcards and/or photos according to: country, city, beach, forest, inside, outside, etc. You can do this in large groups on a bulletin board, in small groups on poster board or in learning stations. Another day, use the same images to illustrate context clues. Can you tell what is happening by the picture?

12. Plus and Minus
    Art/Math Use this art project to illustrate and develop the concepts of positive and negative, plus and minus or fractions. Have each child select two pieces of construction paper in contrasting colors, with one sheet twice the size of the other. Provide shaping scissors for children to divide the smaller sheet into two or more sections. Then glue them onto the larger sheet.
13. Plenty of Pianos
    Music During the month of September, arrange for your class to have a look at the inside of a piano, led by your music teacher or a local piano tuner or pianist. Invite a musician to do a piano program for your school.
14. Penny Pitch Addition
    Math/Hand-eye Coordination Collect three plastic food containers and, on each one, write a number between 1 and 9. Make a large circle out of yarn or tape on the floor. Place the containers inside the circle. Have children stand outside the circle to pitch pennies into the containers and add up their score. Add more containers, more digits, more rules, etc. as skills increase.

15. 3-D Apple
    Art Fold a sheet of white paper in half. Draw an outline of half of an apple around the fold and cut out the apple shape. Repeat twice more so you have three apple shapes. Color one side of each shape to resemble the skin of an apple, and the other side to resemble the inside with seeds. On one apple shape, cut halfway up the fold from the bottom. On the other two shapes, cut halfway down the fold from the top. Slip the slits inside each other to form a three-dimensional apple. Glue a leaf to the top and attach a string hanger to hang the apple from the ceiling.
16. Chicken Anyone?
    Nutrition Discuss the meat food group, particularly chicken. How do people cook it? Why do we eat it? Take the students to www.eatchicken.com to explore the nutritional value of chicken. Discuss the validity of the website, being sure that students distinguish between information and persuasion.
17. Simon Says Color Me
    Auditory/Visual Discrimination Give all the children the same picture and the same colors of crayons. Play "Simon Says" using the crayon colors and various portions of the picture. When a player makes a mistake he or she is is out until the next round.
18. Apple Books
    Writing Make small paper booklets. Invite students to decorate the cover with apple pictures and title it, "My Apple Book." Help children research different kinds of apples and write one page about each type.
19. Better Bed Times
    Math/Health Make a chart of your students' bed times. Graph the results, then talk about the fact that doctors say children in the primary grades should get 10 hours of sleep every night in order to be healthy. Make a chart and graph showing what time the students get up in the morning, then calculate how much sleep the students are getting and make a bar graph. Brainstorm ways the children could rearrange their schedules to allow for more sleep.

Intermediate Grades

20. Who's Who
    Computer Skills/Writing Help your new class get to know one another by using a digital camera to take their pictures. Then have each student write a short autobiography to put on a page beneath his or her picture. Print out the pages, laminate them and make spiral-bound class books for each student.
21. Parents Activity
    Vocabulary Look at ads in the newspaper or catalog and cut out the names of familiar household objects. Help your child place the words on the correct objects around the house. Examples: couch, stove, sweater, door, etc.
22. Replacement Verbs
    Grammar/Writing Have students select a newspaper article. Have them identify the verbs and replace them with synonyms. How does the story change? Can the pacing or meaning of a story be changed by the verbs that are used?
23. Resources Search
    Language Telephone books can strengthen your students' alphabetical skills. Give them a list of businesses and/or services to look up. Arrange the newly-found numbers in correct alphabetical order to make a useful mini-phone book for the students.
24. Sunflowers
    Art Step 1: Give each student a stiff piece of 12" by 18" paper and ask them to draw a circle near the top. Step 2: Glue sunflower seeds inside the circle. Step 3: Yellow petals, green stems, green grass and blue sky can be painted on with brushes or fingers.

25. Summary Burger
    Social Studies/Art Step 1: Cut out two halves of a brown paper "bun." Add seeds. Step 2: Glue the top and bottom halves of the bun several inches apart from one another on a 12" by 18" piece of paper. Step 3: In between the halves, draw important features, artifacts and landmarks of the country or civilization the class has studied.
26. Pastel Memories
    Reading/Art Read the following poem to or with your class, then go outside to the sidewalk or playground and make colorful chalk drawings of your favorite summertime memories.


Chalk Talk Rhyme

by Heidi Roemer

Chatter chatter chit chat,
Sidewalk talk.
I open up my brand-new
box of chalk.

We draw a yellow sun
and two red planes,
three blue birds,
then we sign our names.

Chatter chatter chit chat,
Chalk talk rhyme.
Drawing on the sidewalk –
Summertime!

27. Advertising Trends
    Math Get some old magazines from the library and have students make graphs depicting the amount of space devoted to advertisements. Then graph what kinds of products the ads are selling. Are the students being targeted? What percentage of the magazine is reading material that isn't an ad?
28. Sun Safety
    Poetry/Health Using a doll as a model, show the children how to safely apply sunscreen. Teach them the following poem. The children can recite the poem as each one takes a turn rubbing the doll with sunscreen, or pretending to.


Ready For Sun

by Jacqueline Schiff

Rub rub rub
The sunscreen in,
From my forehead
To my chin
Down to my toes,
That's the way
The sunscreen goes.


29. Hidden Treasure
    Visual Discrimination/Math Decorate a cardboard box to look like a treasure chest. Secure objects to the bottom of the box with tape or glue. Cover the opening of the box with clear plastic wrap. On the plastic, write numbers and letters for a map grid. Give students a list with the names or pictures of objects to look for, and provide graph paper so students can draw the position of the located object.
30. We, The People
    Social Studies September 17-23 is Constitution Week by presidential proclamation. Research what a presidential proclamation is and when it is appropriate. Discuss what the Constitution is and how it makes the United States different from every other country in the world. You can receive free educational materials about the Constitution from www.constitutioncenter.org Have your students plan and create a teaching display for the library or main lobby.
31. The Stuff of Life
    Science Whether teaching the water cycle, the composition of water or the needs of living things, include this poem to help tie it all together.


Water: Can't Live Without It

by Heidi Roemer

Sip it from a cup.
Slurp it from the sink.
To keep your body hydrated,
Drink, drink, drink!

Rinse off in the shower.
Suds up in the tub.
Keep your body healthy.
Scrub-a-dub-dub!

Squirt it on your flowers.
Give it to your pet.
Do living things need water?
Yes, you bet!

32. Express Train
    Math Choose five students to line up across the front of the room. This is the rapid express train. Flash cards with basic math facts at each student, asking for a fast response. Wrong answers are immediately corrected by the teacher. When the term " train robbery" is called out, all students take their seats and five more are chosen.
33. If Wishes Were Fishes
    Writing Provide students with fish patterns on which to write their personal wishes for this school year. Put them on a blue bulletin board. Use the wishes as an opportunity to assess writing skills as well as to discuss and set goals. Don't forget to add your own wishes, too.

34. Personalized Portfolios
    Art Prepare for open house by having students design monogrammed folders using a print or cursive design of their initials on top of each other and then colored in various colors by sections. Go over the initials with heavy black crayon, then draw an oval around the initials. Fluorescent crayons are especially good for this project.
35. Comparing Crystals
    Science Take your class to www.unmuseum.org/excrys.htm for some experiments that compare sugar and salt crystals. For more information about crystals and minerals in general go to the Smithsonian site at www.nmnh.si.edu/minsci/
36. Parents Activity
    Writing/Organization Spend a few minutes during the first week of school to discuss time management and expectations with your child. Set up a written agreement about a special time and area for doing homework. Set semester goals and plan on specific ways that you can help your child achieve them.
37. Conservation Continues
    Science The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is having its centennial celebration this year. More than 35 million people visit the various refuges each year. Check for local activities and information on events at refuges.fws.gov Contact your local conservation district for information or speakers who can visit your classroom.
38. Daily Dialogue
    Writing Select three students who will sit at a table at the front of the room and pretend they're in a restaurant. Select a fourth student to be the waiter. As the students act out a scene, have the rest of the class write down, in proper dialogue format, everything that is said. Repeat the activity with different scenarios: a barber shop, a mall, a reunion, etc.

Middle Grades

39. Cones of Celebration
    Social Studies/Math On September 22, the ice cream cone will be 100 years old. The ice cream cone's birthday will be a celebration of emigration, invention and confection. Make paper cones to discover why this geometric shape was chosen as a holder for ice cream. Make other shapes to try. Conclude the lesson with an ice cream party. You can make your own coffee-can ice cream with the recipe found at crafts.kaboose.com or individual servings of plastic bag ice cream with the instructions from www.teachnet.com
40. Time Charts
    Math/Time Management Since September is National School Success Month, have students make daily time charts divided into 30-minute segments from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Have each student log his or her activities for one day. The following day, review the charts. How do students spend their time? Are some surprised by the outcome? Discuss time management and goals. One month later, complete the charts again and compare them to the first ones. Have they changed?

41. Hanging Health
    Art/Nutrition Encourage students to eat five fresh fruits and vegetables every day. Go to www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org for more information, then use brown paper bags to draw two sides of various fruits and vegetables. Paint the shapes, then stuff them with tissue paper or foam peanuts. Suspend them on string from hangers to make colorful mobile reminders of the components of a healthful diet.
42. Poster Puzzle
    Art Cut a large sheet of poster board into puzzle-shaped pieces, enough for one per student. Have students use whatever media they want for personalizing their puzzle piece. When all the pieces are finished, join the puzzle together and attach it to another piece of paper. Display it during the beginning of the year as the students are getting to know each other.
43. Welcome Back!
    Reading/Writing Read the following poem to or with your students, then invite them to write a poem about all of the things they did this summer.


Skipper

by Heidi Roemer

Skipper excels
in many a sport;
he skis and he skates,
he is skilled on the court.

Sometimes he discos
or shoots skeet with friends.
He plays soccer and hockey
for days without end.
He loves to go snorkeling;
he sails a skiff.
He skin dives and sky jumps
and climbs frozen cliffs,

Summer is over
and Skipper's no fool.
He's completely exhausted –
he can't wait for school.

44. What's New?
    Science Display various items such as straws, zippers and a laptop computer. Discuss how inventions have changed societies and lives. Many inventions develop out of a desire to do things faster and easier. Celebrate National Inventor's Month by visiting www.inventorsdigest.com and checking local libraries and museums for special exhibits about inventions and inventors. Challenge students to invent something that could simplify or improve their lives.
45. Quote Yourself
    Writing Research quotations from books, plays and movies that were written by famous authors. Have the students each choose one quotation that most represents themselves and ask them to write about why they chose that quotation. Can they draw any parallels between themselves and the author of the quotation?
46. Silly Solutions
    Poetry Ask your librarian for Here's What You Do When You Can't Find Your Shoe: Ingenious Inventions For Pesky Problems by Andrea Perry (Atheneum, 2003, ISBN: 0-689-83067-X). Read it together and use it to get ideas for inventions and for poetry.
47. Plan the Plays
    Writing You can introduce your class to writing and goal-setting at the same time. In a journal or on a computer, have students list their goals for this school year. Keep these lists in a portfolio and have students review them at each progress report time and semester break.
48. Parents Activity
    After seeing a new movie with your children, ask them to describe the setting, the main characters as well as what in the movie was true and what was fiction. Looking for story attributes in movies will provide valuable practice for reading class.
49. Sweet September
    Science/Health The month of September honors the 211,600 beekeepers in the U.S. who produce more than 220 million pounds of honey each year. Go to www.honey.com to investigate how the honey is made as well as many different uses for it. Have students research honey bees and make posters and/or slide shows about their new knowledge. Contact a local beekeeper or natural food store owner and invite him or her to speak to your students about beekeeping and the production of honey.

50. Haiku Time
    Reading/Writing Share several examples of haiku with your students, including this one, then send them to the library to find some themselves.


Hammock Haiku: An Invitation

by Heidi Roemer

Bring a tall glass of
lemonade and we'll doze in
the cool summer shade.

51. Little League Finals
    Math/Social Studies During September, use the little league finals in your area as well as nationally to figure batting statistics and check local records. Take the opportunity to research where the teams come from and how their cultures differ from ours. Go to www.littleleague.org to gather information and/or to send words of encouragement to little leaguers.
52. Autumn Equinox
    Science On September 23 at 5:47 a.m. est, autumn begins. Have students research weather sources as to the true meaning of that date and time. Go to www.astroleague.org for an online source. Assign different groups to researching different seasons. Have each group develop explanations and constellation or solar maps to include in one larger book about the seasons.
53. Statehood
    Social Studies/History Ohio is celebrating its bicentennial all year. You can celebrate with Ohioans by doing a unit of study about states, beginning with Ohio – start by checking out consumer.discoverohio.com. Ohio was the 17th state to enter the union. What number was your state? Make a large map and color the states according to the order in which they entered the union. Write to tourism agencies and begin a collection of state flags, postcards, etc.
54. Parents Activity
    Social Studies Labor Day is September 1. Take this opportunity to do more than picnic. Show your child how many different forms of labor it takes to run your community. Take your child to a town council meeting, count the business and service industries. Discuss what a work shutdown would do to your town.
55. Explorers
    History Two hundred years ago the Lewis and Clark Expedition was underway. Ask your school librarian for help in gathering historical biographies, maps, diaries and historical fiction. Have students read, draw maps, make wagon and canoe models and write what it would be like to be sent into unknown territory.
56. Family Finances
    Math Write out a sample monthly budget on the board for your students. Expense categories should include rent, food, utilities, insurance, gasoline, entertainment and any others your students can think of. Use average figures that can be obtained from local government resources or supply general figures from your own financial statements. Balance the budget several times, adding such variables as unexpected expenses, a raise, a layoff, etc.

For a printable version of Your Green Pages click here. PDF 296KB

ABOUT THE GREEN PAGES: Green Pages activities are for use in teaching grades PreK through 8. Activities are labeled according to basic skill areas.

THIS MONTH'S CONTRIBUTIONS:
Sherry Timberman, Sanford, ME, #1, #2, #5, #7, #15, #18, #40, #42, #45; Karen Birt, Goshen, IN, #10; Joan Macey, Binghamton, NY, #12, #24, #25, #34; Martha Sparks, Neenah WI, #32.

POETRY: "A Quiet Watch" by Martin Shaw, Bronxville, NY; "Ready For Sun" by Jacqueline Schiff, Moline, IL; "Chalk Talk Rhyme," "Water: We Can't Live Without It," "Skipper," "Hammock Haiku: An Invitation" by Heidi Roemer, Orland Park, IL.

Illustrations by H. Robert Loomis.

August/September 2003, Vol.34, No.1