Super Sack!

Alternately known as the:
Awesome Bag
Beautiful Bag
Cute Sack
Darn-good Bag
Excellent Sack
Bag of Fun
Bag of Goodness
Bag of Happiness
Incredible Bag
Bag of Joy
Kind Bag
Bag of Love
Mighty Sack
New Stuff Sack
Overly Outrageous Bag
Precious Bag
Quintessential Bag
Really Radical Sack….

To spruce up my circle times in my Life Skills classes (the students there are non-verbal or minimally verbal), I’ve been filling a bag with things from my room and home that start with the letter of the week for 2 of my classrooms. It gives the students a chance to feel and touch some things that start with that letter, and hopefully learn some new vocabulary!

How do I do it? Each student gets to put their hand into the bag (no looking!) and take out ONE item (this is a challenge). We then chant the name of the object several times and I do something silly with it (or make it move if it is a moving toy). At the end of the activity we say “bye bye (insert name of object)” to reinforce the vocabulary again.

Take a peek at my “S” week sack!

And a close up of the cute sandwich…

Occasionally the items are a stretch for that letter (for example, I put all of my “I” items on the iPad), but I give it my best shot!

What ideas do you have to help very low language students learn vocabulary in a fun way?

Do you have any great alphabet names for my bag in the upcoming weeks?