A friend who is a
pre-K teacher always asks her children these questions at the beginning of the
year:
1. How many of you have a television in
your home? How many of you have
your own television in your bedroom?
2. How many of you have a computer in your
home?
3. How many of you have your own pair of
scissors?
Yep! You’re right! Most every child has a television or computer, but only a
few have a pair of scissors. Many
parents think scissors are dangerous, but they let their children watch violent
television programs. I don’t get
it? Anyway, here’s a great idea to
share with parents.
Cutting Tub
Get a plastic tub
from the dollar store and fill it with junk mail, catalogs, old greeting cards,
scrap paper, etc. Put a pair of
children’s safety scissors in the tub and they can cut, tear, and be
creative. This way you can
supervise scissors and encourage cutting at the same time.
More! Add a hole punch or decorative scissors
to the tub.
Table Tubbies
What do you do
with those students who always finish their work early? I loved this idea a teacher
shared. Get five plastic tubs and
put different materials in each one.
For example: puzzles, play
dough, stringing beads, stamp pad and letter stamps, books, file folder games,
shape blocks and pattern cards, etc.
When children finish early, they can get a tub and complete the
activity.
If your children
are grouped at tables, you could do a tub for each table with several items for
the children to choose from.
Create 4 or 5 tubs and then rotate them each week. That way you’ll only have to prepare
the tubs once a month.
Paparazzi!
Here’s a special
request. I know many of you took
photographs at conferences I presented at this summer. If you would send one to me drjean@drjean.org or my webmaster alex@alexmay.com I would like to use them on
my home page for September.
Thanks!