United StatesSelf Portrait Class Book
Grade Levels: Pre-K - 2
Objectives
- Students will learn each others names.
- Students will create a class book.
Materials
- White paper
- Crayons, colored pencils, paint
- Teacher-made colorful cover entitled “Making New Friends”
Procedures
- Sit in a circle with your students.
- Each child stands, tells her name, and what she likes to do in her spare time.
- Teacher shares the importance of meeting new friends and the pleasure of creating a class book.
- Children each draw a self-portrait for book and
teacher labels it with their name using a marker. Date this picture.
- Share the book when time permits during the day.
- Place the new book in the class library.
- Have children draw another self-portrait in the spring to compare with the first self-portrait.
Hang the portraits on the classroom walls, at least for a couple of weeks before adding them to a book. This activity can open up a very rich discussion on race and differences that can be extremely valuable in an early childhood classroom. Putting brown, white, and peach paint on the table is often not enough to represent skin color. Crayola makes some wonderful multicultural paints. Prior to beginning the lesson, you want to read All the Colors of the Earth, by Sheila Hamanaka, a beautifully illustrated book on skin color. Use some of the paints in front of the group and do some mixing to figure out what your skin color is, as a demonstration. There is even a song called "We Are All Different Colors" that would go great with this activity.
Asian-Pacific-American Heritage Month
May is Asian-Pacific-American Heritage Month! Don't overlook this opportunity to study and enjoy activities about the history and culture of Asian-Pacific American communities.
The recent rash of tornadoes in Oklahoma, which killed at least two dozen people, may have your students wondering why such natural disasters occur, how they may be affected by them, and what they can do to help. Use these resources to teach the geography of Oklahoma and the Southwestern United States, to explain tornadoes, and to discuss the resulting crises with your class.
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May Calendar of Events
May is full of holidays and events that you can incorporate into your standard curriculum. Our Educators' Calendar outlines activities for each event, including: Backyard Games Week (5/23-29) and Memorial Day (5/27). Plus, celebrate Asian-Pacific-American Heritage Month, Clean Air Month, and Physical Fitness & Sports Month all May long!
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Is your school district adopting the Common Core? Work these new standards into your curriculum with our reading, writing, speaking, social studies, and math lessons and activities. Each piece of content incorporates the Common Core State Standards into the activity or lesson.
