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Curriculum Tie: Group Size:
Large Groups
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Summary:
Activities help students learn to keep a journal.
Main Curriculum Tie:
Social Studies - Kindergarten
Standard 2 Objective 2
Identify and demonstrate safe practices in the home and classroom. Materials:
Invitation to Learn
- If you take a
Mouse to School
- Stuffed animal
- Pictures of school
workers
- Construction paper
- White paper
- Spiral binding
- School personal
equipment
Instructional Procedures
- I Know About My
School
- Clothes for the bear
- Notebook
- Suitcase
- Plain paper
- Sheet protector
- Crayons
- Imagination!
- Parent letter
Curriculum Extensions/Adaptations/
Integration
- 6” x 9” brown
construction paper
rectangle (body)
- 5” brown construction
paper square (head)
- Two 3” x 6” brown
construction paper
rectangles (arms)
- Four 3” x 4” brown
construction paper
rectangle (legs and feet)
- Brown construction
paper scraps (ears)
- Colorful construction
paper scraps (bow tie)
- Glue
- Markers, including
black
- Scissors
Articles
The Mailbox, the Education Center, Inc.; ISBN 1-56234-161-8
Back-To-School Book, Preschool/Kindergarten, the Education Center, In. ISBN 1-56234-161-8
Attachments
Web Sites
Background For Teachers:
Students take turns taking home a suitcase (or a container with a
handle) that includes a teddy bear, a letter to the parents, a plain piece
of paper, crayons, and a journal to complete as a family. The students
then return the bag the following day and share their entries with the
class. After every student has taken the suitcase home, the journal is
bound into a book for the classroom library. The goal to get parents
involved with their child’s school and to help the children learn how to
keep a journal.
Intended Learning Outcomes:
1. Develop; social skills and ethical responsibility.
2. Demonstrate responsible emotional and cognitive behaviors.
3. Communicate clearly in oral, artistic, written, and nonverbal form.
Instructional Procedures:
Invitation to Learn
Read aloud If You Take a Mouse to School, by Laura Numeroff.
Then show students a small stuffed animal. I choose a teddy bear
because it is our school mascot. You could use your school mascot
or have your class choose an animal. Ask them to imagine what it
would be like if the teddy bear was taken to different parts of the
school. Who might they meet?
In advance, the teddy bear will have visited each school worker
with whom the students need to become familiar with - such as the
principal, secretary, librarian, etc. Pictures were taken with the bear
and the school worker. These pictures will be shown to the class.
As each one is shown, the worker is introduced to the class (or is
reviewed, depending on the time of the year the activity starts),
telling the class the name of the worker and what he or she does
for the school. Put the pictures on the dry erase board with magnets.
Pass out pictures of equipment or the actual tools these school workers
would use in their work. The students will take turns coming up and
putting the correct picture by the correct school worker. Examples
of school workers and equipment: Custodian-broom, Cook—mixing
spoon, Librarian—book, secretary—telephone, Principal-large chair,
Computer specialist—Computers.
The students will proudly share information about their school
when they sing a song about important school workers, “I Know About
My school”.
Later, mount each photograph on a separate sheet of paper and
add a student-generated caption. Then bind the papers between two
covers to make a class book, labeling it, If you take a Bear to Sunrise
Elementary . . . .? (Using the name of your school).
Teach your students this song replacing the bold face word in the
first verse with your school name. During the second verse, hold up a
picture and name the school worker and her title in place of the bold
face words. Repeat the second verse for each picture, filling in the
corresponding information.
SONG: “I KNOW ABOUT MY SCHOOL”
(Sung to the tune “Skip To My Lou”)
I go to class at Sunrise School.
I go to class at Sunrise School.
I go to class at Sunrise School.
I know about my new school!
Mrs. Toolson is the principal at my school.
Mrs. Toolson is the principal at my school.
Mrs. Toolson is the principal at my school.
I know about my new school!
Instructional Procedures
- Fill the suitcase with all the items: A notebook, plain paper in a
plastic sheet protector, teddy bear, clothes for the bear, crayons,
and a letter to the parents.
- Explain to the kids that this is the class bear and he will go
home with each child for 2 days and be their buddy. Their
responsibility is to make sure he is safe and has a nice time.
- After their two days are done it is also their responsibility to
work with Mom and Dad to write in the notebook all the things
that the bear did while he stayed with them.
- They are also to make a picture of their favorite thing they did
with the bear and write a small sentence at the bottom of the
picture.
- All these things are then to be put back in the suitcase and
brought back to school.
- During the year all the pictures can be put together and
laminated to make a book of all the things the bear did. The
book can be added too on a weekly basis.
- The journal should be kept and read each time a student adds
to it.
Extensions:
Curriculum Extensions/Adaptations/
Integration
- Terrific Teddy (With this torn-paper technique, no two bears
are alike!)
- Steps:
- Tear the edges of the 6” x 9” rectangle (body), 5” square
(head), and the two long rectangles (arms).
- Glue the head and arms to the body.
- Tear the edges of the four 3” x 4” rectangles. Glue them
to the project to resemble legs and feet.
- Tear two ear shapes from construction paper scraps. Glue
them in place.
- Draw a face and add marker details to the paws and ears.
- Cut a bow tie from construction paper and add desired
marker details. Glue the bow tie to the bear.
- At the beginning of each kindergarten year, the students
could vote on the mascot they would like to have for their
class. Then the mascot could be purchased and used as the
animal sent home in the suit case.
- Choose a class mascot; let him visit the classroom for a few
days. Then take him on a school tour, including library,
music class, PE, etc.
Family Connections
- Students take turns taking home a book bag that includes
the class mascot, a book to read with their families, a topic to
discuss, and a journal to complete as a family. The students
then return the bag and share their entries with the class. After
every student has taken the bag home, the journal is bound into
a book for the classroom library. The teacher then selects a new
topic and book to start a second rotation. Example of a book
and discussion: The Kissing Hand, asking families to write about
their child starting school.
- What is your favorite book? Write about what makes this book
special to you. Bring it to school to show us!
- Some of the students have a special pet; some may have a pet
that they would like someday. They can write and tell the class
about it and draw or bring a picture of the pet or the pet they
would like to have.
- Students will learn and appreciate the “personal treasures”
of their classmates as well as their own. With the help of
their families ask the students to choose and describe three
treasures—one that is personal, one that is a family treasure,
and one that is a cultural treasure (you may want to just focus
on a personal treasure for kindergarten students). Explain that
you do not necessarily mean something of monetary value.
Treasures could be a language, a song, or even just a story.
When the students share with the class it could be a write-up,
photographs of the treasures, or the treasures themselves.
Assessment Plan:
- The students were able to identify the school family and explain
what parts they play for the school.
- The students showed responsibility as they took the bear home,
kept it safe, and brought it back at the appropriate time.
- The students were able to express themselves through drawings
and journal writing as they shared the bear’s adventure.
- The students were able to express themselves verbally as they
reported the bear visit to the class.
Bibliography:
Research Basis
Carr, M., (1999) Homework, Educational Consultant, for the LDAT Conference, November,
1999, p. 1 of 4.
Teachers play a vital role in the selection, assignment, and use of
homework. Research indicates that where homework assignments are
meaningful and relevant, student achievement increases. Teachers
will maximize the effectiveness of homework if they will assign
activities which are relevant to the child outside of the classroom.
Assign homework that enriches, reinforces, or supplements classroom
instruction.
New, R. S., (2005). An Integrated Early Childhood Curriculum, KITS (Kansas inservice
training system) Summer Institute Presenter, Fall 2005, Volume 14, Issue 4 Newsletter.
When children’s learning in school is linked to their lives outside
the classroom, their interests are multiplied and they often seek
additional opportunities to pursue related activities. Curriculum must
thus embrace the classroom environment as a place in which children
can find traces of their past experiences as well as their current
interests, plans, and activities, emphasizing the need for connections
and continuity among the children, their activities, and their multiple
(home and school) contexts of their learning and development.
Providing high-quality inclusive and heterogeneous classrooms
provides the opportunity for children to learn form one another.
Children have an opportunity to learn from and with others. They
learn to accept and support one another, recognizing that everyone has
something to give and receive preferred value in a democratic society. Author:
Utah LessonPlans
Created Date :
Jul 02 2008 11:55 AM
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