1-2-3 Come Scribble Away With Me!

As you know, when you scribble something, you write or draw it quickly. Scribbles are random and abstract and often done without lifting your pencil off the paper. 

According to Viktor Lowenfeld, an art professor who taught at Pennsylvania State University, the first stage of a child's art development is the scribble stage.

Since my Y5's were wonderful scribblers, and each scribble is unique, I thought I’d turn some scribbles into an interesting get-to-know-you piece of art - and add some dice, turning it all into a fun icebreaker, for a creative back to school activity.  So...

Come scribble away and get to know your students today! Completed projects, make an eye-catching bulletin board.  (Woo hoo!) 

If you need help doing this with preschool students, have this be an open house or meet the teacher activity that children can do with their parents.  Collect and have them share during the first week of school.

Here’s How: Make your own example and share it with your students. A picture is definitely worth a 1,000 words.

Demonstrate how to make a full-page scribble. Explain that they need to create something simple, but that takes up the entire sheet of paper. I’ve found that little ones write large letters, but often draw tiny objects.

While they are scribbling, they should keep in mind that they need to leave enough room in their design to write something inside the sections. (A room helper can assist little ones with writing, recording what they want to say.)

Scribbles can have rounded shapes, angular shapes or a combination of both. If you think this is too difficult for your kiddos, I’ve included six templates that you can run off that they can choose from.

Pass out paper and scribble away. If time permits, allow students to scribble several examples and then choose their favorite. 

For young children, you may want to have them practice on a sheet of newspaper to get the feel of scribbling larger abstract-like shapes instead of little squiggles.

Have children use a different color crayon or marker to fill in 6 to 8 of their sections. I chose this amount because I wanted to reinforce the names of the various colors.

Results would also be more colorful, as young children sometimes choose to color with only their favorite color.

As a quick and easy icebreaker, and fun way to get to know your students, have them write some things about themselves inside the abstract shapes that they colored in.

This can be whatever they want to share, or you can give them further directions for what you’re looking for.

This was my rubric: Jot down 2 to 4 things you enjoy; 1 thing you did over the summer; 2 interesting facts about yourself; and 1 favorite thing. (Adjust numbers to fit your other directions.) 

I've made a poster for you to hang up, so students can refer to it while they're scribbling. 

This is what I wrote inside my scribbles:

• Four things that I enjoy: I love gardening. I enjoy photography. I enjoy taking nature walks. I enjoy kayaking.
• One thing I did over the summer: I road a train to Washington and Oregon to visit family.
• Two interesting facts about me: I have a black poodle named Chloe. I have an identical twin sister named Kathie.
• A favorite thing: Red licorice is my favorite candy.

Because of limited space, I kept my answers short when I wrote them down, but encourage students to add some adjectives when they orally share. i.e. On my paper: I have a pet poodle. Sharing: I have a black poodle named Chloe.

You can have students hold up their scribble and share one thing, or turn it into a get-to-know-you game and add some dice.

To play with dice, have students number 6 of their scribbled sections. Take turns passing and tossing the dice and then sharing the matching numbered section that they rolled.  I use big foam dice to cut down on the noise. They also stay on a desk or table better.

If you want to reinforce colors, make a list of colors and then number your list. Whatever number they roll will have a matching color that they share. I’ve included a rubric for this that you can display on the board.

I used rainbow colors, but you might want to adjust it to include pink.  I found that my little ones rarely chose yellow, but almost all of the girls consistently chose pink or purple.

To turn this into an interesting bulletin board, have students choose from a variety of colors of construction paper, and glue their scribble in the center. Gluing on a photo adds that finishing touch.

A caption could be: We are a unique and colorful bunch. OR... “We scribbled away to learn about our classmates today!”

Click on the link to view/download the Scribble Icebreaker.  Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN away. 

It's time to stop scribbling for awhile and start a bit of cleaning...or not!  

"This world is but a canvas to our imagination." -Henry David Thoreau

 1-2-3 Come Make A First Day Activity With Me

I know a lot of teachers have a Dr. Seuss theme for their classrooms, so I thought I'd make an activity you can do with your students on the first day of school. 

Simply run off the template.  On each stripe of the cat's hat, students write the things that they enjoyed doing the most and then color the stripes.  Add a first day photo for that finishing touch. 

Encourage older students to use complete sentences.  Younger students can simply write a word or two. 

You may want to start by brainstorming with your kiddos.  To help them with spelling, jot their answers on the board.

There's a hat without the 1st day sentence as well, so you can also use this activity during March's celebration of Seuss or a Cat in the Hat Day.

I've included a poster with another similar Seuss quote. Use it to introduce the above activity, or for a discussion at the end of the day of what your students enjoyed the most, and how everyone contributed to making that first day special.

Click on the link to view/download the Seuss Hat First Day Writing Craftivity. 

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope your days are as filled with fun as mine are. 

I'm off to watch my grandson (22 months) play in his kiddie pool.  So loving summer...

123 Come Color With Me!

One of the ways I counted up to 100 Day was with a cute gumball poster by Really Good Stuff. Each day I’d choose a quiet child to X off a gumball.

Because of this poster, I designed the “Wel-gum To our really sweet class” find your name skill sheet.

Learning how to recognize their name was one of my Y5’s report card standards, so we worked on this every day.

I made this worksheet a bit more special by including my last year’s school picture inside one of the gumballs.

When they found their name, I had them color the gumball their favorite FLAVOR, and then we graphed the results.

We discussed the difference between favorite flavor and favorite color, for many, this was their first introduction to graphing.

Everyone enjoyed learning something about their new friends.

This packet also includes 2 class books.  One the children trace and write the sentence about their favorite color.

To make the book more special, include their school photo as well.

I also made a class color book, by including pictures cut out from magazines of things of the various colors.

Each child brought a color picture in on that particular color day, as well as wore the appropriate color.

I took a class picture each Friday and also included that in our color book.

This packet includes the letter home, a calendar + a poster for your parent-teacher conferences.

Click on the link to view/download Wel-gum packet.

Thanks for visiting today.

Feel free to PIN anything you think others might enjoy.

“Never be too big to ask questions. Never know too much to learn something new.” – Og Mandino