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All About Me and School Books
When You Go To Kindergarten by James Howe
My Teacher Sleeps in School by Laetie Weiss
I Spy: Schooldays by Jeanne Marzollo
Annabelle Swift, Kindergartner by Amy Schwartz
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
I Like Me! by Nancy Carlson
A House is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman
My Hands by Aliki
Me Too! by Mercer Mayer
Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber
Ira Says Goodbye by Barnard Waber
The Land of Many Colors by the Klamath County Y.M.C.A.....
Activities:
1. Have each child draw a picture of their first day in kindergarten. I usually Xerox a piece of paper that says, "My First Day in Kindergarten" and take a sentence of dictation from each child so their parents know what they did.
2. After reading My Teacher Sleeps in School, show the children pictures of your family and home. I do this each September, and then we spend the year talking about my cat, Sugar. It helps the children get to know you better.
3. Graph how each child comes to school (car, bus, walk).
4. Have the children work in cooperative groups in order to trace eachother's preferential hand (the hand they write with). Cut the hands out and put on a graph - Which Hand Do You Write With?
5. After reading Chrysanthemum, make a class graph of the number of letters in each child's name.
6. After reading Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten have the children each complete a page for a class book on how they got ready for kindergarten. (________ got ready for kindergarten by ______________)
7. Read I Like Me! Have each child write one thing they like about themself.
8. "Roll the Ball" - name game
Have all of the children sit in a circle on the rug. Pass a ball around the circle and as each child receives the ball they say their name aloud (to help everyone learn everyone's name). Go around the circle several times. You can vary it by having the children SHOUT their names or whisper their names. You can increase the speed so that everyone tries to say their name quickly as they pass the ball around quickly. The length of this activity may vary depending on the children's interest (My kids loved it!). Then tell the children when they get the ball, they can say a new friend's name and roll the ball to that person (Help with the names, if the children are unsure.). Continue rolling the ball across the circle until everyone has at least one turn. You may choose to play another round depending on the children's interest.
9. Alphabet Name Game
Hold up a letter (on a card, or write a letter on a chalkboard) and ask the children whose name begins with that letter. Teach the children the following song using that letter:
(to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb")
If your name begins with _,
begins with _, begins with _,
If your name begins with _ stand up please.
Encourage children whose names begin with that letter to stand up. Then they sit back down. Repeat until you've used the first letter of everyone's name (You may not use all letters of the alphabet.)
10. Copycat
Teach the children the following chant and then choose a child to "copy." (You can copy the child jumping, clapping, tapping his/her head, etc.... Whatever the child decides to do.)
Let's play copycat just for fun! We'll copy ______ 'cause s/he's the one! Whatever s/he does we'll all do the same,
Let's all play the copycat game!
11. Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?
Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
_______ stole the cookie from the cookie jar
child says - Who me
everyone yells - YES YOU!!!!!
child says - Couldn't be!
everyone says - Then who???
That child chooses another person and you re-say the chant over for that child. The game continues until everyone has had at least one turn. In addition to simply chanting, you can have the children slap their legs and clap to the beat while chanting.
12. Make New Friends - (a Girl Scout song)
Make new friends,
But keep the old,
One is silver,
And the other gold.
13. If You're Friendly and You Know It
(to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It"
If you're friendly and you know it, clap your hands.
If you're friendly and you know it, clap your hands.
If you're friendly and you know it, and you really want to show it,
If you're friendly and you know it, clap your hands!
***Then, we let the children decide other things we could do to show we were friendly (i.e. jump up high, dance around, shake a hand.....) and sang the song over to include their ideas.
This page was last updated on 8/3/98