Learning letters is the fundamental skill in learning to read. Help young students learn their letters by engaging many of their senses. Give each student a foam board, a paper cup of toothpicks, and small, colorful marshmallows. Call out a letter and have students push a toothpick into a marshmallow and then into the foam board. Have them push enough toothpicks and marshmallows to shape the letter you called. Offer praise for good work that you see, and display examples of success to the class.
Kindergarten or first grade is about the time many children lose a tooth. Celebrate this milestone with your students by playing How Many Teeth Tall? Give each student a "tooth," about 2 inches tall, cut from white construction paper. Instruct them to use this tooth to determine how many teeth tall a variety of classroom items are. Help organize their data by preparing a worksheet listing the classroom items that they are to measure, with a space for their answer. Reconvene as a class at the end of the work to compare measurement findings.
When studying other people and cultures, introduce your students to the ancient Egyptian way of life. Show your students samples of artwork from a library book or found on the Web. Give each student a large sheet of white construction paper. Using a black permanent marker, model how to draw the outline of an Egyptian person dressed in ancient clothing. Encourage them to add hieroglyphics around their images. Give each student a small sponge. Show how to dip the sponge in yellow or gold paint and how create a look of aged paper by dabbing it throughout the paper. Allow 24 hours to dry the artworks, and display them prominently.
Children love to collect and show off unusual things they find outside. Fasten a piece of duct tape about 10 inches long, sticky side up, around each students' non-dominant wrist. Have the student go into the school yard and find items they might like to show off or talk about, sticking them on the tape. Once all the wristbands are covered, have your students reconvene to talk about their findings.
For an extra challenge, encourage your kindergartners or first-graders to place their findings in a pattern. For example: pine needle, flower petal, pine needle, flower petal, and so on.