When the Leprechaun Comes Marching In

     While March 17th was intended to be about St. Patrick, the leprechaun has now taken center stage and even seems to have upgraded his status to one that rivals Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.  My own kids were even known to call it  "Leprechaun Day," when they were young.
     In the classroom this can be a tricky time for teachers! We want to feed children's interest and imaginations, yet we don't necessarily want to spend all month looking for leprechauns as children gather evidence in the form of lint specs found on the carpet.
    So here are some activities that I have found, that allow me to embrace the fun and magic of the season, while keeping the leprechaun "fever" in check.

     At the beginning of the month, I introduce a seasonally-themed attention getter and line-up song that infuse fun and imagination into our daily routines.

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     Green and shiny things are added to centers and are available throughout the month of March. Pretend play naturally arises from the children's work with the materials they find there!

 

play dough with shiny, loose parts

St. Patty's Day themed sensory table

shades of green to explore in the art center

pots and gold for counting, measuring, and comparing

    

shamrocks in the science center for observing and drawing

     Penny investigations, using mini pots of "gold," are done in small math groups and used to practice skills such as counting, fair shares, measuring, estimating, predicting, missing addend, and more!  Lucky, the math mascot found on each page, guides children through each investigation by asking "math talk" questions. 

  

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     Guided drawings of leprechauns using Arthub provides great fine motor practice!  The children add their own details making each one unique! 

They also write about what they would do if they caught a leprechaun. 

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     Sight words are practiced using this fun game where children take turns reading a word in hopes of finding the "pot of gold" that is hidden behind one of the cards.

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     As the big day draws closer, the magic really begins! With one day to go, we find a poem, some cups, and markers in our snack basket.  The poem invites us to decorate the "hats" and leave them overnight.

Find the poem and directions here:

     The next morning, the children are surprised to find these "shrunken hats" sitting atop a little bag of gold.  

     In the afternoon we go hunting for more gold.  Each gold piece is hidden with a 100 grid number card. As children find each card, they bring it to the 100 chart and place it in the matching pocket.

Find the number cards here:

     The gold, which is an assortment of pennies, plastic coins, chocolate coins, and candy go into their bags.  

     In the end, rather than stifling their imaginations, I've chosen to fuel them and incorporate the magic of the season into their play and learning.  What works for you when the leprechauns come marching in?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jackie

   

     

     

     

     

       

     

Classroom Call Backs (Attention Getters)

     Ever stop to count the number of times you have to get children's attention throughout the day? Neither have I! But I would guess we're talking double digits. Multiply that by 5 days in a school week and your clap/clap/stomp, lights out, or "All set/You Bet," gets real old by the end of the first week! So if your "Macaroni Cheese/Everybody Freeze" isn't as "chill" as it once was, you might need to add a few more attention getters to your teacher's toolbox!

     So to help meet my own attention getter "quotas," I created some call and response rhymes/chants for each month of the school year.

Here's how they work:

      In September, I'll introduce the two call backs and use them repeatedly until the children know them well. When October arrives, the same rhymes/chants are altered slightly to reflect a seasonal theme providing a novel, but consistent routine for gaining children's attention.  For example, in the “Ten Up on Top” call back, children are "holding up" apples in September, pumpkins in October, pies in November and so on. With the "head and shoulders" call back, children "freeze" like different seasonal characters such as scarecrows, monsters, or turkeys.  Even within a month such as October, there is lots of opportunity for variation as you can substitute "candy corn" for "pumpkins"  or "mummy" for "monster." 

You can get the March FREEBIE here:

or the whole set here:

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Have fun with those Kinders and thanks for dropping by!

Jackie

 

    

  

    

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Class Cheers

    When I was pregnant with my first child, I noticed pregnant women everywhere! Certainly pregnant women were nothing new, but I was tuned-in in a way that I had never been before. Positivity is like that too! The more you look, the more you’ll find! 
    While there are lots of ways to reinforce positive behavior, I’m not a fan of many of them.  Mostly because there is often a flip-side to these techniques where something is taken away or witheld when behavior is not-so-positive.  There’s a lot of see-sawing and keeping track and I have a hard time being consistent and equitable.  Maybe that’s just me! 

     Class cheers, however, are something I can really rally around!  They encourage me to look for the positive and, together with the children, celebrate accomplishments, good deeds, kind words, and more! They are also just plain fun and the kiddos light up like a Christmas tree when the cheer is for them!

     So, if you’d like a few cheers in your “back pocket,” I’ve written one for each month of the school year allowing you to introduce a new seasonally-themed cheer from September to June. Use these to recognize individual children, partnerships, teams, or even the whole class while building classroom community and creating a positive learning environment. 

You can get the March Cheer FREEBIE here:

or the whole set here!

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Thanks for dropping by!

Jackie

   

  

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Hands-in-Your-Lap Rhymes

      While criss-cross applesauce might seem like magic in September, it has usually lost its charm by December.  So if you’re like me and find that your classroom management needs a tune-up right about now, try these monthly hands-in-your-lap rhymes to provide a consistent, but novel routine for gaining children’s attention. 

     The first two lines of each rhyme invite children to move their hands in fun and engaging ways such as flickering like a candle, kneading dough, or flying like a bird. In the third line, the word “lap,” introduced in the September rhyme, is playfully switched out to match a seasonal theme and children can imagine their lap as a mixing bowl, mailbox, flower pot, nest and more.  The last line, Ready, set, go! is repeated throughout and signals to children that teaching and learning is about to begin!

You can get the March Hands-in-Your-Lap rhyme FREEBIE here:

or the whole set here!

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Thanks for dropping by!

Jackie

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