Learning fun for first graders
Lilian Katz, director of the University of Illinois' ERIC Clearinghouse on Education, supports national efforts to insure that all schools meet the needs of every child's development with creative, meaningful, and child-centered educational experiences. First grade students arrive full of excitement and motivation to learn. Teachers can tap into that resource, keeping the child excited and motivated with fun activities that teach and reinforce curriculum.
Math
Make a picture using geometric shapes. Provide pattern blocks or geometric models for tracing. Name a category of pictures such as a farm, city or machine. Display guidelines for how many of each shape they must use. For example, write 3 triangles, 2 ovals, 4 circles, 1 rectangle and 8 squares on the board. Students trace the shapes and create their picture.
Play a math addition game using dominoes. Place all dominoes in the middle of the table face down. Students draw one domino at a time, write down an addition number sentence using the number of dots on each side of the domino and complete the equation. The person with the larger answer wins both dominoes and play continues until all dominoes are used. The child with the most dominoes wins the game.
Science
After learning about the earth's layers, have students make a model. Use colored salt dough or clay. Make a red inner core, orange outer core, and yellow mantle then roll the earth ball in a glitter crust. Cut in half to show them a cross section view.
After studying a particular type of animal or creature such as insects for example, have students create a fictional insect. Instruct students to be sure that their make-believe insect has everything that a creature must have to be an insect such as six legs and three body parts. Otherwise, allow them to use creativity in their make-believe creatures using cut paper, glue and markers to create it.
Language Arts and Reading
Practice alphabetical order and vocabulary by having students create silly ABC sentences with a partner. Each word in the sentence must begin with the next letter alphabetically but students may start the sentence with any letter. Examples-A brown cat dropped eggs. Lazy monkeys need orange popsicles.
Play "Bingo" with important classroom words. Instead of numbers under the letters in the word bingo, write their vocabulary, sight or spelling words. Use an online, printable bingo card generator for easy preparation and any small item such as buttons for the markers.
Social Studies
Help students become familiar with United States geography using a map scavenger hunt. Provide students with a copy of a United States map and a list of clues about the states they are to locate on their scavenger hunt. For example for the answer Florida, the clue might say "Find the state that has water on three sides, ends with the letter "a" and starts with two consonants."
Celebrate every day of the year. Use one of the many online resources that list little known holidays or historical events to locate something significant about each day. Start each day with a celebration or remembrance. Make a funny hat, draw a picture, create a poem or have kids write about the day in their daily journal to celebrate.
Tags: have students, scavenger hunt, students create, their make-believe, United States, with letter
