Your Green Pages March 2006
By Elizabeth Swartz

For a downloadable version of the Green Pages click here. PDF 335KB

Primary Grades
1. March Marbles
   Math Provide some clear bags containing marbles. Have children hold them and compare heavy/light and few/many, then sort the bags from lightest to heaviest. Sort the marbles by colors and/or by numbers, roll them on a flat surface then down an incline, talk about fast and slow, shiny and dull,etc.
2. Picture Us!
   Writing/SequencingTake pictures of your class throughout the day's activities. Print them and ask students to place them in the correct time sequence and to dictate captions.

3. Alphabet Popsicles
   Reading Attach several large letters each to a ruler or popsicle stick. Assemble these, letter end down, in a can or other container. Hold one up, and as soon as the children see the letter ask them to think of a word that starts with that letter. Or, children could be asked to find an object in the room that begins with that letter and bring it to the front. Have a child then select the next stick from the can.
4. Feet First
   HealthUse the following poem to introduce or conclude a lesson about the importance of feet. Have students add appropriate motions and then draw pictures of their feet doing different things.


My Feet

by Martin Shaw

My feet are used for dancing,
For marching one, two, three,
For showing off new sneakers,
For tucking under me.

My feet are used for climbing,
For burying in the sand,
For stamping when I'm angry,
For helping me to stand.

5. Songs Around the World
   Music For a collection of international songs and nursery rhymes designed for primary children, go to www.mamalisa.com/world and then click on Countries A-Z. Most songs can be found both in English and the language of origin.

6. Count Your Gold
   Math Put a large rainbow on your bulletin board, then within reach of the students put some "pots" with a student's name on each. Each morning place a number of "gold coins" on each pot for the children to count as they arrive. Provide numerals that students can tape on or near their pots for your quick checking.
7. Transparent Planet
   Art Add several drops of blue food coloring to one bottle of glue and green to another. Smooth plastic wrap or acetate over a picture of the earth and tape it in place. Use the glue to trace and color in the earth pattern. Use cotton swabs to spread the glue, but don't spread it too thinly. Let this dry completely. Peel the plastic off the picture and press the earth onto a window. If the cling loosens or won't stick well, moisten it with water.
8. Silly Senses
   Language Make a large ear, nose, mouth, eye and finger out of poster board and laminate them. Then provide a picture or written word clue of a sense and ask students to tape it on the correct object that detects that item. For example, a picture of a bell being rung should be placed on the ear, a lit lightbulb on the eye. Can some items be detected by more than one sense?
9. Springtime Songs
   Science/Art Teach the following finger play to your students, then take them outside for bird watching and bird listening. Have them echo the sounds of their favorite birds. When the kids return to the classroom, invite them to use various art materials to create their own birds.


Bird Talk

by Jacqueline Schiff

One little robin sitting in a tree (Hold up one finger)
Singing this song: "Cheerily-cheerily." (Tap out syllables of song by drumming finger on opposite arm; drop finger)

Two little bluebirds eating in a tree (Hold up two fingers; point fingers toward mouth)
Singing this song: "Chur-wee, Chur-wee." (Tap with raised fingers; drop fingers)

Three little chickadees flying to a tree (Hold three fingers horizontally and zoom them through the air)
Singing this song: "Chick-a-dee-dee-dee." (Repeat the tapping-out rhythm)

Four little cardinals sounding so witty,
(Hold up four fingers and laugh) Singing this song, "Pretty, pretty, pretty." (Repeat tapping-out syllables; drop fingers)

Five yellow warblers, happy when they meet (Hold up five fingers; draw smile across face with thumb)
Singing this in the garden, "Sweet-sweet-sweet." (Repeat tapping out syllables; drop fingers)

Six little nuthatches singing, "Pit-pit-pit." (Hold up six fingers; tap out syllables on legs: drop fingers)

Seven little sparrows whistling as they sit. (Seven fingers, whistling sounds)

Eight little flickers singing, "Wicka-wick." (Eight fingers, tapping syllables on legs)

Nine little finches call, "Tick, tick, tick."(Nine fingers, leg tapping)

Ten busy hummingbirds singing out,"Tchew!" (10 fingers, leg tapping)
Finishing their nests; and then away they flew! (Pretend to build nests, wiggle fingers in the air then down into palms to make two fists)

10. Who Said That?
    Reading Keep your poster board or foam megaphone handy when reading aloud. Clue the students that when you raise it up or lay it on someone's desk, you want to know "Who said that?"– the narrator, the main character, the dog, etc.

11. March Mud
    Language/Health Read aloud the book Mudball by Matt Travares (Candlewick, 2005), the story of an underdog who triumphs not despite, but because of, foul weather conditions. What other stories have your students heard or read about underdogs winning in the end? Can they think of other examples of a seemingly bad thing actually turning out to be a good thing in a story?
12. Mud Is Fun
    Art/Spelling After reading the above-mentioned book, make mud using brown tempera paint and a small amount of sand. Invite children to write spelling or vocabulary words on large paper and/or make an outdoor spring painting on which flowers and stems can be added once the paint mixture dries.
13. Steps to a Story
    Writing Create footprints out of paper and write "Pre-write" on one, "Write" on another and "Revise" or "Edit" on a third. Tape each footprint to a different table or desk. Put a footprint that says "Publish" on the computer table. Ask students to travel from one station to another as their own personal writing and editing processes develop.
14. Parent Activity
    Science/Writing Springtime mud is a wonderful thing to play in, but why? Because it is sticky? Malleable? Smooth? Put on some old clothes (and an open mind) and go outside with your child. Find some mud. Play in it together – write your names with a stick, draw pictures, squish it between your fingers and toes. After cleaning up, write about your muddy experience. What did you make? What did you discover in the mud?
15. Clocks Alive
    Math/Art Create clock faces out of paper plates. Use sticker digits, or trace or freehand draw numbers. One group of students can make a clock that shows the time at which you go to recess, another can create one for art time, music, gym, lunch, etc. Provide stickers or have the group draw appropriate decorations on each clock. Display them in the correct sequence of the day around the room. Watch and see how often the students compare their "clocks" with the actual one on the wall.
16. Letters for Lunch
    Reading/Spelling Bring in a brown paper lunch bag with the letter L on it. Ask the children to come up with food words that begin with L. Write each one on a slip of paper and put it in the lunch bag. Would it be possible to make a whole lunch with just L items? What words start with L that would not be good in a lunch?
17. Pyramid Builders
    Health Combine this activity with the previous "lunch" one. Provide a large food pyramid. Have each child either write or draw a picture of each item in the lunch bag in the correct section of the pyramid. How well balanced is the pyramid for this one "L" meal?
18. Dr. Seuss Day
    Reading/Writing Plan for Read Across America day (March 2) by having each student in your class select a favorite read-aloud book by any author. Practice reading that book using voice inflections, reading tempo, etc. Encourage each student to pick two or three people not in the school community to read that book to. Spread the joy of reading and foster a chance for the children to celebrate their abilities.
19. It's in the Rhythm
    Music Celebrate music in your school by having some rhythm fun. Collect plastic drink bottles and pour varying levels of colored fish-tank gravel in each. Make sure the tops are on tightly. Give one to each student. Play various kinds of music and have students mark the rhythm with the bottles. These can also be used for marking out syllables in words.

Middle Grades


20. Parent Activity
    Music/Writing Talk with your child about the music program in your school district. Is it expanding or being cut back? What parts of the program do you and your children see as vital? Sit down together, each of you writing a letter of support, and send copies to every music teacher and school board member as well as to all of the administrators. Help keep music education alive.
21. Golden Accountants
    Math Make small round medallions from gold paper. Place numerals on each one. Use them for addition, multiplication, division, etc. Any math you are introducing or practicing will be more fun if you let the students be accountants in charge of someone else's gold today.
22. Dialogue Day
    Reading/Writing/Art After reading a story together or aloud, have students rewrite the main ideas in dialogue. Then assign each student a character from the story, make a paper plate mask using those characteristics. Have students come forward, wear their masks and speak the character's parts. Has the story come alive? Has it changed? What changed it?
23. Reality Ratios
    Math/Science Give each student 10 seeds, a small plastic container and some soil. Plant them and place them in a sunny spot. Water and observe for several days. What is the ratio of success with these seeds? Why is that an important exercise that many farmers still perform yearly with each crop? What are some reasons why seeds might not have sprouted?
24. Science Rules!
    Science Get your students interested in science and inventions by becoming involved in the competitions sponsored by Toshiba for kids in grades K-12 at www.toshiba.com.
25. Title Time
    Reading/Writing After any writing assignment have students write the title of their piece on a separate piece of paper and either erase or cut it off the original. Have the kids read all the stories and then go to the "Title Table" to select what they think is the correct title of each. How could titles be improved? Should one be able to guess the title after reading the first paragraph? Repeat this exercise over time and see if the students notice changes in their title-writing.

26. Springtime Synonyms
    Language Provide sheets depicting flowers with multiple petals. Place a known word in the center and have students write synonyms in each petal. This is a great way to introduce and practice using a thesaurus.
27. Rainy Day Field Trip
    Science Take the kids to the National Inventors Hall of Fame at www.invent.org to get lots of ideas for their own inventions through dozens of biographies and links to other invention sites.
28. Monsters in the Motel
    Reading/Writing Help your young writers get started by allowing them to choose from 250 monster profiles written by other students in grades 3-5. Go to www.kidsonthenet.org.uk and let the writing fun begin.
29. Irrigation Experimentation
    Science Use a row of potted plants for your students to experiment with various kinds of irrigation. Plastic fish-tank tubing can be used to run between the pots, placing a small hole through which water can be delivered to the individual plants. An everyday spray bottle can be used to imitate the irrigation of interval spraying like that delivered by a wheel irrigation system. What pros and cons do students see for each system? How are their plants surviving?

30. Duck Stamp Contest
    Art/Science The program for Conservation Through the Arts contest includes depicting a duck in its natural habitat. It is a contest for students in grades k-12 that allows for study of local habitats and work in various mediums. The deadline for most states is March 15 (however, Ohio has a March 1 deadline). Go to www.fws.gov/duckstamps to see the rules as well as the winners from the last several years. The winning stamps would provide an excellent springboard for teaching about ducks and their habitats.
31. Mall Madness
    Writing Assign students to accompany an adult to the mall and sit for a period of 15 minutes, recording what they see, hear, smell and observe from one fixed point. As they are reporting the small details, ask what those details mean. Did people seem hurried? Annoyed? Joyful? Relaxed? What can we tell our readers by including certain details? Keep the list of details in a writing folder for students to review as they write in the future.

32. Deep in the Sea
    Science/Art This art activity can be combined with a non-fiction unit on the sea and it's creatures or with a fiction unit. Staple a piece of 9"x12" blue or blue green fabric to a 9"x12" piece of oak tag or cardboard. Have students draw a symmetrical fish bowl by folding a piece of 9"x12" piece of white paper in half. Keep that to staple to the cardboard after the fish, seaweed, sunken treasure, etc. are made and glued to the background. Students can outline the fishbowl shape with a marker to help it stand out. Then display their work, with descriptive captions, in an aquarium setting.
33. Illustrated Analogies
    Reading/Art/Writing Have each child work with one analogy and draw it on a piece of paper, leaving the final item blank. Put the complete analogy on the back of the paper. Present these to the class and see if they can suggest the correct completion. After providing students with correct analogies to work with, have them come up with some on their own. As the final item is guessed, discuss what made the analogy correct and how the student came up with the idea.
34. Yikes!
    Writing Who better to help your students write their own scary stories than R.L. Stine? Take your 9-to13-year-old students to the Goosebumps® Write It! Story Starters site at www.scholastic.com/goosebumps/writeit/index.htm Once they have written the story, they can add graphics and sound to complete it.
35. He Did What?
    Social Studies/Reading Students have trouble understanding the greatness of moveable type because they have always known it. Ask the students to do some simple writing projects, maybe cartoons, using only pre-made rubber stamps. Then read aloud, Hooray For Inventors! by Marcia Williams (Candlewick, 2005). It is a colorful, cartoon-style celebration of several inventors and their inventions. It also includes entertaining drawings of inventions that almost worked and comments about why they didn't.

36. Syllable Shamrocks
    Language Provide the students with paper shamrocks and a list of spelling or vocabulary words. Ask them to separate each word into syllables by writing a syllable in each section of the shamrock and the whole word on the stem. (They won't always use all the petals).
37. You Stay Here!
    Poetry/Science Discuss what it is that makes kites fly. What do shape and proportion have to do with it? Have all of your students had the opportunity to fly kites? Enjoy the following poem together and discuss if it is a true representation of kite flying. Then ask your students to write about their kite-flying experiences.


My Kite

by Martin Shaw

It loops and dives and soars about
Just like a bird on high.
It sails above the tops of trees
On puffs of air 'twill fly.

Just like a horse, it pulls and tugs,
For that's how kites do play.
But with both hands I clutch its strings
So it can't fly away.

Intermediate Grades


38. Editor's Desk
    Writing To help your students complete the writing process and still keep it fun and interesting, establish an "Editor's Desk" somewhere in the classroom where students can work one at a time on rewrites and proofreading. Provide the checklist of required elements, red or purple correction pens, a dictionary, thesaurus and rubric.
39. Timing Is Everything
    Writing After students complete their story, have them make up a timeline illustrating the events. Do they all make sense? Would someone carry in the firewood after they ran the vacuum? Would a burglar ring the doorbell before robbing the house?
40. Female Power
    Social Studies/History During Women's History Month take your students on a virtual tour of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum at www.nasm.si.edu and see the achievements made by women in the industry. Also, go to www.ameliaearhart.com for a great biography of the woman who pioneered in air flight.
41. Milan, Anyone?
    History Take your class to the Milan Science Museum to see works by Leonardo da Vinci and many others at www.museoscienza.org Why are museums important?
42. Parent Activity
    Science Work with your child to find a local conservation area. Research and visit it. Is it saving wildlife? Protecting wetlands? How well it is conserving? What are the cost and benefits to the community? How does knowing about this make your child a better citizen of the community?
43. Listen Along, Read Along
    Reading Students can help their ESL friends and strengthen their own reading skills at the same time by reading selections into a tape recorder. ESL students can return the favor and practice their English by reading and recording stories from their home cultures.
    

44. Arts Alive
    Music While celebrating music in your school this month take the students to a creative interactive site that will introduce students in grades 2-6 to the elements of an orchestra – the instruments, conductors, composers, etc. Students are able to listen to, as well as compose, music. Go to www.artsalive.ca/en/mus/visitorcentres/kids.html
45. North From Home
    Geography Make sure the students know their directions. Have each make a map with their house on it facing the correct position. Mark local places to the north of their home, then the south, east and west.
46. Understanding the Novel
    Writing/Reading Read aloud the new book Second Sight by Gary Blackwood (Dutton, 2005) and discuss his explanations as the novelist. While telling an excellent story, he steps aside from the story and tells the reader, "now this is where the novelist can use the omnipotent position," or "this is how the novelist can pull the reader along." Students will learn how to read and write more critically after being exposed to this historical novel.
47. Super Spies
    Science/Math Students love codes, secrets and puzzles of logic. Provide them with some realistic training put together by The National Security Agency for their CryptoKids™ – America's Future Codemakers and Codebreakers site at www.nsa.gov/kids
48. Pancake History
    Social Studies Pancakes were first introduced in New York City on March 25, 1882. Use newly learned research skills to find out more about the who, how and why of this invention. Have students research different flavors and recipes for pancakes. Consider making breakfast together at school one day.
49. Newspapers in Education
    Social Studies How are newspapers used in your school? Call the local newspaper office and ask for a donation for your class. Read the issue together. How many school subjects are included in the paper? Is the paper organized in a particular manner? Are people still buying newspapers as regularly as before they could read the news on the Internet? What do the students think will be the future for newspapers?

50. Playground Action
    Social Studies/Math What is the sales tax in your state? What is the purpose of the sales tax? Help students calculate the amount of tax that will be added to a $10 bill, a $50 bill and a $100. Does the sales tax make a difference in what for or where students will shop? Research what the sales tax is used for. If they were being asked to vote for a sales tax increase, how would they vote and why?
51. Parent Activity
    Language When your students return from recess, have them sit down and list 10 verbs that take place on the playground. After arriving in the morning, list 10 verbs observed on the way to school, 10 verbs describing their weekends, etc.
52. Symbolic Mosaics
    Social Studies/Art When studying symbols of states or countries, add art to the project by providing a variety of seeds and heavy cardboard. First students will draw the symbol on the cardboard and then glue seeds of appropriate size and color to sections of the board making a 3-d symbol. Each symbol should have a description written about its meaning as well as its construction, then posted with it in the classroom.

53. Crafts That Last
    Art Encourage students to question grandparents, parents and neighbors about crafts. What kinds are enjoyed? When and why were they started? Are they expensive? Are they difficult to learn? Set up a display in the classroom and plan for an afternoon when these local masters can come into the school to teach their craft.
54. Thanks for Breakfast
    Writing/Math Have students do a comparative study between what they pay for a school breakfast and what that same breakfast would cost them in a local restaurant. Have students find out why and how the school cost remains so low. Who do they have to thank for the low cost? Who do they have to thank for making the food? Then ask them to write thank-you notes to the cafeteria staff that comes in early to provide breakfast.
55. The American Red Cross
    Community Awareness/History Arrange for an official from the local American Red Cross office to come into your class for a visit. Prepare the students with the history of the Red Cross and have a map ready. Find out where money, blood and clothing gathered in your area gets sent. What can your students do to help the Red Cross? What kind of career is possible in the Red Cross?
56. Local Agriculture
    Social Studies/Science/Math What part of your local economy is supported by agriculture? Have students research through local government offices and make graphs illustrating the kinds of industry, commerce and agriculture in your area. In preparation, list what "agriculture" includes, remembering things like grapes, lumber, peanuts and emus.
57. Point of View
    Language Sometimes changing someone's point of view is as easy as changing his or her seat. Have students take turns spending time at your desk, sitting on the floor or walking about the room during class. How does position change the impression of what is happening? How does it change one's behavior?

58. Friends Around the World
    Writing/Social Studies Provide your students with the information needed to international pen pals through World Pen Pals, "the largest education pen friend movement in the world." There is an initial fee of $3.00. The registration form can be printed from the website, www.world-pen-pals.com Everyone enrolling promises to respond.

For a downloadable version of the Green Pages click here. PDF 335KB

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, Kennebunk, ME, #7, #33; Joan Macey, Binghamton, NY, #32.

POETRY: "My Feet" and "My Kite" by Martin Shaw, Bronxville, NY. "Bird Talk" by Jacqueline Schiff, Moline, IL.

Illustrations by H. Robert Loomis.

March, 2006, Vol.36, No.6