SING A GOOD MORNING!

Start your day with a song and you’ll be singing all day long!  Why?  Because when you sing your brain emits endorphins and endorphins make you HAPPY!

A teacher at a recent workshop asked if I had a song mix of good morning songs.  Your wish is my command!  Well, actually, your wish is my webmaster’s command because he waved his magic wand and taaa daaa!

You can go to my Song Store to get a copy.

http://drjean.org/1-2-3-music-store/process.php?pname=ShopfrontProcess-Start

Hint!  Choose one song and use it every day for several weeks.  Then it will become an "indicator" in the brain to get ready for a great day!


Here are a few of my favorites that go to familiar tunes you should all know.

Twinkle Friends  (Tune:  “Twinkle Little Star”)

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.       (Children face partner and gently

                                             touch and wiggle fingertips.)

What a special friend you are.                 

From your head to your toes,    (Touch each other’s head, then toes.)

We are special friends you know.     (Hold hands and circle around.)

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.        (Children touch fingertips.)

What a special friend you are.     (Children hug.)

Now, go find another friend,

And we’ll twinkle once again…

Now, take a little hike.

Find another friend you like…

Now we’ll sing one more time.

Won’t you be a friend of mine?

Hello, Neighbor!  (Tune:  "Good Night, Ladies")

Hello, neighbor.  (Wave to partner.)

What do you say?  (Give high five.)

It’s going to be a   (Slap, clap, tap hands.)

Happy day.                 

Greet your neighbor.  (Shake hands.)

Boogie on down.   (Wiggle hips.)

Give a bump,         (Bump hips.)

And turn around.   (Turn around.)

Hello Song  (Tune:  “Skip to My Lou”)

Hello, how are you?         (Wave hand.)

Hello, how are you?

Hello, how are you?

How are you this morning?

I am fine, and I hope you are, too.    (Point to self, then a friend.)

I am fine, and I hope you are, too.

I am fine, and I hope you are, too.

I hope you are, too, this morning.

Turn to your neighbor, and shake their hand.    (Shake hands.)

Turn to your neighbor, and shake their hand.

Turn to your neighbor, and shake their hand.

Shake their hand this morning.

SOUTHERN SWING

As I danced my way across Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia last week I picked up some souvenirs (aka new ideas) for you! 

Treasure Boxes

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:

1^st  Open your arms wide to the side.

2^nd Move palms up and above the head.

3^rd 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.

SAY SOMETHING NICE!

As you begin the school year, I have a little piece of advice they never taught you in college.  SAY SOMETHING NICE to each parent about his or her child.  We are all anxious when we let our children go, and a compliment or kind word about a child can go a long way to establishing a positive relationship.

Our grandson K.J. visited us this summer and attended day camp.  Each day when I picked him up I waited for one of the counselors to say something nice.  “Thanks for coming K.J.”  “You did a great job playing soccer.”  “You’re a great camper.”  “You’re so enthusiastic.”  (I mean, if you can’t think of anything you can always go for enthusiasm.)  I know that K.J. is awesome, but it would have made my heart sing to hear someone else reaffirm that.

Some of you may have heard the story about my friend’s grandson David.  After his first day of school his grandmother asked, “Did you like school today?”  David replied, “Oh, yes, granny!  And they asked me to come back tomorrow!”  How sweet if you would tell your students before they go home the first day how glad you are to be their teacher and “I hope you’ll come back tomorrow.”

When I taught I made a point of calling each parent during the first two weeks of school.  “I just wanted to tell you how happy I am to have (child’s name) in my room.  I know we’re going to have a great year.”  A personal email or note would have the same positive effect.

You’ve all heard, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”  Finding a special characteristic in each child and communicating that to parents is a simple act of kindness that will let them know how much you do care!

STANDARDS - RETELL STORY

RL.K.2  With prompting and support, retell familiar stories including key details.

Nursery Rhymes and Finger Plays – Children can develop oral language and story concepts from simple rhymes.  Here’s a perfect one for the sequence of getting ready for school.

THIS LITTLE GIRL

This little girl is

Ready for bed.                                    (Hold up index finger and wiggle.)

On the pillow

She lays her head.                              (Open palm and lay finger down.)

Wrap the covers

Around her tight.                                (Wrap fist around finger.)

That’s the way

She spends the night.                        (Rock hand.)

Morning comes,

She opens her eyes.

Off with a toss

The covers fly.                                      (Open fist.)

She jumps out of bed,                       (Hold up finger.)

Eats her breakfast,                              (Pretend to feed finger some food.)

And brushes her teeth.                       (Pretend to brush teeth on finger.)

She gets dressed and                        (Pretend to dress finger.)

Brushes her hair.                                   (Pretend to brush hair.)

Now she’s ready

And on her way,                                  (Dance finger around.)

To work and play

At school all day.

This little boy…                                     (Do similar motions with the

     opposite index finger.)

Puppets – Puppets are a unique way to integrate art with standards.  Children can make stick puppets, lunch sack puppets, paper plate puppets, envelope puppets, etc. of favorite characters from books read.  Their “puppet” can then retell the story.

Flannel Board – To make a simple flannel board, staple the sides of a file folder and glue felt to the front.  Make characters from felt or copy color photos from the book, cut them out, and attach a piece of Velcro to the back.  Model how to retell the story and then invite the children to retell it using the felt pieces.

*Folk tales, such as “The Little Red Hen,” “The Three Bill Goats Gruff,” “Gingerbread Boy,” etc. work well as flannel board stories.

Dramatize – Invite children to be different characters in a story and role play various scenes.

Blank Books – Fold two sheets of paper in half and staple.  After reading a story, have children make a book about it.

Cartoon Frames – Run off copies of cartoon frames so children can draw the sequence of events in a story.  Start with two frames for the beginning and the end.  Next, try three frames so they can draw the beginning, middle, and end.  Finally, offer for frames for first, next, then, and last.

Story Bracelets – String color-coded beads on a pipe cleaner to help prompt children as they retell stories.

            Three Pigs

            Once upon a time there were three little pigs.  (3 pink beads)

            The first little pig built a house of straw.  (1 yellow bead)

            The second little pig built a house of sticks. (1 brown bead)

            The third little pig built a house of bricks.  (1 red bead)

            One day a big bad wolf came along.  (1 black bead)

            He went to the house of the first little pig and said, 

            “Little pig, little pig, let me come in.”  (Touch yellow bead.)

            The little pig said, “Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin.”

            “Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house in”…

            The wolf climbed up on the chimney so he could get the pigs.

            The pigs put a big pot of boiling water in the fireplace.  (blue bead)

            When the wolf hit the hot water he jumped out of the

            fireplace and was never heard from again. 

            And that’s the story of the three little pigs!  

            (Twist ends of pipe cleaner to make a bracelet.)

STANDARDS FOR LITERATURE - KEY IDEAS

RL.K.1.  With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

Magic Paintbrush – Give students a clean paintbrush and ask them to “paint” details in a book.  “Who can paint the main character?”   “Who can paint where the dog is hiding?” 

Books Up  - Children will need multiple copies of a text for this activity.  Ask questions and when children find the page with the answer they hold their book up in the air.

Musical Books – This activity is similar to musical chairs.  Arrange chairs in a circle and place a book on each chair.  Play some catchy music and invite the children to march around.  When the music stops, each child finds a chair, picks up a book, and begins to look through the book.  Give the children one or two minutes to scan through their books.  The teacher randomly points to children and asks, “Can you tell me the setting of your book?”  “Can you tell me a character in your book?”  “What do you think your book will be about?”

Mystery Picture – Before reading a book, select a “mystery picture” page.  Show it to the class and tell them to look closely at the picture and smile if they think they know what the book will be about.  Begin reading the book.  When you get to the “mystery picture” page encourage the children to discuss what they thought the book would be about.  Were they right or wrong?

*You could also cut a small “window” out of a piece of paper and focus it on a key detail in the story.

DANCING WITH COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS

“You gotta dance with the one that brung you.”  This is an old saying, but it holds true for educators today.  “YOU gotta dance with the one that fund you!”  Common Core State Standards are setting the course for instruction.  It is as it is!  And although we can’t adjust the wind, we can adjust our sails.  So, over the next few months on my website I am going to attempt to take the standards and suggest engaging, fun, and meaningful activities that will develop these skills.  I’ll also post them on my blog.

Clearly, classroom teachers don’t have a great deal of input with setting standards or choosing content.  You do have a great deal of autonomy when it comes to learning activities.  Are you going to just pass out a worksheet or are you going to let children make a blank book about a concept?  Are you going to sing a song or have them do a partner project?

I realize that many of you have scripted lessons that you must follow.  However, according to research most teachers (at all grade levels) waste about 20-25% of the school day with transitions – stand up, sit down, clean up, change classes.  That’s when you can slip in a song or group game.  You’ve got to think outside the box and use the teacher’s curriculum guide as a springboard for your own creativity and personality. 

Although I’ll be focusing on kindergarten standards, the ideas and activities can easily be adapted for all primary grades.  If you’ve been to my workshops some of the songs, stories, and games might be familiar to you already.  I just wanted you to be aware of all the learning possibilities from the things you do where children are playfully engaged.

This has been a task of love for sure!!!  (A nice way of saying I've worked very hard!)   I’ll welcome your suggestions and comments because “Great teachers are not born.  They are made by the teacher next door!”  Let's hold hands and stick together to make this an exciting journey!

Fasten your seatbelts because here we go!  


P.S.  EVERYTHING IS FREE, SIMPLE, AND EASY!!

WHAT'S IN YOUR BACKPACK?

What’s in Your Backpack?

Share this poem at an orientation meeting or send it home in a paper bag backpack the beginning of the school year to remind parents of all the ways children are developing and learning as they play at school.

What’s in your backpack?                   Out on the playground

It’s empty today.                               I ran like the wind.

Where’s your work?                           I learned to take turns

Did you just play?                              And helped a hurt friend.

When I built with blocks                   Story time is what

I learned about shapes.                     I always like best.

I balanced and shared –                     I can use my imagination

Our skyscraper was great.                And give my body a rest.

I played in the windy house               I sang and danced -

And talked with my friends.              Learned a finger play, too.

I rocked a baby                                I answered questions

And played pretend                          and said, “Please” and “Thank you.”

In science I observed,                       There will be time

Guessed, and experimented, too.        for worksheets and tests,

The same things grown up                  But talking and playing

Scientists do.                                    Is how I learn best.

Art was messy.                                  I love to go to school.

I created and explored.                     I’m glad I’m me.

I solved my own problem                    An empty backpack

When I spilled glue on the floor.        Means I’m learning, you see!

My fingers got a work out

With puzzles and clay.

Those same muscles

Will help me write one day.

I counted and sorted and

And measured, too.

I used my brain

Like a math whiz would do!