READING READINESS ACTIVITIES FOR INDIAN UNIT
Numerous methods
are used to teach and reinforce letter recognition and phonetic sounds. The methods are varied day to day depending on the children''s progress through out the year. The method is not important. The fact that the children do some writing using phonics
every day is important.
The following are examples of just a few methods for teaching letter recognition and phonetic sounds.
DEVELOPING SMALL MUSCLE CONTROL:
*Cutting, pasting, drawing, threading, sewing and tracing help develop small muscle control necessary for writing. So there! We have a good excuse to make lots of Indian crafts during the course of this unit.
*There are so many fun crafts for this unit that we just have to pick and choose. Some we do this year, some another year. But one of the student''s favorite Indian projects seems to be the
drum.
You will need some type of
coffee can or oatmeal can for the drum.
You will need
paper to cover the can.
I like to use crumpled brown paper to cover the can. It looks like leather.
To get ready for the project have one brown grocery bag for each child. Cut off the bottom of a bag. I do this with one chop on the paper cutter. Next, cut the bag open. This will be the
leather bear skin. This piece of bear skin will be used for several projects.
Next, crumple the brown paper to make it soft and look like
leather bear skin .
To soften the paper the
students wad the paper into a ball and mash and stomp on the ball of paper to make it as small as possible. Smooth out the ball, wad it up again and mash and stomp some more. (You might want to do this outside.) The students should do this five or six times until the bear skin is very soft and does not make noise when you shake it. When the softening has been completed the
teacher marks each skin with the correct size for the different cans.
Students cut out the section the teacher marked and add designs with markers, colors and paints. (We have even used grass, acorns, weeds and dirt to make colors on our drums.) Add Elmer''s glue to the back of the skin and wrap it around the sides of the drum.
You can make holes to add a piece of yarn and feathers.
*Thread craft beads to make an Indian necklace or add a
string of beads to a drum or vest.
Making a safe NEEDLE:Prepare the yarn or string by painting the tip (about the size of a needle) with Elmer''s glue. After the glue dries for several hours, the tip will become a hard
needle .
Beads can be easily threaded.
Every year I am amazed at how quiet and intent the students become while threading beads.
The stem or shaft of a feather can be securely held when slipped between a bead and the yarn. Gluing is not necessary.
*
Making a shield. Teacher cut cardboard circles the size of a shield for each student. ( I used cardboard from the sides of a refrigerator box and a husband with a jig saw for this.) Make two holes in the center of the shield to thread a strip of elastic through and tie the elastic in a knot. The elastic will only show on the back and will act as the handle for the shield. You could simply make a paper strap for the handle.
Next, the students lay the shield on their piece of bear and trace the shape of the shield. Mdesign on the bear skin, cut it out and glue it to the cardboard. You could add a strip of leather and feathers.
*
Making a vest: Make a bear skin from a brown grocery bag.
(See instruction for this under direction for making a drum.)
Soften the paper and cut an opening for the head.
Allow students to use their imaginations.
Cut fringes and add designs.
*
Shucking corn, grinding corn and making corn cakes. It makes a mess, corn kernels all over the room, but the children love it! And it will be a first for most of them.
I collect the field corn in the summer from a local farmer.
I also cut some stalks with corn. I try to get 3 ears for each child.
We learned how the Indians planted corn with three little fish for fertilizer. We learned why corn was important when game was scarce.
We used a stone grinder to grind the corn into meal. Then we made corn "pan" cakes.
(We used Jiffy Mix for the corn cakes.)
*We glued some of the corn on a drawing showing the way Indians planted corn.
* We used the corn to practice adding and subtracting.
*We put some of the corn kernels in a little basket in the house keeping center.
WRITING: Students make a Indian
word book.
I got this idea after reading
Word Bird''s Thanksgiving Words by Jane Belk Moncure to the class. You can order this book from Amazon.com.
Fold several pages in half and staple together.
Each day write a few words and draw a picture pertaining to the word.
Teacher guide the students to suggest words that relate to the facts learned about Indians.
Example: A student suggests the word hunting .
Teacher guides the students to spell each sound in the word. Teacher asks for the first sound heard when you say hunting . Students give the sound. The teacher then asks the students what letter makes that sound. As the students say the letter for the sound, the teacher writes the letter on the chalkboard and the students write the letter in their word book until the word is spelled. Students then draw a picture to correspond to the word.
This practice develops letter and sound recognition.
COMPUTER SLIDESHOW TO REINFORCE READING READINESS SKILLS AND FACTS ABOUT NATIVE AMERICAN INDIANS:
Students use a drawing program such as Paint, Story Weaver or kid pix to draw pictures that relate to American Natives: horse, canoe, cooking, drum, basket, bow and arrow, spear, buffalo, deer, fish, etc.
With the teachers'' help, or the use of picture/word cards from the writing center, the students write a label for the picture.
Teacher puts the students'' pictures into a slideshow presentation using a program such as Kid Pix or Power Point.
Each student tells a sentence about his picture as the slide is played.
If you don''t know how to do this, ask the computer teacher.
It is not too complicated and the students will learn to recognize the word on each slide, plus remember facts about Indian life from viewing their slideshow over and over.
USING A DIGITAL CAMERA AND DRAMATIZATION TO REINFORCE READING READINESS SKILLS AND FACTS ABOUT NATIVE AMERICANS:
Student dress up in their vest and headbands.
Teacher takes a picture of each child in a group with other students: some grinding corn, some planting corn, some fishing, some hunting, some doing the rain dance, some cooking, some sleeping in the teepee, some sitting with their children around the fire teac