52. 2nd Grade: Character Changes!

Hi, I’m Jordyn!

Have you ever read a story and wondered how different a character was at the end compared to the beginning? I know I have! With this activity, the chart you make will show you exactly how the character reacted to certain events and how those events changed the person. 

After completing this activity, students will be able to determine a character’s personality at the beginning of a story and compare that to their personality after a major event occurs. They will also be able to analyze how a character responds to an event.

This will meet the Arizona Common Core standard (2.RL.3), by teaching students to describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

What you will need:

● Provided template 

● Piece of cardboard 

● Clear tape 

● Glue 

● Scissors 

● String/yarn ● Pencil

• Paper
• Device with Internet Access
• Any writing utensil (i.e: pencil, pen, marker, etc.)
• Short Fables to read: https://www.shortkidstories.com/story/aesops-fables

Directions:

1. Once you’ve accessed the fables, pick one to read. Read the whole passage and think about the story. 

2. Take your paper, and fold it in half “hotdog” style. Open the paper, and take your writing utensil and trace the folded line, making the line nice and dark.

3. Label one side of the paper “Challenges” and label the other side “Responses”.

4. Reread the fable, and write the name of the fable you read on the top of both sides of the paper.

5. Determine what the main challenge the character faces is. Write the challenge on the “Challenges” side of the paper. 

6. Next, find the way the character responded to the challenge and write this on the “Responses” side of the paper. 

7. Repeat these steps with other fables on the website.

At the end of the activity, the student should have a chart full of challenges and responses from differing stories. They can do this activity with a picture book for more of a challenge. This is a simple method to help them describe the relationship between a challenge and a character’s response.

Thank you for visiting our blog! If you liked this activity and would like to see more, please visit our website and our Pinterest! See you next time!

45. 1st Grade: A Field of Stories

My name is Angela!

Hello! I am currently a sophomore in college. I, myself, can be a pretty crafty person and I have a great love for art! I try to incorporate that into the activities I create for students as I think that having an artistic aspect to any activity is a great way to have the student become more involved in their work.

The goal of this activity is for students to have a better grasp on describing the character, events, and places of a story. Condensing it down to multiple adjectives for aspects of a story will help them in the future when they need to apply vocabulary to retell the events of a story.

This will meet the Arizona Common Core standard (1.RL.3), by teaching students to describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

What you will need:

● Provided template 

● Piece of cardboard 

● Clear tape 

● Glue 

● Scissors 

● String/yarn ● Pencil

• Regular 8×11 paper or construction paper
• Writing utensil
• Colored pencils

Directions:

1. Have a student read any fictional story they would like. After they finish, gather the materials needed.

2. After they are done with the story, have them draw flowers on a piece of paper. 

• Each flower should represent a character, event, and place in the story

3. Write the name of the character, event or setting in the middle of the flower’s center.

4. Have them write one word describing the thing they wrote in the center of the flower.

•  For example, if they wrote “castle” in the center of a flower, they should write words such as “big,” “shiny,” “magical,” “old,” etc. in the petals.

5. Have them do this until every flower is complete. 

6. When they are done, they may decorate their flowers if they want to. 

Your students now have a way to map out the descriptions of characters, settings, and more for the stories they read! This activity will be helpful for your students to organize their ideas for any future writing assignments or projects they will have to do.

Thank you for visiting our blog! If you liked this activity and would like to see more, please visit our website and our Pinterest! See you next time!

34. Kindergarten: Draw the Story!

My name is Leslye!

Hello everyone and welcome! I am a college student at ASU who likes to help create creative and fun activities that enable students to learn. I’ve always liked thinking outside the box and creating new ideas and what better way to put this skill to use than by helping students!

The goal of this activity is to strengthen the student’s comprehension and understanding of a text that is being read aloud. We will be able to measure their understanding in a fun and creative way! They will be showing their understanding of the events by drawing out their depictions of the story line into sections of the beginning, middle, and end.

This will meet the Arizona Common Core standard (K.SL.2), by teaching students to confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.

What you will need:

● Provided template 

● Piece of cardboard 

● Clear tape 

● Glue 

● Scissors 

● String/yarn ● Pencil

• Pencil
•  1 sheet of paper
• Crayons/markers to draw and color 

Directions:

1. Get a piece of paper and lay it horizontally. Then fold it into 3 equal sections. 

2. On the top of each section label it as “beginning” on one, “middle” on another, and “end” on the last section. 

3. Now that you have your paper labeled, you may now read aloud the passage provided below. You may also ask a parent to read it aloud for you if you prefer. 

The Tortoise and the Hare

There once was a speedy Hare who bragged about how fast he could run. Tired of hearing him boast, the Tortoise challenged him to a race. All the animals in the forest gathered to watch.

The Hare ran down the road for a while and then paused to rest. He looked back at the tortoise and cried out, “How do you expect to win this race when you are walking along at your slow, slow pace?”

The Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, “There is plenty of time to relax.”

The Tortoise walked and walked, never ever stopping until he came to the finish line.

The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise that they woke up the Hare. The Hare stretched, yawned, and began to run again, but it was too late. Tortoise had already crossed the finish line.

4. Once you finish reading/listening to the story, you may now draw the events that happened in the story on your paper. (draw what happened first in the beginning section, what happened in the middle of the story in the middle and what happened last in the end section.) 

5. Once you are finished drawing and coloring, write and explain what happened in that part of the story and what your drawing illustrates and then you’re all done. This is my example!

Your student now has a method to organize the beginning, middle, and end of the stories they read! This activity can be used for other stories as well, and if those stories are more complicated, feel free to use more sections!

Thank you for visiting our blog! If you liked this activity and would like to see more, please visit our website and our Pinterest! See you next time!

43. 3rd Grade: Colorful Conversations Cards

Hi, I’m Jaida!

Hi everyone! In today’s activity, I want to help your student work on their academic conversational skills. In any academic setting, it is important to learn not only to speak well but to also be a great listener. Your student is going to have many conversations throughout their academic journey. This activity will be a great exercise to test those conversational skills and help your student maintain back to back conversations with their peers. Throughout this activity, we will focus specifically on transitional conversations, as well as opinion based questions and comments. Without further ado, let’s jump right in. Happy learning!!

The goal of this exercise is for your student to be able to develop listening skills when in conversation with their peers, be able to use transitional words to help guide their conversations when speaking, and be able to have back to back conversations and maintain the topic of their conversation while listening and speaking.

This will meet the Arizona Common Core standard (3.SL.6), by teaching students to speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification. (See grade 3 Language standards 1 and 3 for specific expectations.)

What you will need:

● Provided template 

● Piece of cardboard 

● Clear tape 

● Glue 

● Scissors 

● String/yarn ● Pencil

• Colorful construction paper
• White printer paper/notebook paper
• Markers
• Sharpies
• Pen or pencil (or you can type your information)
• Tape
• Scissors 

Directions:

1. First, you are going to start by grabbing 3 pieces of construction paper (all different colors) and cutting them in half. This will leave you with 6 pieces of construction paper in front of you.
   • Do this same step with 3 pieces of white printer paper/notebook paper

2. Tape or paste each piece of white printer paper onto the cutout pieces of colorful construction paper. Each piece of colorful construction paper should have white cut-out piece of printer paper on the front side.

• Once you’ve done the step above, you can paste both halves of the colorful construction paper (back to back) to its matching side.

3. On one side of the construction paper, you are going to write “Speaker” and on the other side of that same card/piece you are going to write “Listener”.

• You can now begin writing example beginning phrases of what a listener might want to say when it’s their turn to speak. (ex: “I was wondering….” or “why did….”).
• You can also begin writing example beginning phrases of what a speaker might say when it is their turn to speak (ex: “My opinion is….because…” or “I want to talk about…”).

4. Once you have created these phrases on both sides of the construction paper, you can assign one student to be a speaker and one to be a listener to begin the game. (Tip: if you are a parent, you can let your child choose which card they would like to be and you can be the opposing card. 

The Activity

1. To begin this activity, your student can simply go throughout their day with the card and answer or ask questions only based on what side they are on (Speaker or Listener).
2. By allowing your student to only approach topics and questions throughout the day with the structure of their card, this will help them learn how to appropriately carry conversations both academically and on a personal level.
3. Once the student has gone through about 2-3 rounds of being a listener or speaker, they can swap sides with their parents or with another peer.

Now that your student has used the listening and speaking exercise, they are hopefully now able to approach conversations a little bit more confidently. Your student is also able to stay on topic and relay information back and forth to other students and peers

Thank you for visiting our blog! If you liked this activity and would like to see more, please visit our website and our Pinterest! See you next time!

55. Kindergarten: Clip to Connections!

Hi Everyone! My name is Cassie!

I am a college student who is majoring in elementary education! I am passionate about making learning fun and enjoyable for students of all ages. Make sure you check back on our blog for more engaging learning activities!

In this activity, students will work on how to describe the connection between different aspects of a text by labeling them and writing the connection that they have. They will be provided with printable labels. Using a paperclip, the student will locate where they believe the labels belong and clip them to the text. After locating both they will fill out a connection sheet for that topic.

This will meet the Arizona Common Core standard (K.RI.3), by teaching students to identify the connection between different aspects of a text.

What you will need:

● Provided template 

● Piece of cardboard 

● Clear tape 

● Glue 

● Scissors 

● String/yarn ● Pencil

• A book or text of your choice
• Paper labels (labeled event 1, event 2, individual 1, individual 2, setting 1, setting 2, fact 1, fact 2, etc.)
• The Connection Sheets: Have a connection because… (4 of these)
• Paper clips (one for each label) 

Directions:

1. Find your favorite book or story (print it out if it is a text online)

2. Make some labels for your story (event 1, event 2, individual 1, individual 2, setting 1, setting 2, fact 1, fact 2, etc.)

3. Read the story and get an understanding of different individuals, settings, events, etc.

4. After reading the book or text grab one of the labels (ex: event 1) and paper clip it to a part in the story that represents an event

• You will do the same with the corresponding label (event 2) 

5. Then you will find the Connection sheet for the labels you chose (ex: events) and describe how the two are connected 

6. You will continue this until you have all of the labels completed and all of the connection sheets filled out

Your student now has a helpful activity that will help your student cite information in the books that they read!

Thank you for visiting our blog! If you liked this activity and would like to see more, please visit our website and our Pinterest! See you next time!

53. Kindergarten: The Bee-st Story Cube

My name is Priscila!

Hi all! Today, I have a fun activity for all the reading lovers. To this day, reading is one of my favorite hobbies. There are so many books and stories to choose from, it’s AMAZING! If reading is not your strongest subject, I hope this blog gets you excited about how fun it can be. Remember: practice makes perfect!

This goal of this activity is for students to practice their reading and comprehension skills! Throughout this blog, students will learn how to build a story cube that  will be used to answer important questions and details from the short story “The Best Bee”.

This will meet the Arizona Common Core standard (K.RI.1), by teaching students to, with prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text

What you will need:

● Provided template 

● Piece of cardboard 

● Clear tape 

● Glue 

● Scissors 

● String/yarn ● Pencil

• Printable Cube Pattern (Template)
• Colored pencils/ markers
• Scissors
• Glue 

Directions:

1. We will start off this activity by reading the short story “The Best Bee” by Ferdinand Q. Origene. Have your student read the story out loud and guide them through if necessary. 

2. Now, we will create the story cube! For this step you will need to print or copy the following outline:

3. Once that is done, have your student write down the following questions on each individual square. There should be six total questions!

1. When does this story take place?
2. Who is Billy?
3. How would you describe Billy?
4. What did Billy enjoy doing?
5. What happened on the sunny day?
6. Why was Billy brave?

4. Let’s not forget to add color! Allow your student to use colored pencils/ markers and decorate their story cube. My cube looks like this:

5. It’s time to cut out the outline! Make sure to not cut out the small tabs on top of the squares (we will need those later).

6. Now, we will begin to put the story cube together. Have your student fold along the bolded lines (the tabs too!).

7. Using some glue, stick the tabs together into a cube shape. 

8. Ta-Da! The student should have a story cube ready to be used. 

The rules for the activity are simple! After reading the short story, have your student grab their story cube and flip it. They will then need to answer the question the cube lands on. This process will be repeated until all questions are answered. 🙂 

By the end of this activity, students should feel more comfortable reading and identifying key details from a short text.

Thank you for visiting our blog! If you liked this activity and would like to see more, please visit our website and our Pinterest! See you next time!

Kindergarten: Build-A-Word

Hi, I’m Jaida!

Hello everyone! In today’s activity we are going to be going over the concept of CVC words and how we can identify these words through different exercises. This activity will help your little one strengthen their knowledge of word building and will also help them sort out different forms of similar words. I chose this
activity because I thought it would be a great way for students to not only gain the concept of word building, but also they get a chance to incorporate a series of outside resources that will help them better formulate each word. By the end of this activity, your student will have been able to better formulate certain words in the CVC category. Without further ado, let’s jump right into the activity. Happy learning!!

After this activity, students will be able to use outside materials to conduct and formulate each word. Also, they will be able to break down certain vowels from consonants in order to better form each word that is given.

This will meet the Arizona Common Core standard (K.RF.2.D), by teaching students to Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel and final sounds(phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words.* (This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.)

What you will need:

● Provided template 

● Piece of cardboard 

● Clear tape 

● Glue 

● Scissors 

● String/yarn ● Pencil

• White printer paper
• Markers/crayons
• Sharpie
• Ruler
• Color construction paper
• Scissors
• 2 Pens

Directions:

1. Start by drawing a set of circles onto a blank sheet of printer paper (side by side one another). In each circle create six indentions. On the first circle in each indention write a letter. In the second circle write two letters that correlate to the first set of letters you wrote.

2. Next, at the bottom of your paper with your ruler, draw a dotted line across the paper (this is where the student will write the word they come up with from the circles/spinners.

3. Then, draw out the letters (that you wrote in your circles) onto pieces of construction paper and cut them out. These replica letters will be used for your student to physically place onto the dotted line, after they spin the spinner.

4. Finally, gather your two pens and place them onto each spinner.

Playing the Game

1. Have your student spin the pens and whichever letters each spinner lands on, have your student create that word. Repeat this step until all letters have been used.

Now your student is hopefully able to better understand how each CVC word can correlate based on the process of matching. Now they are able to easily conjugate a CVC word with the help of this activity as a visual tool.

Thank you for visiting our blog! If you liked this activity and would like to see more, please visit our website and our Pinterest! See you next time!

61. 3rd Grade: Birdwatching Bonanza!

Hello everyone, my name is Brooke!

I am a freshman at ASU and I am currently majoring in psychology. After I graduate, I am hoping to become a pediatric occupational therapist! My goal is to create fun, educational activities that can be enjoyed by anyone! I love being in nature and exploring what the world has to offer! I enjoy going on hikes with my friends and family. I hope this craft encourages you to venture into the outdoors. I truly believe that with the right approach, learning can be fun and engaging for everyone!

The goal of this activity is to research and understand the process of bird watching. Students will be able to learn about the steps in the procedure, then they will be able to apply it to their own lives by making their binoculars and practice bird-watching on their own! After this, they will reflect on the activity by answering follow-up questions.

This will meet the Arizona Common Core standard (3.RI.3), by teaching students to describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.

What you will need:

● Provided template 

● Piece of cardboard 

● Clear tape 

● Glue 

● Scissors 

● String/yarn ● Pencil

• Toilet Paper Rolls (2)
• Tape
• Paper
• Scissors
• Writing Utensil
• Internet Access
• Coloring Utensils/Decorating Supplies (Optional)

Directions:

1. Gather all necessary materials.
2. First, your student will begin by finding an article on bird watching to utilize for their note-taking on the subject.
   • I will be using the website linked below, but feel free to find your own!
   • https://www.audubon.org/news/easy-ways-get-kids-birding 
3. Next, your student will use a piece of paper and a writing utensil to take notes on how to birdwatch. Make sure to have them take detailed notes to be most successful when they birdwatch on their own!

4. After your student has completed their notes, it is now time to create the binoculars! First, take the two toilet paper rolls and tape them together. I would recommend wrapping the tape around the rolls twice, once at the top and once at the bottom.

5. Now, to cover the tape, your student will cut out a piece of paper the size of the toilet paper roll and wrap it around the two rolls. Make sure to tape the paper down, then feel free to decorate it however you’d like!

6. Now that your student has completed their binoculars, have them take their notes and binoculars outside. It’s now time to complete their bird-watching session!
7. Stay outside as long as your student would like! Have your student take notes or pictures of any birds they discover!
8. Once your student has finished the bird watching, have them write a short reflection on their experience birdwatching compared to the notes they took.
9. Have them answer questions such as: What was the result of your birdwatching? What steps in the procedure would you take again while birdwatching? Did you find the article on birdwatching helpful? Compare your experience to the article.

Results: Your student has now completed a birdwatching session! They completed this by doing prior research on the procedures behind birdwatching. Then, they created a creative, reusable pair of binoculars, which they used to complete their birdwatching session! By birdwatching on their own they were able to practice the material they learned in the real world! After that, they were able to compare their research and their real experience to see the similarities and differences!

Thank you for visiting our blog! If you liked this activity and would like to see more, please visit our website and our Pinterest! See you next time!

16. Kindergarten: Sugar Crush

Hello there! My name is Noelia

I’m an America Reads tutor and sophomore at ASU studying psychology. Today, I decided to create a challenging but fun activity for you to solve. This activity will involve you creating candy cutouts to use when you’re solving your addition and subtraction equations, which I will provide for you.

The learning goal for this activity is for the student to practice composing and decomposing numbers using candy cutouts as a reference, to visually understand the addition and subtraction equations.

This will meet the Arizona Common Core standard (K.NBT.A.1), by teaching students to compose and decompose numbers from 11 to 19 into ten ones and some further ones, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each composition or decomposition by a drawing or equation (e.g., 18 = 10 + 8); understand that these numbers are composed of ten ones and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine ones.

What you will need:

● Provided template 

● Piece of cardboard 

● Clear tape 

● Glue 

● Scissors 

● String/yarn ● Pencil

• 2 pieces of paper
• Scissors
• Coloring materials ex. Colored pencils, markers, pens, crayons, highlighters, etc.
• Writing utensil ex. pen or pencil
• Ruler

Directions:

Writing our equations

1. With the help of a parent or guardian gather your materials a ruler, a piece of paper, and a writing utensil.
2. Help the student create a vertical line through the page that measures 4.5 inches on both sides of the line.

3. Now help the student create 3 horizontal lines going down the page with 3 inches in between each line.

4. There are 8 boxes for 8 problems the student will solve. I will demonstrate the problems the student will copy down.
5. In the first box on the top left help the student copy the following problem,” ___+ 4 = 8”

6. In the second box in the top right of the page have the student copy “10- __= 6”

7. In the third box to the left have the student copy “9+ ___= 12”

8. In the fourth box to the right have the student write “14-7= __”

9. In the fifth box to the left have the student copy “11+ 5= __”

10. In the sixth box to the right have the student write “__-13= 2”

11. In the seventh box to the left have the student copy “__+3 =17”

12. In the eighth box to the right have the student write “16- __= 15”

Drawing our candies

1. Help the student gather their coloring materials and the second piece of paper.
2. Have the student draw and color 15 pieces of candy to use for our equations.

Cutting out our candy

1. Have the parent or guardian take the scissors and cut out each piece of candy for the student.

Solving the equations

1. Using the pieces of candy, help the student fill in the blanks of the equations.

2. Once the students fill in the blank for the equation, help them use the pieces of candy and move on to the equation until all the blanks are filled.

Results: The student should have successfully filled in the blanks using the candy cutouts and with the help of a parent or guardian.

I hope this activity helped the student learn more about how to compose and decompose numbers using candy cutouts. Follow our Pinterest page, “America Reads at ASU- Parent and Family Learning Activities” or subscribe to America Reads YouTube Channel for more activities!

13. 3rd Grade: Rounding is Sweet

Hi! My name is Catherine

I am a student at Arizona State University studying Psychology. I am so excited about this week’s activity because we will be opening up our very own candy shop! To determine how much each order costs, we will be working on our rounding skills. I hope you enjoy this sweet activity!

The goal of this activity is for the student to practice rounding to the nearest 10 or 100 while working in their pretend candy shop! The student will be asked to round the number of candies in each order to the nearest 10 or 100, giving them plenty of opportunities to work on their rounding skills! By the end of this activity, your student will have a colorful and creative sign for their shop and a lot of happy customers!

This will meet the Arizona Common Core standard (3.NBT.A.1), by teaching students to use place value understanding to round whole numbers to the nearest 10 or 100.

What you will need:

● Provided template 

● Piece of cardboard 

● Clear tape 

● Glue 

● Scissors 

● String/yarn ● Pencil

• Jar
• Small candies (M&Ms, skittles, etc.)
• Straws
• Construction paper
• Tape
• Markers/colored pencils
• Scissors

Directions:

1. First, let’s set up your student’s candy shop! Make sure they have their jar and the candies out. Before we start serving customers, let’s make a sign for the store! Have your student take out a piece of construction paper. The color is their choice!

2. Next, cut out the sign! My sign is 10 inches long and 3.5 inches wide

3. Have your students think of a name for their candy shop! Be creative! Once they have their idea, have them write the shop’s name in their neatest handwriting on their sign.

4. Make sure the sign is colorful and decorated! I added some designs and pictures of candy to my sign with colored pencils to give it some more dimension.

5. Finally, let’s make sure the sign stands up. Take two straws and have your student tape the back of either end of their sign onto the top of the straws! I also used take to attach my straws to the floor, so my songs would stand. Now it looks like a banner! If you do not have straws, this step is optional.

6. It’s time to open up the shop! Open up the candies and the jar and get ready for customers! For each order, please consult the guidelines below for the price of the candy. Make sure your student rounds up!

Store Guidelines:

• The store has a standard policy for the price of candies: $1.50 per every 10 candies.
• The shop rounds up or down to calculate the price of the candies. For example, 5 candies would round up to the price of 10 and 22 candies would round down to the price of 20.
• You will notice that the price goes up by $1.50 every time the amount of candy goes up by 10. You might also notice that the shop has a special offer! Once a customer orders anything above 80 candies, the price is always the same ($12.00). The maximum amount of candies a customer can order is 100.

10 candies   =   $1.50

20 candies   =   $3.00

30 candies   =   $4.50

40 candies   =   $6.00

50 candies   =   $7.50

60 candies   =   $9.00

70 candies   =   $10.50

80 candies or above = $12.00

7. For each customer order listed below, have your student fill up the jar with the number of candies they ordered. Empty the jar after each order and get ready to refill it for the next order. For bigger orders, if you do not have enough candies, don’t fret! Have your student put as many candies as they have in the jar and pretend to fill up the rest! The goal of the activity is really for your student to practice rounding.

8. The shop just opened and customers are ready to give their orders!

• Customer #1 ordered 8 candies. How much will their order cost?
• Customer #2 ordered 12 candies. How much will their order cost?
• Customer #3 ordered 15 candies. How much will their order cost?
• Customer #4 ordered 26 candies. How much will their order cost?
• Customer #5 ordered 33 candies. How much will their order cost?
• Customer #6 ordered 57 candies. How much will their order cost?
• Customer #7 ordered 74 candies. How much will their order cost?
• Customer #8 ordered 79 candies. How much will their order cost?
• Customer #9 ordered 82 candies. How much will their order cost?
• Customer #10 ordered 95 candies. How much will their order cost?

9. After a busy day, the shop is now closed! All done!

Results: Your student should have a complete candy store sign, a jar full of candy, and a new experience with rounding to 10s and 100!

Thank you for visiting our blog! If you liked this activity and would like to see more, please visit our website and our Pinterest! See you next time!