Joyful Giving

Looking for a way to share the joy of giving with your kiddos? 

First, talk about finding happiness in giving, as well as receiving, and share stories of the joy that comes from gift giving. There are some great stories that will help teach this lesson - two that come to mind are A Chair For My Mother by Vera Williams and One Winter's Day by M. Christine Butler.

A Chair For My Mother tells the story of a family saving up coins in a jar after they lose everything in a fire, to save up for something special. It shows how all the little coins come together to purchase something wonderful.

In One Winter's Day, Hedgehog's nest blows away and he is left with only his hat, scarf and mittens. As the story goes on, he gifts these to other animals who need them more than he does. At the end, he is rewarded for being such a good friend. 

Then, try this: 

Send a note home that invites everyone in the class (or at home) to contribute coins for a class giving project, and explain why this is so important. Children can get very caught up in the “receiving” part of the holidays, but may need a nudge to discover the joys of “giving.”

Contributions would be up to individuals and would be private, with students each feeling a part of the project, whether with just a few coins, or more. *tip: have coins on hand for those unable to bring in from home, so that they can feel a part of things too. 

Talk with the children to decide what type of giving they would like to participate in as a class - possibilities could include food, toys, clothing, etc. Maybe even chart their answers to decide together. 

Next, choose some kind of container, and decorate it for whatever theme you want to convey to your students. If you are collecting to buy mittens or hats, you could find pictures and cover a plastic container. If your coins are going towards a toy drive, try using an actual toy for a container - maybe a small doll house or container truck :) 

Make sure there is an opening for change to fit in and to be held for as long as your drive will take. If you are in-person or hybrid, you can place the container in your classroom. If remote, choose a day/time(s) to accept secure donations each week outside of school, leading into the holidays, with proper social distancing.

When all the coins are collected, purchase and display the items purchased, so that the children can feel the happiness that comes with giving gifts - you can send out photos, have them make cards, and even write about the experience! It all helps to make this a memorable event - and inspire a lifetime of giving :) 

Have fun!

Kiddo Cooking - Make Some Applesauce

Every year, around the holidays, we try to cook with the kiddos. Applesauce has become a favorite, as it is (almost) universally yummy to all, and kids LOVE to chop.

Making applesauce together can be a fun, and educational, thing to do as a group or even remotely, with supervision. However, or wherever, you are learning this year, group projects are great for building community ... and for fun cross-curricular work. 

When you make applesauce, you can do math when you count up how many apples you have, or look at patterns with different apple colors. You can write together about the experience and read lots of great books about apples. Cut the apple in half to examine the seeds, stem, flesh and skin - like a scientist!

And ....

Share the spirit of Thanksgiving by cooking and sharing with others - it is the greatest lesson for your kiddos. 

If you’re comfortable sharing the cooking process these days, you can start your kiddos off with peeled apples or show them how to work an apple-peeler-corer device, if you have access to one. That’s always a big hit! In the past, we’ve had students bring in a washed apple in a plastic ziplock, if they are able - do what makes you comfortable. 

Children as young as preschool can dice apples from slices with a plastic knife, as long as there is proper supervision. You don’t want any knife-dueling to break out :) Chopping is a great fine motor exercise, and gets the “helper hand” involved to hold things steady. 

Scooping the chopped apples into a group crockpot (on low), with a little water, will get your room smelling delicious! If you have cohorts, some could do this at home and then contribute - or refrigerate and do it on consecutive days with different cohorts. A variety of apples, sweet to tart, makes a nice flavor with just a pinch of cinnamon added to taste. Turn up to high and cook for a few hours (or take home overnight) - then mash up into a fine pulp. I use an immersion blender, but you can do this with whatever you have on hand. Have small containers on hand to give each helper a way to take and share the fruits of their labor. 

If a shared dish is not feeling comfortable, try having each student put their diced apples in a small container with a little water and a drop of lemon or orange juice to help with freshness. When they get home, send directions to transfer to a microwave safe mug or dish and microwave for a few minutes until soft enough to mash with a small fork.  

Encourage your students to share this dish with some family members, in the spirit of Thanksgiving. 

While you’re waiting for your end results, engage your students in a craft! Make a holiday placemat with a traced handprint turkey in the middle, and fall color strips of construction paper to snip and arrange in patterns around the border. 

Or try a Thankful card - help your students spell out things they are thankful for on a folded card to bring home to families. It’s a great time to remind ourselves of the special things we might take for granted - family members, special foods, pets, etc. 

Parents - you can do this at home, too! Your kids will love helping and take great pride when their dish is shared on the holiday table :) 

Have fun!

Explore your world: Me On The Map

The book Me On The Map has so many great lessons within its pages. First, it’s a beginner book about maps and geography. As you turn each page, the world gets a little bigger, moving from a room in a house through a town, state, country ... all the way to a spot on the Earth! Then, it solidifies those concepts by tracing them backwards, through beautifully drawn maps, coming back to the room where it starts.

 It is a perfect book for showing students how big the world is, and where they fit in on our planet Earth. It also shows cool, simple maps, opposite pictures of the places that are being mapped. Each time I read it, I see something new in the pictures and maps. (You can find read-aloud versions on YouTube, if getting to a library or bookstore isn’t an option right now.) 

As an extension, try mapping your classroom or playground area. Talk about symbols and shapes that represent objects. Kiddos love to draw and read maps, and would be delighted to try to make a map of their own room or house!

Written by Joan Sweeney and illustrated by Annette Cable, this Me book was followed by Me and My Place in Space and Me and My Family Tree, each with their own ways of helping children see where they come from or fit in - in the bigger world. Learning about the planets in our solar system and how families are made up are the bonus lessons here!

When you’ve read these, check out other Me books by Joan Sweeney and Annette Cable - they each teach something new :) 

Have fun!

Start with a Craft!

Looking for a way to get your school days off to a good start? Want to do some fun crafts but your materials are limited due to remote/hybrid learning situations?

Consider beginning your day with a simple craft to push those fine-motor skills and get some conversation going for social-emotional growth between classmates, wherever they are learning :) 

Follow your class' interests, or the seasonal calendar, to determine what craft themes to explore... Halloween has just passed, and Thanksgiving is looming. Leaves are what's happening in nature, so just look around for inspiration. 

Keep supplies to a minimum, especially in these days of hybrid and remote teaching, and try to repurpose everyday recyclables or handy items. Have kiddos save cereal boxes and magazines at home, and prep families with a note to start a bin for cardboard and paper scraps, as well as safety scissors and glue sticks. (Be ready to supplement if these items are not easily accessible at home.) 

Then, try these tasks:

Stencils: 

• Have children draw a shape on the flip side (inside) of a cardboard food box - cereal, fruit snacks, pasta - and cut it out. Try this with simple leaf shapes for starters :) They can get shape making practice and cutting practice with this - both great fine-motor activities!
• Save the stencils for another day and use them to trace with pencils or colored pencils. The kiddos can color them in and draw in details of the leaves for a pretty picture.
• Then, use magazines to find fall colors in ads and pictures, and use the same stencils to trace and cut out leaves to glue on another paper, making a collage.
• Trace leaves on sturdy paper or even more cardboard, cut out, and use paint or markers to color. Then, find some yarn or string to make a leaf hanging or mobile.

Paper tearing:

• Make a large shape on paper - circular like a pumpkin or an apple. Find orange or red paper to tear into small pieces - tearing is another great fine-motor exercise! Glue on to cover the whole shape. Trim paper around to complete and hang :) 
• Make a series of large feather shapes on paper and cut them out. Trace a shoe on brown paper, or white paper and color brown. Tear other colors to cover feathers and assemble a turkey. Use markers or crayons to add details.
• Cut fall colored paper (either construction paper or magazine paper) in strips and tear into pieces. Draw a tree trunk with brown or black crayons and use the pieces to create a picture of a fall tree.
• Think about things in nature and Thanksgiving foods - torn paper can be used to make everything from acorns to corn on the cob :) Use the same processes to trace, cut and assemble - giving your students lots of practice!

Use your imagination to come up with other projects, remembering that some kiddos may not have access to lots of art supplies at home :)

Have fun!

Thankful Project: Building Community

 

Whether your kiddos are in-person, remote or hybrid, they are all part of your classroom community. As Thanksgiving approaches, it’s a good time to work on building community through a shared project. 

Creating a visual display in which each member of the class has a part can be a great unifying group effort. The focus could be a big turkey or a class cornucopia - the important thing to do is to get the whole class involved!

Send home construction paper shapes - feathers for a turkey or fruits for a cornucopia - for each child/family to decorate. Make sure to send good directions, letting them know that they can be creative in what materials they use and really personalize their pieces. It might help to send a photo of a finished project, so that they get the idea. 

Parents could tell what they are thankful for about their child or students could express what they themselves are thankful for! Giving a deadline over a span of time allows them to work as they can, and feel less pressure. 

Each one that comes in is combined to form a shared project, while celebrating each individual student! Make sure all kiddos are represented in this - build them up by building up their community!

Have fun!