Crocodile Pie and Contractions ...OH MY!!!

Last year I bought Cara's wonderful and AWESOME packet Crazy for Contractions. This year I made the Contraction Crocodile. I also made some activities to go along with her packet because I LOVE to do lessons with songs and food! =)

To start off, we learned "The Contraction Crocodile Crunch".

 I had the kiddos make 2 circles. The outer circle each had a card that had the 2 words that make a contraction. The kiddos in the middle had the matching contraction card. I would call a kiddo in the outer circle to come hold the "real" Mr. CC (Mr. Contraction Crocodile). They would show their card and as we sang the song they would "pop" in and out of his tummy (the middle circle). Finally, when the verse says, "And he spits a contraction out", the kiddo with the matching contraction card hops out of the middle. We continued to do this so each child had a turn starting off in the middle and a turn in starting off in the outer circle. It is just like the "Hokey Pokey" but the kiddos with the words and contractions pop in and out.

Here is the "real" Contraction Crocodile!
The little green crocodile was on top of the Crocodile Pie

Here are the cards we used to sing "The Contraction Crocodile Crunch"

I know I am not doing a very good job explaining this but it is Friday and I am brain dead with a sore throat and headache. I also made a recording sheet so we can later play this in a literacy center.

After we returned from lunch, this is what my kiddos saw on my table.

On the outside of the balloon I had written a contraction and inside the balloon were two pieces of paper containing the words that make that contraction. For example, 1 balloon had "don't" written on it. Inside the balloon were 2 small pieces of paper containing the words "do" and "not". Since we had talked about contractions are made by letters popping out, we popped our balloons to see how each contraction had started.

I knew this would be a VERY DIFFICULT activity for me to endure. First, it would be loud and I HATE the sound of a balloon popping. Second, I knew this would excite my kiddos beyond control and I demand encourage my kiddos to have fun but still be calm.

HOLY MOLY!!!! They were laughing hysterically and I was too watching some of them try and body slam their tiny booty onto the chair and have the balloon bounce from under them. Some balloons finally had to be stabbed with scissors. While we were doing this, the kiddos had their marker boards and they were writing the 2 words that made the contraction written on the balloon. I found the wonderful idea here on You Can Make the Sunshine Anytime. Malarie has great pictures to show you how to do this.

After the bottom balloon pop boot scoot boogie, we made our own "Contraction Crocodiles". They may not be as cute as I know some of you could make them but being a person who cannot cut straight with the paper cutter, I was pretty proud of myself for making a template.

We wrote a contraction on his belly and put a noodle for the apostrophe...we called it a crocodile tooth. =)

As you can tell, I gave them no pattern for the feet. This caused LOTS of snot, tears, crawling away encouragement but I love how different they are!

Finally, we read and sang "Crocodile Pie". This is an adapted version (by me!) of the song "Alligator Pie". We sang it ...although towards the end the words don't really match the tune that well but my kiddos didn't care and either did I! We found and highlighted all of the contractions and then we ate Crocodile Pie...which was really Key Lime Pie with one of those crocodiles that grow when you put the in water on top. They LOVED it.

I hope you love these activities as much as my kiddos and I did! I am BIG {PUFFY} Heart loving how stinkin' cute their contraction crocodiles turned out!

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Question of the Day:

What does technology look like at your school? Do you have a Smartboard? Would you be interested in me sharing files I have made (if I can figure out how to do that!!!)?

Blessings from my heart to yours!