Let’s Create: Getting to the Core of Earth Day

Working with core words? Whether or not you are following along with our Year of Core Words or using some other approach, Earth Day is the perfect time to practice those reusable, recyclable words. Last week, we talked about using our April core words (2013 List: big, busy, do, drink, feel, he, in, make, out, some, tell, who) in literacy activities.

Today, we’ll talk about using them in arts and crafts activities. Let’s create with core words!

1. Choose your craft project. A quick Pinterest search yields lots of possibilities.
2. Consider which words to focus on. Some of the April words (do, make, out, some) work well with any craft project.
3. Review the project through the lens of your goal: Modeling and eliciting core words. Decide how you will implement it so that the focus is the core words, not the art itself.
4. Make an activity schedule showing the steps for the project.
5. Optional: Print the April core words, cut them out, and put them on a keychain ring for a bit of extra modeling
6. Use aided language input, communication temptations, recasts, and more as you go through the activity. Remember, our goal is building language, not creating ‘the perfect project.’ Some of my epic fails art-wise, have yielded the most fun and interesting language experiences.

Here are some examples of projects and phrases with the core words that can be highlighted.

Seed Bombs:

• Let’s DO this one.
• It FEELS mushy.
• MAKE it go. [blender]
• DO you want SOME?
• Take SOME OUT.
• Put SOME IN.
• MAKE it BIG.
• TELL me what to DO.
• WHO should DO that?

Marble Painted Earth or Coffee Filter Earth:

• Let’s DO it.
• DO you want to MAKE one?
• TELL me what color to get.
• DO SOME more.
• WHO wants to…?
• Take OUT SOME markers/paint.
• Put SOME in.
• Can I FEEL it?
• What DO you think?
• I can TELL that you liked/didn’t like this.

Have you had successes in using activities like these to build core vocabulary? We’d love to hear about it.