Sunday, October 5, 2008

Kindergarten Show and Tell

So today I am TELLING about my class. My soon to be Kindergarten class here in Cairo, Egypt. (Be sure to visit Ms. Goldstein and join the class.)

Am I excited, yes. Am I a bit nervous, yes. But I am feeling alot more confident than I was before. The kids start Tuesday and my long awaited few months of getting their classroom ready for them can be introduced, finally.

I did a Jungle theme, and if I can humbly say so, it looks awesome! Many of the teachers (including owner and my principal) have been popping in and commenting how wonderful it looks and how fun and exciting it is for the kids.

So... I need your help. I need some fun, inexpensive, projects to do with them. I have MANY ideas but want to hear if you have any, I know some of you do, come on.

Here is what I have planned for the first day so far...

1. Hands of friendship....I will have them working in groups of 4 - 6, (i have 19 kids) and they will trace their hand, color it and cut it out, then we will hang their hands in an outward circle around a circle in the middle that says: "Our Hands of Friendship" in their groups on our bulletin board.

2. Paper plate turtle... We will color an inverted paper plate into four sections, add a head, arms, legs and tail (from template I will have ready for them) and they can take home. Then we will color a turtle coloring page and see how the letter "T" is written on it as well.

3. A flower for plant.... a cut out flower in three pieces, petals, center and leaves, they will color pieces and we will glue onto a wooden skewer and they can take home and put into a plant.

I am planning these projects in addition to introducing them to our Jungle Morning Circle time (attendance in the coconut tree, the calendar, days of the week, countdown to end of school, all done with corny songs of course).

I am ready guys, just need another activity or two for my first week. I have certificates made up too, for each student to take home saying that they completed first day of kindergarten too, very cute. I will also bring panda treats...I found here boxes of pre-packaged panda shaped cookies with filling, appropriate for our jungle huh? (man I will really get a lesson on loser-ness, actually I don't need a lesson really, but so what...it will be soooo fun!)

For the second day I found a really neat idea, online of course. I give them a piece of paper that has an outline of a head and shoulders, they draw themselves on it. I put on bulletin board under heading that says: "There are millions of people all over the place, but nobody else with exactly my face." Then the last week of school have them do another self portrait, mount both of them on black paper and send home... I think its a great idea.

So wish me luck Tuesday and I know I will blog about my first day for sure! Leave your ideas in the comments section, they will be MUCH appreciated, believe me.

Peace out from the corny, singing, dancing, jumping, bouncing new Kindergarten teacher in North Africa......LOL!

7 comments:

  1. Best Wishes on your kindergarten class. I will ask the Kindergarten teachers for some ideas and be in touch. Thanks for your comment on my blog.

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  2. Best of luck! All your activities sound fabulous - I'm no help to you at all - but look forward to hearing how you go!

    x

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  3. Hey girl! How exciting. You have been preparing for this day for a really long time. Congrats.

    You could always do something where students share things about themselves. Ask them to take between 1-5 cheerios or squares of toilet paper or something. Then, for every piece of paper or Cheerio they took, they have to tell the class something about themselves.

    Also, you could have students help you develop good rules for the classroom in a group setting so they think they have input. Unless, of course, you already have rules established.

    Those are my thoughts early this AM. May not be what you are looking for, but they are ideas. HA!

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  4. Your ideas sound fabulous. You can find a ton of great kids craft ideas at FamilyFun.com

    Good luck and have a wonderful week.

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  5. Ooooo you just made me miss the Kindergarten class I worked in last year!!!

    You sound like such an attentive teacher with a heart big enough for all 19 kids (and a few more if they show up).

    I have GREAT ideas for Christmas projects...if you need them, or if they attend to that in SA schools, let me know.

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  6. That all sounds like a lot of fun. But just be prepared for the know-it-all kids who will happily inform you that pandas live in forests not jungles, etc.

    Too many times, I have seen innocent parents and babysitters deflated by children's knowledge. Parent: "Look at the dolphin! What a big fishie!" Child: "Actually, dolphins are mammals."

    :)

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  7. OMG!!! You are soooo damn creative! I know you are a wonderful Kinder teacher!

    We need pics of the rooom....I think a jungle theme is soooo cool! :)

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