A Potato Play Kind Of Day

Today was a potato play kind of day!  I am a HUGE potato fan!  I like my potatoes mashed with garlic, baked with green onions and cheddar cheese, or even some boiled red potatoes hit the spot.  It just so happens that one of my favorite St. Patrick's Day stories is all about a BIG potato! 

At the beginning of the week we listened to this story on tape.  Then for the past two days, students assembled a potato flip book!  As a class we brainstormed the beginning, middle, and ending parts of the story.  Hello reading comprehension!!!!  I sketched everything the students brainstormed on the white board.  I made a point to ask students specific details about each character including hair color, clothes etc.  We also talked about what facial expressions to draw on the characters for each part of the story.   Students went back to their seats and got to work!  I stapled the potato flip books together.

Want to make these in your classroom?  This would be a great activity k-2.  Click HERE!

Students shared their potato flip book with a partner.  Pride for hard work was beaming on their faces! 

For this activity, students cut out potatoes and glued them as beginning sounds or ending sounds for each word.  After the potatoes were glued, they had to practice reading each word with a partner.  I went around and each child read the words to me as well.  Those that finished early could challenge themselves further by making a list of rhyming words or words that have the letter 'p' in them.     

                                        

Hard at work thinking of 'p' words!

Our final Potato Play Activity turned out EXTREMELY CUTE!  I highly recommend giving this a try with your class.  On the SMART board I flipped through Mr. and Mrs. Potato head google images.  A class discussion followed about silly potato heads, all the different parts you can put on a potato head, who has a potato head at home, and much more.  I love fun discussions like this because my shy, and english language learners come alive.  Comfortable oral language opportunities give them a chance to shine and speak up on a topic they 100% know and are an expert on!  Every student was smiling during the discussion and EVERY student was successful sharing their thoughts in front of the class.

I gave students two pieces of paper.  The Potato Portrait Play paper can be found HERE.  The other was a white paper.  Students colored their potato brown and then used the white paper to draw eyes, nose, mouth, and eyebrows.  They colored these parts in, cut them out, and glued them on their potato head.  All other parts students just drew directly on the Potato Portrait Play paper.  Next, they labeled each part of the potato head with words (eye, nose, mouth, eyebrow, and ear) cut off the bottom.  This activity can be done in one day, during centers, or spread over a couple days.  Students LOVE this activity and they do their most JUICY SPARKLE work.  We got quite a hoot and holler seeing all the potato heads finished!  This activity can be found HERE!

If you liked these activities be sure to check out my Teachers Notebook Store!  I am having a SALE on all items related to St. Patrick's Day INCLUDING this Potato Play activity pack.  Can't beat the low prices!