Your Green Pages February 2005
By Elizabeth Swartz

Primary Grades
1. A Half/Day
   Math On an early dismissal day, have your students experience everything in halves. Have half of each lesson, half a recess, half a cookie, send half of the class to the bathroom or library, etc. Be sure to show tactile, visual and audio examples of halves. Let the kids experience half a hug.
2. Don't Eat Snow
   Health/Science Conduct an experiment by collecting a pan of snow. Bring it into the classroom to melt and then pour the water through a coffee filter. What was left in the filter? Take samples from various areas to compare. The same experiment can be done with rain water.

3. Trees in Winter
   Social Studies/Art A tree in winter can be made with brown corrugated paper to simulate the bark texture. Cut out strips for the trunk and branches. Arrange them in tree format and glue onto a sheet of blue construction paper. If corrugated paper is not available, cut strips of cardboard boxes and strip off one side. Dab on white paint with cotton swabs for flurries. In the spring, green paint can be used for blossoms, in the fall, use various colors for the changing leaves.
4. Who Am I?
   Language/Science Put pictures of farm animals into a bag. Let the children take turns pulling one card from the bag. Each child looks at the card, tells one fact about the animal and then imitates the animal's actions. Ask the class to guess the name of the animal.
5. Ways of Love
   Reading Read the book The Way I Love You by David Bedford & Ann James (Simon & Schuster, 2004) to your class. Then discuss what it is about friends, parents and pets that we love. Make heart shapes on which to write some of the responses, "I love the way you comb my hair, make my toast, toot your horn at my my bus stop, etc." Place them on a bulletin board in the school lobby to remind others how much little actions can mean.
6. Borrow a Pet
   Writing/Science Borrow a small pet from a child's home or from another classroom. Have your students observe the pet. They should write down what it does, what it eats, what it looks like, etc. Borrow more pets during the school year and create a booklet with pictures called, "Our Classroom Visitors." Increase your students' observation and writing skill levels with each new visitor.
7. Reading the Rebus
   Reading Collect several rebus stories from children's magazines in your library. Read several to and with your students. Then ask the children to cut pictures out of magazines or catalogs that they could use in a rebus story. Provide construction paper hearts on which to affix the pictures. In group time, write your students' stories on chart paper.

8. Line Up the Day
   Math Introduce timelines by hanging a long piece of yarn on a bulletin board. Put up pictures as the day goes along to represent what is happening. Use coats, lunch boxes, balls, books, etc. to made a sequential picto-story of the day's activities. On another day, have the pictures posted before the children arrive, then see if the day turns out that way. Give each child a piece of drawing paper, a piece of yarn and crayons. Have them make a picto-story of the activities of a morning or evening activity.
9. Parents Activity
   Science/Health Did you know that it's Dental Health Month? A great activity to do this month with your kids and also to reinforce measuring skills is to make your own toothpaste together. Here's how to do it – combine four teaspoons of baking soda, one teaspoon salt, one teaspoon water and one drop of orange extract. Mix all of the ingredients together. Ask your child to try the toothpaste and see what he or she thinks. Afterwards, you can both visit the website www.ms-flossy.com/index.html and learn more about teeth and the importance of dental health.

10. Healthy Hearts
    Science/Health With your students, collect colorful pictures of fruits and vegetables from newspapers and magazines. Take your collected pictures and put them in order with ABC letters (A is for Apricot, B is for Broccoli, C is for Carrot, etc.) on a bulletin board. You can also display your pictures in a class scrapbook or paste them on a large piece of butcher paper. Keep in mind that a taste test might be in order if new and exotic fruits and vegetables are discovered by your students. Does the class think that they can eat five fruits and/or vegetables in a day? What varieties of fruit and vegetables might the children like? Be sure to suggest different kinds of juice, salads, etc.
11. Favorite Things
    Listening/Art Read the following poem to the class. Ask them to illustrate what they hear in the poem. Have each child select only one section to illustrate. Then post the poem in the center of a bulletin board surrounded by your students' illustrations.


Winter Fun

by Martin Shaw

I like to slide down icy
hills,
As bumpy as can be,
I like to tumble in snow
drifts,
Throw snowballs at a tree.

I like to twirl about on
ice,
And wear my gloves that
glow.
I guess, I just like
wintertime,
Along with all its snow.

12. Happy Birthday, Handel
    Music This month, play CD's of Handel's music. Put out drawing paper and crayons or paints for the children to illustrate what they hear. Allow quiet minutes to listen. Ask your music teacher to teach how to conduct in basic 2, 3 and 4 time along with the music.
13. Colds Are Here
    Reading/Health Share the following poem, talk about the rhyming words, the truth of the words and ways to prevent catching all those colds.


Gesundheit, Miss Giraffe

by by Heidi Roemer

My nose is runny.
My throat feels funny.
My head hurts, too…
Ah-chee!
AH-CHOO!

With a cloth on my head,
I rest in bed
and sip chicken soup –
Ah-choo!
AH-CHEE!
(Bless me!)

14. Snow Painting
    Art Mix water with food coloring and put each color in a separate spray bottle. Take your students outside and spray paint designs, letters of the alphabet, spelling words, etc., on snow.
15. Silent Friends
    Language Read aloud Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (Carolrhoda, 2004). This story is about a girl who travels on the Underground Railroad with her doll because, "a doll is a witness who cannot die." Talk to your students about the Underground Railroad and the comfort that can be had with a silent friend. Where do your students like to take a favorite friend? Why does that make them feel braver? Ask the kids to draw pictures of their favorite silent friend and write a story about him, her or it.
16. A Sighting
    Read Send students on a hunt for their vocabulary or spelling words. Select a few words at a time. Have students report the whereabouts of all sightings. How was it being used (noun, verb, etc.)? Award points for sightings. Snazzy sunglasses could be an award for sharp eyes.
17. Feeding Friends
    Science During Wild Bird Feeding Month, lots of different bird feeding techniques can be tried, from peanut butter and seeds on pinecones to an old piece of netting tied and filled with seeds, nuts or fruit. But remember the easy things too – put some bread crust on the window sill or a few pieces of popcorn (popped or unpopped) at the base of a tree. Encourage your students to come up with other low-cost ideas to feed feathered friends.
18. Cool Colors
    Science Use red and blue food coloring to make red and blue ice cubes. Prepare a pitcher of regular lemonade. Pour lemonade into three clear drinking glasses. To the first glass add one or two red ice cubes. To the second, add blue. Then add an equal number of red and blue cubes to the third glass. Stir each and observe what happens as the ice begins to melt. Try the same experiment with milk. Will the colors be the same? Why or why not?
19. That 100th Day
    Math Go beyond counting 100 concrete objects to see what 100 minutes feel like. What would 100 candy bars cost? 100 sodas? 100 video games? What are easy multiplying rules for 100?

20. Down Under
    Science How warm is it under all that snow? Attach a thermometer to a stick and as you push the thermometer down into the snow, stop at regular intervals to take readings. The snow should be fresh, not frozen. What do the findings suggest about hibernating animals? Now, take two equal-sized pieces of cloth, one white and one black. Lay them flat in the snow in the bright winter sunshine. Leave for a bit, return, take notes on observations. Is the darker cloth deeper in the snow? What does this experiment suggest about winter clothing?

Intermediate Grades


21. Word Families
    Poetry/Phonics Read the following poem to the children. Then read it again and have them listen for words that rhyme with snow. List these words on the board. Make a snow shovel out of cardboard. The next time you read the poem, select one child to stand at the board and point to each rhyming word as it is read.


The Snow Show

by Jacqueline Schiff

The playground's growing heaps of snow,
I cannot see the swings.
The piles of snow are never low,
They're hiding slides and SPRING.

This kind of snow is blow and grow,
The seesaw I can't see.

My dad should tow it fast, not slow –
He owes that much to me.

I saw the monkey bars, you know,
But they're piled high with snow.
The ladders and the climbing rings
Well, hardly even show.

The playground's growing so much snow
The snowmen in a row
Cannot throw any basketballs –
The net is packed with snow!

Where is the trampoline below?
Not covered with a bow.
The playground is a garden, white,
Without a seed to sow.

I cannot mow this glow of snow,
Or feed it to a crow.
But I can wait for Mr. Sun
To make a melting flow.

22. Library Lovers Unite
    Research What is it that people like most about their libraries? When and why do they go there? Use this as a opportunity for your students to plan and carry out a research study. Write questionnaires to hand out to public library patrons during this month. Tally the responses. What was learned? What kinds of services do libraries in your area offer? Which services are used the most? Have students compile results into a written report.
23. America's Library
    Social Studies During your celebration of Library Lover's Month, introduce your students to the Library of Congress. Check out their website at www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi
24. A Raisin in the Sun
    Science Use solar energy to make raisins in your room. Let the students wash and dry 4-6 grapes. Write each student's name on a small paper plate and have them place their grapes on the plates. Place the plates on drying racks in a window that gets a lot of sun. The racks will allow air to circulate and assist the drying process. If you wish, cover the plates with cheesecloth. Let the plates sit for 5-7 sunny days. Have your students check progress and record observations every few days. Compare these raisins with store-bought raisins. How are they alike or different? What do your students think caused the changes in the grapes?
25. Fill in the Blanks
    Writing Go to the library and sign out a stack of wordless picture books. Give the books to a group of students and ask them to write a plot that goes with the stories. They should also include dialogue, descriptions, etc. As a culminating activity, ask the class to write the story in words that the illustrator has done only in pictures.
26. Meet Mr. Handel
    Music/History Read aloud a biography of Handel and play selections of his music to the class. Display pictures of what the clothing, transportation, etc., of the time looked like. Have each student or group of students select another musician to write a report for class. Be sure that music throughout different ages is represented. Ask your students to include sound bites in their reports. Be sure to include the librarian and the music teacher in this unit.
27. Happy New Year
    Art/Writing February 9 is the start of Chinese New Year this year. It will be the year of the Rooster. Have students create some lanterns, dragons and roosters to add to the festivities. Research what the rooster signifies. How about the dragon? Write fortune cookie notes of good luck for one another, fold in triangular shapes, mix in a box and distribute on the 9th.
28. What Does It Mean?
    Writing Collect various kinds of graphs from newspapers and magazines. Place them in a learning center in your classroom or pass them out to the class. Have your students practice informational writing by explaining what the graph is showing. What was the desired purpose and/or audience for the graph? Does the result suggest anything for your students?
29. Preventive Medicine
    Health/Math We've all been told to drink water to maintain our health. It helps to keep the body free of germs and also lubricates our muscles. Challenge your students to create a useful life long habit. Have students make a tally chart or bar graph for the days of the week. They can use representations for the number of glasses of water that they drink daily. The recommendation is 6-8 glasses (8 oz.) each day. First, chart the average water being consumed now. Then, try for the recommended amount for one week. Does anyone feel different?
30. How Many?
    Math Take your students to the library for some practice estimating. Select a shelf of books and ask the students to estimate how many are on that shelf. Then select a shelf with thinner or thicker books and estimate those. Estimate the total in a bookcase, tall or short. Are they taking into consideration the size of the books? Keep practicing on different sections. See if your students can estimate how many books are in your school's total collection.
31. Parents Activity
    Science Heat a small amount of milk in a pan just until it is warm. Add a little vinegar, and soon you'll see a rubbery substance in the bottom of the pan. Rinse the substance, shape or cut it, then lay it flat and it will harden in a couple of days. Milk has casein, which are long molecules that will bend. Bendable molecules allow us to make plastics. Look around the house for many different kinds of plastic. Would your child like to be a scientist who discovers new ways to make and use plastics?
32. Remembering Iqbal
    Reading/Current Events Read aloud to your class Iqbal by Francesco D'Adamo (Atheneum, 2001). This book is based on the real life of a 13 year-old boy who worked as a child laborer in a carpet factory in Pakistan. After reading, visit www.childrensworld.org/page.html to see actual photographs of where Iqbal lived and worked. Also go to http://mirrorimage.com/iqbal/index.html to read about school children around the world who are raising money to build a school in honor of Iqbal.
33. The Daily News
    Reading/Current Events Introduce students to different parts of the newspaper. Headlines, subtitles, date lines, captions, by-lines, body, etc. Provide several different papers for them to find samples of various parts. Have each student take a picture of something going on around the school. They can use what they learned about the newspaper articles to create their own newspaper. Limit each to one page, then put the newspaper together in a booklet for others in the building to read.

Middle Grades


34. Elevation Matters
    Geography/Science Discuss the differences that elevation can cause in temperature, climate, vegetation, etc. Read the following poem together. Then ask your class to illustrate and research what parts of the world the poem could represent. Be sure to bring in pictures of such places to share and encourage your students to do the same.


White Tops

by Martin Shaw

What fun to be a mountain tall,
And reach the clouds on high,
To stand upon the ground below,
With head up in the sky.

To feel the sun's rays shower down,
And all the time to know,
That though your body's drenched in
sun,
Your head is topped with snow.


35. Too Much Pressure
    Science Collect three or four empty, clear plastic three-liter bottles. Fill with water and place large pieces of dark paper under each bottle. Put a pin hole near the top of one bottle, measure how far from the bottle and how long the water sprays. Put a pin hole half way to the bottom of the next bottle, again taking measurements. Put a pin hole near the bottom of the last bottle. What happens to that spray of water? Does the velocity and distance remain the same throughout? What causes differences? Draw a parallel experiment. Place a large marshmallow between two sheets of waxed paper. Place one book on top. On another marshmallow, place three books, on another six, etc. How is the marshmallow different from the water? What does pressure do to the things under it?
36. History's Stories
    Poetry/Social Studies Provide books for your students like Hour of Freedom compiled by Milton Meltzer (Wordsong, 2003) to show how history is often preserved in poetry. Around President's Day, ask the class to research in the library poetry that is related to our Presidents and/or our history as a country. Also be sure to include the wonderful poetry that tells of African American History.
37. Character Education
    Reading/Social Studies Introduce students to www.goodcharacter.com for successful models of character education. Ideas include class meetings, setting up buddy programs with younger classes and doing community service projects. Do your students see other things here that they can adopt? Do they have ideas of their own? Do they think there's a necessity for character education?
38. The Melting Pot
    Writing/Social Studies Provide copies of the poem, I, Too by Langston Hughes. Ask students if there are other Americans who might feel marginal. What examples can they give from their own school or community? What would they propose doing to change that perception? In what areas do we still have second-class citizens? Students should make a list of problem areas, possible solutions and then go out and try to make a difference. Make sure they report on and discuss how it went.
39. Truth Sometimes Hides
    Reading/Social Studies Read the following poem together and discuss the differences between folktales and history in poems. Do they overlap? Why? How can your students tell the difference?


American Lore

by Beverly McLoughland

In the spinning and weaving of American lore
Folks stretch a yarn once, then stretch it
some more,
They tug it and pull it, they pull it and tug
Till the yarn almost snaps –
But, at last, never does.

Then they stretch it again and they give it a twist
And the more folk who stretch it –
the better it is,
Some facts may get buried – and only too well
But there are truths spun in stories
That facts cannot tell.


40. Put a Lid On It
    Art February is a perfect month to work on profiles and hats. Presidents Lincoln and Washington are often shown in profile and with their own particular hats. Teach the basics of profiles including chins, noses and foreheads. Have your students practice sitting sideways for one another to make sketches. After the profiles are finished, suggest that the kids put on their own distinctive hats. Some will want to stay with ski caps, but others will be dreaming of spring.
41. Don't Know Much?
    Reading/History Introduce your students to the book, Don't Know Much About Abraham Lincoln by Kenneth C. Davis (HarperTrophy, 2004). Davis is also the author of the book, Don't Know Much About History (HarperCollins, 2003). Rather than a straight read-through, these wonderful books are filled with questions and then one or two paragraph answers. After sharing this book, have your students ask questions about George Washington and then set out to find and write the answers in the same format. This could also be done with topics such as the Underground Railroad, etc.

42. A Great Smile
    Health/Science Since both eggshells and our teeth contain calcium, collect eggshells and experiment to find out how sugar affects our teeth. Place eggshells into three clear glasses. Cover one eggshell with water and one with soda. The third eggshell will be uncovered. Allow the shells to sit for 24 hours, then remove them from the liquids to compare. What observations are made? What conclusions can be drawn?
43. Presidents at Work
    Social Studies/Thinking Around President's Day, take your students on a visit to the White House to see what it is like to live and work there. With the class, go to the website www.whitehousekids.gov Would they like to live there? What do they think it would it be like to stand in the exact same hallway that President Lincoln walked through? Is there any special historical place in your area that can give your students a chance to walk through history?
44. Becoming Storytellers
    Reading/Speaking/Drama Getting students comfortable with speaking in front of the class is a difficult thing. Storytelling can take a lot of that fear away. Visit the website www.storycraft.com to learn about kids' storytelling clubs and how to get one started in your area. At the very least, you can get a mini-storytelling club started right in your own classroom.
45. World Wide News
    Geography Hang a map in your classroom that each of your students can reach. Ask the class to bring in articles from newspapers, magazines and print-outs from online news websites. Have them tack their article onto the map at the appropriate place where their story originates. Are there some areas of the country/world that are not being covered? Make sure they try to uncover what's happening in the part of the world that's not being represented.
46. Parents Activity
    Health/Math Discuss with your child the kind of dental health insurance that you have from your place of employment. What does it cost every week? What exactly does it cover? What does one trip to the dentist cost? How about annual x-rays? Fillings? Braces? Caps? What is the dental health history of their parents and grandparents? Discuss with them their responsibilities for taking care of their teeth both from the health perspective and from the financial perspective.
47. Careers in the News
    Reading Teach students about the many steps necessary in creating a newspaper and/or invite an editor from a local paper to come in and give a talk. Make a classroom paper and put some students in charge of photo, articles, interviews, proofreading, editing, printing, sales, etc. If possible, watch a video or visit a working printer's business. What educational background is needed for each job? What are the hours worked? Average salaries and some of the benefits offered?
48. Groundhog Day
    History/Science Research the hibernation habits of a groundhog. Does the tradition of the groundhog's shadow hold any merit? What about the size of the stripe on a wooly caterpillar? Where do these beliefs come from? Why did they originate? How is spring predicted scientifically? What do your students think of this method?
49. Kids Do Care
    Social Studies Promote service projects within your community and start some new ones, too. Take your class to www.kidscare.org to get more ideas of how to start a service club at your school.
50. Today's News
    Social Studies Get some online news versions designed for kids in grades 6 and up by CNN. This website has links to all the major headlines as well as links to archives for research and "curriculum specials" to help with reports. Go to www.cnnstudentnews.com/fyi/index.html Make that a favorite place for students to check for daily updates.
51. Those Pearly Whites
    Science Your students might like to compare the ingredients found in toothpastes, tooth powders and gels. Ask the school nurse, dentist or dental hygienist to come and visit the class and tell your students about the ingredients in each of these teeth-cleaning items and to also explain the chemical reactions that occur when they brush their teeth.
52. Independent? Dependent?
    Research Show your students how to look at different labels (food, clothing, etc.) to see where products have been made. Point out that as consumers, we are dependent on many workers, including those in different countries. Define for your students the terms economic independence, dependence and interdependence.
53. Catch It!
    Science Put some petroleum jelly on a microscope slide and leave the slide on a tray outside a school window. What do your students hypothesize will show up on the petroleum jelly? What factors may affect what shows up on your microscope slide? At the end of the day, check to see what pollutants have stuck to the petroleum jelly. You may want to use a magnifying glass to observe more closely. What was the most surprising thing your students found when they took a closer look?

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:
Joan Macey, Binghamton, NY, #3, #41; Marie Cechinni, West Dundee, IL, #4, #18, #26, #44; Harry Roman, East Orange, NJ, #20.

POETRY: "Winter Fun," "White Tops," by Martin Shaw, Bronxville, NY. "Gesundheit, Miss Giraffe," by Heidi Roemer, Orland Park, IL. "The Snow Show," by Jacqueline Schiff, Moline, IL. "American Lore," by Beverly McLoughland, Williamsburg, VA.

Illustrations by H. Robert Loomis.

February, 2005, Vol.35, No.5