Hi Moms,
Can any of you creative thinkers help me? I have been picked to come into my daughter's Kindergarten class and read a book to them. I need to incorporate either a costume or a snack or a very small art project that has something to do with the story. I need to fill 30 minutes. Any ideas of how to grab and keep the attention of 36 kindergarteners and make a fun story for them?
Thanks!
Wow! Thank you so much!!! I really appreciate all the wonderful ideas you moms gave me! Thanks so much! I'm going to head to the bookstore and look at all these great suggestions! I appreciate that you took the time to help me! Thank you!!!!
one of my kids absolute favorites is "what can you do with ten black dots" I would read that it has big colorful pages. and you could bring in a paper for each kid with some dots on it and they can draw what they want with it. then talk about their paper. kids love to talk about what they draw. as long as you ask them to tell you "about" it and ask them what is it lol....
"fancy nancy sees stars." then go to michaels and get craft stuff for all kids to make their own stars. as for snack you could bring star shaped cookies.
my 5 year olds love fancy nancy.
.
My son loved and still does the book by Jamie Lee Curtis, "It's Tough Being 5!"
Throughout the book, the kid wears all sorts of funny tshirts, so you could have the kids decorate a white hanes t shirt with fabric markers...
I'm also a huge fan of Eric Carle for that age. Or any of the if you give a ____ a _____ books. The Mouse a cookie you could have the kids decorate sugar cookies with icing a frosting. The moose a muffin: decorate cup cakes...
Another idea is to call the school librarian and ask for suggestions.
"Thunder Cake" by Patricia Polacco (sp?)
You can dress like Babushka and bring Thunder Cake for snack... I've used it SEVERAL times.
T.
I would start with a favorite book of you and your daughter. Then from that book, try to come up with something crafty. If she is like my daughter and loves tons of books, maybe choose something seasonal, winter, Valentine's day, Presidents day, etc and choose a craft from there. Sounds fun, have a great time!
I have used the good old stand by "Where the Wild Things Are". The kids are usually excited because most of them know or have the book. When you read it, you can have them "Stomp their terrible teeth (sitting down of course), show their terrible teeth and roll their terrible eyes" along with the book. Roll model how to do this before you read the story. After reading you can use paper plates or paper bags and crayons to make their own wild things masks. Just pre-cut holes for the nose and mouth and tie string to the sides so the kids can wear them. This can last about 30 min or if you are running long you can just tell them they can finish their masks at home.
I love the colorfully illustrated books by Chris Van Dusen. His Mr. Magee stories are funny and very entertaining. In "A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee," you could incorporate smores as a snack. I know I have heard of a smores recipe without using a campfire (or use a microwave if one if available), or you could have smores brownies or something similar. There are plenty of activities you could do that would involve a camping idea. Just think of activities kids do when they go camping. Have fun!!
My children love his books, but I love to make up voices and really get into the rhyming paragraphs, so it just adds to the excitement.
I recommend the Magic Treehouse series. They are smaller chapter books, but you can leave them hanging in suspense, and make sure as you read, you do the 'voices'. That works great with my son and he loves the stories as they are very imaginative!
I don't agree with 'Where the Wild Things Are' as this seems almost too old for this group right now. Maybe for first grade, not Kindergarten as not many are mature enough.
