Literacy Bags Make Homework Fun!

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Literacy Bags by any other name are just as fun!

Book Bags. Home Bags, Book Buddies, Story Bags...

Literacy Bags are a fun way to help children share what they are learning with their families. Children take these literacy bags home, read the stories, do the activities with their families and then write about their experiences in the journal.

Soon you will have your students begging for the opportunity to take their homework home.

Literacy Bags 

Literacy BagJournal

Each Literacy Bag includes a stuffed animal, a fiction book, a non-fiction book, a few suggested activities, and a journal to record your experiences and suggest other activities. It also includes a list of materials and directions to any games, a journal to record their activities and a letter to the parents.

When children return the bag to school they get to share their experience with the class. This makes homework fun for the whole family.

Each of the following links offer perspectives as to what constitutes a great literacy bag.
SAMPLE LETTER TO PARENTS
Dear First Grade Parents
Have Journal...Will Travel: Promoting Family Involvement in Literacy
Students take turns taking home a book bag that includes a stuffed toy, a book to read with their families, art supplies, a topic to discuss, and a journal to complete as a family. The students then return the bag the following day and share their entries with the class. After every student has taken the bag home, the journal is bound into a book for the classroom library. The teacher then selects a new topic and book to start a second rotation. The goal is to invite parents to join their children in these literacy activities.
Reading Rockets : Family Literacy Bags: A School-to-Home Project
Elements of a great literacy pack

* An engaging theme - one that will spark thinking, creativity, and observation skills
* Three or four theme-based books (fiction and nonfiction), selected at an appropriate reading level
* Related interactive activities, for example: puzzles, sorting/matching cards, dramatic play props, art supplies
* Letter to parents explaining the purpose of the literacy bags and a brief list of reading tips
* Parent response form (optional)
* Checklist of the contents to make returns to school easy
* Colorful, inexpensive backpack to store and transport everything. One with a clear plastic sleeve is perfect for slipping in a labeled drawing or photograph that illustrates the theme.
Organizing Literacy Bags
Ms. Meacham Discusses how she uses tote bags, clothing racks, library cards and paint paddles to organize the literacy bags in her classroom.

Suggested Contents for Each Literacy Bag: 

Literacy bag

Start with a book or theme the children love. Then include each of the following items:

1. A letter to the parents.

2. A stuffed animal

3. A non-fiction book

4. A fiction book

5. A list of suggested FUN activities generally related to skills that have been taught in the classroom but generally need reinforcement.

6. A journal for recording the Stuffed Animal's adventures

7. A list of contents

I Didn't Do My Homework Because... 

Homework

Why didn't you do your homework? Take Home Literacy Bags can change the excuses into pleas for the opportunity to take home the homework.

I was abducted by green-skinned, three-eyed, pig-snouted space aliens and they incinerated my homework with their death rays.

3 points

We had homework?!

3 points

I don't believe in dwelling on the past.

1 point

A gust of wind blew it out of my hand.

1 point

Our furnace broke and we had to burn it to keep ourselves from freezing.

1 point

I felt it wasn't challenging enough.

1 point

It's in the Bag 

A new idea - literacy bags tailored to different themes - turns into a multi-age, interdisciplinary project.

literacy bags
It's in the Bag By Maribelle H. Betterton and Lynne C. Ensworth discusses one way that a group of teachers brought Literacy Bags to their school.

Let Your Thoughts Out of the Bag 

Can Literacy Bags replace traditional homework?

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No! Literacy Bags are not structured enough.

ElizabethJeanAllen says:

Kids need structure. I think a combination of the two would work best.

shadowknight345 says:

NO WAY

literacy bags are not structured enough.

kab says:

No. While I think they are great, if used as a replacement for homework, they can too easily be rushed through.

Yes! Homework should be open ended, helping parents to connect with their children.

Evelyn_Saenz says:

Homework can entice children into practicing basic skills without their knowing it.

Josh says:

i like this site

fotolady49 says:

These are a great way to make learning and homework more fun and when learning is more fun, then children and parents will certainly be able to enjoy more productive and quality time together, a learning experience for both. I feel that being too structured can be counterproductive.

Barkely says:

I love the idea, one could only hope... I think I hate homework almost as much as my son. I would love to see some innovative new ideas in the school.

clouda9 says:

Great new way to kick show-and-tell up a notch! Interaction with our kids is the added bonus.

 

Literacy Bags 

All activities are designed for the child and parent to enjoy together.

Literacy Bags The Literacy activities are designed for the student and parent to enjoy together. Parents are encouraged to read the books with their child, and do the activities. The classroom journal is for the parent and child to reflect on his/her experience with the book and activities. Parents are encouraged to help their child write or draw in these journals.

For more Egg and Bird related ideas check out my Bluebird Lens.

Collecting Adjectives Literacy Bag 

This is a great idea for Valentine's Day!

Adjectives

Read the story The Boy Who Loved Words to the children in class. Then invite them to take home this literacy bag and fill the pink rubber piggy bank with adjectives that they find when reading the B Book or anywhere else at home. They write the adjectives they find on pink heart shaped papers that fit into the piggy bank. Kids will love the magnet words and blocks which also have adjectives. When back in school we look for new adjectives that and add them to the Adjective Word Wall.

Frog Literacy Bag 

Frog Bag

This is a great Literacy Bag to introduce to the children during the Frog Unit Study. I have older children come in and teach the children how to play the games in small groups. It makes the older children feel proud to be able to teach younger children and the children in my class love the attention of the older children, especially if it is an older sibling.

When the children know how to play the games, they love to take home this literacy bag to teach their family and friends the games and read the stories. What a wonderful way to practice all that they are learning in school!

Rhyming Literacy Bag 

Rhyming Cards

1.Make a deck of rhyming cards to play Go Fish
Cards with pictures and words such as cat/hat, fish/dish, frog/log

2.Write a poem
Use colored pencils to highlight the rhyming words.

3.Ask a Grandparent to tell you a poem or sing a song from their childhood.
Record this poem or song onto a cassette tape to share at the listening center.

4.Fill in the Rhymes
Write a poem or song but leave the rhyming words blank. Put copies of it in a three ring binder. Children make up new rhymes and illustrations for the poem.

For more jumprope rhymes and games involving physical activity check out What Happened to Recess.

Rhyming Cards 

The Rhyming Cards in the picture above can be found at:
Edspecially4U - Educational Resources
Hands-On Teaching Resources

Thank you so much, Donna, for allowing my to link to your site.
Rhyming Picture Cards
Printable Blackline Masters of Rhyming Picture Cards from ReadWriteThink

Pete Seeger Literacy Bag for Peace 

Pete Seeger

Photo Credit: Pete Seeger: Washington, D.C., 1968
on Flickr, Creative Commons.



Learn about peace within yourself, amongst your friends and throughout the world. Learn the songs of peace and take that peace with you wherever you go.

Lots more teaching ideas about Peace can be found at Pete Seeger for Nobel Peace Prize.

Tooth Fairy Literacy Bag 

Tooth Fairy Literacy Bag

I always send a journal home with each Literacy Bag but some times I send home books to be completed that we share as each child brings one in and then place in the classroom library. Scribbles-n-Dots offers the great little journal in the picture above. Sometimes I make the journals shaped like teeth. I use dental floss to sew the pages together. I often relate teeth to my units on Alligators or Woodchucks

The Skunk Literacy Bag 

It's all about the sense of smell...

The Skunk Literacy Bag is all about the sense of smell. I like to start sending it home after we have read The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk by Thornton Burgess.

1.Put on a blindfold. Have someone put something in front of your nose. Guess what it is by smell.

2.Put on a blindfold. Have somesome put objects one at a time into your hands. Guess what it is by touch.

Five Senses3.Put on a blindfold. In a very quiet room have someone make a noise. Point to where the person using only your ears.

Skunk Bag
4.Have someone arrange a few objects infront of you. Put on a blindfold. Have the other person remove or move one of the objects. Take off the blindfold and try to see which one was moved.

5.Put on a blindfold. Have someone put different foods on your tongue. Try to guess what that food is using only taste.

6. There are also many was to use the sense of smell to teach math.

For more ideas related to Jimmy Skunk's neighbors check out Creatures of the Woodlands, Winsome Bluebird at Bluebirds: Classroom Meadow Theme, and Little Joe Otter at River Otters: Playful Friends of the Woodlands!.

Literacy Bag with a Sense of Smell 

More ideas for the Skunk Literacy Bag

Skunk Literacy Bags 

Lenses with Literacy Bag Ideas for Fall 

The Cat Sat on the Mat Literacy Bag 

Cat Tote Bag

This is a great way to share all that the children have been learning about CVC words with their parents. The Cat Sat on the Mat is a predictable book that children can quickly read after hearing it one or two times.

The Max Game in a cooperative game for 1-4 people who try to help the bird, chipmunk and mouse get to their homes before Max comes to get them.

Cat Literacy Bag Tote 

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The Chicken Bag for the Chicken Literacy Bag 

Chicken Bag
Chicken Bag
A bag for carrying your chicken and egg books, games and other literacy activities.

The Chicken Literacy Bag 

Hens, Little Girl Gathering Eggs in Henhouse

Hens, Little Girl Gathering Eggs in Henhouse
Buy at AllPosters.com


These are some ideas for including in the Chicken Literacy Bag. Look for more ideas on the Bluebird and Purple Gallinule Lenses.

Just tuck the books, chicken and egg puppet into the Chicken Bag for the children to share their Oviparous knowledge with their families.

The Night Before Christmas Literacy Bag 

Literacy Bag Toy

This bag is sent home any time during the month of December. Also check out The Cajun Night Before Christmas on my Alligator Lens.

The Christmas Literacy Bag 

A Special Literacy Bag for the Holiday Season

Waldorf Wooden Nativity Set

This is a literacy bag requested by my friends at the local Christian Charter School. Help your child learn the story of Jesus' birth in a fun, hands-on, creative way.

King Bidgood's in the Bathtub Literacy Bag 

Rub-a-Dub-Dub, Three Men in a Tub

Rub-a-Dub-Dub, Three Men in a Tub
Buy at AllPosters.com



Read about the wonderful time King Bidgood has in the bathtub and then so some experiments. Play a game of connecting the water pipes and then give the king a bath.

Hundreds Literacy Bag 

Literacy Bag

When learning to count to 100 or when learning Skip Counting this Hundreds Literacy Bag is a favorite. The children love reading the stories with their parents and then explaining how to use the Hundreds Board to Skip Count or just to make number patterns more visible.

Do you have some favorite books or activities to add to the Skip Counting Literacy Bag?

More ideas to include in the Hundreds Literacy Bag 

Lobster Literacy Bag 

Lobster Literacy Bag

Cuddle with the stuffed lobster while you read about lobsters and put together a lobster puzzle.

When we did the Lobster Unit Study I made a Lobster Literacy Bag with a couple of lobster books, a stuffed lobster and a few lobster games.

I added Lima Bean Lobsters that the children had used as math manipulatives. (See Skip Counting with the Lobster Quadrille.) The children love teaching their parents the math games that we play during math center time.

More Lobster Literacy Bag Activities 

Beaver Literacy Bag Books and Activities 

Items you may want to include in your Beaver Literacy Bag

Children will love sharing the information that they have learned in class about beavers. With the Beaver Literacy Bag they can share stories, facts, activities and even use a microscope to look at pond water.

Beaver Finger Puppet [Toy] [Toy] [Toy]

Amazon Price: $9.26 (as of 12/17/2009) Buy Now

Building Beavers (Pull Ahead Books)

Amazon Price: $6.95 (as of 12/17/2009) Buy Now

The Adventures of Paddy Beaver

Amazon Price: $9.45 (as of 12/17/2009) Buy Now

Down By The Pond - Pond Life Scene early learning flannelboard play set - Pre-Cut Figures

Bass, blackbirds, frog, turtle, woodpecker, ducks, beaver, raccoon and many more!

Amazon Price: (as of 12/17/2009) Buy Now

Smithsonian 900 x microscope with Case

Amazon Price: $49.60 (as of 12/17/2009) Buy Now

The Beaver Literacy Bag 

Literacy Bags are better than Homework

Beaver Bags, Beaver Fur Bags
Beaver Literacy Bag

Made from a real beaver skin, the Deluxe Beaver Bag with face and fringe has an adjustable 16" (40.5 cm) shoulder strap. The bag measures 8" x 8" (20 cm x 20 cm).

Not only can this bag hold the books and activities for the Beaver Literacy Bag, it also becomes an activity in itself. Children can examine the fur of a real beaver.
Literacy - Early Childhood Literacy Resources at Kellogg Community College
Little Beaver and The Echo

Book: Little Beaver and The Echo, Amy MacDonald

Summary: The story about how Little Beaver discovers friendship on his search for happiness.

Activity: Lace-up Canoe

Materials: 2 canoe shapes from tag board or a brown grocery bag with holes punched around the lower edge, yarn for lacing.

Steps: Cut out 2 canoe shapes from tag board or brown bag Punch holes around the lower edge Using the yarn lace-up the canoe

Beaver Unit Study 

More Beaver Literacy Bag Ideas

Hickory Dickory Dock Literacy Bag 

Homework for Telling Time

Children love to take home the Hickory Dickory Dock Literacy Bag and show their families all that they have learned about telling time.

The Completed Hickory Dickory Dock (Aladdin Picture Books)

This extended version of the familiar nursery rhyme successfully combines simple counting concepts, the numbers one through 12 and a gentle introduction to telling time. Laced with phonetic harmonies, the additional verses have a nonsensical, bouncing quality that offer a fun-filled challenge for little ones to master.

Honeybee, bunny bee, boo.
The mouse ran into a shoe.
The clock struck three,
He scratched a flea.
Honeybee, bunny bee, boo.


The endearingly chubby mouse and his family are humorously portrayed in Christelow's colorful, frantic cartoons. The story's vitality is suitably slowed toward the book's end, as the exhausted mouse drifts off to sleep:

The clock struck twelve,
Now dream some yourselves.

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/17/2009) Buy Now

Telling Time (Dk Readers. Level 2)

Telling Time is an engrossing history of timekeeping, from obelisks and sundials to the atomic clocks of today.

Amazon Price: (as of 12/17/2009) Buy Now

The Primary Time Teacher 12-hr. Learning Clock

Accurate to the minute and featuring an AM/PM digital window, these interactive clocks teach both analog and digital time.

Kids move the minute hand and see the change in the clock's digital display window helping kids learn both methods.

Amazon Price: $33.27 (as of 12/17/2009) Buy Now

What Time Is It? A Book Of Math Riddles (level 2) (Hello Reader, Math)

Illustrations and rhyming questions and answers demonstrate how to tell time.

Amazon Price: $3.99 (as of 12/17/2009) Buy Now

Mini Field Mouse Finger Puppet by Folkmanis Puppets [Toy] [Toy]

Folkmanis Mini Field Mouse Finger Puppet

Amazon Price: $5.92 (as of 12/17/2009) Buy Now

Lenses related to the Hickory Dickory Dock Literacy Bag 

Literacy Bags Bring Young and Old Together 

More L:iteracy Bag Ideas!

Nursing Home

The idea of literacy bags has taken off and now there are more and more companies offering premade literacy bags. I have found that sometimes community organizations are willing to donate money to buy some of these bags when presented with the informations about how fun and educational they can be.

NOTE: When visiting the local Nursing Home we take literacy bags along to share with our elderly friends.

Reading the stories together will help to open up communication and possibly be the start of a new friendship.
Weather Literacy Homework Bag
Weather Literacy Homework Bag-When you purchase a filled bag you receive: a literature selection on weather 25 thematic stickers and 25 student awards a sample parent letter explaining the homework bag a color journal cover and reproducible student j

Canvas Literacy Bags 

Just add books and activities!
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A Literacy Bag by any other name... 

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Literacy Bags in the News! 

Literacy Bags
Bedtime Stories program
With the award of a $1,000 grant from Thomaston Savings Bank, Ms. Demers was able buy literacy bags.

Literacy bags are theme based bags intended to encourage reading and learning. The grant made it possible to put a literacy bag in every K-2 classroom at John Trumbull Primary School. There is also an additional plan to incorporate bags into monthly reading events, so the bags will be available for the entire community to use and learn from.

Teaching with Literacy Bags 

Literacy Bag
The book "Teaching with Literacy Bags" has dozens of ideas for organizing thematic mini-units from A-Z.

Each letter of the alphabet is presented as a mini-unit designed to give children practice with fundamental language, math, science, social studies, writing, and thinking skills.

Developmentally appropriate games and activities, as well as books, props, snacks, and other items that relate to the theme, are stored bags or backpacks.

The bags provide an easy way to manage the materials and for children to take home to share with their families.

Literacy Bags, 2264

Discovery Packs 

Another name for Literacy Bags

Discovery Packs are the kind of homework that children beg to take home:

Shapes Literacy Bag

Using Discovery Packs in place of some of regular homework saves you valuable time and helps eliminate boring worksheets and dittos, by replacing them with meaningful, learner-centered activities.
Discovery Packs from KinderKorner
This page has all the information about the Discovery Packs program developed by Victoria Smith, including her $1000 grant application and the handouts from the inservice training she presented at the 1999 Math, Science, and Technology Conference at California State University, Bakersfield.
Story Bags - A Link in the Reading Chain - Associated Content
Story bags are a way for parents and teachers to improve young children's oral language development and encourage creativity.

Literacy Bags on eBay 

Literacy Bags make homework fun!

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A Walk in the Woods 

A Walk in the Woods

There is a new group being formed in Squidooville. It's called A Walk in the Woods. Whitefoot the Wood Mouse is inviting you to join him there. If you are a member of Squidoo and you may join the group. The exposure that your lens gets by joining will boost your lens rank and add to the number of web pages linking back to your lens. If you are not yet a member of Squidoo you can still come over and read about those who are. Come take A Walk in the Woods.

Find more lenses with Literacy Bag Ideas 

Ideas for Literacy Bags 

When you are looking for more ideas for your literacy bags check out my newest lenses. They are filled with hands-on ideas that will adapt easily to Literacy Bag activities.

How are Others Using Literacy Bags? 

Literacy Bags - Ideas for Teaching, Resources for Lesson Plans, and Activities for Unit Planning
A collection of ideas to use when putting together literacy bags for you classroom.
Literacy Bags: Make-And-Take Mini ...
Literacy Bags gives you dozens of ways to organize 26 thematic mini-units from A-Z in fabulous "packages" that children just cannot wait to handle!

- Google Book Search

Obtaining Grants for Literacy Bags 

Take Home Literacy Bags Grants

Literacy Grants for Take Home Literacy Bags
Information on literacy grants, literary grants, teacher grants and take home literacy bag grants for teachers. Grant proposal ideas along with applications and links to sites offering literacy grants.

Literacy Bags is in the Four Wheeler's Online Unit Study Directory 

The Four Wheelers Internet Directory of Unit Studies

Thank you to the Four Wheelers for including the Literacy Bags in their Online Unit Study Directory.
Internet Directory of Unit Studies
The Four Wheelers Internet Directory of Unit Studies contains a list, roughly arranged by subject, of links to unit studies that are published on the Internet.

What do you put in your Literacy Bags. Which ideas intriged you? 

Playing board games for Homework

Photo Credit: Board Game Homework
on Twitpic



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