Ice Cream Challenge: Idea #322

When I was a kid our elementary school did the Ice Cream Challenge. The way it worked was the last month of school every student was given a page to write down the books they read. There was a space on the page for parents to sign off to verify that their child actually read the book. If you read 100 books by the end of the ice cream challenge, you got to put an ice cream scoop or ice cream toppings on the school principal. As a kid everyone wanted to participate and contribute. It was a great way to get kids reading. Maybe you could try something similar in your own classroom.

Buddies and Bagels: Idea #279

A great way to get your student excited to read is to mix things up a bit. Have a special day where your student can invite someone in to read to and share a treat with. Here are a few ideas:

1. Buddies and Bagels - Your student invites a friend to class to read to and eat a bagel with.
2. Moms and Muffins - Your student invites their mom to class to read to and eat a muffin with.
3. Dads and Doughnuts - Your student invites their dad to class to read to and eat a doughnut with.
4. Parents and Pizza - Your student invites their parents to class to read to and eat pizza with.

Your student will be so excited to have a special guest come to class with them. Your student will also enjoy showing off their reading skills. It is also wonderful to have the guest read to your student. As a teacher, this activity was always a highlight for my students. Enjoy!

Popcorn Sight Words: Idea #269

Does your student love to eat popcorn? If so, you should introduce them to the Popcorn Sight Words Game. It is simple and fun to play. I found the idea here. This is what you do:

1. PREPARATION: Pop some popcorn!

2. Print off Popcorn Sight Words Worksheet here and  the Word Cards here. Make sure to cut out the Word Cards.

3. TO PLAY: Put all of the Word Cards face down in a pile.

4. Student draws a card from the Word Card pile and reads the word.

5. Then student gets a piece of popcorn and covers that word on their worksheet with a piece of popcorn.

6. Once all of the popcorn pieces are covered on the worksheet, the game is over.

When your student has read all of the sight words, reward them by letting them eat the popcorn. Have fun!

Sight Word Soup: Idea #266

Everyone loves practicing sight words using food. Why not try some sight word soup? I found the idea here. This is what you do:

1. Get some large noodles. Write a different sight word (using a permanent marker) on each one.

2. Put all of the noodles you wrote sight words on in a pot. You will also need a ladle.

3. Give each student a bowl.

4. Have students come up to the pot in pairs. Have student 1 scoop up noodles for student 2. Have student 2 scoop up noodles for student 1.

5. Have students return to their seats and read the words in their bowl to their partner. You could also have your students write the words they got on a piece of paper to help with spelling.

Have fun making sight word soup!

Books with Food: Idea #218

As a teacher I LOVED March 2 because that was Dr. Seuss Day! We read a million Dr. Seuss books, did special Dr. Seuss activities, made red and white stripes hats, and best of all we ate green eggs and ham. My students absolutely loved reading a story about green eggs and ham and then eating it. Why not make the books you read to your student (or your student reads to you) come to life? When you read stories that mention food, bring in the food to share. It will make your student excited to read. It will also cause your student to have a special connection to the book. I have a list below of some books that include food that you could share with your student:

1. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
2. A Very Hungry Caterpillar and Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle
3. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Give a Pig a Pancake and If You Give  Moose a Muffin and If You Give a Dog a Doughnut by Laura Joffe Numeroff
4. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloske 
5. A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon 
6. Ice Cream Larry by Daniel M. Pinkwater
7. The Popcorn Book by Tomie dePaola  
8. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett 
9. Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert 
10. Pizza at Sally's by Monica Wellington 
11. Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban 
12. I Will Never NOT EVER Eat a Tomato by L. Child 

Have fun eating! 

Sight Word Picnic: Idea #214

Spring is here and that means it's time to have a picnic! Picnics are a fun time to spend time outside with family and friends and enjoy some of your favorite foods. Try going on an educational picnic with your student. It is easy to do.

All you do is make your student a sack lunch. On each plastic bag in the sack lunch write a different sight word. For example, I wrote the sight word the on the sandwich bag, as shown above. Before your student can eat what is in each bag, your student must read the word on the bag to you. Who knew that reading could be so much fun!

Edible Sight Words: Idea #143

When practicing sight words with your student, try making the words edible. Get some M&M's, or Skittles, or chocolate chips, or even Cheerios and then have your student write out different sight words. After they have successfully spelled out ten sight words, let them eat the candies.

I used white chocolate chips here.

You could also have your student glue the candies together on a poster. After they have made a few sight word posters, hang them up around your classroom.

Have fun "eating your words"!

Sight Word Cupcakes: Idea #136

The other day I made some awesome red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. They were amazing! If your student has a sweet tooth, you should make some red velvet valentine cupcakes. After you finish frosting them, frost a sight word on top. Then have your student read you the sight word on the cupcake before devouring it! You can also do this with sugar cookies (which would be much easier to frost).

If you get super ambitious after you frost the words on each cookie or cupcake, cut each one in half. Then put them in different spots on the table. Have your student put the cookies or cupcakes back together, reading the sight word to you as they do it. Kind of like a puzzle.

Have fun making these with your student!

This cupcake says the sight word: 'a'. When you do this activity, don't be like me and use light colored frosting. Make the word easy for your student to see!

Sight Word Starbursts: Idea #131

Does your student have a sweet tooth? Most kids enjoy something that has sugar. Try practicing sight words using Starbursts (or any candy that is individually wrapped). 

On the pieces of candy write the sight words you would like your student to master.

As your student reads the word on each wrapper, they can eat the candy (or save it for later).

If you wanted to make it more appropriate for Valentine's Day, just use the pink and red Starbursts. Your student will think that's pretty sweet!

Pizza Party: Idea #119

Does your student still have problems reading certain sight words? Or any particular words for that matter? Try motivating them with a pizza party! Here is what you do:

1. Write down the words you would like your student to master.

2. Print off a picture of a pizza (or make one out of construction paper). I found my picture here: http://pad2.whstatic.com

3. If you wrote down four words, cut the pizza into fourths. If you wrote down eight words, cut the pizza into eighths and so on. 

4. Each time your student masters one of the sight words, write the word down and add a piece of pizza.

5. Once your student has learned all of the words on your initial list, your student has earned a pizza party!

The best part is, you can eat some pizza too!

Letter Sound Meal: Idea #52

Last night as we were sitting down for dinner, I realized that everything on my plate started with the letter P. I had pasta, peas, and peaches. We even had punch to drink! This could be a really fun activity to do with your student.

Choose the letter sound your student is struggling with and make them a meal, or have them help you make the meal, that all begins with that sound. They may never forget the letter sound after this! What a fun and yummy way to practice letter sounds!

Here are some ideas:

M BREAKFAST- Milk, Malt-O-Meal's Marshmallow Mateys, muffin, Minute Maid

S LUNCH- Soup, salad, sandwich, sugar cookie

B DINNER- Barbecued chicken, broccoli, baked potato, biscuit, brownies

Party Time: Idea #13

Who doesn't like a good party? Try having a letter sound party. Choose the letter sound that your child has difficulty with and have a party doing and eating things that begin with that sound. 

As a teacher, I liked to have my students work hard for their letter sound party. They had to earn them because they thought those parties were such a blast!

My personal favorite is the letter P Party. Here is a list of ideas that you could do at your P Party:

1. Have students come to school in their pjs 
2. Have students also bring a pillow from home
3. Watch the movie 'Peter Pan'
4. Provide food: pizza, popcorn, punch, pudding
5. Students make paper bag puppets of 'Peter Pan' 
6. Students paint pictures of things that begin with the P sound
7. The person who paints the prettiest picture gets a prize (like a PayDay candy bar)

Of course, you can have a party with any letter sound. It's a fun way to help your child learn their sounds and kids remember it forever.

Candy Corn Fun: Idea #11

It is always fun to incorporate holidays into your teaching. Halloween is especially fun with so many options from Frankenstein to green goblins to spooky scary skeletons. It makes learning exciting and kids love it!

When you discover the letter sound that your child is frustrated with, find a book or poem that has a lot of that particular sound found in it. For example, if your student is having hard time with the M sound, you might read the book 'Many Marvelous Monsters', or 'Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch' if they struggle with the P sound. 

Once you have found the story, buy a bag of candy corn, or other Halloween treat. Then get a cup or glass. As you read the story, the student is to listen for that particular letter sound. Every time they hear the letter sound in the story, they put a candy corn in the cup.

When my students are struggling with the letter s sound, I use the song/poem 'Spooky Scary Skeletons'. They love it because it goes with the Halloween theme and they hear the s sound so much. They get to put so many candy corns in their cups!

It is fun at the end to see how many times you heard the particular letter sound in your book or poem. Make sure to read it slowly so that your student has enough time to put their candy in the cup. Most importantly, enjoy the candy!

Ice Cream Cone: Idea #5

Everybody loves ice cream...especially kids! A fun way to get your child to learn their letter sounds is to make a paper ice cream cone. Start off by cutting out a paper ice cream cone. The cone should be flat, like a triangle. Similar to this:

Then tape it up on the wall. Each time your child masters a letter sound, tape an ice cream scoop on top of the cone. The scoop should look similar to this:

Make sure to write the letter on the scoop in order to keep track of what sounds they know. You can even have your child color the scoop the way they would like. For example, brown for a chocolate scoop, pink for a strawberry scoop, etc. Once their ice cream cone has 26 scoops on it, showing all 26 letters, they have earned a trip to get ice cream!

Yum! I scream, you scream,
we all scream for ice cream!!!