RT3 Toolbox Activity Winners – Round 5

This week’s post was written by Tonii Lewis, an assistant project director at Best Practices.  This is the fifth (and final!) round of RT3 toolbox activity winners.

Winner #1 – Kelli Wall
Card #73: Echo Song – Boa Constrictor
Here’s a fun echo song. When you sing this song, try varying the pitch of your voice with each verse, getting higher as you move from toe to middle to head.

     I’m being swallowed by a boa constrictor,
     I’m being swallowed by a boa constrictor,
     I’m being swallowed by a boa constrictor,
     And I don’t like it very much.

     Oh no (echo) he swallowed my toe. (echo)
     Oh gee (echo) he’s up to my knee. (echo)
     Oh my (echo) he’s up to my thigh (echo)
     Oh fiddle (echo) he’s eating my middle, (echo).
     Oh dread, he swallowed my… GULP!! CLL6.4a

“During Rainforest theme week for Phonological Awareness time we learned the Boa Constrictor rhyme over the course of a few days. The first day I went over the rhyme pointing to the words and the children repeating the rhyme. Day 2 the children repeated the rhyme but added some movements pointing to their body parts. The third day students used a paper snake (made in small group that week) to represent their snake swallowing them up. The children loved the rhyme so much they wanted to know more about snakes. We made a snake using tape on our tile and the children measured how long it was, compared it to their bodies and even made a book about how big a snake is “ as big as…”

Winner #2 – Jeri Gardner
Card #15: Leap Frog
Cut out 10 large logs from brown poster board and place them on the large group rug. Sing, “Five Little Speckled Frogs” and encourage the children to jump from log to log. After they all have had a turn, they can jump into the “pool” and sit back down.
     Five Little Speckled Frogs
     Jumping from log to log
     Eating the most delicious bugs,
     Yum, yum
     One frog jumped in the pool
     Where it was nice and cool
     Now there are four green speckled frogs.
Repeat verses until there are no more frogs. Start the song again with more frogs if needed. PDM5.4b

“Students hopped on the logs in sequence and then jumped into the pool.  Afterwards we acted out the song “Five Little Speckled Frogs”.  The student closest to the pool jumped in first and we counted how many were left until all the frogs were in the pool.  We did this as a small group activity and the students selected were working on number and quantity.  Afterwards, we took the logs outside and let the students jump the logs to the pond.   We did this during our study of pond animals.”

Winner #3 – Tesia Whitehead
Card #124: Dramatic Play – Community Bank
Add props, photographs and a sign to turn this area into a familiar local community business. SS3.4

“I used this activity because it gave the kids an opportunity to see how a community bank is run. I also provided the children with deposits slips, credit applications and withdrawal slips to make everything realistic.”

Winner #4 – Dana Tucker
Card #134: Guess What
Tape black construction paper over a pair of child- sized sunglasses. The children take turns wearing the glasses as they try to guess the object that is placed in their hands. Encourage the children to use four of the five senses. Provide a tennis ball, a rock, a smooth sea shell and an orange peel. SC1.4a

“Watched a short video of The Five Senses/The Dr. Binocs Show and played the Guess What? game. Introduced the 5 senses and used items from the outdoors, such as rocks, sticks, pinecones and blossoms for the Guess What? game. The students really enjoyed this activity.”

Winner #5 – Trinity Shipley
Card #140: Would the Wind Blow It?
Ask the children to choose a variety of items they want to test outside to see if it will blow away in the wind. Ideas include feathers, paper, paper balls, blocks, plastic cars, dolls, leaves, plastic grocery bags, and other items of interest. Have the children share if they think the item will blow away or not before the child lets go of the object. SC2.4d

“The students loved this activity. I asked them why they thought the item would blow away and they were able to give me a reason. They were so excited to see the outcome of the experiment. I let them choose a different item the second time they attempted, so that they were able to try something different and base it off of previous knowledge. They were able to predict and test their hypothesis. This was a wonderful learning activity.”

Click here to view Trinity Shipley’s video.