1-2-3 Come Do A Back To School Rainbow Craftivity With Me
Back to school can be a bit scary for students. "I don't know anyone!" is a common cry for many.
With that in mind, I like to build a classroom community, where my students feel safe and have an opportunity to get to know each other.
I truly believe you have less discipline problems, if children have made friends and feel cared about.
Thus, I do a "getting to know you activity" each day for the first week of school, and continue with at least one additional activity each week for the rest of the month. This is truly time well spent!
When students feel part of a team, they are happier and achieve more. There's also accountability, which goes hand-in-hand with behaving.
I'm a firm believer of the quote: "There's no "I" in TEAM!" So let's build that commUNITY! Your students will love you for it, and have a ton of fun getting to know eachother.
I just finished a quick, easy & super-fun “getting to know you” (print & go) craft for this very purpose. I call it "Color Me Happy!"
The craftivity has a variety of options, so you can easily diversify the activity for different abilities & grade levels.
There are two rainbow options, the one "spilling from a cloud" can be cut out or snipped into a rectangle, for easy cutting.
The 2nd one is a rainbow arc pattern. It comes in both a full-page size, as well as a smaller, two-on-a-page pattern.
There are also add-on patterns for clouds & a heart.
You can offer your students a choice, or simply pick which one you think is most appropriate for your students.
After coloring their rainbow, children think of something that they really like, that matches that colorful stripe on their rainbow, then they write that word down.
For example, a favorite red thing of mine is strawberries.
Older students can attach the larger rainbow to the top of a writing prompt worksheet, where they can write more than one example.
If your kiddos are like mine, they absolutely LOVE sharing things about themselves & will find it difficult to limit their "favorites" to just 3 per color.
I’ve also included a “directions poster” for this option. If you do this, be sure & include the poster on your bulletin board.
Completed projects make a wonderful BTS bulletin board or hallway display, and also look terrific suspended back-to-back, swirling & twirling from the ceiling.
As a fun way to get to know each other, before hanging, have everyone share one or two of their favorite colorful things.
I’ve included 6 posters to enhance your display & add extra pizzazz.
These can also be used for conversation starters, an interesting discussion or additional writing prompts.
For added fun while students are working, play “These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things” from the Sound of Music, followed up by (Judy Garland) "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" or... (IZ) “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”.
Today's FREEBIE is also a really fun back to school activity. You can actually use it throughout the year too. I call it "Chalk Talk".
The packet includes:
* A “Chalk” behavior modification, positive reinforcement activity, that will help promote working as a team to achieve a desired goal, building self-esteem at the same time.
* Black & White “color me” headers, for a sidewalk chalk treat Baggie, as well as patterns in full color for preschool, kindergarten, & first grade, with a blank template for you to fill in with any other grade.
* I’ve also included a generic one to give at anytime of the year.
* A “Chalk Talk” bear poster you can write a daily message on.
* A “Chalk Talk” kitten poster wishing children a “purrr-fect” day.
* 2 “Chalk Talk” (I had a nice time at school today. These are a few of the things that I did:) writing prompt worksheets.
Well that's it for today.
Blessings to you & yours for a stress-free & joy-filled time, as you get ready for back to school. May it be the best year yet!
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"Count your rainbows, not your thunderstorms!" -Allyssa Knight