Tuesday, August 23, 2011

A New Beginning!

Tomorrow marks my first day back in my classroom for the 2011-2012 school year. It seems fitting that as I begin to brainstorm and create new activities to do with my students over the school year, I also begin to share them with you. Tonight (after a back-to-school trip to my all time favorite store, Michael's!), I'm creating a new sign to hang boldly above the white board in my classroom that reads, "Explore, look closely, ask questions about the world around you." I hope that this sign becomes a bit of a mantra for myself and for my students. I have also planned my opening day activity around this theme and it's super simple... definitely one that you can do with your kids at home, at the doctor's office, on the bus, just about anywhere!

How Many Questions?

Materials:
Photographs from magazines

Show the children an interesting photograph (National Geographic photos are great for this activity). How many questions can they ask about the photo? You can make it into a bit of a competition by keeping track of who can come up with most or who can come up with 25 questions first.

Did I mention it was simple?