Materials
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pet toys
Instructions
1. When you have a few extra minutes between activities, choose a topic the
children will find appealing, such as balloons or clouds, or a topic you are
studying, such as oceans or dinosaurs.
2. Ask the children to finish a simple sentence such as "Balloons are ___." Or
"Balloons like to ___." Write their responses on the chart paper, collecting
three or four ideas at a time.
3. Over the next day or two, repeat the sentence and encourage them to add to
the original responses. Write these on chart paper too.
4. Save the list for a whole-group language activity. Re-read the children's
thoughts and ask them to choose the ones that form a picture in their
minds.
5. Finally, ask them which sentence would be the best opening line to start a
poem and which would be the best closing.
6. Re-copy the poem in the order they choose and title it.
More to do Home-to-School Connection: Duplicate the poem for the children to illustrate
and take home.
