Activity Plan: 3-4: Opposites Attract

Photographing pairs of opposites is piles of fun!

• PRINT
• EMAIL

Ready to Use Teaching Ideas: Literacy 

Materials:

• camera (digital, disposable, 35mm, or APS camera)
• computer and printer (if using a digital camera)
• books about opposites, including Exactly the Opposite by Tana Hoban (HarperCollins, 1997) or My Opposites/Mis Opuestos by Rebecca Emberley (Little, Brown and Company, 2000)
• chart paper and marker
• bookmaking materials, including paper, glue sticks, and plastic report cover

Developing Skills:

• math
• observation
• language
• social development
• problem solving

ACTIVITY

Spend some time reading books about opposites. Follow up with discussions about the concepts presented. Provide opportunities for children to define opposites throughout the day.

Once children are familiar with the concept, explain that they will make their own opposite books. Inform them that they will each be able to use a camera to take pictures of things that are opposites. Spend some time reviewing how to properly handle a camera. Next, help them create a list of opposites, and record their ideas on chart paper.

Divide children into small groups and schedule time for each to photograph their "opposites." If possible, provide opportunities for children to photograph inside the classroom, throughout the building, and outdoors. Suggest that each group work together to create a book.

If children use a digital camera, the book can be created on a computer. Children can dictate descriptions for each picture and design a cover page with a title. Otherwise, after the film is developed, children can work together to match the opposite photographs and glue them onto paper to make the pages of their book. Include their descriptions of the photographs and invite them to design a cover page. Pages can be stapled together or placed inside a plastic report cover.

Celebrate with a book publishing party! Invite the groups to read their books with the class. Keep books in the library so that children can revisit their work and read about opposites.

TAKE-HOME ACTIVITY

Opposite Game. Photocopy several sets of opposite photographs. Send a note home suggesting that families use the photographs to play matching and memory games with their child. Suggest that children first find the pairs of opposites. Next, they can play a memory game by turning all of the pictures face down and then turning over one card at a time to find the matching picture.

Curriculum Connection: MATH

How Many Opposites Can We Find? Over the course of a week, develop a running list of opposites that children find. At the end of the week, invite them to count the number of opposites on their list.

Risa Young is the former director of two early childhood programs in the New York City area, the Children's Aid Society's Greenwich Village Center and the Innovative Learning Center at the Long Island College Hospital. She has been a consultant to Early Childhood Today for more than eight years.

Robin Smith is a frequent contributor to Scholastic Early Childhood Today.

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