Number Please - Number the chairs in your room. Put like numbers in a can and let children draw a number. That’s their seat for the week!
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Hint -
Write numbers on seasonal symbols and change each month.
Lucky Sticks! - Cover a can or plastic cup with paper and write “Lucky Sticks” on it. Next, let each child decorate a jumbo craft stick with their name. Place the sticks with the name down in the can. Explain that when you have a errand or task, you will pick a stick from the can. That child will get to be your special helper. After they’ve been picked, put their stick in an envelope in your desk. When all the sticks have been picked, then place the sticks from the envelope back in the can and start all over again.
Hint - You can use a similar technique for asking children questions. Keep sticks with children’s names on them in a can. Shake them up, then pick a random name when you ask a question.
Buddy Sticks - Peer teaching or working with a “buddy” is a powerful learning strategy. Children can read, write, draw, play a game, or work on other projects with a partner. This prop will insure no one gets left out and you will have random grouping. You will need jumbo craft sticks and stickers for this prop. You will need as many sticks as there are children in your room. Put like stickers on two sticks. Put the sticks in the can with the stickers facing down. When children need a partner for reading, a game, or another activity, have them each choose a stick. When they find the friend with the sticker that matches their sticker, that person is their partner!
Juke Box - Cover an empty cereal box with paper and decorate it with music notes. Use a hot glue gun to glue an old CD on the box. Write “Juke Box” on the CD as shown. Make “CDs” for your juke box by cutting 4 ½” circles from poster board or fun foam. Write the titles (and or words) to poems, finger plays, nursery rhymes, or songs on the CDs and put them in the juke box. When you have a few extra minutes pretend to give a child a quarter. Say, “Put the quarter in the juke box and pull out a song.” Sing the song or say the rhyme that is on the CD the child selects.
Special Delivery - Cover a large Pringle’s can or similar canister with paper and write “Special Delivery” on it. When you have a special message to get home to a parent insert it in the can. Tell the child that you have a special mission for them. They need to take the “Special Delivery” to their parents and bring it back the next day.
Sub CD - Make a CD for when you have a substitute with a good morning song, calendar song, movement songs, good-bye song, etc. Your sub won’t have to search around and can just sing her way through the day.