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"Magic" Playdough
We
had "magic" playdoh waiting for us on the first day. It changed
color from yellow to green. |
Playdough Recipe
You will need:
What to do:
Whisk
together the dry ingredients in a saucepan. Add the "wet"
ingredients. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until
mixture forms into a ball (about 3-5 minutes). Remove from pan on
to floured surface. Cool slightly. Then knead it until smooth.
Store in ziplock bag or airtight container in the fridge.
How to add the
"magic":
Form the
playdough into ball shapes. Poke a hole in the ball and put 2 or 3
drops of food coloring in the hole. Form the playdough back into a
ball again, covering the drops of food coloring.
Magic Playdough
Poem
I'm not
sure of the origin of this poem. You can print it out on sticker
paper and adhere it to a ziplock sandwich bag. |
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Tape this poem and numbered footsteps
down near the entrance to your classroom for the first day of
school.
1, 2, How are you?
3, 4 Come in the door.
5, 6 A good-bye kiss.
7, 8 School is great!
9, 10 Let's begin. |
This poem was above our lockers and
there were star shaped nametags on each locker. |
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Beginning school ABC chant |
Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar
is a great way to learn each other's names. I place name cards in
the blank space so each child gets a turn and learns to recognize
his/her own name. |
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This is a name recognition activity. The students' names are written on paper
plates. At the beginning you "sail" one paper plate to the floor
while you sing this song to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know
It:
If your name is on the plate, pick it up.
If your name is on the plate, pick it up.
If your name is on the plate, then you're
really doing great!
If your name is on the plate, pick it up.
Each day I sail a few more plates at a
time until they are all on the floor by the end of the week and each
child must find his/her own name. |
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This nametag is made by
melting a solo cup in a 350 degree oven for 3-4 minutes. Place the
cups on foil sprayed with Pam. Immediately after taking them out of
the oven, pat them down to completely flatten them. I drilled holes
later. The leaves are made of foam and were hot glued on to the
apple. |
Each of these bottles contains the letters of our names and some
small confetti. The bottles are called Baby Soda Bottles and can be
purchased from Steve Spangler Science. |
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The children enjoy having a visor the
first day of school. The giraffe one on the left was made from a
Print Artist template and copied on index paper. The one on the
right was purchased at a craft store and decorated by the student. |
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The students make a name necklace the
first week by putting the letters of their first name in order. I
wish beads with lower-case letters were available for this. |
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Review nursery rhymes the first few weeks
of school and make these TLC art projects to go with the rhymes.
Information can be found at their website:
http://www.tlclessons.com.
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Traffic safety is a good topic for the
first week of school. We practice crossing the street at the
crosswalk near the school, learn about traffic signs, and make a
stoplight (another TLC Art project). |
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Every morning we begin the day by shaking hands while singing the
song, "Hello, Neighbor" |
We play a Fish Memory game to review colors. There are colored
squares on the back of the fish. |
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We become familiar with the hands-on materials we'll use for math
lessons during the school year. |
We sort blocks by color, shape and
thickness. |
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Writing in shaving cream is fun for the
kids, cleans the desktops and gives the teacher an idea of the
students' letter and number knowledge. |
An All About Me bulletin board highlights
one student a week. They are invited to share photos and some
personal favorites to display. |
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Make
a Clifford stick puppet by rounding off the corners of a triangle,
drawing eyes and a nose, and bending the top corners for ears. |
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Play beanbag games, such as Pass the
Beanbag. |
Play Color and Shape Bingo. |
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The bus pattern is a workmat from Box It
or Bag It. The children are made from lima beans with hair drawn with a Sharpie
to depict boys or girls. |
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Make a class graph
of how the children came to school the first day. Make graphics of a
car, a child walking, and a bus. The children choose the graphic
that depicts how they came to school, color it, and glue it on a
class graph.
A class book could be made of this
instead. The children could draw a picture of how they came to
school and fill in a sentence at the bottom of the paper,
"_____________
came to school today by ______________." |
