My students are all at least 2 years below grade level so creating lessons and activities that keep my students engaged, reinforce student learning, are fun and uses multiple learning preferences is a priority of mine.
A reading lesson I was teaching was about the moon. We learned about gravity and how it would feel to be on the moon and how it is extremely important is for astronauts to follow directions. I created an extension activity that included students strapping car wash sponges to their feet and following simple written directions to find "aliens" that I placed around the room. The students had pretend “walkie talkies” to contact base camp (myself) each time they located an unidentified creature. They would then have to listen closely to what base camp had to say about capturing these aliens. The students had a blast without even realizing that they were reading, listening critically, following directions and building background knowledge.