At our school, every child has a buddy in another class. Every fourth grader has a first grade buddy.

During an initial class period, fourth graders took turns reading the pages of Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, out loud to each other. On each page they found examples of phrases related to one or more of the five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.)

Each fourth grader then received a small piece of white paper on which s/he made a colorful illustration of a phrase.

The fourth graders then scanned these illustrations (with the help of their teacher,) and saved them as jpeg graphics. They imported the graphics into Kidspiration, and (all together) we created an activity.

The teacher placed the finished Kidspiration activity file onto each classroom computer.

The next day, fourth graders met with their first grade buddies. The fourth graders read Owl Moon out loud to their buddies, and then teams of fourth and first graders worked on the classroom computers, discussing and completing the Kidspiration activity together.

Fourth graders (again, with the help of their teacher) printed a copy of the finished Kidspiration activity for their first grade buddies to take home.

 

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Download Kidspiration Activity File