Through-out the year in a classroom, opportunities come along when various activities can be used to reinforce skills being taught and are fun for the learners. A good one for October is to bring in a big, orange, flat pumpkin. Early in the month introduce an art activity which can be expanded on to incorporate language skills. Allow each student to have a turn to draw a face on the pumpkin, using a special pen. After the face is drawn take a picture of the student with his creation and have him make a statement about it. Save the statement. At the mid point in the day, the face can be erased and another child can draw his own face. Be sure that you use a pen which can be wiped off. I used one called vis-a-vis. After everyone has had his drawing on for a half day, another child has his turn. Leave them on for half a day,then make a book using the pictures and the statements made about the picture. Even early readers will remember what they said and the book can be placed in the class library. The books can be checked out over the week-end allowing the children another opportunity for successful reading.
When introducing telling time on a face or digital clock, make a sundial using cardboard or other suitable material. Explain that one can tell the time by watching the shadow cast on the face of the sundial. The shadow is cast from the gnomon in the center. The sundial is marked by one hour intervals. On any sunny day take the class out and set the sundial in a clear sunny spot where it will not be in shadows. Go out at a specific time early in the day, on the hour, such as 8:00.Take a marking pen and note where the shadow line is on the face of the sundial. Mark the line and write the time. Explain that we will come back out in one hour to see how far the line has moved. Mark the new shadow line and write the time. Do this throughout the day allowing different children to serve as the marker. This activity helps children to understand the passage of time. The activity can be extended over several days to let all of the children participate. To build on the idea go outdoors on a sunny day and look for posts or poles to use as natural sundials. You may find ways to use this activity in a science lesson. Encourage the children to build a sun dial at home and even send home an explanation for making one so their parents can reinforce the activity at home.
To help children grasp the concept of place value, pass out to each child a handful of objects such as pencils or crayons. Tell them to count out ten and bundle them together with a small piece of masking tape, which you supply. Then have them count how many they have left after bundling ten. Have them count how many they have in all, including the ones left over from the ten in the bundle. Let them in turn, write their number on the board. In this way they can compare how many objects each has and compare more and less. Have this activity for several days using different objects. Extend the idea by looking for other groups of things seen in the classroom or around the school, in the hallway, and outdoors. When doing this activity walk around the room to see who is understanding. The reinforcing can continue with paper work. For some children it may take more guidance so be alert just who is having trouble and quietly assist them as needed. As homework they can look for things at home to bundle and count and report to the class.
A little tip for teaching self control and maintaining decorum in the classroom, is to begin early on to show the class how to line up in order by the first letter in each first name. Every child by first grade can say the letters of the alphabet. At any time the class is leaving one place to go to another and they know exactly where their place is in line by alphabetical order the transition from one place to another will be smoother as no one is scrambling to be first, last, etc. By establishing this pattern you are setting up cooperation and polite behavior and the children will monitor their group behavior without any help from the teacher. There will be many opportunities through the year to use this skill.
If your school has trees outside in a convenient place where the children can go visit them here is a plan the children will enjoy. Allow them to go out to the trees and adopt one of their choosing. There may not be enough for each child to have a tree to himself, so some can share a tree. Help them to identify the tree and learn something about it, what the leaves look like and the seeds and other facts which they may gather from different sources. The space under and around the base of the tree can serve as a great spot to go for silent reading, or to do school work. If you are lucky enough to have a Ginkgo tree on the grounds, it is a wonderful way to show how the Ginkgo leaf is unique in nature. Also in the fall they can watch for leaf change and how that happens. The children will find lots to tell about their tree in independent writing as the year progresses. The children take pride in their tree area and it gives them a sense of ownership so they are more likely to take better care of their school in general.
If you are a teacher of young children I hope you have seen some ideas here that you can incorporate into your teaching plans. I would be happy to hear from you if you have something to share. One more thing, I taught first grade for twenty one years and may revisit this subject at another time. Good luck with your young learners and enjoy them.
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