51 Activities for October, by Elizabeth Swartz
51 Skill-Building Activities You Can Use Right Now!
Diameter Dilemma
Math Provide your students with a variety of sizes of cardboard tubes, such as those from paper towels, bath tissue, wrapping paper and aluminum foil. Remove the top and bottom from different-sized oatmeal containers to create larger tubes. Along with the tubes, the children will need several sizes of balls, such as tennis balls, ping pong balls, softballs, etc. Let your students experiment to find the right size tube for each ball.Seasonal Story Starters
Writing Get students started on story writing by using rubber stamps of objects in a rebus story format. Use bats, pumpkins and ghosts to encourage students to write great spooky stories for one another to read and enjoy.Sports Sort
Reading/Math/Fine Motor Coordination Purchase a bag of foam sports-ball decorations at a craft store. Ask students to separate them into different containers according to sport, size or color. Encourage them to use the decorations in illustrations for stories about their favorite sport or about a memorable time they played an athletic game with a parent or friends.Poetry in the Park
Reading/Writing Use the following poem to reinforce alliteration, rhyming and making sense. After completing this activity, ask the children to make more suggestions of things at the park that go together.Safety Posters
Health/Art Discuss at-home as well as school fire safety. Talk about how to stay safe around strangers and when crossing streets. Ask the children to make pictures of activities that are unsafe and draw red diagonal lines across the pictures meaning "NO." Post them around the building for other students to see.Seasonal Collage
Science/Art Provide a stack of old magazines (perhaps from the school library) that students can go through and cut out pictures of particular seasonal activities. Use four large posters, one labeled for each season, for students to make collages of activities, clothing, people, nature, etc.Spooky Sounds
Music/Physical Movement Gather some tapes or CDs of Halloween-themed music to play for your students. Have them walk, skip, hunch – whatever listening to the music suggests to them. Then talk about what makes scary sounds scary. Help the children decide how to make sounds that resemble thunder, a creaking door or branches scratching on a window. Can they tell when the spooky part of a movie is coming up? Can they make recordings for one another that are spooky?Thank-You Notes
Writing October 2 provides the perfect opportunity for writing with a purpose: National Custodial Workers Day. Most school kids know and like their custodians. Write thank-you notes to all those folks who clean up after us day after day. Encourage children to illustrate the letters. Perhaps you could invite a custodian to have lunch in the room with the class so the letters could be delivered in person.My Way Out
Social Studies/Mapping During Fire Prevention Week (October 5-11), plan a review of mapping skills. Use a map of the school in class to illustrate how the students should exit in case of a fire. Then have students draw a floor plan of their house or apartment. Send it home with them to make a fire escape plan with their families. Ask them to bring the plans back to school in order to explain their procedures to one another.Pictograph Timelines
Math Print some icons or pictures from the Internet of students waking up, getting dressed, eating, getting on or off a school bus, in a classroom, cafeteria or gymnasium, etc. Laminate the pictures. Make a timeline on the floor with a piece of yarn or tape. Talk about what a timeline is and does, then ask the children to help you put the pictures of their day in order. Start with three or four and gradually add more pictures each time the activity is repeated.Skeleton Bodies
Language/Health October is the perfect month to talk about bones in the body. Get two paper skeletons and hang one in the classroom. Label some of the main bones on it. Then cut the other skeleton apart. Post a "mystery bone" somewhere else in the room. Can your students determine what the mystery bone is and where it belongs? Continue with this part-to-whole activity throughout the month.Name Animals
Art/Science Have students write their names in the center of a large white piece of drawing paper. Then ask them to design an animal of which the outlined shape of their name reminds them. When they finish the drawing, have them do some research about their chosen animal. Do they have any similarities to the animal? Is it an animal they would consider one of their favorites? Why or why not?How Much Is a Million?
Math When talking about numbers and place value, share Andrew Clements' new book, A Million Dots (Simon & Schuster, 2006). It contains exactly one million dots; along the way, it also contains dozens of interesting facts about numbers. Challenge students to make pointillism pictures with perhaps 500 dots in each and then mount them on the wall. All together, how many dots will there be?Christopher Columbus
Reading/History Take the children aboard Christopher Columbus' ships, and read about the journey in short, illustrated segments: www.bbc.co.uk.Parent Activity
Reading/MMath Practice the important skill of sequencing events on a timeline by helping your child make a timeline of their evening. What time do they get out of school? What time do they do homework, have dinner, take a bath, play, watch TV and go to bed? Younger children can make a timeline with pictures under the times that you write down. Older children can write in the details. Make a timeline for a typical Saturday or Sunday. Help your children develop the ability to tell about things in order.Costume Planning
Math/Social Studies/Art Use the social aspects of this month to get the students involved in writing flowcharts. Have them write in a flowchart the steps in planning for, creating or buying and using a costume. Students might make a flowchart of their activities on Halloween from start to finish. What about a flowchart of preparing for trick-or-treaters to come to their own house?Detailed Descriptions
Writing/Art Art is a good way to strengthen a student's ability to use and/or understand good descriptions. Provide students with large, plain sheets of paper and drawing materials. Then provide a detailed description of a fictitious person. Make it interesting by adding some sort of mystery – perhaps this person was seen leaving the principal's office with a stolen pencil sharpener. Describe first the facial features, then what the person was wearing on the top half of the body, then the lower half. Lastly describe the legs and shoes. Encourage everyone to draw as you describe. Compare and contrast the drawings. Do they all look like the same person? What details were assumed?Reminder Notes
Reading When setting a purpose for reading, Post-It® notes can be helpful. For instance, if the focus skill is problem and solution, ask students to write the problem on the sticky note as soon as they encounter it in the reading. Writing it down will help to solidify in their minds what they are trying to solve. When they find the solution later in the selection, they can add that to the sticky notes. Different-colored notes can be used for recording parts of speech, characters or parts of a story. Limit the usage, however, to just the focus skill of the day to avoid confusion.Graphing the Loot
Math Grab your students interest by having them make tally charts of the goodies they receive while trick-or-treating or at a Halloween party. Create categories like fruit, candy, stickers, gum, toys and coins. Have them use the data to make different types of graphs. Is one particular kind of graph easier to use with this type of data, or easier to read when completed? Why?Handwritten Pets
Penmanship/Art When introducing cursive handwriting, it's helpful for students to have a way to remember some of the letters. Make large samples, then let students use the samples as a starting point for inventing animals or objects around the letter.Construction Anywhere?
Science/Writing Have students on the lookout for a local construction project. Call or visit someone involved with the construction, like the contractor or project manager. (Be sure the construction project will be completed within the school year.) Explain that you'd like to take some photographs and keep a log of what's happening so students can understand the process. Have your students take digital photos and keep journals of what they observe at the site. When the construction project is complete, put together a sequential article about it. Present a finished copy to your contact person as well as to the site's owners.Grab a Magazine
Reading Invite your librarian to come into your class and give a presentation about the children's magazines your school receives. After the presentation, put a Venn diagram on the board and have students compare and contrast books and magazines. They might list three advantages that magazines have and three advantages that books have. End the lesson by having students write an essay about their favorite magazine. If your school doesn't received many magazines, consider asking local businesses to donate subscriptions. Ask the librarian which magazines would benefit the most students.Metrics for Me
Math National Metric Week is the week of the tenth month that contains the tenth day (October 7-13). It is the perfect week to reinforce or reteach metrics. Make it a Metric Week in your classroom with special measurement activities each day. Spend some time one day measuring volume, another length, etc. Emphasize that scientists use the metric system because it is recognized worldwide.State by State
Social Studies/Research Whether studying your own state, regions of states or comparing and contrasting particular states, start with The World Almanac For Kids for concise and specific information about each state. The information is presented in a consistent format to allow you to decide if you want the students to graph comparative populations or areas. Perhaps select two states and have students make Venn diagrams of natural or manufactured resources. Websites are provided for further information as well as individual state map outlines and a pictorial representation of where the state is within the union.Extraordinary Eggs
Reading/Science October 10 is World Egg Day. Many thousands of people rely on eggs as a source of food and protein. Egg facts, data and math activities are available on the "Kids and Family" section of the American Egg Board website at www.aeb.org. Under the heading "Educators," you'll find facts, contests and a curriculum for grades 4-6 that follow the journey of an egg from "hen to home." Information for making charts and graphs abounds as well as recipes and various craft ideas.Creating Landforms
Social Studies/Art Many landforms can be created using self-hardening clay (available at craft stores) and/or craft foam. Cover the work area with newspapers. Have students shape the clay into the desired form, let it dry overnight and then paint it to represent the correct landscape. For low-leveled land and waterways, use pieces of foam that can be cut and then either painted themselves or covered with drawing paper and painted.Picture This
Reading/Art/Listening Help students practice visualizing by setting that purpose before you read aloud. After reading, give students drawing materials and let them draw the setting as they visualized it. Check back with the reading after the drawings are complete to see if the students are satisfied with their renditions or if there is some other detail they might want to include.Parent Activity
Science/Health October is World Egg Month and a great opportunity to teach children about how to safely handle, store and cook eggs. Allow them to help with egg preparation and teach them the importance of careful cleanup of cooking surfaces and utensils as well as the proper refrigeration of eggs. Use an index box to collect a set of favorite recipes in which eggs are an ingredient. Help each child start his or her own recipe box.Timeline Time
Social Studies Have each child write his or her birth date in large letters with a dark marker on an index card. Take the class outside along with a big box of sidewalk chalk. Draw a long, bright line across the playground. Start at the left side and make a mark on the line for each month of the year, following either the calendar year or the academic year. Have the students place their index cards on the timeline in the order of their birth dates.Graphing Coordinates
Social Studies/Math Obtain a map that's approximately 8" x 11" of your state and overlay it with a blank grid transparency. Photocopy these for a map of your state on which you can write coordinates. You can then use that map in reteaching coordinates and/or the layout of the state. Call out coordinates and ask students what town, road or river is at that place, or call out the place and ask students to give the coordinates. Ask a travel bureau to donate some road maps for your class and transfer their learning to actual road maps with an index.A Pencil's View
Poetry Share this poem while holding a red pencil. Talk about the poem as being from the viewpoint of an inanimate object. Then ask students to write a poem from the perspective of a familiar inanimate object.Determining Importance
Reading/Writing Read aloud a beginning mystery from the "Cam Jensen" series by David A. Adler (Puffin) or the "A to Z Mysteries" series by Ron Roy (Random House). Ask the students to keep an ongoing list of information that could be clues. At the end of each chapter, discuss the list of information. Is there anything that might not really be a clue? After finishing the story, go back over the lists and decide what was important information for solving the mystery and what was just interesting information. Ask students to do this activity while watching a TV show.Story Starters
Writing/Art Coloring books often include action pictures, varied settings and different characters. Get some coloring books, tear out the pages and give one to each student to color or paint. Ask them to write a story inspired by their picture, using the picture to illustrate the beginning, middle or end of their story.Place Travel
Social Studies/Writing People have long imagined time travel and space travel. When teaching students about a different region this year, introduce them to "place travel." If you live in the mountains and are teaching about the desert, at the end of the unit have students write a story of what it would be like to step through a magic doorway into a desert. How might the weather, environment,food choices, clothing and housing needs, etc. be different? Wherever you live, ask students to travel to the opposite extreme and imagine an adventure.Bats in the Night
Science/Art At the conclusion of a study of bats, have students use flat foam trays to make prints. First, draw a basic bat outline on a piece of paper. Then lay the drawing on the upside-down styrofoam tray and trace the drawing, pressing down into the tray. Remove the drawing and trace it more deeply into the tray. Roll printer's ink on the tray and press the tray onto a piece of large white paper. After the ink dries, cut out the bat shapes and mount them all in collage fashion on a bulletin board. Make a night scene by using dark blue background paper. Attach insects, the moon, tree outlines, etc.Fish Food
Science/Nutrition Health experts are recommending that Americans eat fish twice a week to improve overall health. October is National Seafood Month, a good time to take your students to the National Fisheries Institute site at www.aboutseafood.com. Here they can find Fish Facts, Recipes, Games and Activities. They can also write fish-related questions to a dietitian. Use this site to begin a unit on seafood from around the world. Into what categories is seafood divided? Under what conditions is it harvested? What is the healthiest way to prepare it? Conduct writing activities about favorite seafood meals and fantasy writing about what it would be like to fish for King Crab off the coast of Alaska or tuna in the open sea.Engineering Is Elementary
Science Stories and activities dealing with engineering are available at www.pbs.org. This website shows kids how things come apart and go back together. There are activities dealing with balance and force, simple machines, earth materials and air and water.Description Debate
Language While reviewing adjectives and adverbs, have students make a list of the descriptive words used in the book they are reading in a literature circle or guided reading group. Do they agree with the way things are described? What would they change? How would they describe a place or person differently? Take the list of words and divide it by adjectives and adverbs. Challenge them to use those adjectives and adverbs in their own writing.Transformations
Science Demonstrate to your students how blending or heating foods can transform their appearance, consistency, state and flavor. Compare white milk and milk with the additions of molasses, maple or chocolate syrup. Compare bread with toast. Compare cornbread mix from the box, after the ingredients have all been combined and then after it's been baked. Describe the changes that have taken place in each instance.World Food Day
Current Events October 16 is World Food Day, a time to raise awareness of the food needs around the world and everyone's responsibility to meet those needs. Discuss the problems of overproduction and waste as well as poverty and drought. Assign groups to study various African, Middle Eastern, South American and European nations for data about population and poverty levels. Discuss food production as well as food imports and exports. Have each group present the material found. Then compare and contrast nations from different continents. What have your students learned? Can they offer any suggestions toward ending world hunger?Student Study Guides
Social Studies/Writing Throughout the study of any unit, have students use their writing and computer skills to design their own study guides. Put a group of students in charge of a vocabulary review page that might consist of a word search or a crossword puzzle. Put other groups in charge of making charts or graphs that would help in studying the data from a unit. Flow charts are particularly helpful if something needs to be remembered in sequence. Make complete sets of the study guide available for all students who helped create it. Perhaps one class could create the study guide for one unit and another class for the next unit, thereby allowing students to share their writing talents with another class.Relative Size
Reading/Math Give students an exciting introduction to the world of ratio and proportion using everyday things like hair, marbles and germs by reading If Dogs Were Dinosaurs by David M. Schwartz (Scholastic, 2005). Enjoy the story and illustrations throughout the book, then come to an understanding of the math by reading the mathematical explanation to each "what if" at the end of the book.Local Laws
Civics Invite your local mayor to talk to the students about some of the laws in your community. Is it against the law to cross the street anywhere you want if your town doesn't have a red light? Is it against the law to take your dog on the subway? How are laws made for your local community? What do the local taxes pay for? Why did your mayor decide to run for public office? Does he or she like being the mayor? What was his or her prior career? Would any of your students like to grow up and be the mayor?Read-Aloud Guests
Reading Listening to someone read aloud is a wonderful way to hear a story and also a wonderful way to learn diction and inflection. Invite members of the community you know to be excellent readers to come into the class for a read-aloud session. You could contact a local librarian for suggestions, as well as grandparents, pastors or retired teachers. This is also a great way to show students that people of all ages enjoy books and love to share that enjoyment.Whole-Grain Health
Health Bring in several different types of bread, cereals and uncooked and cooked grains for students to see and sample. Include grains less common in the Western diet, such as quinoa and millet. Look over, taste and read the labels on the cereals. Talk about the benefits of whole grains as well as the importance of limiting sugars. Can your students make suggestions about ways to incorporate more whole grains (and less sugar) into their own diets? Do they read nutrition labels when shopping with their parents? Do they have a wide variety of food choices in the cafeteria? On what basis do they make their choices?Technology Updates
Science For a weekly technology update that is written by teachers, writers, artists, technologists and students, visit www.4kids.org. You'll find games, activities and information for developing math and science skills. Students are even invited to answer weekly Kid Quest challenge questions.The Experience
Writing/Poetry Read the following poem several times to the class. Ask your students to think about how they feel when they're reading. After discussing, give them the starter "When I..." and ask them to fill in the blank with a favored activity and what it is like to experience it.Horses, Cars, Trains
Problem-Solving/Reading/Science Ask students to compare and contrast life before the automobile with life after the automobile. What were the main advantages of cars over horses or walking? Now compare and contrast automobiles with public transportation (in cities)? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Find out what your class knows about global warming and gasoline shortages. What might be some environmental problems caused by cars? Discuss the future of transportation. Are there any suggestions from the past that might predict the future?Parent Activity
Reading October is Children's Magazine month and a great time to see what's available for your kids as they are getting older. Go with them to the public library and/or encourage them to sign out different kinds of magazines that interest them from the school library. Subscribe to a magazine your child shows interest in and read it together. Talk about what they find most fascinating about the articles. Talk with them about advertising so they understand the power of persuasive writing and will not mistake ads for articles.Invention Timeline
Social Studies/Math Take the class to visit the United States Patent and Trademark Office at www.uspto.gov and then to the Kids' Pages section. Click on Time Machine, where each student can find out what famous or not-so-famous invention received its patent on his or her birthday. The class can then make an invention timeline based on the birthdays of your students and the dates of the patented inventions.Multicultural Baseball
Reading Sue Corbett's new book, Free Baseball (Dutton, 2006) is a well-written, funny, multilayered story about a young Cuban boy who, in the process of searching for knowledge of his father, accidentally becomes a batboy for a minor league baseball team. The book also contains a glossary of baseball terminology and Spanish terms and phrases. Upon completion of the read-aloud, have students compare and contrast Felix's lifestyle with their own, and what they've learned about Cuba and the United States.
Primary Grades
At The Park
by Heidi Bee Roemer
What goes together at the park?
Picnic and park
Puppy and bark
Fountain and spray
Springtime and May
Sunshine and sky
Hot dog and pie
Duckling and waddle
Baby and bottle
Ice cream and lick
Camera and click
What else goes together at the park?
Middle Grades
Song of the Red Pencil
by Beverly McLoughland
Your test is done, now I can't wait
For my chance upon the stage
I'd love to do my checkmark dance
All up and down the page,
I'm famous for my high kick
And my shuffly, scratchy beat –
You'll be thrilled to get your answers wrong
Just to see me kick my feet!
Intermediate Grades
When I Read
by Beverly McLoughland
When I read, I like to dive
In the sea of words and swim,
Feet kicking fast across the page Splashing words against my skin.
When I read, I like to float
Like the gull that trusts the sea,
The ebb and flow of tidal words
Easy under me.
THIS MONTH'S CONTRIBUTIONS:
Marie Cecchini, West Dundee, IL, #1, #39; Bernice Regenstein, Rochester, NY, #6; Joan Macey, Binghamton, NY, #12; Helen Wubbenhorst, Mesa, AZ, #17, #20; Harry T. Roman East Orange, NJ, #48, #50.
POETRY: "At The Park" by Heidi Bee Roemer, Orland Park, IL. "Song of the Red Pencil" and "When I Read" by Beverly McLoughland, Williamsburg, VA.
Illustrations by H. Robert Loomis.
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