Take pictures of
the students in your class the first day.
Make a copy of the pictures for each child and cut them out. Students make treasure boxes from lunch
bags as shown and write “My new friends are my treasures.” Give children copies of the pictures to
take home and share with their families.
Guess Who? (Pam Ledwell)
Make a book for
your class called “Guess Who?”
Take a photo of the back of each child and place it on one page and write
“Guess who?” Take a photo of the front of the child and place it on the next
page. Write “It’s child’s name.”
Letter
Substitution
Substitute the
letter you are working on for directions at transition times. For example: B –“Bine bup bor bunch.” The kids have to figure out the real directions.
Morning Baskets
Here’s a great
idea for “morning baskets” that the children can do each morning when they
arrive at school. Each teacher in
their kindergarten team makes 7 different buckets with 4 different activities
for math and reading. They rotate
these each week at the tables in their classrooms. They have a set for the beginning of the year, middle of the
year, and end of the year.
Nursery Rhyme
Club (Janie Moore)
Challenge your
students to learn 8 nursery rhymes and say them in front of the class. Create a poster where they can sign
their name and give them a membership card to the “Nursery Rhyme Club.”
ABC Patty Cake
(Veronica Thomas)
Children face each
other and patty cake. They say the
letter as they tap right hands, clap, and then make the letter sound as they
tap left hands.
Daily Countdown (Wendy Merrifield)
Draw large
T-shirts on poster board. Take
photos of students doing daily activities. Write the activity, time, and glue the picture to the
T-shirts. Next, hang a clothesline
across the top of one of your bulletin boards. Clothespin the T-shirts in order to the line. As you move through the day, turn over
each shirt so the students can see their day get shorter and shorter. When you get to the last T-shirt do an
“end of the day” dance!!!
Cheer! (Debbi Smith)
Pat yourself on
the back.
Shake your own
hand.
Point to yourself
and say, “Very good job!”
Train the Brain
(Susan Sayre)
Our brains are
trained to go up from eating and drinking. However, children need to learn to pull down when they are
writing. Here’s an exercise that
will help:
1st Open your arms wide to the side.
2nd
Move palms up and above the head.
3rd
Palms together and slice down in front of your body.
Magic Door
(Lisa Haines & Julie Wilson)
Once you go
through the magic door (Point finger framing a door.)
You go like this
(Shhh!)
Because we can’t
talk anymore.
Zip it. (Zip lips.)
Lock it. (Pretend to lock lips.)
Put it in your
pocket. (Put imaginary key in your
pocket while wiggling hips.)
Paper Plate
Name Game (Hillary Warren)
Put each child’s
name on a paper plate. Sing, “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 doing really great. If your name is on the plate, pick it
up.” Put down one plate at a
time. At the end when you pick up
the plates you can ask each child to spell their name, say their birthday, tell
you their address, or whatever you’re working on.
Birthday Circle (Lucy Pittenger)
Let the birthday
child choose friends to be the candles on their cake. Candles form an inner circle around the birthday child. The rest of the class holds hands and
makes an outer circle. As you sing
“Happy Birthday” the candles go counter clockwise as the outer circle walks
clockwise. The birthday child taps
the heads of the “candles” to light them.
After blowing on their tummy the candles fall down.
Singing (Angel Hollandsworth)
When you sing
“Today Is Sunday,” Give each child a paper plate and plastic fork or spoon to
keep the beat.
*Sing the ABC’s as
you tap them on a keyboard.
Kids Wanna Have
Fun! (Tanya Lane)
During parent
orientation use paper plate “clappers” to sing “Kids Just Wanna Have Fun.” This will break the ice with parents
and show them how much fun you can have learning.
Body Spelling
For tall letters
put your hands in the air. For
midline letters stick your arms out by your sides. If a letter goes in the basement, touch your toes.
Fun Friday (Erica)
Choose a key idea
to focus on and review on Friday.
Make games, crafts, food, or stories to reinforce the skills. This will give kids (and teachers)
something to look forward to each week.
Open Mic Friday
Every Friday
during “Writer’s Workshop” give children a play microphone and let them read
one of their stories to the class.
Egg Hunt (Leila Hinkle)
Hide sight words
in plastic eggs. Use different
colored eggs for each group.
Children collect the appropriate color and read the words.
Sound
Substitution (Courtney Tisdell)
Insert different
sounds in “Tooty Ta.”
Example: “Cooty ca” for Cc.
Give Me Five
Make a poster for
the classroom door with two hands.
Attach a Velcro circle to each hand. Write sight words and attach them to the Velcro. Children give the poster a high five
and read the words every time they leave the classroom.
Oh, the Places
You Will Go!
Ask each child’s
parents to purchase this book by Dr. Seuss. The book is passed to each teacher through the K-12
years. Each teacher writes an
encouraging word or positive comment about the child. What a special graduation present when they leave high
school!
Waiting Crown
(Nicole Edwards)
When working
one-on-one or testing, wear a toy crown as a visual to show others in the class
that they have to wait and can’t interrupt.