Wednesday Sparkle and Inspiration

It seems like it's been forever and a day since my last post.   Things have been really hectic as I try to map out the curriculum for the rest of April and May.  We have standardized testing coming up during the first week of May, so we will be practicing and reviewing alooooottttt! But for today, I want to share with you some activities that my chicadees have been working on and really enjoy.  Hopefully they will offer you a little mid-week inspiration.  I am constantly inspired when I read others' blogs :)

Sparkle

Sparkle is a quick game that my chickadees love to play.  It is a great time filler activity when you only have a few minutes but want to make the most of them.  To play Sparkle, I have all my students take out a scrap sheet of paper.  I choose 5 students to go stand at the front of the room.  They then have to spell one of our current or past spelling/vocabulary words.  As the students spell the word they only say 1 letter of the word, the next student says the letter that comes next, and so on and so forth until the word is completely spelled.  Once the word is completely spelled, the next student in line calls Sparkle and the next person in line is out.  Everyone has a sheet of scrap paper out, because if they are not up front spelling the word they attempt to spell it themselves on their paper.  The round continues until there is only 1 person left up front and then we start again with 5 players.

Taste Testing and Writing

We have been working on using our 5 senses to describe things when we right.  I brought in different kinds of fruit for my chickadees to look at, smell, and taste.  Afterwards they created a bubble map of their favorite fruit to describe it.

My example for the students :)

The apricots and kiwis were a big hit, because most of my students had never heard of them.  I was very surprised that they actually enjoyed them.  After the bubble map we worked on a tree map, and then they used their tree map to wright a paragraph.

Life Cycles
We have also been working on the life cycles of plants and animals.  This week we have focused on the life cycle of a frog.  We made a flow map of the life cycle using pictures, then my chickadees wrote about what happens in each stage.  It is made kind of like a foldable book.  My chickadees loved that their writing was hidden and you would have to open the flap to see what they wrote.

I myself am now off to find some inspiration.