Summer Story Activities with Dollar $tore Finds!

A trip to a local dollar store is always an adventure for teachers as we keep an eye out for items to use in our classrooms. Today, I netted a package of 75 plastic multi-colored counting chips, an inch and a half in diameter. With summer approaching, I also found a child’s small sand pail.

Back at my desk, I took out my set of MindWing’s Icon STAMPede Rubber Stamp Set and stamped out a complete episode, one stamp per chip. I put the chips in the pail and will use them as a closing activity next week with my small group of students.

Some ideas…

1. Each child could randomly pull a chip from the pail and review the story part using the small group reading selection for that day.
2. One child could take all the chips out and put them in order.
3. If you are working on the beginning, middle, and end of the story, the children can sort them accordingly.
4. You could use just the particular chips for the parts of the story you are working on and have those in the pail to review with students.

Pair the activity with any number of books about a trip to the beach… Spot Goes to the Beach by Eric Hill and Clifford and the Big Storm by Norman Bridwell come to mind. As summer gets closer, this is a quick, enjoyable way to review the SGM^® icons!