Play Ball

Play Ball!

:Books:

:Poems & Songs:

It's a Hit!
The batter steps up to mome plate- Raised bat, bent knees, high chin. The pitch is thrown. He swings the bat. This hit could clinch the win!

A single may not sound like much, But it takes him to first base. A double earns him second. He must run at a fast pace.

A triple means he goes to third. He speeds to win the race. A homer sends him all the way - A wide grin upon his face.

A big grand slam - one hit, four runs! Now could it really be? The fans are going wild. For we've won the victory!

Jackie Robinson [tune: "Frere Jacques"]
Jackie Robinson, Jackie Robinson

Went to bat, went to bat.

He hit a home run,

Just like that, just like that!

:Reading:

Match sight words on gloves and bats.

Write words on baseball gloves. Students will write a rhyming word for each word onto the baseball in each glove.

Spell out sight words or other words (such as baseball vocabulary) by writing a letter on each baseball. Write the sight word on the bat. Children find the correct balls to spell each word. Add to Reading Center.

"Pitch" & "Hit"

Invite your classroom sluggers to take a swing at rhyming (or any reading skill) in this call-and-response game. To prepare, position four vinyl placemats as baseball bases. Appoint a scorekeeper; then divide the class into two teams. To play, verbally "pitch" a word - such as cat - to the batter at home plate. When the batter responds with a rhyming word, he "hits" a single and moves to first base. If he can think of two rhyming words, it's considered a double, and so on. Follow suit with each batter, having the players advance as in baseball. When each team member has had a turn at bat, the other team comes to bat.

"Catch The Reading Fever"

Program a glove-shaped booklet with 5 or so blank sheets inside. Have children choose words from your word wall or reading program to add to each of the pages. (One per page)

Baseball Bingo

Program a baseball mitt with a bingo grid. Write sight wrds on the grid. Program bat cutouts with the sight words for game play. Use mini baseballs (paper or erasers from Oriental Trading) for the markers as they cover the words. When the grid is full, student will stand and shout ... "Baseball Bingo."

:Math:

Match the numeral (on each glove) with the number word (on each baseball).

Graph which baseball game snack that you prefer: Cracker Jacks or Peanuts?

Sort baseball cards. (Get a couple sets of baseball cards.) Have students sort them in various ways. Ask the children to find pictures of players at bat, players pitching balls, players wearing mitts, etc. Compare uniforms. Have students come up with other ways to group the cards.

In Math Center, have children match a glove programmed with a certain number of dots (1-20). Students will match the correct glove with the baseball having that numeral on it. Students will then match the gloves and balls to the baseball bat with the number word on it.

Homerun!

To play Homerun! you will write specific numerals that you wish to work with onto baseball cutouts. Create a graphing grid with columns for each of those numerals (labled at the bottom). Put all the baseballs into a bag. Have students take turns pulling a baseball from the bag. They will then write that numeral in the appropriate column. The numeral that reaches the top of the column first makes "Homerun!"

Make a worksheet with rows of baseball items on it. For example, create a row of caps, a row of baseballs, a row of gloves. Have students work on ordinal position by giving directions for coloring, circling, or underlining specific baseball items. Example: "Color the fourth baseball cap green."

Baseball Line-Up.

Form a pretend baseball league and play an imaginary game of baseball. Ask each team to choose a name. Then set locations in the room as the bases. Begin by asking the first child of the team at bat to roll a die to determine play. Die rolls decide the game outcome as follows:

1 - first base 2 - second base 3 - third base 4 - home run 5 - roll again 6 - strike out

Play according to baseball rules, keeping track of outs, innings, and runs scores. When the team at bat has three outs, the other team is up. Play until each player has had at least one turn at bat. The team with the most runs at the end of play wins the game.

:Science:

The "Sense-ible" Batter.

Imagine yourself at the baseball field/game. (give descriptions for those who have never gone to a game.) Students will complete "sense" questions that relate to the baseball game. Draw a picture to go with their dictation.

I see ________________. I hear _______________. I smell ______________. I feel ________________. I taste ________________.

:Social Studies:

Take a field trip to the local baseball stadium. [The Augusta Green Jackets] Tour the dugout, the field, the locker room, etc. If you cannot go to the field, invite one of the team members to come up and talk about playing baseball professionally.

Atlanta Braves

Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson was one of America's greatest professional baseball players. Born Jack Roosevelt Robinson, he grew up playing many sports. In 1947 he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and went on to help his team win six National League pennants as well as the 1955 World Series. He is remembered for his great athletic skills, his fine character and for the pathway he paved for minorities to enter professional sports.

Baseball Shape Booklet.

Write baseball facts on the inner pages of a baseball-shaped or glove-shaped booklet.

Discuss two of today's bigger homerun heroes. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.

:Arts & Crafts:

Baseball Hats.

Make baseball hats for the children to decorate and wear. For each hat, cut a visor shape out of a large index card and staple it to the rim of a paper bow. Let the children paint their hats any color they wish. When the paint has dried, give each child a picture sticker to attach to the front of his or her hat. If desired, attach pieces of yarn to the sides of the hats for ties.

"Take Me Out To the Ball Game" song stretcher. This title song art project is a song wheel attached to a baseball shape. [Teacher's Helper, TEC8673, April/May/June 1999]

Baseball Bug Puppet.

Response to story: The Field Beyond The Outfield by Mark Teague. Create the bug puppet by gluing the bug puppet pattern (found in Copycat Magaine, May/June 1994) onto the back of one 6-inch paper plate. Cut six black legs from construction paper. Glue the legs to the paper plate. Color and cut out glove and shoe patterns. Tape them to the end of the black bug legs. Color a number or name on the back of a second 6-inch paper plate. Staple the plates together, leaving bottom open to fit over hands.

Mr. Baseball.

Pictures coming soon!

:Snacks and Treats:

Eat Cracker Jacks, Peanuts, and/or Popcorn while watching baseball videos.

Mini Hot Dogs.

Let the children make mini hot dogs for snack time. Give each child a refrigerator biscuit and one-half of a hot dog. Let the children flatten their biscuits on a clean surface. Then have them wrap their biscuits around their hot dog halves and place them on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Serve with small cups of lemonade.

Mitt and Ball Munchies.

Ingredients for one: one biscuit dough round, cinnamon-and-sugar mixture, 1 large marshmallow, red cake-decorating gel.

Utensils: empty shaker, timer, plastic soda-bottle cap

Preparation: Prepare the cinnamon-sugar mixture; then pour it into an empty shaker. According to the dough package directions, determine toaster-oven setting and cooking time.

1. Shape the dough to look like a baseball mitt.

2. Shake on cinnamon and sugar.

3. Bake the biscuit according to package directions.

4. Cut out a hole in the center of mitt using the soda-bottle cap.

5. Put a large marshmallow in the hole.

6. Decorate the marshmallow to resemble a baseball with the red gel.

Baseball Cookies

Use any round cookie - I like the Jacks butter cookie best - for the baseball. Allow children to frost the cookie with white frosting. Using red gel icing, help students draw to resemble the stitching on a baseball.

:Just For Fun:

Create baseball cards. Take pictures of each child and put them on a construction paper created "baseball card." Add each child's information. Make sure children wear basebal caps or helmets in their pictures for an added touch!

Baseball Videos:

1. Arthur Makes The Team 2. The Berenstain Bears Play Ball

:Websites:

Raccoon playing baseball coloring sheet

Baseball Poem

Baseball KWL

Baseball Unit at abcteach.com

Baseball

Funbrain.com :: Math Baseball

Augusta Greenjackets

Song: "Baseball Dreams"

Little League Online