After a very cold and snowy winter, Spring is right around the corner.
Are you as excited as I am?
One of my favorite things about Spring is all the wonderfully fun activities I have planned for my Kindergarten class.
This year I have been focusing on incorporating read aloud into our activities. For example, “The Kissing Hand,” “5 Little Pumpkins,” “Sneezy the Snowman,” to name a few.
Well, this Spring I wanted to focus on something that addressed social and emotional health as well as introduced my kids to a Seed.
This is because I have a great science experiment with seeds that I will be sharing later in this post.
That’s when I decided to focus my activities around the book “The Bad Seed.”
“The Bad Seed” is a very cute book about a seed that is “bad” who tries his best to become a “good” seed.
This is perfect for reviewing expectations in the classroom and I love the message that no one is a “bad seed.” We can all choose to make good choices if we try.
But, if you have read any of my other blog posts, you know that I don’t let stories end there.
In this post, I am going to share some great activities to do with your students that are perfect for this book.
Whether you are in person, hybrid, or teaching virtually (like I am) these activities are great for primary students. Regardless of what learning may look like.
So let’s go ahead and get started!
(This post may contain affiliate or external links. Meaning I get a commision if you purchase anything through my links at no cost to you. Read full disclosure here.)
Book the “Bad Seed”
As I mentioned earlier, one of the first things you will need is the book “The Bad Seed.”
Now I did find some great videos that read aloud “The Bad Seed” for free on Youtube.
You can check them out here:
Or you can read it aloud to your kids. I didn’t have a copy at the beginning of this year. So I went ahead and got mine from Amazon.
You can find it here, or click on the image down below.
I prefer reading the story to my students so that I can model word tracks, left to right, and how we turn the pages.
I also realize that some families do not have a lot of access to books so I love to use this opportunity to expose them.
“The Bad Seed” Inspired Writing Activity
After I read the story “The Bad Seed” to my class I like to follow the story with a writing activity.
I made this writing activity that I use with my class that asks the following questions:
- “What was your favorite part of the story?”
- “What was your least favorite part of the story?”
- “What will happen next in the story?
- “What’s your favorite thing about spring?”
This activity is made on google slides and each question comes in different levels. That way I can use it with my students regardless of how I am teaching.
I also have some blank “The Bad Seed” pages for students to answer other questions.
You are welcome to create your writing activity or you can find mine by clicking here.
“The Bad Seed” Inspired Digital Activities
Along with a digital writing activity, I also assign several other activities through Google Classroom.
For example, I assign some of my students this counting activity if they are having trouble with their one-to-one correspondence.
In this activity students just drag and drop the seeds into the ten-frame to show how many.
On the other hand, if my students are good at counting and could use some extra practice with addition or subtraction, I will assign these activities to them.
In these activities, you just drag and drop the seeds and X’s into place and type in the answer.
Some other activities I might assign my students are these drag and drop digital spring activities.
In these activities, students just drag and drop the letters into the box. These are great for letter recognition and identification.
There are also other spring activities that you can find on Teachers Pay Teachers, or you can create your own!
“The Bad Seed” Inspired Kaboom! Activity
This is a game that I have been playing that my students love! If you haven’t heard of Kaboom, it’s basically where students pull a card and identify what’s on the card.
For instance, what letter it is, what sound that letter makes, a sight word, a math equation, and more.
If they get it right, they get a point.
If they get it wrong they don’t get a point.
If they get a Kaboom then they get all of their points taken away.
In all honesty, I had some of my kiddos play “Kaboom” with popsicle sticks.
While this is effective, I found they were more engaged if I created flashcards that matched our read-aloud.
That’s why I created this Kaboom! “The Bad Seed” Flashcards.
You can make these on your own, or find mine here.
I love this activity because I can adapt the game based on the levels and skills of my students. Plus it is low prep!
Science Experiments
Aw yes, the magical science experiments. Not going to lie I LOVE experiments. And my students do too.
That’s why I was so glad that I got to do my annual Mother’s Day Seed Growing activity for Spring!
Seed in the Window
So this activity will work virtually or not. I am going to send the materials home with my students so they can do it at home.
I found this activity at Education.com and all you need is:
- Seeds (They recommend bean but I have done flowers that my students can give away for mothers day later)
- Paper Towel
- Plastic Baggie
- Tape
In this experiment students watch plants germinate in the window.
This is our writing experiment for a while because I have students journal the growth of their seed!
I love connecting this to “The Bad Seed” because we can talk about how there is “no such thing as a bad seed.” And that with the right things, all of them can grow. (Like us!)
When the seeds are done germinating I give the students to a pot and plant their seeds with.
Then we watch them grow and give them away for Mother’s day!
BONUS: FREE SCAVENGER HUNT!
So if you read my other blog post like “The Kissing Hand” then you know that I love to do a scavenger hunt in my classroom.
I love doing this because it gets the students interacting with their environment. Plus I can hide numbers and letters that they can work on identifying as we find them.
All I do is cut out these Flashcards and then I hide them throughout the classroom.
The students are competitive and like to see which team will find them first.
I love this activity so much that I want to give you this scavenger hunt FOR FREE.
Click here if you want this scavenger hunt as well as 4 other scavenger hunts!
They are print and go, easy to use. Plus you can use them for other games like Kaboom!, Go Fish, Match and so much more!
You can also download them down below!
Summary
All in all, I LOVE putting together themes like this that just tie into a book.
Because of this, my students have come to enjoy books.
And they are always looking forward to what’s coming next.
I appreciate you taking the time to read this post.
If you have any other ideas for “The Bad Seed” feel free to comment them down below! Or if you use any of these activities, let us know how it went.
I love hearing from you!
Because: “Together we are stronger.”
Happy Teaching!
Love,
