It's hard to believe that this school year is just about over! But that just means we have to cram as much fun as possible into this little bit of time. A camping theme is just what we need!
Bring on the Happy Campers!
This tent set-up has been an exciting addition to the room. I have been choosing two kids at a time to get to use our campsite. They can choose to sit in the chairs, or sit inside the tent while they do their work.
I hung this display in the hall, but it would also make a cute bulletin board display. I took a picture of each student looking "excited". The kids got to color their camper any way they wanted, then we glued their pictures in the window of their campers.
Or if you don't want to print out pictures of the students, you can just have them draw themselves in the camper!
We made a class graph about if they would rather camp in a tent or a camper.
And we also complete these individual graphs.
Write Around the Room Activities are always a big hit, so one with a camping theme is no exception!
And just for a little more fun, we find camping words on this word search!
Next to our tent, I have a fishing station set up. The fishing poles are just dowel rods cut to size with twine tied onto one end, and a magnet tied to the end of the twine. The paper fish each have a paper clip attached to their mouths so they can be "caught"!
The kids can sort the fish by size of color.
Thanks to Lucky Little Learners for these awesome QR codes for some camping read alouds!
For a little crafting time, we made handprint campfires.
Then of course, who doesn't need a new bookmark?!
And what camping trip could be complete without some s'mores!?! We made the s'mores mix by combining marshmallows, chocolate chips, and Golden Graham cereal.
Then there's my new favorite Happy Camper shirt! This shirt is so comfy and soft, and it really ties the theme together, don't you think!?
And what thematic unit would be complete without a ton of read alouds?!
These are some of favorites:
(These are Amazon affiliate links)
A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee, by Chris Van Dusen
Llama Llama Loves Camping, by Anna Dewdney
Curious George Goes Camping, by H.A. Rey
Biscuit Goes Camping, by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping, by Peggy Parish
Just Me and My Dad, by Mercer Mayer
Maisy Goes Camping, by Lucy Cousins
Flashlight, by Lizi Boyd
S Is for S'mores: A Camping Alphabet, by Helen Foster James
When We Go Camping, by Margriet Ruurs
If you liked these ideas, you can grab my Happy Campers unit on Teachers Pay Teachers!
We've also been having fun reviewing reading words with the 'ee' & 'ea' spelling patterns with this hide & find pocket chart game called "Where's the Bear?" To play, I hide the bear card behind one of the word cards, then students take turns coming up one at a time to read a word. Then they look behind the card to see if the bear is hiding behind it. If he's not there, then it's another students turn.
I also created these interactive Boom cards to use during our camping unit. The students arrange the words to create sentences about camping and are provided immediate feedback to know if they were correct or not.
Happy Camping!
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