My final idea for March is Reading Month is a CHALLENGE!  I tell my students that during the Renaissance, knights would challenge each other by throwing down a gauntlet.  I define these terms and then throw down my glove and say: “I challenge you to a Reading Contest; who’s interested? “ I now have their attention, and many, if not all, of their hands are raised.

 Then I explain my “Turn OFF the TV and Turn ON to reading” week-long challenge and show them Telly the elephant.  Each day that they go without watching television, they COLOR in the appropriate box on Telly. 

The student, who colors in the most boxes, hopefully all 7, or an entire week of no TV, wins a really cool prize!

I show the girl and boy prizes I have selected for this specific occasion.   They are inexpensive enough not to break the budget, but cool enough to be quite motivating.  I stock up after Halloween and Christmas when things are slashed and on sale for ridiculous 80% off prices.

I also inform them that anyone who participates will get a certificate and have their name thrown into a basket.  I’ll pull out two names and those two students will get to select a book from my birthday book box.  (I give students a book on their birthday.) As a surprise to them, I will also be taping a “You’re a super-star lollipop” on each certificate as well.

I send a letter home explaining the contest to parents along with Telly and a reminder note that they can tape to their TV, so they don’t accidentally forget and turn the TV on. 

I let them know that I will also be participating right along with them.  It’s not that hard for me to give up TV, as I’m a voracious reader.  I do have a few favorite programs tho’ so I’m thankful that I’m able to record them, but it is nice to turn the squawk box off entirely and have some extra quality time with my family.

I show them the video Arthur’s TV-Free Week to further motivate them.  It’s a cute video that reinforces the importance of giving up TV as well as the fact that it’s not that easy.  They enjoy Arthur so I also have several websites that they can independently visit for my computer center.  They can print off an Arthur reading books bookmark one and bookmark two and an Arthur mask.  Click on the links to check them out.

I have a book basket with some “No TV!” related books in it for them to read. 

My students write their name on an "I'm taking the challenge!" badge and I pin it to their shirt.  I give faculty a "head's up!" to ask my students what the challenge is, so my Y5's have an opportunity to explain and "shine".  Click on the link to view/print a set of reading challenge badges for your students. 

They also sign a contract that they accept the challenge.  "Promises" are big with young people and this helps reinforce their commitment.  Click on the link to view/print the reading contract, certificates and letters home.

I send a reminder note home on Friday that Telly is due. Students bring their elephant in on the following Monday and share it with their classmates, explaining what they did on the days that they didn’t watch TV.

I graph whether they liked doing this activity or not, whether they thought this was difficult or not, and how many days everyone gave up TV, and then I award the certificates and prizes. Click on the link to view/print the graphs.

I’ve gotten quite a bit of positive feedback from parents that they were glad that I was the catalyst behind giving up TV for a week.  They say it’s something that they wanted to do, but felt it was easier to do coming from the school.  They also shared that having a family game night was something that they were going to continue to do.

All in all it’s something that I will continue to promote each year and hope that you will jump on the “Turn OFF the TV and Turn ON to Reading” band wagon.

Happy Fat Tuesday! 

As we “Read Across America” I wanted to do something a little different and also toss in some geography; so I thought it would be fun to learn about Louisiana and have a Mardi Gras theme day on a Friday. 

My students have really enjoyed it in the past.  It's another fun thing to do for March is Reading Month and a great way to learn about another state.  Here are just a few of the things I did:

I kept it simple, just sending a letter home asking parents to please have their child wear something festive, purple-yellow-and green, or dress as a Mardi Gras-type clown if they wanted to.  I also dress up.  I've collected quite a few costumes over the years. 

My students enjoy seeing me dressed up and it makes story time extra fun.  Here I simply appliqued some Mardi Gras fabric cut out's to a black dress, added some gold and purple puffy paint around the edges, donned a feathered boa, a coin necklace, some beads, put on crazy purple, yellow and green socks, and a metallic mask and I was all set!

I have a Happy Mardi Gras note on their desktop with a purple, yellow and green Skittle waiting for them.  They get to eat two Skittles and then we use the other one as a manipulative to play “I Spy” the number or letter for our first Table Top lesson.  Click on the link to view/print the Mardi Gras note + a blank “I Spy” skill sheet. (You can fill in whatever letters/numbers that you're studying.)  

I bought Mardi Gras necklaces at the local party store and the students got to choose which color they wanted. Since Mardi Gras is all about collecting necklaces they got to make an additional one out of dyed macaroni, incorporating a specific ABC-ABC pattern.

Their favorite centers were decorating a mask, using bingo dot markers to make a pattern, and doing a pinch and poke with a golf tee.  Click on the link to view/print these Mardi Gras center activities

In the afternoon we played a few games. I tossed purple, green and gold coins all over the floor while they were at lunch.  When they came back to the classroom they got to scamper around and find as many as they could and then sort them by color.

The one who found the most coins won a prize.  Everyone got to keep 3 coins (one of each color); we identify these colors in Spanish.

We made several different patterns with the coins, counted them by 10’s to 100, and by 1’s in English and Spanish.  We counted backwards from 10 to 0 and then "blasted off" to our lockers to put the coins in our backpacks.

Oriental Trading sells quite a few Mardi Gras items as well as your local party store.

As another math extension, they also played a Mardi Gras dice game. Click on the link to view/print the Mardi Gras dice game.

I bought a beanie-type Mardi Gras stuffed Jester and we played “Hot Jester” (Like Hot Potato) passing it around in a circle to music; when the Mardi Gras music stopped, the one holding the Jester was out.

We had our own Mardi Gras parade marching around the room and then down the hall to visit a few of the other preschool and kindergarten classes.

For writing/reading they completed their Mardi Gras page for our class book. Click on the link to view/print a Mardi Gras class book.

For geography/writing/reading everyone cut and glued their Louisiana book.  We found Louisiana on the globe and state map and looked at books from the library.  If you are a Gold Subscription member and want to make a comparison booklet using your state, drop me an e-mail and I will send you the clip art and pages for your state. Click on the link to view/print a Louisiana state booklet.

For story time I checked out books from the library on Mardi Gras and showed them photos that I printed from the web.  Some books I recommend are:

• Mardi Gras in New Orleans: an Alphabet Book by Karen Jansen.  This is a different kind of alphabet book as it doesn’t just have A is for Alligator.  The text recognizes all of the initial A’s.  e.g. Accordions, the anticipation of Ash Wednesday, the day after “Fat Tuesday”, We all attend the Mardi Gras, an annual action that…” All of the bolded letter A’s are be in a purple color.
• Mimi’s First Mardi Gras by Alice Couvillon, is a great way to give your students a bit of information about Mardi Gras as well as learn some of their distinct vocabulary, everything from beignets (doughnuts eaten for breakfast) to the doubloons (colored coins) thrown from the floats.  The book is illustrated in the vibrant colors of Mardi Gras that help the story come alive.
• Cajun Alphabet, by James Rice is also an unusual alphabet book.  I like that it rhymes, but the text is a bit long at times.  It definitely has a Cajun flavor and even throws in some French phrases.
• Celebrate  Mardi Gras & Carnival, by Campoy This included a regional map of the US and highlighted Louisiana.  They gave a short description of the holiday and had actual pictures of Mardi Gras.  The authors also mentioned hurricane Katrina in their dedication page to New Orleans.
• After reading about Mardi Gras, we graphed whether we'd really like to go to Louisiana and attend Mardi Gras.  Surprisingly, some of my students did not; they thought it would be kind of scary.  Click on the link to view/print the Mardi Gras graph.
  

During Show & Share time, we tossed the Mardi Gras jester back and forth.  Whoever had the jester got to share what part of Mardi Gras day was their favorite.

The day went faster than usual.  I gave everyone a certificate for participating; it seemed that everyone had had a Mardi Gras great time! Click on the link to view/print a Mardi Gras certificate

I like to feature authors during March is Reading Month.  One of my favorite book series is the Berenstain Bears, by Jan and Stan Berenstain. The photo is courtesy of Amazon.com

This was my son Jason’s favorite “read to me” book before he went to bed.

Stan and Jan Berenstain wrote this successful children’s series together.  It started with their first book The Big Honey Hunt in 1962.  Previously, they had been successful cartoonists for magazines and adult humor books.  Since then, they have produced more that 300 Berenstain Bear books, with 260 million copies sold.

Their son Mike was their inspiration and joined the writing team in the late 1980’s.  He and his mother continue to write new stories, since his father’s death at the age of 82, in 2005.

I’ll sometimes follow up a story with one of their life-skill building videos.  They are very short, usually less than 10-minutes, and teach a valuable lesson.  My favorite is Messy Room. Click on the link to view this on U-Tube.

My favorite Berenstain Bear book to read to my Y5’s is Inside Outside Upside Down.

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The simple gist of the story is that Brother Bear gets into a box. Papa Bear turns the box upside down, takes it outside, and it accidentally gets put on a truck.

Why I Love it:

The rhyming text, and repetitive verse make it a perfect easy reader.

Since teaching spatial directions is one of my report card standards this is the perfect book for explaining those concepts.

How I Teach Spatial Directions:

• I pause at the repetitive verse and have my students repeat the phrase with me, as I point to the individual words.
• I make the book even more fun because I made a large box similar to the one in the book. 
  
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• Since eyes peek out of the box, I cut out two white circles and glued huge wiggle eyes on top and then glued them to the box. I also glued the repetitive words, inside, outside, and upside down on the box.  I put contact paper over them for extra protection.  After I finish the story the child shows the side of the box that says: The End!
  

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• I choose a student to manipulate the box while I read the story.
  
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• After the story I review all the spatial direction words with my students and call on quiet students to manipulate the box.  i.e., the box is beside the student, the box is above the student, the box is between two students etc.
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• Even my ESL students have spatial directions pretty down pat by the time we end this activity.
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• I add spatial direction words to our word wall, make flashcards for them, and have my students make Itty Bitty books from the flashcard skill sheet. Click on the link to view/print a copy of the spatial direction word cards.
  
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• They trace the words, cut out the cards, and I staple their booklets.  They really enjoy sharing them with their families.
• We then think of the spatial direction word that we like best and graph the results.  Click on the link to view/print a spatial direction graph.
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• I also Xerox off their school picture on the photo setting of the copier.  I cut 7 ovals of their picture so that they can glue it beside, above, under, inside... the boxes on the pages of their  Where Am I? booklet. 
  
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• They also get practice tracing and writing the words and increase their fine motor skills cutting and gluing them to the correct pages.  This is one of their parents' favorite keepsake booklets that they make. 
  
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• I make the rounds of several food and appliance stores and ask them for boxes.  During Free Play Center time my students have fun playing with the boxes.
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• Later, I have them manipulate blocks and go through the various spatial directions using the blocks.  We'll do this at their tables.
  
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• For a gross motor movement, I'll have them choose a puppet or stuffed animal, bring it to the circle and I'll tell them to put the puppet/animal on, above, beside them.  To extend this, and get the wiggles out, I'll put on some zippy music and we'll march around.  As they march, I'll say "On!" and they'll put their puppet/animal on whatever body part I put mine on. We'll continue to march and I'll say: "Beside-left, beside-right,  above." etc. 
  


• It also gives me a chance to reinforce the names of the various parts of their body, which is also a report card standard.
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• It’s a fun day for my students, and one of their favorite books in their book basket.  It’s especially rewarding when they come to me and say: “Mrs. Henderson.  Mrs. Henderson.  Listen to me.  I can read this page!”

Where's Blue?

• The other thing that I do to get spatial directions in their head is to “hide” something in plain sight.
• Each morning this is one of their jobs.  It teaches responsibility and gives them something to do that keeps them quiet and focused.
• The first child to discover where the object is, raises their hand and gets to tell the class (using spatial direction words) where it is.
• In September this is Blue from Blue’s Clues, in October it’s a pumpkin.  I skip November because everyone has the concept nailed by then.  I revisit it again in December with Elf on a Shelf as a behavior modification tool. I also do it again in March with a Leprechaun for the same reason and also as a refresher.

Laundry Line Of Learning:

• Another way my students learn their spatial directions is with my Laundry Line of Learning; it has numbers that change with the various months/seasons.
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• i.e., I’ll have numbered school children for September (pictured), numbered snowmen for January, shamrocks for March etc. hanging from a clothesline. The clothesline is just below my number train in the photo.
  
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• Leo the Lion has his thumbs up or down if he’s messed up the numbers. His arms are bendable.  He is sitting on the chalk sill next to the hot pick rectangle.
  
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• My students use their spatial direction words to tell me where the numbers should go so that I can fix the line i.e., before, after, left, right, as well as ordinal placement: first, second, third etc. 

Manipulatives:

• I have a flannel board with Monthly Manipulatives where my students can place a Velcro apple (September) or an October pumpkin in the various positions. i.e, the smaller apples have the spatial direction words on them like "beside". I'll pass out the little apples and the children will put the word-apple where it goes.  The big themed piece (in this case the apple) is in the middle of the flannel board.  The child with the small "beside" apple will put it beside the big apple.
  
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•  If I'm working on left and right, I'll tell them to put it beside the apple on the left or right.  The child with the "above" word-apple will place it above the big apple and so on.  I do this board during story time.  It only takes a minute and the children enjoy placing the seasonal manipulatives on the board. 
  
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• It's another fun way for them to get these word-wall words into their heads so that they can read the matching booklets.  I also have color and number words on the apples, pumpkins, mittens etc.  This also helps them read the matching color and number booklets.  Click on the link above to check out this fun program that helps my Y5's become readers. 
  

Spatial Direction Booklets:

• Finally, every week they have at least one, sometimes two spatial direction booklets that they trace, cut and glue together.
• After everyone has completed their booklet, we read it as a whole group.  This reinforces concepts of print and helps get the spatial direction words in their head.
• My students’ self-esteem is also built because they can actually take these little booklets home and read them to their families!
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• I have lots of spatial direction booklets available for only .29cents. I designed them for each of my themes.
• My students really enjoy making them.  They reinforce reading skills, but also help with writing, listening and following directions; plus it helps increase their finger dexterity, increasing muscle control as they improve their cutting skills.
• My students are familiar with the directions, so I simply pass a booklet out during our reading block and they “get down to business”.
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• Because this is an independent activity, I’m free to do assessments, or work one-on-one with a struggling student.
• March spatial direction booklets are:  Go Fly A Kite,  Lucky Me!  I Found A Four-Leaf Clover,  There’s a Pot Of Gold At The End Of The Rainbow,  Where Is The Pot Of Gold, and  Where’s The Lion?
  
• Become a Gold Subscription member and download over 100 booklets and anything else at no additional charge.  Every week I add new things including at least one easy reader!
  

This Berenstain Bear book can be read to even a very young child.  My children enjoyed it as young as one.  So if you have little ones at home, snuggle up on the couch, and grab a big old empty box from the basement.  You’ll have some great quality time with your kids!

I remember one Christmas my daughter Kelli’s favorite thing that year was not playing with her new toys, instead, with a bow stuck to her little blond head, she crawled inside a box, rolled upside down, squealed… “Mama Mama!” and had the time of her life, much like the ending of Jan and Stan’s book: “Mama Mama I went to town, inside, outside, upside down!”

Happy Reading,

whether you're inside, outside, or even, upside down!

Click on the link to view/print a spatial direction certificate.