Let's go on a Treasure Hunt!

Ahoy!

Would you like to go on a TREASURE HUNT with your class? First, let's begin by making a Treasure Map!

I did this activity with my grade 02 students while we were learning about Maps and Directions as part of Social Studies. It surely made my class exciting and fun filled.

You will need:

• an A4 sheet (you could also use a brown paper bag to make the map look more realistic)
• a pencil
• a ball-point pen
• paints
• a medium paint brush
• felt pens

Let's begin!

Ask the students to draw an outline of their treasure map using a pencil. They could start by deciding the spot for hiding their treasure and drawing the route to reach the point. 

A compass rose plays an important role hence that too should be shown clearly. Then, ask them to add a few more features like - mountains, trees, sharks in the water, pirate ships, snakes and so on. 

Now, ask them to trace over the pencil mark with the ball-point pen. This will ensure that the drawing is clearly visible while painting the map. A ball-point pen is important as it will prevent the ink from smudging.

It's time to add some colours!

Kids can use brown for the land area and blue for water. Remind them to use very little paint and enough water as making the map too dark could hide the details on the map. Once the paint is dry, trace over the map using felt pens. Students can highlight the treasure hiding spot by drawing a red cross.

We have now reached the most interesting part of this activity. Are you ready?

Tear the edges of the map with your hands. Be very careful while doing that.

Now crush it. Yes, you read it right! Crush your map to make a paper ball

Finally, open it and you are ready to go on a TREASURE HUNT with you class!

I hope you found the activity interesting. Looking forward for comments.

Beyond Our Imagination!

Hello!

Even sky is not the limit for the little ones and their imagination!

Through this post I want to share one such experience of mine with my batch of 7.5 year olds.

While learning about stars and constellations, we did an art activity as an integration with the topic. I was taken by surprise to see their creativity.  

This activity requires very simple preparation and it's easy to do.

You could give a name to the activity. I called it : Finding My Constellation

You will need:      

• Black kg card sheet/chart paper
• Silver acrylic paint 
• Paint brushes 
• Some water
• Pencil

Begin by diluting the paint with very little water. Add water only if it is required. The consistency should be on the thicker side. Once it's ready ask the kids to dip their paint brush and sprinkle on the black kg card. The silver dots will look like tiny stars.

Now comes the interesting part!

After the paint is dry, ask the kids to look at the stars carefully and try to find their own constellation. Once they have visualised, ask them to use a pencil to connect the dots/stars and draw them.

 

Believe me, you will be wonder struck by looking at their creation.

To highlight the constellation, you could ask the kids to make the dots/stars a little thicker. Finally, ask them to write a line or two describing their constellation and giving a name to it. 

They will simply love doing that!

Have a sharing time during which students show their constellation to everyone and talk about it. 

While my class was busy finding their own constellations, I found mine too! I called it The Shiny Seahorse! :)

Here are a few pictures of constellations created by my grade 02 students.

Think Thick!

Hello!

You may find this post really helpful if you take Reading/Reading Comprehension in your classes. Well, it is actually applicable to all teachers and across subjects but through reading we can make the most out of it.

Asking questions not just makes our class interactive but also helps our children think. Reasoning skills play an important role in our teaching world, not just for students but also for us teachers.  

Let's see how we can help children think and reason better. One of the ways is by asking them to answer and make THIN and THICK QUESTIONS.

Beginning with the THIN QUESTIONS..

Examples of thin questions:

• How many?
• Who?
• What?
• Where?
• When?

Answers to THIN QUESTIONS can be found right in the text. They are:

• Easier to answer
• Yes or No Questions
• Usually only one answer

While reading story books or any text encourage children to find answers to such questions and also make THIN questions. Play a game within your group where kids make their own questions and everybody takes turns to answer. 

Examples of thick questions:

• Why?
• How come?
• What if..?
• How did?
• What does the author mean?
• What would happen?
• What might..?
• I wonder...?

Answers to THICK QUESTIONS cannot be found right in the text. Kids need to put on their THINKING CAPS!!

• Many answers to same question
• Need to use evidence from the text
• Use background knowledge
• Difficult to find directly in the text

Play the same game as mentioned above for helping kids to answer and make THICK questions. 

By doing an activity on 'Thick and Thin Questions', kids not just learn how to find clues for the answers but they also learn to make questions. Thinking and reasoning skills are further deepened.

I hope you find this activity useful. Keep reading for further ideas!! :)

Happy to receive comments!!