Monday, May 23, 2011

Flashlight Fun

ABC blocks and flashlight images
Turn out the lights. Give one student a flashlight. He/she will stand facing the Word Wall. Say this poem with your class:

“Flashlight, Flashlight, oh so bright,
Shine on a word with your light.”

The student will “shine” the flashlight on a Word Wall word. He/she will choose various students to guess the word. When the word is recognized, the students will write it on the recording sheet. It can be obtained by “clicking” on "Word Wall" picture below. The student who reads the correct word is the next one to hold the flashlight. Repeat the process over until all ten words are completed.

My students LOVE this activity!!! Not only are they practicing word recognition, but all of them are thoroughly engaged in the process.

Boy with a flashlight Word Wall picture Girl with a flashlight

Miss Sterczek

Working with Words

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Technology Activity

Wartville Wizard book
Technology is a part of our children's lives. It engages students to acquire and use higher-order thinking skills and their imagination. Imagination helps children grow up to become adults who are creative thinkers.

Each month, my students participate in a technology activity connected to a piece of literature which requires them to use their imagination and reinforces keyboarding skills.
mouse and the world wide web
This month, I read The Wartville Wizard. In this story, a man has the power to get rid of all of the trash forever. When someone litters, that piece of trash sticks to them! My students thought this was hilarious!!!

Using the Kid Pix program, I displayed a picture of a student on each computer. Then he/she used the rubber stamp option (comprised of various objects) to "stamp" objects on the following body parts: hair, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, cheeks, chin. These objects represented the trash the students threw away while walking through the town of Wartville. Here are some of the finished products:

  student photo  student photo

  student photo  student photo

blue and green hearts

These creations were displayed as a hallway bulletin board entitled "The Wartville Wizard". "Click" the recycling icon below to obtain the explanation of the activity. It was placed in the hallway to give "curious" viewers background knowledge.
Image of kids recycling
I bet you will never litter again!
Happy Recycling!


Miss Sterczek
mouse and the world wide web