Chilling at the Desert with ص

A couple of weeks ago I introduced my students to the letter ص "sa-ud" Brainstorming always takes the longest part in my lesson plan. Here are the words I came up with (and I always brainstorm with my twitter friends and husband so thank you to them!):

صبار "so-bbar" Cactus

صحراء "sah-ra" Desert

صخرة "sa-khra" Rock

I first drew a cactus and rocks on the white board (no we do not have a smart board). THey all knew what the cactus and rocks were in English. I then ask if anyone has visited a desert before and we talked about that for a little bit. Then I introduced the letter and wrote it on the board. I had them pronounce it a couple of times and write it. Then for the fun part of the lesson plan: the activity!

These were the supplies used:

popsicle sticks

play dough (yellow and green or any other if you want to be creative)

pipe cleaners

small decorative rocks (I got them from the dollar store)

cups

And here is what the class and I came up with!

This is was very fun activity. I called the students to come up and take their supplies and choose their cacti color. Then I asked them what they were as I handed to them. If they didn't know it, I would say it and they repeated after me those three words.

Do you use play dough in your classroom? What activities have you done before for this letter?