Departments : Your Green Pages :
Your Green Pages May 2007
By Elizabeth Swartz
58 Skill-Building Activities You Can Use Right Now!
- Primary Grades
- Animal Sort
Science Place three plastic hoops on the floor. Provide students with pictures of mammals, birds and fish. Have the students place all mammals inside one hoop, all birds in another and all fish inside the third. - Springtime Silhouettes
Art Use a wet sponge to moisten the entire surface of a plain white piece of paper. While the paper is still wet add different water colors to areas of the paper. Hold the paper in different directions to help the paint colors move and blend together until the entire page is covered. When dry, use black crayon or marker to draw simple spring patterns such as umbrellas, flowers, clouds, etc. - Pennies in My Pocket
Math During daily calendar time, use pennies as part of the activity. If it is the eighth day of May, have a student come up and count eight pennies out of a jar. Then ask if there is any other way to show eight cents. Another child may be called on to handle the trade of five pennies for one nickel. Keep a jar of pennies, a jar of nickels, dimes and a quarter handy. - The Vowel Song
Reading/Music Sing the following words to the tune of "Bingo" and help the kids remember those vowels. For extra practice, give each child a card with one vowel written on it to hold up at the appropriate time. - Skip Counting
Math Let the students trace their feet on construction paper and cut out the shapes. To practice skip counting, write one number on each of these footsteps. Students will then put the footprints in order, counting by twos, threes or fives. - Seed Study
Science/Art Share a beautiful new book by Heidi Bee Roemer called What Kinds of Seeds Are These? (Northword, 2007) about different kinds of seeds and where they come from. Before or after reading this book, collect various seeds and determine what they came from and/or will turn into. - Memorial Bows
Fine Motor Coordination/Social Studies/Art While practicing tying shoelaces, brighten the Memorial Day holiday for local veterans by giving the children pieces of oak tag or cardboard with two holes in it. Feed ribbon through the holes and tie red, white and blue bows. Deliver them to a veterans home or distribute them to veterans in an area nursing home. - A Bike Track
Physical Education/Health After talking about bicycle safety this month, see about setting up a bike path around your school playground or ball fields. Have students measure the length of the track and the amount of time it takes to ride around it. How many times could they ride around it in 30 minutes? Sponsor the bike hike as part of your field day activities this year. - Bring Spelling to Life
Spelling/Art Print the letters of a noun or spelling word in large, haphazard fashion on a background paper. Around the letters draw and color small pictures that might be associated with that word. - Window Magic
Art Base this project on any current area of study. Provide students with pictures to trace of trees, animals, etc. Place a piece of plastic laminate over the picture. Provide a permanent marker for students to use for tracing the picture and coloring it in. Then lay the plastic on the window pane and rub with your hands. In some climates, you will also need to use tape. See the sun shine through everything you are teaching. - Fantasy Homes
Art/Writing Borrow a large collection of LEGO® blocks from parents or other teachers. Let the children build the house of their dreams, either individually or in small groups. Then use that building for writing activities such as how-to articles and later in fantasy stories. - Best Spots for Reading
Reading/Art Send students out with digital and/or one-time-use cameras to find the best places to read. Print the pictures and ask students to write captions. Any totally new ideas for places to read? - Birds in Nest
Science/Art On a 12" x 18" piece of white paper, students can watercolor a pale blue sky and a section of a tree, or several top branches. On a branch, fashion a bird's nest out of cut-up strips of brown fabric or paper. Pulled burlap strings work well also. Use cotton balls for the clouds. Trace, draw and cut out various types of birds from oak tag. Use a folded strip of paper or a packing peanut to attach the bird to the nest to give it a 3D effect. - Poetry Math
Math/Poetry Read this poem to the children when working with sets of various kinds. Put it on the board or overhead so they can read along with you and find the words that don't belong. Then ask them to write sets of four words with one that doesn't belong, exchange lists with one another and find the imposters. - Ordinal Lineup
Math Practice those ordinal numbers daily when lining up for lunch, recess or specials. Make a set of cards with one ordinal on each and pass them out randomly before asking students to line up. Then tell them to line up according to the numbers on their cards. After a couple of tries, lining up will be exciting and ordinal numbers will be easy. - Parent Activity
Spelling/Physical Activity Make practicing spelling words at night fun by incorporating the use of a jump rope or a basketball. After you ask the word, have your child bounce or jump to each letter of the word, finishing with the word itself on the last bounce or jump. It will make practice time fun and successful. - Stories and Symbols
Reading Talk about symbols found in stories. Make doves and write the word "PEACE" on them, hearts that say, "LOVE" and eagles that say "FREEDOM." Look for other symbols in stories; have students invent some new ones for use in your classroom stories. What symbol would make everyone think of fun, pain, fear, etc.? - Mother Goose Day
Reading May 1 is the day to enjoy the old nursery rhymes. Get extra ideas for celebrating the rhymes as well as games and recipes at www.delamar.org. Have students memorize some of the rhymes and jump rope to them. - Radical Readers
Art/Reading May is Get Caught Reading Month. Encourage students to "catch" other students, teachers, school staff and community members reading. Send them out in teams with cameras to take pictures of people reading in hammocks, on subways, in treehouses, etc. Remind students to be sure to always include the book cover in the photo. Post the pictures in the school and see what ideas other classes come up with. - Our Year Completed
Social Studies/Math Set up a timeline for the school year that can be filled in by the students to show field trips, major units of study, as well as personal events such as moving into your class, the birth of a sibling or perhaps even a death in the family. Look back over all that you've been through together. Celebrate the challenges that have been met and all the wonderful things learned. - Water Absorption
Science/Math Provide one cup each of white rice, dried beans, dried split peas and dried apricots. Weigh each item. Cover them completely with water and leave them overnight. Have students weigh and measure the foods the next day. How much water was absorbed? How was it absorbed? Where exactly did it go? What is the benefit of dried foods? - Examining Eggs
Science May is National Egg Month and there are many kinds of eggs available for study in the spring. Carefully observe eggs in birds' nests and research various kinds of eggs in books and online. Study the fragile yet sturdy design of the egg. What creatures lay eggs besides birds? Discuss fish, turtle and snake eggs. Contact a local pet store, farm or university agricultural program to find a speaker willing to share their knowledge about eggs with the class. - Fitness Counts
Physical Education Work with your PE teacher to promote the President's Physical Fitness Test during May. Talk about personal fitness and have your students make their own charts for daily exercise. Allow time for jumping jacks, sit ups and push ups for a period of one week, then have students add at the bottom of the chart how they get exercise during play each day. Encourage them to take the charts home and keep up the new program. - Seeds and Leaves
Reading/Science Spring is the perfect time to collect seeds and leaves that go together. Don't forget to include pinecone seeds and needles in the collection. Send students to gather maple "helicopters" and leaves, apple blossoms and leaves. Make a collage or display in a shadow box the leaves and seeds that are collected. - Fun with Fonts
English After students have completed a story or essay in the computer lab, direct them to change 10 nouns, verbs, pronouns, etc. to a different font. Put prepositional phrases in one font and helping verbs in another. The color of the type could also be changed to mark a turning point, highlight a character or dialogue, etc. Students can do this with their own work or see if they can find the grammatical elements in someone else's story. A teacher-prepared sample could be used as well. - Local Historical Fiction
Reading/Social Studies Read aloud the book Desperate Journey by Jim Murphy (Scholastic, 2006) about life aboard a boat on the Erie Canal. Ask your librarian and local historical society for historical fiction books about your area. - Parent Activity
Health May is considered National Dog Bite Prevention month and is the perfect time to talk to your children about appropriate behavior and keeping safe around all dogs. Many children get bitten by dogs that normally cause no problems and even know the children. Take your children to www.humanesociety.org to learn about ways to stay safe and enjoy canine companions. - Who Are You?
English May 16 is Biographer's Day and a great time to pair students to write one another's biographies. Start by providing some standard questions and then let the students ask some of their own. It might be interesting to create a booklet of teacher biographies for the whole class to enjoy. Also visit the biography section of your library as a class and read a biography during read-aloud time. - Cross-Section Study
Art/Science Cut two oranges or grapefruits in half, one across the middle and one from top to bottom. Ask students to study and sketch each. Then divide the students into two groups. Provide each with one of the pieces of fruit, several craft foam balls that have been cut in half, and drawing supplies. Ask students to replicate the fruit. Point out the different layers of the skin as well as the makeup of the pulp and placement of the seeds. Does a cross-sectional diagram tell us everything about an object? Does point of view matter? - A Blue Moon
Science/Writing Whenever there are two full moons in one month, the second one is called the "blue moon." There won't be another blue moon on in May until May 21, 2016. Talk about the saying, "Once in a blue moon." What do people mean by it? Some consider this occurrence lucky or magical. Ask the students to write about blue moons. - Make a Fossil/Tell a Tale
Science/Writing Use PLAY-DOH® or fast-drying clay and seashells to make some fossils. After each student has created one, have him or her write a fictional story about how, when and where it was found, what it tells about the people who first lived in the area, etc. - Thank You, Officer
Writing During National Police Week (May 9-15), make thank-you cards, letters and posters to thank the many police officers who protect your town and school. Invite some officers to have lunch with your class and to receive the cards. Talk about law enforcement as a career and also ask how students and teachers can help protect their own community. - Pointillism
Science/Art Collect some fresh green leaves and provide students with hand-held magnifying glasses. Under direct light, examine the cells in each leaf. Trace the leaf and then have students make the tiny cells on their own leaf. Outline the leaf darkly, leaving the cells light. Compare this finished project to works of pointillism. Discuss how many tiny parts can come together to form a whole picture. Talk about the number of pixels in digital pictures. Show photos with various numbers of pixels. What differences do the students see? What does it tell them about the tricks of the eye? - Woven Tree Tops
Art/Science Discuss the spring trees with their various leaves and blooms and then create artistic renderings of them. Use 12" x 18" pieces of stiff paper for the background. Put a blue tint watercolor wash on the paper. Cut out a tree trunk from some rough paper or streak it to give it texture. Fold and weave colored strips of fabric into a 9"x 12" piece of brown paper. Secure the fabric with staples. Trim the edges and put a paper frame around the treetop. Put tissue paper underneath to create a puffy, 3D effect, and staple the treetop on the stiff paper above the tree trunk. Add some grass to the base and cotton-ball clouds to the top. - Happy Mother's Day
Math/Art Provide your students with an 11" x 16" piece of white paper. After discussing the mathematical principal of tessellation, whereby an object, pattern or shape is repeated in such a way that there is no open space left on the paper, have them each create one in various colors. Use markers or paints to color them in, laminate them and send them home as Mother's Day place mats that will be super conversation starters. - Fun with Flow Charts
Social Studies/Computer Skills Students can make and fill in flow charts by simply adding tables to a blank document and inserting numbers into each segment of the table. Use these first with sequencing events of the day, then have students move into sequences that they need to learn in history or any other subject. - Today's Dreams
Social Studies/Poetry Students can dream about careers or just about summer fun, but encourage them to dream big every day. Share this poem with them and then encourage them to write poems about their own everyday dreams. - Angles Everywhere
Math Send students equipped with paper, pencils and protractors to find the most interesting angles in the school. Guide them to look at windows, floor tiles, computers, chairs, flower pots, etc., then report their results to the rest of the class. - Design a Maze
Math/Science While studying the concepts of parallel and perpendicular, have students design cardboard mazes with shoe boxes. Use cardboard standing on edge to make the pathway. Place with tape or glue. When the mazes are completed, test them with a marble and a steady set of hands. - Everyday Inventions
Science Bring to school a wide assortment of items: tongs, a hand-held can opener, a drinking straw, scissors, tape, Velcro®, a plastic bottle, a tube of toothpaste,etc. Give each student or each pair of students one item and have them research what it is, when and why it was invented and what people used before it was invented to complete the same task. Discuss the phrase, "Necessity is the mother of invention." What does that mean? What task would they like to see made easier? What kind of invention would that require? - Travel Back to Jamestown
Social Studies/History You and your students can visit the early settlement of Jamestown without going to Virginia, thanks to the Internet. The National Park Service and the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities have put together a website for grades four and up that allows students to see artifacts from James Fort as well as to take part in some interactive archaeological research exercises. Go to www.historicjamestowne.org. - Refrigerator Research
Writing/Health Have students take an inventory of what's in their refrigerators. Categorize the findings by food groups, expiration dates and even stages of decay. Encourage detailed, creative descriptions. Have students compile the information into an article, speculating on what the contents of a fridge might reveal about the inhabitants of a house. - The Freedom Fight
History/Literature Read aloud the book Fire in the Hills by Donna Jo Napoli (Dutton, 2006) to help students understand that the fight for freedom often does include people of their own age. Struggling to do what is right is a problem shared by people of all ages. Encourage students to go to the school library to research other books about young freedom fighters. - Repetition Reality
Study Skills Repetition really does work when it comes to studying certain things like multiplication tables or spelling words. Have struggling students listen to tapes of multiplication problems and enter the problems on a calculator at the same time so they are seeing, hearing and touching the problem all at once. Make auditory spelling tapes for students and have them listen to the tapes and type the words on the computer in bold, colorful letters. - Scientific Slugger
Math/Sports/Science Excite students already interested in baseball and physics by taking them to the website for kids ages 10-18 put together by San Francisco's Exploratorium museum. Go to www.exploratorium.edu. After that you might want to try the "Pickle Lab" to learn about tasty virtual gherkins. - Understanding Both Sides
Social Studies When studying the Jamestown settlement, spend time also looking at the lifestyles and struggles of the Native Americans by taking the class to powhatan.wm.edu to see maps, drawings and digs going on at the capitol of the Powhatan chiefdom. This site was put together by the Werowocomoco Research Group and is an ongoing project to study the history of the time and further the understanding of peoples of the present. - Everyday Economics
Math The National Council of Economic Education (NCEE) promotes economic literacy for students of all ages and provides a wealth of information and resources. The "Steps to Financial Fitness" is geared for the upper middle grades as is "Shaping Your Financial Future." Go to www.fffl.ncee.net and check out the links to their resources about the mint and beginning investments. - Candidates Lineup
Current Events Divide the class into groups and assign each group one of the presidential candidates. Research his or her background, party, financial base, etc. Create a timeline, beginning with when he or she announced his or her candidacy. Have each group present their candidate and then put together a booklet for each student to keep adding to throughout the summer while hearing news. - Parent Activity
Fitness/Family Activities May is Family Wellness Month and also features Backyard Games Week (May 19-25). How about setting up a basketball hoop or a soccer field in the backyard? Plan a night of backyard games that include the whole family, like badminton, horseshoes or others to get you moving. It doesn't have to be a 5K to do the whole family good. - Weather Watchers
Science/Current Events Gather maps of the world and track hurricanes and tornados. Mark in one color the predictions made by the weather service; use another color to fill in where the storms actually hit and at what strength. Make this an ongoing project and encourage students to take it home to continue recording over the summer months. - Batter Up
History/Sports What could be better in the springtime than guiding the kids who need to work on biographies to a website to get information on favorite sports heroes? Have your students check out the Baseball Hall of Fame website and see what they can come up with for great biographical information and interesting side notes. - Surprise Endings
Poetry/Science Sometimes we think we might like to make some changes to the earth. But as this poem shows, we might get surprises that we didn't expect. Share the poem and talk about what life would be like if it did come true. - Doing What?
Career Education Spend a little time helping your students think about their futures and teach them where to go for information by taking them to the Occupational Outlook Handbook at www.bls.gov/oco. Give them some dreams to aim for and the opportunity to look into them at an early age. - Here Comes Summer
Reading Enlist the help of the school librarian as well as any and all teachers for this project. Help students design their own reading lists for the summer. Begin with their own interests and reading abilities. Include some recommended or required titles, but base it initially on student interest. Set reasonable goals as determined by the teacher, student and parent together. Write a contract that all three will sign then make sure the student and parent know how to find the books at a reasonable cost. Put them in touch with the local public library as well. Have the "summer" reading begin before the school year actually ends. - Cell Phone Comparisons
Consumer Education/Math Have students divide into several groups. Gather information on the various cell phone coverage plans in your area and give one plan or brand to each group. Have the groups study them and present their plan to the whole class. Have the class compare and contrast the plans. Discuss the products available, fine print, roaming and over-time charges. Have each group vote for the plan they consider to be the best. Have them use specific details in writing their explanations for what makes it the best plan. - Books to Movies
Art/Reading Discuss older books that have been made into movies recently, such as How to Eat Fried Worms and Bridge to Terabithia. Why are books made into movies? Because they are good books? To make money on the movies? To renew interest in and sell more books? Select a movie to show in class and then read the book. Make comparisons in setting, main idea, characters, etc. throughout the book. - Timeline Layout
History When introducing events in history or reviewing material, using moveable timelines is very helpful. String a piece of yarn between two chairs and fold some pieces of white drawing paper in half and write the names of events and dates on one side. Have students arrange the papers in the correct order. - Today's the Day
Social Studies/History May 14, 1607, was the day the Jamestown settlement was established. Begin your day by taking your class to the Library of Congress site dedicated to this event: www.memory.loc.gov.
The Vowel Song
by Marie Cecchini
I can sing the vowel song,
This is how it goes,
A,E,I,O,U,
A,E,I,O,U,
A,E,I,O,U,
And that's the vowel song.
Get Ready, Get Set, Go!
by Jacqueline Schiff
Robins, crickets, duckling, chicks,
Subtract one and this set you'll fix.
Raincoat, boots, umbrella, hat,
Only one word has to scat.
Jump rope, hopscotch, tag and kite,
In this set one word's not right.
Passover, Easter, Mother's Day,
Halloween.
Subtract the word that shouldn't
be seen.
Bunny, tulip, rose and lily,
In this set one word sounds silly.
Chicken, lamb, ham and basket.
One is out. So please unmask it.
Think of other springtime sets –
Like colors, weather, veggies, pets.
Middle Grades
Everyday Dreams
by Martin Shaw
Did you ever climb a mountain,
Hunt treasures ‘neath the sea?
You ever soar the skies above,
Or climb the tallest tree?
Did you ever ride a bronco,
Or tame a grizzly bear?
Ever be shot from out a cannon
Or outrun a flop-eared hare?
These feats may seem undoable,
And even not be true.
Just close your eyes and dream,
My friend.
There's nothing you can't do.
Intermediate Grades
Earth Spin
by Martin Shaw
The earth spins about in circles,
While orbiting the sun.
Thus, telling us when night has come
And when the day is done.
But, alas, should earth stop spinning,
That would create a fright,
For half would always be in day,
The other half, in night.
For a printable version of Your Green Pages click here. 
PDF 376KB
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:
Marie Cecchini, West Dundee, IL, #1,#4 & #5; Joan Macey, Binghamton, NY, #13 & #34; Helen Wubbenhorst, Mesa, AZ, #2 & #9.
POETRY: "The Vowel Song" by Marie Cecchini, West Dundee, IL. "Get Ready, Get Set, Go!" by Jacqueline Schiff, Moline, IL. "Everyday Dreams" & "Earth Spin" by Martin Shaw, Bronxville, NY.
Illustrations by H. Robert Loomis.
Updated April 2010
May 2007, Vol.37, No.8
