5 Minute Activities2

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The Sharing Foundation | Five-minute Activities 2

Challenge students to figure out the four words and what the words have in common.

Adapt the activity for younger students: To make the activity easier, tell students what thewords have in common or arrange students in pairs to solve the anagram puzzles.

• I PLOT• TRAITS• DENTS IT• RANGER ED

Answers: pilot, artist, dentist, and gardener are all jobs

Article by Gary HopkinsEducation World®Copyright © 2003 Education World

08/01/2003




Volume 2

Snackin' With 20 Questions Builds classification, questioning skills

Hold up a paper bag that contains a favorite snack food, such as pretzels, carrot sticks, orpopcorn. Organize students into teams. Each team gets to ask a yes or no question about thesnack food. If the answer is no, play moves to the next team. If the answer is yes, that teamguesses the snack. If the team is incorrect, play moves to the next team. If the team is correct, theteammates divide the snack among themselves.

Getting to Know U.S.

Builds geography skills

To help students get to know their U.S. geography, dividestudents into two groups. Have each group form a line in

front of a U.S. map. The first two students in line shouldget ready because you will call out the name of state. Thefirst of the two students to touch that state on the map goesto the end of his/her line. The other student is eliminated.Play continues until the last student in one of the lines hasbeen eliminated.

Variation: If students are learning the state capitals, youmight call out the name of the capital instead of the statename. Students must identify the correct state.

Math Jeopardy Builds and reinforces math facts knowledge

Use a Jeopardy-game format to review math. Providestudents with the answers to math facts in the form of astatement. For example, "The answer is 30" or "When youmultiply these two numbers, you get 30" or "Thesenumbers are factors of 30." Students must give factors inthe form of a question. For example, "What is 5 times 6?" or "What is 10 times 3?" Variation:Organize students into teams to complete the activity.

Analogy Puzzles

Analogies are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write the followinganalogies on a board or chart. Challenge students to select the appropriate conclusion to eachanalogy. Have students share their responses and the reasoning behind them. Correct responsesare shown in bold italic type.

Pose the following question tostudents to start a livelydiscussion, or use is as a prompt for a quick journal-writingactivity:

What if you were able to buy onemore thing to fit in your room athome? What would that thingbe? Why would you choose tobuy it?




1. Author is to story as poet is to _____.a. playb. scriptc. poem

d. Mother Goose

2. Bee is to hive as boy is to _____.a. house b. stingc. hornetd. office

3. Buy is to sell as stand is to _____.a. runb. salesmanc. sit

d. lean

4. Mitten is to hand as sock is to _____.a. gloveb. shoec. foot d. fingers

5. Spring is to season as August is to _____.a. summerb. Septemberc. vacationd. month


08/08/2003




Volume 3

Order! Order! Builds following-directions skills

Place a slip of paper on each student's desk. That slip should have written on it a single directionfrom a sequence of four to five directions. (Examples: Directions for making chocolate chipcookies, playing baseball, or driving from school to the library.) Give students five minutes tofind the classmates who have the other parts that complete their set of directions. Then theclassmates stand and read aloud their set of directions in the correct sequence.

Story Ball

Builds storytelling, sequencing skills

Tell students they will create a story in five minutes. Provide the opening sentence of the story.Toss a ball to a student. That student must say the next sentence. Then the student tosses the ball

to a classmate. Continue until time is up.

Extension: Audiotape the activity and transcribe the tape. Have each student copy his or hersentence onto a piece of drawing paper and illustrate the sentence. Compile the sentences to forma book for the classroom library.

Math Fact Match-Up Builds math facts or computation skills

Here's a quick math facts review that gets students out of their seats. Gather index cards to match the number of students in the class. Write a number problem (forexample, 5 + 4 or 9 x 3) on half of the cards. Write theanswers to those problems on the other set. Put one cardfacedown on each student's desk. Direct students to turntheir cards over. Give students one minute to find theclassmate who holds the matching number problem oranswer.

Note: Of course, each solution card should be differentfrom all theo other solution cards.

Variation: For older students, make the math problemsmore challenging.


What if you could change onething about yourself? Whatwould you change? Why?




More Anagram Puzzles

Anagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write the four phrasesbelow on a board or chart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spell a word. Thewords all have something in common. Challenge students to figure out the four words and what

the words have in common.

Adapt the activity for younger students: To make the activity easier, tell students what the wordshave in common or arrange students in pairs to solve the anagram puzzles.

• TUTOR• CASH FIT• HOLD PIN• ROUND ELF

Answers: trout, catfish, dolphin, and flounder are all fish


08/15/2003




Volume 4

Act-Out Adjectives

Builds parts of speech and vocabulary skills

This activity adds a new twist to the traditional game of Charades. Whisper an adjective to astudent, or hand that student a slip of paper with an adjective written on it. Have the student actout the adjective without speaking as classmates try to guess the word.

Variation: This same activity might also be used to review verbs or nouns.

Alphabet Scavenger Hunt Builds spelling, observation, and classification skills

Use this activity with individuals or small groups. Assigneach student or group a letter of the alphabet. Set a timelimit, and challenge students to find as many classroomitems as possible that begin with the assigned letter.

Fractions in Action (Percents Too!)

Builds geography and fraction/percent skills

Call on students to close their eyes and spin a world globe.Students use a finger to stop the spinning globe, then writeon the board the name(s) of the place(s) to which theypointed. Ask questions about the list of places that can beanswered as a fraction. For example, Out of the totalnumber of spins, how many times did someone point to a

body of water? a body of land? a spot north of theequator?

Variation: Older students might answer using percentagesrather than fractions.

Pix Puzzles

Picture puzzles such as the ones below are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write or draw the following puzzles on a board or chart. Challenge students to studythe puzzles to see if the words -- and the way they are written -- give them clues to the common

expressions the puzzles illustrate.

1.ONCE--------TIME


What if you were with a friendwho wanted to steal somethingfrom a store? What would youdo?




2.calm storm

3.

tunetunetunetune

4.partwo

Answers: 1. Once upon a time; 2. calm before the storm; 3. fortune; 4. two under par


08/22/2003




Volume 5

Thinking in the Abstract

Builds creativity and cooperation skills

Divide students into groups of four. Give each group a sheet of paper; give each student adifferent colored marker. The group will have four minutes to create an abstract design. Say"start" to signal the first student to start drawing. After one minute, say "time" and tell the firststudent to pass the design to someone else in the group. Repeat until students have a finishedcreation to display.

Guess the Gadget Builds following directions and descriptive writing skills

Organize students into small groups. Provide each group with a piece of paper that has written onit the name of a common gadget or utensil found in the home. (Examples: blender, CD player,

electric can opener.) Give each group five minutes to write clear directions on how to use theitem without mentioning what that item is. When time is up, call on one person in the group toread the directions. Can the other groups guess the gadget from the directions?

Revising Nursery Rhymes Builds vocabulary (synonym and antonym) skills

Provide each student, pair of students, or small group of students with a copy of a familiar short nursery rhyme inwhich specific words are underlined. Challenge students tothink of or use a dictionary to find a synonym or anantonym for each underlined word. Students rewrite theirnursery rhymes, using the new words, then share theirrevised rhymes with the class. Time limit: five minutes.Give a prize for the most creative rhyme!

Resource: The Mother Goose Pages

Anagram Puzzles

Anagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students tothink critically. Write the four phrases below on a board orchart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spella word. The words all have something in common.Challenge students to figure out the four words and whatthe words have in common.



What if your school was to

choose a fast-food restaurant totake over the cafeteria? Whichone would you prefer? Why?






Volume 6

What's My Line? Builds creativity skills

This activity works well for individual students, pairs of students, or small groups. Give eachstudent or group an index card with the name of a common object written on it. (Examples:helicopter, alligator, toilet paper, sweater, fishing pole.) Challenge the student(s) to create aslogan for the object on the card. Students can vote for their favorite slogans.

Crack the Codes Builds research skills

You might prepare this activity in advance by writing onan index card a message or common expression in MorseCode. Provide students with a copy of the Morse CodeAlphabet and let them decode the message. All messagesmight be common expressions such as the following ones:stone cold, tough cookie, monkey business, bad egg, work your fingers to the bone, money to burn, miss the boat,down in the dumps, lay down the law, quick buck, throwyour weight around, on the same wavelength, space cadet,wrong side of the tracks, easy as pie, out like a light, back stabber, hush-hush, down-to-earth, or play hooky.

Additional Resource: International Morse Code

Color the Mood Builds critical thinking and association skills

Challenge students to act out moods they think differentcolors portray. Have classmates guess each mood and colordepicted.

Variation: Create a simple geometric design divided into segments. Write a mood word in eachsegment. Hand each student (or student group) a copy of the design. Students should color eachsegment of the design with a color that they think portrays each mood. Watch the creative resultsunfold.

Analogy PuzzlesAnalogies are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write the followinganalogies on a board or chart. Challenge students to select the appropriate conclusion to eachanalogy. Have students share their responses and the reasoning behind them. Correct responsesare shown in bold italic type.


What if your parents threw outthe TV? What would you dowith all that extra time?




1. Poster is to paper as tire is to _____.a. carb. roundc. flatd. rubber

2. Creek is to river as hill is to _____.a. mountain

b. valleyc. sloped. island

3. Pottery is to kiln as bread is to _____.a. doughb. oven

c. wrapper

d. slice

4. Razor is to shave as knife is to _____.a. carve

b. sharpc. fork d. blade

5. Quick is to sick as fast is to _____.a. hospitalb. past

c. doctord. fever


09/05/2003




Volume 7

ZIP Code Math Builds computation and research skills

Create addition and subtraction problems using ZIP codes. The two-factor ZIP codes shouldresult in an answer that is another ZIP code. For example: 60601 (Chicago, Illinois) + 10469(Bronx, New York) = 71070. Challenge students to calculate the answers and use a ZIP codedirectory to determine the name of the place that corresponds to the answer. (Answer: 71070 isSaline, Louisiana.)

Resource: City, State, ZIP Code Look-Up

Capital Bingo Builds geography skills

Create a set of bingo cards with the name of a state or country in each square. Keep the cardshandy and use them to play Capital Bingo. Call out the names of capital cities, and students mark the corresponding countries or states. Be sure to check the winner's card.

Variation: If you aren't studying capitals, adapt the bingo format to something you are studying-- math facts or vocabulary, for example.

State Abbreviation Match-Up Builds geography and abbreviation skills

Pose the following question tostudents to start a livelydiscussion, or use is as a prompt for a quick journal-writing

activity:

What if you could predict whatyour life would be like in 20years? Where will you be, what




Count out index cards equal to the number of students inyour class. Write the full name of a state on the first cardand the abbreviation of that state on the next card.Continue until you have written a state name orabbreviation on each card. Place a card face down on each student's desk. Then instruct students

to turn over their cards. Give students two minutes to find the person who has the state name orabbreviation that goes with the card they hold.

Anagram Puzzles

Anagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write the four phrasesbelow on a board or chart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spell a word. Thewords all have something in common. Challenge students to figure out the four words and whatthe words have in common.


• RAPTOR• NO CALF• CARL AND I• BRING HIM MUD

Answers: parrot, falcon, cardinal, and hummingbird are all birds


09/12/2003

will you be doing, and whomight you be doing it with?




Volume 8

Where Have All the Consonants Gone? Builds letter-sound and spelling skills

Write several short, grade-appropriate words on the board, but omit one or more consonants fromeach. Have students name consonants that might complete each word puzzle. Some exampleswith possible responses: _ig (dig), mai_ (mail), gu_h (gush), di_ch (ditch), _athe_ (father), _ur_e(nurse), ri_p_e (ripple), _ui_l (quill). Ask students to work in pairs or groups, and award a pointfor each word puzzle they solve.

"Happy" Face: Builds creativity and self-esteem

Distribute one index card to each student. Have students complete this sentence: "Happy is_____." Tape some of the cards together to form a large circle (face) on the wall; use the others

to create a "smile" line inside the circle!

Newspaper Sentences Builds creativity and sentence writing skills

Cut out words from the headlines in newspapers andmagazines. Mix them up. Divide the class into smallgroups. Distribute the same number of words to eachgroup. Give students two minutes to create as manysentences as possible from their pile of words. (Completesentences only!) Students should record sentences as theygo so they can reuse the words.

Extra challenge: Don't allow students to reuse words. Canthey use every word in their pile?

PixPuzzles

Picture puzzles such as the ones below are a terrific toolfor stimulating students to think critically. Write or drawthe following puzzles on a board or chart. Challengestudents to study the puzzles to see if the words -- and theway they are written -- give them clues to the common

expressions the puzzles illustrate.

1.MIND---------MATTER


What if one of your classmateswas to become president of theUnited States? Which classmate

would you predict would be, orwhich would you want to be,president? Why?




2.KCEH

C

3.SIDE SIDE

4.much soonmuch soon

Answers: 1. Mind over matter; 2. checkup; 3. side by side; 4. too (two) much too soon


09/19/2003




Volume 9

Line Up by the Letter Builds listening and sequencing skills

Try this activity when changing classes or when students are preparing to leave at the end of theday. Call out directions for lining up, such as "Line up if your first name begins with the letter B." or "Line up if your first name ends in the letter R."

Extra challenge: Have students line up in alphabetical order according to their first names orlast names. See if they can do it without talking!

Classroom Letter Hunt Builds sound-letter recognition and classification skills

Organize students into teams. Give a direction such as "Make a list of ten things that begin withthe letter P" or "List five things that end in the letter T." Students on each team brainstorm tocreate a list. They will learn that they must do this activity quietly so others don't overhear theirwork. You might challenge them to do the activity by writing rather than talking.

Crossword Vocabulary Check Builds spelling and vocabulary skills

Create a crossword puzzle to review the spelling orvocabulary words introduced in different subjects duringthe school week. Creating simple crosswords is easy whenyou use Puzzlemaker.com. Puzzlemaker also has a toolyou can use to create simple word-search puzzles for

reviewing spelling or vocabulary words. Students lovepuzzles, and puzzles provide painless review.

Anagram PuzzlesAnagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students tothink critically. Write the four phrases below on a board orchart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spella word. The words all have something in common.Challenge students to figure out the four words and whatthe words have in common.

Adapt the activity for younger students: To make theactivity easier, tell students what the words have incommon or arrange students in pairs to solve the anagrampuzzles.

• HEART


What if you had to choose the

most important thing in life --but it could not be money? Whatwould you say is the mostimportant thing in life? Why didyou choose that thing?




• RUNS AT• TEEN PUN• USA RUN

Answers: Earth, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus are all planets


09/26/2003




Volume 10

Act the Animal Builds pantomime or dramatic play skills

Divide the class into two teams. Whisper the name of an animal to a student. Have the studentact out the animal. The student's team has one minute to guess the animal. If the team doesn't getthe answer, the other team gets a minute to guess. Use common animals for young students.Older students might use charade-like gestures to act out animals such as African elephant, redkangaroo, bald eagle, Canada goose, long-fingered bat, red-tailed hawk, mountain lion, turkeyvulture, or desert tortoise.

Historical Hangman Builds spelling and vocabulary skills

Play the Hangman game using words related to a specificsubject, time period, or historic event. For example, playthe game using words related to colonial times. Thosewords might include the following: village square,Jamestown, apprentice, tavern, Cotton Mather, hornbook,Plymouth, cooper, plantation, saltbox house, Mayflower, apothecary, or venison.

Find All the Parts Builds language (parts of speech) skills

Provide students with a paragraph of text. You might writethe paragraph on a board or chart, or you might use anoverhead projector to project the paragraph on the wall.Identify a part of speech -- nouns, for example -- and havestudents locate and write all the noun words they find inthat paragraph. How many students find all the nouns?

Analogy Puzzles


1. Couch is to living room as stove is to _____.a. heatb. cook c. kitchen

d. eat


activity:

What if TV had only one showthat was shown 24/7? Whatshow would you want to be onTV all the time? Why?




2. Gas is to car as wood is to _____.a. reedb. buildc. fire

d. hammer

3. Carpenter is to hammer as mason is to _____.a. brick b. stonec. cementd. trowel

4. Greyhound is to dog as robin is to _____.a. nestb. bird

c. caged. chirp

5. Hair is to eye as spray is to _____.a. combb. contactsc. liner

d. lashes


10/03/2003




Volume 11

Mystery States Builds research and geography skills

Challenge teams of students to identify the state(s) from the clues you give. For example: This isthe smallest state. (Rhode Island) It is known as the "Sooner State." (Oklahoma) These fourstates meet in one corner. (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah) This state has more than11,000 lakes. (Minnesota) It produces more than half the apples grown in the United States.(Washington) It is the "Gem State." (Idaho) The lowest point in the United States is found in thisstate. (California)

Have you seen Education World's Mystery States Game? We have created five clues for each of the 50 states. The clues are arranged in order of difficulty. Challenge students to figure out theMystery State by giving one clue a day or all five clues at once. We also have a MysteryProvince/Territory Game for our readers in Canada!

La-La That Tune Builds music and thinking skills

Organize students into two teams. Whisper the name of a familiar song to a student on one team.That student must sing the word la to the song's melody. If the student's team cannot name thesong, the opposing team gets a chance to do so. Possible song titles: "Frosty the Snow Man,""Old MacDonald," "This Land Is Your Land," "London Bridge," "Hakuna Matata," "On Top of Old Smokey," "The Ants Go Marching," "It's A Small World," "Yankee Doodle."

Action Alphabet Builds language (parts of speech) skills




Write a letter of the alphabet on each of 30 index cards.Randomly distribute a card to each student. Give studentsone minute to write on the card a verb that begins with theletter on the card. Then students tell their verb words.Students pass their cards to the next student, who has a

minute to write a different verb for the letter. Whenstudents are stumped or write words that are not verbs,they must leave the game.

Variation: Have students write nouns or adjectives insteadof verbs.

Anagram Puzzles

Anagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students tothink critically. Write the four phrases below on a board or

chart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spella word. The words all have something in common.Challenge students to figure out the four words and whatthe words have in common.


• NERVED• VENICE DROP• ELLA EATS ASH• STAY TILL CAKE

Answers: Denver, Providence, Tallahassee, and Salt Lake City are all state capitals


Updated 03/06/2004


What if you could be aprofessional athlete? What kind

of athlete would you most wantto be? Why?




Volume 12

Who Wants to Be a Question-aire? Builds thinking and questioning skills

Let students prepare questions for their own version of the popular TV show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Distribute blank index cards. Tell students to imagine that they have the job of creating the questions for the game show. Tell students they have five minutes to write onequestion and four choices. Collect students' cards and use the questions to play the game in class.

Advance preparation: You might go to the Official Millionaire Web site to collect samplequestions to share with students.

Telephone Codes Builds research and thinking skills

Create a large classroom chart or a printable work sheetthat displays a push-button telephone. Students should beable to read clearly the numbers and letters that appear oneach button. Then create messages using the numbers ontelephone buttons. Have students decode the messages,which might be common expressions, titles of books,spelling or vocabulary words, or people's names.Examples: 469-273-968? is a common expression. (Howare you?) 42779-768837 is a famous person. (Harry Potter)

Money Math Match Builds money counting skills

Provide each student with a sealed see-through bagcontaining an assortment of coins. The amount of moneyin each bag should match the amount in exactly one otherbag, but the denominations of the coins should differ. Haveeach student find the other student in the class whose totalexactly matches his or her own in value. Then have allstudents arrange the bags in order from the bag with theleast amount of money in it to the bag that contains the most money.

PixPuzzles

Picture puzzles such as the ones below are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write or draw the following puzzles on a board or chart. Challenge students to studythe puzzles to see if the words -- and the way they are written -- give them clues to the commonexpressions the puzzles illustrate.

Pose the following question tostudents to start a livelydiscussion, or use is as a prompt

for a quick journal-writingactivity:

What if you could live anywhereelse in the world except whereyou live now? Where would youwant to live? Why?




1.milONElion

2.EGGS

--------EZ

3.HIS.TORY

4.BA NANA

Answers: 1. One in a million; 2. eggs over easy; 3. a black period in history; 4. banana split


10/17/2003




Volume 13

Noun-Mania Builds vocabulary and spelling skills

Start students with a noun. Example: house They write that word at the top of a sheet of paper.Say "Go!" and students will extend their list by writing a noun that begins with the last letter of the noun before it. The activity continues. The person with the longest list of nouns at the end of three minutes is the winner. (Example: house, elephant, toe, egg, gerbil, ladder, road, dollar,robot) Verify that all words are nouns.

Quick! A Sentence! Builds language (parts of speech) skills

Divide students into groups of four. Each student in thegroup has a number. The teacher calls out a number (for

example, "3"). Person 3 in each group writes a word that isa noun. Person 3 passes the paper to person 4, who writes averb. Then person 1 writes an adjective. Finally, person 2must write a sentence that uses all three parts of speech.Repeat the process, but start with a different number thistime. Save time at the end of the activity to sharesentences.

Math BINGO Builds math computation skills

Use a standard set of bingo cards for this activity. Insteadof calling out numbers, call out math problems that equalthose numbers. For example: If you are to call out N-32,call instead 8 X 4, 16 + 16, or 45 - 13. Students must dothe math before they mark their cards. Be sure to check thewinner's card. The bingo format can be adapted to almostany topic of study.

Alternate idea: Use the card that is part of the Math BingoLesson Plan in our archive.

Anagram Puzzles

Anagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write the four phrasesbelow on a board or chart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spell a word. Thewords all have something in common. Challenge students to figure out the four words and whatthe words have in common.


What if you wanted to receive a"reasonable" allowance eachweek? How much would thatallowance be? Why do youconsider that amount to bereasonable?





• REPRINT• PROM RAG•

BAKED ROY• AS FEW ROT

Answers: printer, program, keyboard, and software are all words associated with a computer


10/24/2003




Volume 14

What I Learned Today Builds reflection and writing (journaling) skills

"What did you learn in school today?" Your students' parents will never get a shrug in responseto that question because at the end of each day you will challenge students to think of one thingthey learned that they didn't know the day before. Call on several students to share what theylearned. By making this activity part of your daily routine, your students will have a ready-madeanswer when their parents ask "What did you learn in school today?"

Tip 1: Students might keep a "What I Learned Today" journal. At the end of the school year,they will have a keepsake record of what they learned.

Tip 2: You might let parents know that they should feel free to ask their children "What did youlearn in school today?" -- because the kids should have a ready reply!

Wheeling Words Builds spelling and vocabulary skills

Organize students into teams for this Wheel-of-Fortune-type spelling or vocabulary review game. Draw puzzleboxes on the board to represent the number of letters in aword. Give a clue about the word. (Example: noun) Team1 rolls the dice and guesses a letter. If the letter is in theword, write the letters in the appropriate puzzle boxes andaward the dice total. If the letter is wrong, Team 2 gets aturn. Students may "buy a vowel" for 5 points.

Vocabulary Memory Game Builds vocabulary and memory skills

Organize students into pairs. Provide 20 paper slips orindex cards for each pair. Students write on each slip oneof ten vocabulary words and their definitions. Studentsshuffle the cards or slips and turn the cards upside down infive rows of four cards. Player 1 turns over one card, thenanother. If the two cards are a matching word anddefinition, the player holds those two cards. If they don'tmatch, Player 2 takes a turn. Play continues until all matches are made.

PixPuzzles

Picture puzzles such as the ones below are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write or draw the following puzzles on a board or chart. Challenge students to study


What if you were appointedprincipal of your school? Whatchanges would you make? Why?






Volume 15

Details! Details! Builds skills such as following directions and describing details

Arrange students into pairs. Provide one student in each pair with a drawing of an arrangementof geometric shapes or with a relatively simple photograph, art print, or poster. Ask the studentwho has the drawing to describe the picture to his or her partner in detail; the other studentshould draw the picture without looking at the original.

I Dig It! Builds creativity skills

Display a variety of household items, such as a hula hoop, an eyelash curler, a floppy disc, anice-cream scoop, and so on. Explain to students that the items are artifacts recovered from thesite of an ancient city and that they are to act as archaeologists studying those items. Encourage

each student to determine how the items might have been used and then to describe the lives of the people who might have used them. Compare students' descriptions and discuss how eachreached his or her conclusions.

Think It Through!

Builds critical thinking skills

Read students the following statement by Darwin: "Theprice of butter depends on the number of old maids in thearea." Discuss what that statement might mean. Then read

Darwin's entire statement: "The price of butter depends onthe number of old maids in the area because old maidskeep cats, cats eat mice, mice eat bees, bees pollinateclover, cows eat clover, the more clover there is, the less itcosts the farmer to produce milk, butter is made from milk,therefore the price of butter depends on the number of oldmaids in the area." Read students the following statement:"For the lack of a nail, a kingdom was lost." Ask studentsto explain the connection between a nail and the loss of akingdom in the same way Darwin explained the connectionbetween old maids and the price of butter. At the end of theday, write the entire For Want of a Nail statement on thechalkboard and encourage students to compare it with whatthey wrote.

Analogy Puzzles


What if you could take a holidayvacation to anyplace in theworld? Where would you wantto go? Why?






Volume 16

Daffy Definitions Builds vocabulary and creativity skills

Choose a word that is unfamiliar to students. Ask each student to write a definition of what theythink the word might mean on an index card, and collect the cards. At the end of the day, read alist of possible definitions that includes a variety of students' written definitions and the actualdefinition of the word. Ask students to choose the correct definition.

So You Want to Be a Millionaire? Builds calculation and money counting skills

Present the following problem to students: "You have wonthe state lottery. You have the option of accepting yourwinnings in a single check of $1 million or by spreading

your payments out over a month. If you choose the secondoption, you will be paid 1 cent on the first day, 2 cents onthe second day, 4 cents on the third day, and so on; theamount you receive each day is derived by doubling theamount received the previous day (for 31 days). Whichoption would you choose?" Encourage students to firstestimate the amount of money they would receive if theychose the second option and then to calculate the actualamount.(The actual amount is more than $21 million. Which would you choose -- $1 million or $31 million?)

Speaking the Language Builds foreign language skills

For world language students, make a brief tape of one ormore segments of a radio or TV program in the languagebeing studied. Depending on the level of the students, youmight include talk, music, commercials, news reports, andso on. Also create a transcription of the tape. Use the transcription to prepare work sheets inwhich students must answer questions about the segment(s) or fill in missing words. Ask students to listen to the tapes and complete the work sheets.

PixPuzzles



What if you were asked to tellthe most valuable thing you havelearned so far in school? Whatwould that be? Why is it themost valuable thing you havelearned?




1.ELK

CUB

2. DEAL

3. __________ drive

4.

bow

Answers: 1. Buckle up; 2. big deal; 3. line drive; 4. elbow


11/14/2003




Volume 17

In the News! Builds spelling, vocabulary, and news reading skills

Each day, hang a few of the day's most important news stories -- with their headlines removed --on the chalkboard or bulletin board. At the end of the week, arrange students into two teams andplay a Wheel-of-Fortune type of game using the missing headlines as the phrases the studentsmust guess. After each headline is identified, have the team that did not guess the phrase find thecorresponding news story. Choose a member of that team to explain the news event to the class.

A Collaborative Mystery Story Builds storytelling and writing skills

Write the first sentence of an original mystery story on ablank journal page. The story starter should be both

intriguing and vague: "The murder happened at midnight";"The house throbbed with the ghostly presence"; "Let metell you about that night!" Ask each student to add asentence or a paragraph to the story -- depending on theage of the students. (Provide a checklist with the journal,so the last student to add to the story will realize that he orshe must write the conclusion.) When the story iscomplete, turn off the lights and read it aloud.

Animal Mix-Up Builds creativity skills

After a lesson on animals, have your students create a newanimal by mixing and matching the features of several of the animals studied. For example, after studying Africananimals, students might combine an elephant's ears with agiraffe's neck, a zebra's body, and a tiger's tail -- atigraffphant! Encourage students to name their animals.

Anagram Puzzles

Anagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write the four phrases

below on a board or chart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spell a word. Thewords all have something in common. Challenge students to figure out the four words and whatthe words have in common.



What if your parents told youthey wanted to adopt anotherchild your age? What wouldyour reaction be? Why wouldyou react that way?






Volume 18

Fitness Break Builds fitness and thinking skills

Arrange students into pairs. Have each pair sit back-to-back on the floor with their arms linked.Then tell students that they must get to a standing position without unlinking their arms. Wheneveryone is standing, discuss the various methods used.

Name That Caption! Builds thinking and predicting skills

Provide students with photographs -- with captions removed -- cut from newspapers and/or newsmagazines. Ask each student to write a caption for his or her photo. Discuss the captions, andcompare them with the actual captions.

Classroom Scavenger Hunt Builds research skills

Provide students with a work sheet asking them to "Findsomeone who. ..." Include several different endings to thatstatement, such as someone who ... can recite the names of all U.S. presidents, has a birthday in August, knows thecapital of Tennessee, and so on. Tell students they mustcomplete the work sheet by finding a person who cananswer each question; they must write on the work sheetthe person's name as well as the information that person

provided. Tell students they can get only one answer perperson but that, once they've obtained the information, theycan answer the same question for other students.

Anagram Puzzles

Anagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students tothink critically. Write the four phrases below on a board orchart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spella word. The words all have something in common.Challenge students to figure out the four words and what

the words have in common.


• LIT UP• CAR AINT ON


What if you could choose a firstname other than the one yourwere given at birth? What wouldyour name be? Why would youchoose that name?




• A PIE NUT• RUIN A GEM

Answers: tulip, carnation, petunia, and geranium are all flowers


11/21/2003






PERSONALITY

2.BOjackX

3.pig pig pig [Note: Write the words in small print.]

4.RETTAB

Answers: 1. Split personality; 2. Jack in the box; 3. The Three Little Pigs; 4. "Batter up!"


10/01/2004




Volume 20

Headline Stories Builds news reading, main idea skills

Before doing this QuickTivity, cut out 20 newspaper articles from the daily paper. Make fivecopies of each article. Separate the news story headlines from each group of articles. Organizestudents into five groups. Give each group an identical set of articles and headlines. Givestudents three minutes to match as many stories as possible with their headlines. The group thatcorrectly matches the most headlines and stories is the winner.

Excellent Spelling Sentences Builds spelling and writing skills

This Friday, when you have your weekly spelling test,instead of making up sentences using the spelling wordsuse actual sentences written by your students as one of their weekly spelling word assignments. Be sure tomention who wrote the excellent sentences as you saythem. That way, students will try to write better sentencesso their sentences will be read aloud on Friday. You mightkeep a chart tracking the number of sentences you use foreach student and award a monthly prize to the student orstudents who write the best sentences.

Search for Synonyms Builds language skills (synonyms and antonyms)

After reading a section of text, arrange students into smallgroups and challenge the groups to find as many synonymsas they can in that text. They might also search forantonyms.

Analogy Puzzles


1. Fast is to quick as loud is to _____.a. speedyb. noisy

c. concertd. rush


What if you were asked to tellabout your worst habit? Whatwould that habit be?




2. Green is to go as yellow is to _____.a. stopb. speedc. slow

d. bright

3. Seed is to tree as egg is to _____.a. breakfastb. bird

c. sproutd. dozen

4. River is to land as veins are to _____.a. bloodb. body

c. laked. highways

5. Rich is to money as well is to _____.a. waterb. deepc. health

d. wishes


01/02/2004






• A NIGHT SNOW• JEFF SNORE• RESOLVE TO

Answers: Adams, Washington, Jefferson, and Roosevelt were all U.S. presidents


01/09/2004




Volume 22

Detective Spellcheck Builds spelling and observation skills

Write 10 words on the board. These should be words the students already know. (This week'sspelling words might be good words to use.) Go over the list of words with students. Theninstruct them to lay their heads on their desks. When their heads are down, erase one of thewords and rewrite it with a spelling error in it. When you announce "Go to work, detectives!" thestudents can raise their heads and try to figure out which word is misspelled. You can havestudents raise their hands as soon as they figure out which word is misspelled, or you can haveeach student write the correct spelling of the misspelled word on a sheet of paper. Correct thepapers for a spelling grade.

Times Takeout Builds multiplication skills

This is a fun game to play as students learn the timestables. Write on the board a string of five numbers. All of the numbers should relate to one of the times tables except one number. For example, you might write the numbers 2,3, 9, 12, 24. All the numbers are products of the 3X tables.The number that students should "take out" is the number2. You might do this as an interactive call-out game thatalternates between two teams of students, or you might doit as a pencil-and-paper activity in which every studentparticipates.

Poison Word Builds reading aloud and paying attention skills

Next time you're doing a round-robin reading activity, trythis as a prompt for moving on to the next reader: Look inadvance at the text to be read aloud. Choose a word thatappears frequently in the text (at least once every fewparagraphs). That is the "poison word." Whenever astudent comes to the poison word in text, that's the signalfor the next reader to take over. This activity keeps kids'attentive, since they are not reading a paragraph or a page;they are never quite sure where the reading will stop or start!

PixPuzzles


Pose the following question tostudents to start a lively

discussion, or use is as a prompt for a quick journal-writingactivity:

What if you could play onemusical instrument that you donot know how to play now?What instrument would that be?Why would you choose thatinstrument?




the puzzles to see if the words -- and the way they are written -- give them clues to the commonexpressions the puzzles illustrate.

1.YOUR PaAnNtTsS

2.HARMONY

3.EGSG

4.death life

Answers: 1. Ants in your pants; 2. three-part harmony; 3. scrambled eggs; 4. life after death


01/16/2004




Volume 23

Spelling by the Numbers Builds spelling, research, and sequencing skills

Assign each letter a different value, a number from 1 to 26. Write the week's spelling orvocabulary words in number form on the board, an overhead, or work sheets to distribute. Forexample, C=17, A=22, and T=4, so cat would appear as 17, 22, 4. Set a time limit. See howmany words students can figure out before the time is up. Give a small prize to the first personwho spells all words correctly.

Math in Real Life Builds awareness of the role of math in real life

Try to make time each day for students to share ways inwhich they encounter math in real life. Keep a running listof the places and times they find math -- to drive home theunderstanding that math skills are very important andpractical in life.

Teacher Wins Builds listening skills

Divide the class into two teams. Explain that all thestudents are on one team and the teacher is the onlymember of the second team. Announce to students that youplan to win this activity -- and listen to them groan! Tellthem that you are about to read a passage from a book;vary the length of the text according to the age and abilitiesof the students. When you finish reading, you will ask questions about the passage. The students win a point forevery question they answer correctly. The teacher earns apoint each time the students are wrong. (The teacher mightalso earn a point if the students say anything other than theanswer to a question. For example, if the students call outan answer without raising their hands, the teacher gets another point. Or the teacher might throwin a question that does not relate to the piece that was read. For example, the teacher might ask,"Mario, what are you going to be for Halloween?" If Mario falls for it and answers the questionaloud, the teacher wins another point. These extra rules will add to the fun and make this a prettyquiet game!)

Anagram Puzzles

Anagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write the four phrasesbelow on a board or chart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spell a word. The


What if your best friend totallyforgot to do his or her homework and asked to copy yours? Whatwould you do? What would yousay?




words all have something in common. Challenge students to figure out the four words and whatthe words have in common.


• A CAT RAT INC• MARTIAN CHORE• ASIA ULTRA• OMAHA CURES IT

Answers: Antarctica, North America, Australia, and South America are all continents


01/23/2004




Volume 24

A-B-C, 1-2-3 Builds sequencing skills

Provide a variety of boxed items from the supermarket. Challenge students put the boxes insequence. They might sequence numerically according to weight, length, or price; or they mightsequence by alphabetical order.

Around the World Builds math facts and computationskills

Have students sit in a circle on the floor. Ask one studentto stand behind a child in the in the circle. State a mathproblem aloud or display a flash card with a math problemon it, and ask both students to figure out the answer. The

first student who calls out the correct answer moves tostand behind the next child in the circle. The object of thegame is to see how far one student can "travel" withoutmaking any mistakes.

Note: Before beginning, be sure to state the followingrules.* Only two students are eligible to call out an answer eachtime. Anyone who calls out an answer when it is not his orher turn is out of the game.* Students have a predetermined amount of time to solvethe problem. If one student calls out an incorrect answerduring that time, the other student gets an additional 5seconds to answer correctly. If neither student answerscorrectly in the allotted time, both sit down and two newstudents are chosen.

Pronunciation Challenge Builds dictionary and spelling skills

Write the pronunciations of five words on the board or a chart. You might choose current or pastspelling words, or words that connect to a current unit of study. Have students write the words ona piece of scrap paper. Spelling counts! Following are a five sample pronunciations:

• SEL - uh - braight (celebrate) • FIK - shun (fiction) • ee - KWAY - tor (equator) • FAN - tuh - see (fantasy) • MIN - ur - uhl (mineral)


What if all the students in yourclass were participants on a newversion of TV's Fear Factor? Who would outlast all the others

to win the competition? Why doyou think that person would bethe winner?




Analogy Puzzles

Analogies are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write the followinganalogies on a board or chart. Challenge students to select the appropriate conclusion to eachanalogy. Have students share their responses and the reasoning behind them. Correct responses

are shown in bold italic type.

1. Dog is to dogs as woman is to _____.a. girlsb. puppiesc. women

d. adults

2. Soup is to can as toothpaste is to _____.a. teethb. drugstore

c. smiled. tube

3. Doctor is to hospital as professor is to _____.a. college

b. book c. diplomad. Gilligan

4. Shakespeare is to Hamlet as Dr. Seuss is to _____.a. catsb. childrenc. the Grinch

d. books

5. Friend is to pal as hallway is to _____.a. classroomb. corridor

c. alleyd. home


01/30/2004




Volume 25

Multiplication Bee Builds multiplication math fact knowledge

Organize students in a circle, and name a number between 2 and 9. Choose a student to begin thegame by saying the number 1. The next student says the number 2 and so on around the circle.Each time the number called out is a multiple of the number chosen, the student must raisehis/her hand instead of calling out the number. If a student doesn't raise his/her hand at the righttime or raises it at the wrong time, he or she is out. Continue until students reach the last multipleof the number times 9.

Seeing Spots Builds critical thinking and observation skills

For this activity you will need those colored dots (or any

other kind of sticker) that can be purchased at office supplystores. You should have four or five different colored dotsor different stickers. Place a dot or sticker on the foreheadof each child; it is important that each child does not knowwhat the dot/sticker looks like. When you give the signal,students move about the room connecting with theirclassmates who have matching dots or stickers. The catch:No talking allowed. All communication must be non-verbal!

Who's in Charge?

Builds observation skills

In this observation activity, one student is selected to leavethe room. All the remaining students join in a circle. Whenthe child is out of the room, another student is selected tobe the leader. The leader starts an action (for example,slapping hands to thighs) and all the other students follow.The child who left the room is invited to return; his or her job is to determine who is the leader. The leader mustchange the action being performed at least once every 30 seconds or so, and the others watchdiscreetly -- trying not to give away who the leader is to the child who just re-entered -- andchange their movement as soon as the leader changes his or hers. Other sample movementsmight include scratching the head, shrugging the shoulders, flapping arms like a bird, or anyother action the leader might invent. How long does it take for the child who left the room todetermine who is leading the action changes?

Anagram Puzzles


activity:

What if you could talk with thePresident of the United States?What would you talk about?Why would you choose to talk about those things?




Anagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write the four phrasesbelow on a board or chart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spell a word. Thewords all have something in common. Challenge students to figure out the four words and whatthe words have in common.Adapt the activity for younger students: To make the activity easier, tell students what the words

have in common or arrange students in pairs to solve the anagram puzzles.

• A MALL• A GROAN OK• PATIO PUSH MOP• RICHER SOON

Answers: llama, kangaroo, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros are all mammals

Article by Gary HopkinsEducation World®

Copyright © 2004 Education World

02/06/2004




Volume 26

Quick Survey and Graph Builds graphing skills

Have prepared index cards or construction paper (cut to the size of index cards) in two colors;you should have as many cards of each color as you do students. Quickly go around the roomand stick a small piece of tape on each student's desk. Then pose a survey question of fact oropinion that has a simple yes or no answer. [See sample questions below.] Direct students whoanswer "Yes" to the question to come and get a card of one color and tape it to the board so thateach card rests directly above the one below it; students who answer "No" do the same with adifferent colored card. The cards have formed a simple bar graph that illustrates students'responses to the question. Have students explain the survey results by looking at the graph theycreated.

Alternate ideas: You could provide sticky notes to students. With older students, you might ask

questions that have more than two responses; you will need to have cards of as many colors asthere are response possibilities.

This activity lends itself to taking a survey before or after (or before and after) a discussion aboutissues in the local, national, or world news headlines. Following are some sample questions thatare general in nature:

• Do you have an older brother?• Are leash laws for pets a good idea?• Were you born in the first half of the year (January to June) or the second half (July to

December)?• Do you think students should wear uniforms to school?

• Do you have a TV in your bedroom?

Categories Builds classification and vocabulary skills

Pose the following question tostudents to start a livelydiscussion, or use is as a prompt




Provide students with a sheet marked off into 25 squares (5squares on the vertical and five horizontal squares).Going across the top row of the page…Leave the first square blank. In each of the other squaresgoing across the page list four categories. These categories

could be teacher- or student-generated. (The first coupletimes you do this activity, it might be best for the teacherto generate categories.) Sample categories might include:

• Types of Pets• Author Names (Last Names)• Names of Cities• Types of Sports• Games• Book titles• Famous People (Last Names)•

Things Found in the Kitchen• Baseball Words• Types of Snacks

Going down the left column of the page…Write four different letters. Those letters might be randomly drawn or they might form a simpleword the students know, such as one of the following:

• D-O-W-N• M-A-K-E• S-T-O-P•

S-O-N-G• P-A-I-N

Once the grid is set, give the students a set amount of time (for example, 3 minutes) to fill in thechart. They must write a word under each category that begins with the letter in the left column.

As the year goes on -- or if you teach older students -- you might use a larger grid of 36 squaresor 49 squares.

Concentration Builds vocabulary and memory skills

This is a fun activity to do with spelling or vocabulary words; the game provides multipleexposures to the words. Provide each pair of students with a set of prepared cards. The cardsmight have on them letters of the alphabet (Scrabble game tiles make a good substitute for lettercards), spelling words, vocabulary words, or words related to a current unit of study. Each set of cards should have each word on two different cards.

for a quick journal-writingactivity:

What if your brother or sister

caught you doing something youwere not supposed to do? Howwould you convince them not totell your parents?




For older students, you might provide blank cards, supply the word list, and have students writeeach word on two cards.

The students turn the cards upside own in a grid or simply spread randomly on a desk. They taketurns trying to turn over a pair of cards that have on them the same word. If they make a match,

they get another turn; if they do not make a match, they flip the cards back over and try toremember where each word was on the playing surface.

If you want to emphasize vocabulary or spelling skills in the game, each time a student turnsover a word have them say it and define it or say it and then look at their partner and spell it.

The secret -- and the skill -- to this game is memory. Are students able to remember exactlywhere they saw the word cards? At the end of the game, the player who has made the mostmatches is the winner.

PixPuzzles


1.man-------board

2.TIMING TIM ING

3.ARarmM

4.ecnalg

Answers: 1. Man overboard; 2. split-second timing; 3. arm in arm; 4. backwards glance


02/13/2004




Volume 27

Memorable Game Builds memory and observation skills

Collect a variety of items and put them in a box decorated with the words MEMORY BOX.

For first and second graders, you might start with 6 to 8 items. For third and fourth graders, youmight put about a dozen items in the box...

One at a time, remove the items from the box, show them to students, name them, and placethem on a table or desk. Let the students study the items on the table for one minute, then returnthem to the Memory Box. Provide students with a sheet of paper. See how many items they canremember and write down. Set a time limit (for example, 2 minutes). Then students canexchange papers with a classmate. Once again, remove the items from the box one at a time. Asyou remove them this time, the students can make a checkmark next to the items their classmateshave written. Which student remembered the most items?

Think of the Pasta-bilities! Builds handwriting skills

If you know you will have five minutes between the timestudents return from art class and the bell rings for lunch,boil up a pot of pasta (thin spaghetti or vermicelli willwork best) before students return to class. Drain the pastabut do not run water over it. (Keep in the sticky starch!)Let students write their names with wet pasta on a sheet of black paper. Younger students form print letters, while

older students will "write" in cursive. Have students puttheir pasta-names on a counter in the sun so they dry.Cursive names might dry in one solid piece. Printed namescan be glued to paper once they dry. Display the students'pasta handwriting!

Raisin Awareness Builds observation skills

Take five minutes today to introduce a simple experiment.You will need to purchase seedless grapes, enough so there

are at least a couple grapes for each student. Place ahandful of the grapes (washed and de-stemmed) on anumber of different paper plates. Cover the grapes with cheesecloth and place them on awindowsill -- in direct sunlight -- in the classroom. Provide students with a "raisin log" work sheet. Have them record next to today's date what was done. For each of the next four or fivedays, give students five minutes to write their observations about the grapes. What is happening


What if you could trade placeswith one of your classmates for aday? With whom would youwant to trade places? Why?




to them? At the end of five days, invite students to share their grape logs. What happened to thegrapes? Why? Where did the liquid inside them go? What is left now? (raisins) Now eachstudent can munch on a couple raisins!

Anagram Puzzles

Anagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write the four phrasesbelow on a board or chart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spell a word. Thewords all have something in common. Challenge students to figure out the four words and whatthe words have in common.Adapt the activity for younger students: To make the activity easier, tell students what the wordshave in common or arrange students in pairs to solve the anagram puzzles.

• FORTS• STEEL• A TRUE TEMPER•

MRS NOT SOW

Answers: frost, sleet, temperature, and snowstorm are all words related to weather


02/20/2004




Volume 28

Build a Parent Newsletter in Five Minutes a Day Builds reflection and main idea skills

At the end of each school day, take five minutes to gather students before they leave for home towrite on a special chart the "News Headline of the Day." What was the highlight of the day?What did students do or learn that was special or different? Write a few sentences about theheadline you chose. By doing this

• Students will have something to say when parents ask "What did you to today in school?"and

• You will have all the content you need for creating an end-of-the-month newsletter tocommunicate class highlights with parents!

Mystery Picture

Builds observation and thinking skills

Collect a variety of pictures that clearly show things. Cut asheet of paper that fits exactly over the picture except thatyou have cut a small circle or square out of the paper so thestudents can see a hint of what the picture is; only a smallpart is revealed. Gather students for a group meeting. Showthe covered picture. Students should study the pictureclosely. If they have an idea what the picture under thepaper is, they should take a slip of scrap paper back to theirdesk, write a description of the picture, and return to the

meeting. Who is the first student to correctly guess theMystery Picture? How many students guess correctly?You might provide five pictures that reveal just a smallclue. Give each picture to a group of students. Studentswho know will write what the picture shows. Rotate thepictures between the groups. Does anybody identify allfive pictures? How many students are able to identify threeor more of the pictures?

Coupon Madness Builds math computation and money counting skills

This activity involves a little up-front preparation, but if you create 25 envelopes (one for eachstudent), then this activity can be used to fill five minutes 25 times!

Cut store coupons from the Sunday paper or from mailed advertisements. Divide the couponsinto stacks of five. On each coupon, write in bold marker the original price of the item picturedon the coupon. (Your best guesstimate will be fine.) Put the five coupons in an envelope.

Pose the following question to

students to start a livelydiscussion, or use is as a prompt for a quick journal-writingactivity:

What bad experience you hadtaught you a valuable lesson?What lesson did you learn fromthe experience?






5. Sun is to rise as day is to _____.a. dawnb. break

c. setd. dream


02/27/2004




Volume 29

Connect the Cups Builds critical thinking and analytical skills

You will need to prepare in advance a Styrofoam cup for each pair of students in your class. Usea small sharp blade to cut the cups in half along the horizontal. Some cuts might be jagged inshape, some more rounded. Some cuts might be high and some low. Some cuts might becombinations of different kinds of cuts. Give each student one half of a cup. Then give studentsfive minutes to find the person who holds the other half of their cup. Cup halves must fit togetherperfectly!

Spelling-as-a-Team Game Builds spelling skills

Organize students into groups, and provide each group

with a set of alphabet cards, one card per letter. Studentswill divide the alphabet cards among themselves. Tellstudents you will call out a spelling word and a point valuefor that word (based on its difficulty). When the word iscalled the groups go to work to spell the word. The studentwho holds the card that represents the first letter in theword must call out the letter and place it on the desk infront of his or her group members. Then the person whoholds the second letter does the same thing… Playcontinues until the word is spelled.Note: If a letter is repeated in a word, the student who held

that letter must call out that letter again. Players can leavea space to represent to place where that letter belongs.The first group to correctly spell the word (all cards mustbe on the desk in order) earns the points. At the end of thegame, the group with the most points wins the game.

On the Spot! Builds memory and pattern recognition skills

Prepare in advance a work sheet that has three rows of dot patterns set up like the ones below:

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O OO O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O


activity:

What if you could be any ageother than the one you are rightnow? Would you want to beyounger? Older? What agewould you be and why?




You will probably be able to fit five or six groups of the dot patterns above on a work sheet.Once printed, cut the work sheet into strips and hand each student a strip that has three rows of the five repeated patterns.

To make this activity more challenging for older students, create more difficult patterns.

You will also need to have five sheets that reproduce in large size one of the dot patterns above.Color a series of the dots in each of those large patterns. For example, you might color the dotswhere each X appears below:

O X X OX O O OO O X X

Now you are ready to show the first pattern. Display the pattern for 15 seconds. Then put thepattern away where students cannot see it and ask them to replicate the pattern by coloring ineach of the colored dots on the first group of dots on their work sheet. Repeat the activity five

times by sharing five different colored dot patterns for students to study. Then have studentsexchange papers with a classmate, display the five large dot patterns on the board, and let eachstudent correct their classmate's work. How many students were able to replicate all five patternsfrom memory?

Then have students return papers to their owners and provide a second, and then a third, row of patterns to color.

Anagram Puzzles

Anagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write the four phrases

below on a board or chart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spell a word. Thewords all have something in common. Challenge students to figure out the four words and whatthe words have in common.Adapt the activity for younger students: To make the activity easier, tell students what the wordshave in common or arrange students in pairs to solve the anagram puzzles.

• TEMP RUT• ROBOT MEN• SO A SNOB• CAT LINER

Answers: trumpet, trombone, bassoon, and clarinet are all musical instruments





03/05/2004




Volume 30

Melon Measurements: How Many Seeds? Builds estimation and math skills

Cut the two ends off a watermelon and put them aside. Then cut up a watermelon into slices, oneslice per student; the slices should be as close to the same size as possible. Hand each child aslice of melon. As they eat away, have them spit their seeds into a napkin or a small paper cup.When they finish eating, have students count the number of seeds they found in their slice of melon. Based on the number of seeds they found in their slice, have students estimate how manyseeds there will be in the whole melon (not counting the end slices that you put aside). Havethem write their names and their estimates on a piece of scrap paper. Collect their estimates.Then ask each student to share their data -- the number of seeds they found in their slices -- andtally the actual total of seeds. Finally, look through the estimates the students made to find outwhose estimate came closest to the actual total. Ask that student (and others who came close) toshare how they arrived at their estimates.

Categories in a Can Builds vocabulary, spelling, and classification skills

You will need a can the size of a coffee can or larger forthis activity. Write each letter of the alphabet on a slip of paper. Mix up the papers and put them in a can.You might substitute Scrabble letter tiles or magneticletters for the letter slips.Announce a category -- for example, kinds of pets -- andthen have students take a turn taking a letter from the can.

The student must give the name of an animal that might bekept as a pet that begins with the letter he or she drew fromthe can.

For young students, you might remove the letters q, x, and z. For older students, or students who have played thegame before, you might let them come up with thecategories. Some other possible categories include thefollowing:

• Author Names (Last Names)• Names of Cities• Types of Sports• Games• Book titles• Famous People (Last Names)• Things Found in the Kitchen• Baseball Words


What if you could drive and yourfriend threw you the keys to hercar for a day. Where would yougo? Why would you go there?




• Types of Snacks

Spell-a-Roni Builds spelling skills

For this lesson you will need a box of macaroni in the shape of alphabet letters. You mightsimply drop a handful on every student's desk, or you might prepare individual plastic bags of the pasta. On your signal, students will dump out the pasta on their desks and start spelling. Whocan come up with the most words? Who can spell the longest word? Give prizes for those words!Variation: With older students you might not accept any words with fewer than four letters inthem.

More PixPuzzles


the puzzles to see if the words -- and the way they are written -- give them clues to the commonexpressions the puzzles illustrate.

1.LEVEL

2.OholeNE

3.

wear--------long

4.WHEATHER

Answers: 1. Split level; 2. hole in one; 3. long underwear; 4. a bad spell of weather


03/12/2004




Volume 31

Funny License Plates Builds critical thinking and analytical thinking skills

You've seen them -- unusual combinations of letters and numbers on license plates that requiretwo or three looks to figure out what they say. Write a handful of them on the board andchallenge students to figure them out. Students can write (spell out) the translations of theseplates on a small sheet of scrap paper. See which students have the most correct responses.

• ICUROK -- I see you are okay• CALQL8 -- Calculate (probably on an accountant's car)• 10SNE1 -- Tennis, anyone?• 0GRAVTY -- zero gravity• 23PAIR -- Tooth repair (a dentist's license plate?)• ML8ML8 -- I'm late! I'm late!

You can find dozens more of these on the Vanity License Plate Web page. Caution: Selectcarefully. Many of them are inappropriate for use in theclassroom.

Chain Spelling Builds spelling and thinking skills

Go right around the classroom with this activity. Start bycalling out a word -- any word. The next person has 10seconds to call out a new word that begins with the last letter of the word you called out. And the activity keeps

going… For example, if you call out chain, the next personmight call out night, then the next person might call outtable, then elephant, tree, egg, garbage… How long canyou keep up the spelling chain before somebody makes amistake or someone runs out of time? Can you make it allthe way around the classroom?

Variation: To make the game more difficult for olderstudents, you might narrow the possibilities by providing acategory. For example, all words called out will have torelate to a category such as

• Words of 6 letter or more• Cities and Countries• Science Words• Adjectives• Famous People's Last Names


What if you met a stranger andcould ask them only twoquestions? What questionswould you ask that would helpyou learn if they might end upbeing a good friend?




Connection Challenge Builds spelling, thinking, and classification skills

This activity is a variation on the Chain Spelling activity above. Go right around the classroomwith this activity. Start by calling out a word -- any word. The next person has 10 seconds to call

out a new word that relates in some way to the word you called out. And the activity keepsgoing… For example, if you call out house, the next person might call out roof, then the nextperson might call out chimney, then Santa, sack, potato, garden, seeds, watermelon… How longcan students keep making connections before somebody gets stumped or runs out of time? Canyou make it all the way around the classroom?

Anagram PuzzlesAnagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write the four phrasesbelow on a board or chart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spell a word. Thewords all have something in common. Challenge students to figure out the four words and whatthe words have in common.


• REFRY• OCEAN• A BAT SILO• EMU BRAINS

Answers: ferry, canoe, sailboat, and submarine are all forms of water transportation


03/19/2004




Volume 32

Puzzling Palindromes Builds language and spelling skills

Introduce the idea of a palindrome to students. A palindrome is a word that is spelled the samebackward and forward. For example, mom, pup, and racecar are palindromes. Challengestudents to come up with as many palindromes as they can within a timed period. You might letthem use their dictionaries. Who will come up with the most?

You might even introduce the idea of entire sentences/statements being palindromes! Forexample: A Toyota A nut for a jar of tuna.You can find many more palindrome sentences at Jim Kalb's Palindrome Connection Web page.

Following are the list of palindrome words we were able to come up with:aha, bib, civic, dad, deed, deified, did, dud, eke, eve, ewe, eye, gag, gig, hah, huh, kook, level,ma'am, madam, mom, mum, noon, nun, peep, pep, pip, pop, pullup, radar, redder, refer, repaper,rotator, rotor, sees, sis, solos, stats, tat, tot, and wow.

Palindrome Numbers Builds math computation skills

Have students…

• Choose any 3-digit number.•

Reverse that number to create its palindrome.• Add together the palindromes.• Take the sum of the two numbers and add it to its

palindrome.• Take the sum of those two numbers and add it to its

palindrome again.

What do you notice about the third sum you came up with? It is a palindrome! Challenge students to test this idea. Is italways the case? Do you always end up with a palindromesum at the end of three computations that begin by addingpalindromes?Sample computation:Start with 362.Reverse the number to create its palindrome. (362 becomes263.)Add together the two numbers. (362 + 263 = 625)Take the sum of the two numbers and add it to its palindrome. (625 + 526 = 1251)


What if a distant relative diedand left you in charge of dividing up his $1,000,000 estate

among all your family members?How would you divide themoney?




Take the sum of those two numbers and add it to its palindrome. (1251 + 1521 = 2772).Your third sum, 2772, is a palindrome!

Sentences From A to Z Builds spelling and thinking skills

Write the following sentence on a board or chart:The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Tell students that this is a very unique sentence, and ask them if they can tell you why that is so.After giving students time to consider your question, share with them that the sentence usesevery letter in the alphabet. (Some letters are used twice.) Challenge them to write anothersentence that accomplishes that same goal! Who will write the shortest sentence that includesevery letter of the alphabet?These sentences are called pangrams. You can see more examples at Fun With Words:Pangrams.


1. Library is to books as bank is to _____.a. paperb. robberyc. money

d. teller

2. Rose is to vase as water is to _____.a. lakeb. tub

c. ice cubed. flow

3. Up is to down as top is to _____.a. underb. beneathc. behindd. bottom

4. Plumber is to pipe as mason is to _____.a. foundationb. stone

c. plasterd. wire




5. Columbus is to Santa Maria as Gilligan is to _____.a. Mrs. Howellb. S.S. Minnow

c. skipper

d. hurricane


03/26/2004




Volume 33

Hink Pinks Builds spelling, vocabulary, and thinking skills

When you have five minutes to spare, challenge students to think up hink pinks. For example:a party at a convent = nun funa married rodent = mouse spousea "hip" monster = cool ghoulYou get the idea! Students must come up with a rhymingpair of words and then write a definition that will revealthat word pair to their peers. Which students will come upwith hink pinks that stump their classmates?For more ideas and resources, see the Hink Pink Activitypage.

Tic Tac Toe Builds a wide variety of skills

This versatile and fun activity can be used to reinforce anyskill. Simply create a transparency that has on it a tic-tac-toe grid. Project that transparency image on a wall orscreen. Use solid shapes (circles and squares, for example)as markers as you play this game.Pennies (circles) and wooden Scrabble tiles (squares) makeuseful markers.Divide the class into two teams. One team will be the

"Circles" and the other team the "Squares." Decide the skillor topic you will reinforce during the game and pose aquestion about that skill or topic to the first person on theCircles team. (Examples: You might pose a spelling word, a math computation, a state name forwhich you want students to identify the capital…) If the student gets the answer correct, he orshe earns a Circle and can place it anywhere on the tic-tac-toe grid. If the student gets the answerwrong, the question moves to the first person on the Squares team. The question moves back andforth until a student gives the correct answer and earns a shape for his/her team. Play ends whenone team gets three shapes in a row on the tic-tac-toe board.

Forward and Backward Builds spelling and thinking skills

Challenge students to come up with as many words as they can that spell actual words whenwritten forward and backward. For example, ton written backward spells not; stop spells pots; and rail spells liar. Who can come up with the most word pairs that are correctly spelled?


What if you found a magiclantern? The genie will grant youthree wishes. What will you wishfor? Why did you make each of

those wishes?




Anagram PuzzlesAnagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write the four phrasesbelow on a board or chart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spell a word. Thewords all have something in common. Challenge students to figure out the four words and whatthe words have in common.


• HAUL• BE TALL• MOBIL• SLEUTH

Answers: hula, ballet, limbo, and hustle are all dances


04/02/2004




Volume 34

Quick Change Builds observation skills

Call on a child to come to the front of the classroom. Invite the other students to observecarefully everything about the student because, in 60 seconds, you will ask the student to leavethe room and change just one thing about him or herself. While the student is gone, he or shemight move a watch from one wrist to another, unbutton a button, take off a belt, or… When thestudent returns, students might write their names and the change they observe on a piece of scrappaper. See how many students are keen observers and canidentify the change.

Seven-Up Vocabulary Builds vocabulary skills

All children love the popular classroom game Seven Up,Stand Up. Add a slight twist in this version. Have each of the "Its" hold a card with a vocabulary word written on it.When it comes time for the students seated at their desks toguess who tapped them, the students insert the word thetapper is holding in place of his or her name. (For example,"Was it doubt?" or "Was it evaporate?" ) If the studentguesses the correct tapper, he or she gets to be "It" if s/hecan correctly defines the term. Hand out new vocabularycards to the seven new "Its" and play another round…

Syllable Sorting Builds vocabulary, spelling, and syllabication skills

Write in random sequence on a transparency or chart thesyllables that make up a number of different words. Forexample, for younger students you might write the syllables for two-syllable words, as follows:ball, base, ing, la, learn, ple, port, re, tri, zyChallenge the students to write on a piece of scrap paper the five words that can be made fromthose ten syllables.Answers: baseball, learning, lazy, triple, report.For older students, provide more words or increase the number of syllables in words; forexample, have students use 30 syllables you provide to form ten 3-syllable words.

PixPuzzlePicture puzzles such as the ones below are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write or draw the following puzzles on a board or chart. Challenge students to studythe puzzles to see if the words -- and the way they are written -- give them clues to the commonexpressions the puzzles illustrate.


What if you could solve any one

of the world's problems? Whichproblem would you choose tosolve? Why?




1. NOON LAZY

2.ri

POORch

3.you looking

4.WOOL---------COAT

Answers: 1. Lazy afternoon; 2. take from the rich and give to the poor; 3. looking after you; 4.

wool overcoat


04/09/2004




Volume 35

Appropriate Adjectives Builds vocabulary skills

Develop a list of nouns. Give each student a sheet of scrap paper. Choose one noun, write it on aboard or chart, and say "Go!" On that signal, students write as quickly as they can think of themten adjectives that describe the noun. As the students finish they come to you and quietly line up.Once you have about half the class lined up, share the adjectives written by the first student inline. Are all ten words adjectives? Do they all appropriately describe the noun? (If there is somedebate about whether the words appropriately describes the noun, the rest of the students can bethe judges. Ask them to vote yes or no for the adjective that is being questioned.) If one of thestudent's adjectives is rejected because it is not an adjective or does not appropriately describethe noun, then start calling out the adjectives on the paper written by the second student in line.The first person to have ten appropriate adjectives is the winner. Once the winner has beendecided, ask the other students to share some of the adjectives they wrote that have not yet been

called out. Following are a few nouns that might be used to start the game: panda, skyscraper,grandmother, monster, airplane, flower, book, or piano.

Wheel of Fortunes Builds spelling, vocabulary, and thinking skills

This is a simple classroom adaptation of the popular TVgame show. Simply draw on a transparency the puzzlesquares that represent the letters in a common title, afamous person's name, or some phrase students shouldknow; be sure to identify spaces between words with

spaces between puzzle squares. Divide the class into twoteams. Let the first person on one team ask for a letter thatmight be in the puzzle. If the letter is in the puzzle, write itin the appropriate square(s). Then that person has a chanceto guess the puzzle. If the person cannot guess, the nextperson on the team gets to guess a letter. Play proceeds inthat way. When a player asks for a letter that is not in thepuzzle, play jumps to the other team.Note: For a good source of phrases, see English Idioms orIdiom Connection.

The Price Is Right Builds consumer and sequencing skills

Bring in from home a bag of grocery items of varying types and prices. Hold up an item andallow students to guesstimate the price you paid for it. Go right around the room and ask studentsto make their guesses. To each guess, respond by saying if the price given was too high or too


What if you came back to life asan animal? Which animal would

you want to be? Why?




low. Students can use scrap paper to keep track of responses. The student who guesses the exactprice might lead the next round of the game.

Anagram PuzzlesAnagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write the four phrases

below on a board or chart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spell a word. Thewords all have something in common. Challenge students to figure out the four words and whatthe words have in common.


• BURN EM• INCA FORT• OBTAIN CRUST• ITALIC LIP MOUNT

Answers: number, fraction, subtraction, and multiplication are all math terms


04/16/2004




Volume 36

Twenty-One Builds thinking and math computation skills

Provide students with four numbers. What operations must be performed to those numbers inorder for the total to be 21. This game can be adapted to include addition and subtraction only, orit can be adapted to provide practice in all four operations. Following are some examples of problems you might pose to students in grades 2 to 4:

• Supply for students the numbers 4, 6, 7, 12: some of the possible operations that studentswill derive might be [12 + 6] + 7] - 4 = 21 or (12 + 6) + (7 - 4)

• Give the students the numbers 2, 4, 13, 14: some of the math computations using thosenumbers might be (13 + 14) - (2 + 4) = 21 or (13 + 14) - (2 + 4)

Sizing Things Up

Builds computation and measurement skills

Divide students into pairs or small groups. Have them userulers to measure the bottoms of their feet in inches orcentimeters. Record the measurements. Then ask each pairof students to share their measurements. All students willkeep track of individual measurements on a chart. Whenall data is collected, have students figure the average shoelength in the class.

Spot the Spelling Mistakes

Builds spelling skills

Prepare in advance a page of text that is grade appropriate.Build into that text a set number (perhaps ten) spellingerrors. Provide students with a copy of the text, or write thetext on a transparency and display it for the whole class tosee. Challenge students to work on their own or in pairs tospot all the spelling errors. They should write on a piece of scrap paper the ten words as they are spelled in your textand as they should be spelled. Who will be the first to findand correctly spell all ten words?

Analogy Puzzles




What if you were asked to tellabout the most special memoryyou have of doing somethingwith a good friend? What specialmemory would you tell about?




1. Kitten is to cat as cub is to _____.a. scoutb. polarc. bear

d. claws

2. Ford is to car as Maytag is to _____.a. brandb. washer

c. Chevyd. repair

3. Knife is to cut as screwdriver is to _____.a. screw

b. hammer

c. twistd. drill

4. Small is to petite as large is to _____.a. tinyb. eggc. microscopicd. giant

5. Loose is to tight as narrow is to _____.a. skinnyb. wide

c. fatd. thin


04/23/2004




Volume 37

Math Facts Race Builds math skills while reinforcing math facts

Create on the board or on chart paper two grids numbered across 1 to 9 and down 1 to 9. Dividethe class into two teams. Decide whether the students will practice addition, subtraction, ormultiplication facts in this game of speed. When the chart is set, say "Go!" The first person oneach team races to the board and fills in any square on the math facts grid. For example, if youare using the game to reinforce addition facts, the student will write the number 6 in the squarethat meets where the 4 column and the 2 row meet. If any student on either team sees a mistakemade by a teammate during the game, he or she can use his/her turn to correct that error. Thefirst team to finish is the winning team if they have everycorrect answer on their chart.

Rhyme Mime

Builds rhyming skills

Invite two students to come to front of the room. Provideeach student with one of a pair of hyming words. Ask onestudent to act out his or her word until someone guessesthe word. Have the second student act out the second word,which rhymes with the first word. Allow the students whoguessed each word to act out the next set of words.

Area Code Math Builds math computation and geography skills

Print out the U.S. Telephone Area Code Map andphotocopy it onto a transparency. Project the map on a wallor screen. Then pose questions such as What is the total of the area codes for Minneapolis? (612 + 763 + 952 =2327) and What is the difference between the area codes in North Dakota and South Dakota? (701 - 605 = 96) Presentthree or four questions and see how many students do themath correctly.

Anagram PuzzlesAnagrams are a terrific tool for stimulating students tothink critically. Write the four phrases below on a board orchart. The letters in each phrase can be rearranged to spell a word. The words all have somethingin common. Challenge students to figure out the four words and what the words have incommon.


What if you could go see anyperformer in concert? Whowould you choose to see? Whydid you choose that particularperformer?[Note: In order to make studentsthink more deeply about thisquestion, you might eliminatefrom consideration the currenthottest group or performer.]





• CHEATER• EARN TIP•

CAN ACT UNTO• IRAN CANT EVER

Answers: teacher, painter, accountant, and veterinarian are all jobs


04/30/2004




Volume 38

Spelling Is a Hit! Builds spelling skills

Before playing the game, you will need to have a flyswatter and you will need to create a gameboard. The game board can be drawn on a brightly colored shower curtain liner. Use a magicmarker to print large and boldly the letters of the alphabet from A to Z. If your students are in theprimary grades, write the letters in ABC order. If your students are older, mix up the letters of the alphabet. Put each students name on a piece of paper or a Popsicle stick and drop them in acontainer. Draw one name at a time, call out a spelling word; that person must grab theflyswatter and swat each letter on the shower curtain lineras he or she spells the word aloud.

Math on a Roll Builds math facts skills

Assign an operation -- addition, subtraction, ormultiplication -- to be performed in this game. Diviestudents into groups of three or four, and give each group apair of dice. Player 1 rolls the dice and adds the twonumbers that appear. Player 2 rolls the dice and adds thetwo numbers that appear. Players 3 and 4 (if included) rollthe dice and record their results. The player with thehighest score in the round earns a point. If two or moreplayers roll the same high total, neither player earns apoint. The game ends when time is up (the player with the

most points wins) or when a player reaches a score of 10.

Aesop Ae-ctivity Builds listening and main idea skills

Read aloud one of Aesop's Fables. When you finishreading, ask students to tell you what lesson the fableteaches. After students have shared their thoughts, read aloud the lesson from the fable. Did thestudents' lesson ideas match the lesson that appears at the end of the actual fable?

PixPuzzlesPicture puzzles such as the ones below are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write or draw the following puzzles on a board or chart. Challenge students to studythe puzzles to see if the words -- and the way they are written -- give them clues to the commonexpressions the puzzles illustrate.

1.snow wind rain


What if you were to get a tattoothat represented somethingspecial to you? What tattoowould you get? Why would youchoose to get that tattoo?




FEELING

2.TO

UCH

3.ME NT

4.MCE MCE MCE

Answers: 1. Feeling under the weather; 2. touchdown; 3. apartment; 4. three blind mice (there

are no "I's" in the mice)


05/07/2004




Volume 39

Roman Numeral Math Builds math computation skills and Roman numeral knowledge

Provide three math problems that involve adding, subtracting, or multiplying Roman numerals.Create problems appropriate for your grade level. For example, a teacher in grade 5 mightprovide the following problems:

XII + XXXVI = XLVIII (12 + 36 = 48)CXXIX - LXI = LXVIII (129 - 61 = 68)XIV X IV = LVI (14 X 4 = 56)Money Math Builds money counting skills

Photocopy a wide variety of coins. (If you teach upperelementary level or above, you might photocopy bills too.)Then copy the image of the coins onto a transparency. Cutout the coins. Place a variety of the cut coins on theoverhead project. Have students count the amount of money you have displayed and write that amount on asheet of scrap paper. For older students, you might ask them to make the same amount of money using some othercombination of coins or you might ask them to figure thedifference between the value of a dollar and the coins thatare displayed.

Telling Time Match Builds telling time skills

Use the Telling Time Match sheet. Draw ten times on theclock faces. Then write one of those times, at random, oneach of the digital clock faces. Have students match theclock face with the digital clock that tells the same time. You could print out the page; or copythe page onto a transparency and display it on a screen for all to see, and have students write theanswers on a sheet of scrap paper.


1. Four is to rectangle as three is to _____.a. tricycle


What if you could be really good

at something or have a specialskill that you do not have now?What ability would you want tohave? Why?




b. octagonc. squared. triangle

2. Crossing is to Xing as Christmas is to _____.

a. Chanukahb. Holidayc. Decemberd. Xmas

3. Century is to 100 as decade is to _____.a. 10

b. dollarc. erad. period

4. Plane is to hangar as car is to _____.a. drivewayb. garage

c. dealerd. passenger

5. Edison is to light bulb as Gutenberg is to _____.a. newspaperb. rocketc. telephoned. printing press


05/14/2004




Volume 40

Sound It Out! Builds listening and spelling skills

Write the following headline expressions on a board or chart.

1. Tub Braid Heap Hunch (Clue: TV show)2. Sand Tackle Laws (Clue: fictional character)3. Tall Mischief Her Sun (Clue: person)4. Buck Spun He (Clue: cartoon character)5. Shock Cussed Toe (Clue: person)6. These Hound Dove Moo Sick (Clue: movie)7. Docked Hearse Whose (Clue: person)8. Tight An Hick (Clue: thing)9. Aisle Oh View (Clue: phrase)

10. Chick He Tub Ban An Us (Clue: things)11. My Gulch Hoard Un (Clue: person)

12. Thumb Ill Key Wake Owl Licks He (Clue: place)

One at a time, have students sound out and say slowly and carefully the words in each headlineuntil it begins to sound like something that relates to the clue.For example, Tub Braid Heap Hunch, carefully sounded out with the "TV show" clue in mindwill begin to sound like The Brady Bunch.

The other headlines, in the order they are listed above sound like Santa Claus; Thomas Jefferson;Bugs Bunny; Jacques Cousteau; The Sound of Music; Dr. Seuss; Titanic; I love you; Chiquita

bananas; Michael Jordan; and the Milky Way Galaxy.






Fact, Fiction, or Opinion? Builds comprehension skills

Write the following statements on a board or chart, or saythem aloud. Have students identify each statement as fact,

fiction, or opinion.

• Being president is the hardest job in the world.(opinion)

• Mercury is the planet closest to the sun. (fact) • The hippopotamus is the largest land mammal. (fiction, the African elephant is) • Apple pie is the best tasting pie. (opinion) • The Empire State Building is the tallest building in Texas. (fiction, it is in New York City)

Then give each student a sheet of scrap paper. Have them write and label three statements -- one

that is factual, one that is fiction, and one that is opinion. Collect the students' work and use theirstatements as a class quiz.

Great Graphs Builds graph reading skills

Collect from newspapers and magazines a variety of graphs. (The major news magazines aregood sources; the USA Today newspaper is another excellent source.) You might laminate thegraphs so you can use them over and over. Hand each student a graph and a sticky note. Havethem write on the sticky note one fact they did not know that they learned from the graph. Havestudents share what they learned with their classmates.

PixPuzzlesPicture puzzles such as the ones below are a terrific tool for stimulating students to think critically. Write or draw the following puzzles on a board or chart. Challenge students to studythe puzzles to see if the words -- and the way they are written -- give them clues to the commonexpressions the puzzles illustrate.

1.ISSUEISSUEISSUEISSUEISSUEISSUEISSUEISSUEISSUEISSUE

What if you were asked todescribe yourself to somebodywho just met you? What threewords would you use to describe

yourself? Why did you choosethose words?



2.THG

IT

3.

BAD WOLF [Note: Write the word in large print.]

4.r/e/a/d/i/n/g

Answers: 1. Tennis shoes (ten issues); 2. up tight; 3. big bad wolf; 4. reading between the lines


05/21/2004

Documents

5 Minute Activities2