Materials
finger puppet for each child and teacher
toy dump truck
Instructions
hese techniques will help children wait for the next activity or line up. The
techniques move the children in small groups and mix them with different
children. They also involve such concepts as grouping, categorizing, noticing
details, and reviewing concepts.
* Call out a color. Everyone wearing that color gets in line. Then call another
color.
* Instead of a color, call out a type of clothing, type of shoe, or clothing
feature such as flowers, buttons, stripes, and so on.
* Call out eye color, or hair color or length and combine this with a
discussion about how everyone has similarities and differences but is
special in her own way.
* Spell first names. Call out the first letters in names. Call out initials. When
first names are too easy, switch to last names. Choose a letter from
anywhere in a name or call children with five, six, or seven letters in her
name. Try clapping numbers of syllables.
* Teach the sign language alphabet and fingerspell their names, or sign the
first letter of their names.
* Whisper each child's name. This helps to quiet everyone down on
especially loud or exciting days. Children have to be quiet so everyone
can hear the names.
* Ask children if they remember something about what they did that day,
for example, "If your butterfly had blue wings, go wash your hands."
More to do Language: Learn sign language for words like "please," "thank you," "yes," and
"no" for use at snack time.
Math: Count the number of children in each category.
More Math: Create charts of the groups in a category, such as types of pants
and compare them to the counts the next day. Let the line leader choose a
category.
