S is for Syllables and Scarecrows...

S is for syllables and scarecrows...In October I read There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro to lead up to this Scarecrow Glif activity.  Students love sneezing "AAACHOO" with the reading of
the story.  They giggle every time they sneeze and love looking at the animal characters expressions as the old lady eats crazy things.
We predict what will happen at the end of the story.  Then when I reveal that the old lady made a scarecrow, we have a discussion about what a scarecrow is and why they are used.  

We also read The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything by Linda Williams.  Students make connections between these two stories. "They both have an old lady and
a scarecrow." etc.

One of our objectives is to make comparisons between ourselves and others so we use this Scarecrow Glif as a perfect opportunity to make these comparisons visual.  In small groups, I use the mimio file to project the scarecrow  and questions up on the whiteboard as students have the questions and scarecrow at their seat.  We read and answer the questions together and make our scarecrows according to the glif directions.  As students are coloring/gluing, I ask them to look at their friends scarecrow.  Does it look like yours?  What does that mean?  "Bob and I both have birthdays in the fall."  "Jimmy and I both have brown eyes and two syllables in our name but I have 4 letters in my name and he has 5."  We then go back and add raffia to the hands, feet, and hat area of the scarecrow.  Fun, fun, fun...Happy Fall! :)

Click here to download Scarecrow Glif

Click here to download mimio file (must have mimio software to open this)