The Miss Bindergarten Kindergarten Series
by Joseph Slate
INTRODUCTION
The following activities are designed to be part of a school-year curriculum. Each book has its own set of activities that contributes to a larger, end-of-the-year project: individual student mobiles. You'll need a plastic hanger or a similar object for the frame of the mobile. However, if you would like to selectively use the Miss Bindergarten books, the activities provided here can stand alone or easily be incorporated into your own curriculum.
ACTIVITIES
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten
Project: Create a class "Gets Ready" book.
Goal: Acclimate students to their new class by
helping them become familiar with their new
surroundings and each other. Students will also review the alphabet and begin work on their mobiles.
Introductions and Sharing Feelings
PLAN AHEAD: Before the school year starts, be sure to take a picture of your classroom when it is messy and materials are still in boxes.
1. Point out the transformation of Miss Bindergarten's room from colorless and messy to cheerful and neat. Show students the picture of their classroom before you moved in and ask them to take a look around now. Can they point out specific ways in which things are different? Point out specific play and work areas as you talk, so that students will become familiar with their surroundings.
2. Share with your class what you did as a teacher to prepare for the year. Talk about your feelings (of excitement, anxiety, etc.) and ask everyone else
to share their feelings. Have students draw pictures of these emotions to aid in your discussion. They will be reassured that their feelings are shared by all and will begin to feel more comfortable with their new
classmates in the process.
ABC's
While reading this book, point out the first letter of each character's name. Have students identify the first letter of their own first name and see whether, using every student's letter, you can form the entire alphabet. Ask your class which letters are missing. Have each student cut their letter out of construction paper (or hand out precut construction paper letters) to decorate with feathers,
tissue papers, cotton balls, etc. This will become the main part of the students' mobiles. You can also simply string these letters together and create a colorful alphabet banner to display in your room throughout the year.
Similarities and Differences
1. Discuss how each character gets ready for kindergarten and gets to school. Are there similarities, differences, or both?
2. Discuss with your students how they prepare for and get to school. Talk about these similarities and differences while making notes on the board. Have each child illustrate one thing from their own routine and bind the illustrations together to create a "Gets Ready" book for the class.
Rhyme
Point out how each character's name rhymes with something they are doing. Help students to create rhymes using their own names. Print their rhymes and attach them to their mobiles.
Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten
Project: Have a 100th day of kindergarten party.
Goal: Help students understand the value of 100 through groupings and sets of similar items.
Math
- Begin discussing the value of the number 100 with groupings of 10. Show students a bundle of 10 pencils and a bundle of 100 pencils.
- Create a "100" bulletin board. Choose a theme: the ocean, the forest, a zoo, etc. Prepare photocopies of 100 fish, trees, monkeys, etc. Have students decorate them and then post them on the board.
- Have each child trace their hands on several pieces of construction paper and then decorate them. Place hands in a row throughout the classroom, or down the hallway, counting and grouping by 10 until you to reach 100.
- Make macaroni necklaces using 100 pieces of pasta.
- Have each student bring in their own collection of 100 things (for example, crayons, pennies, buttons, etc.). Students can do this at home with help from their parents.
- Ask each child to illustrate the number 100 by completing the following statement: "100 things I want to . . . " (Suggestions: eat, draw, make, have, sew, paint, color, etc.) Attach their statements to their individual mobiles.
100th Day Party!
Spend the day doing everything in sets of 100:
- Exercise 100 times (10 jumping jacks, 10 toe touches, 10 shoulder touches, 10 claps, 10 hops, etc.).
- Observe 100 seconds of silence.
- Time how long it takes to walk 100 steps.
- Distribute one brown paper bag per student and have a decorating session using the number 100.
- In 10 separate bowls, place enough snack foods for each student to take 10 of each. You could use mini pretzels, mini marshmallows, raisins or other dried fruit, small crackers, gummy candy, or popcorn.
- Allow each child to count out 10 pieces from each bowl for their bag. Close the bag, shake it up, and enjoy!
- Fill a variety of jars with various quantities of items like buttons, beads, bows, marbles, golf tees, etc. (Only one jar should have 100.)
- Number each jar. Then let each student guess which jar contains 100. Pin the 1 on the 100.
- On a large piece of poster board, allow the whole class to decorate the number 100. (You can do this ahead of time.) At your party, under adult supervision, blindfold each student and let each child try to pin the 1 on the 100. 100th Day Award
- Create a template certificate that reads "__________ has completed 100 days of kindergarten," with space to insert each student's photograph.
Miss Bindergarten Stays Home from Kindergarten
Project: Create "Get Well" cards.
Goal: Help students to understand sympathy, share their feelings, and learn the days of the week.
Days of the Week
1. Talk about the days of the week: Is there something the class does routinely on certain days each week? Are there individual activities students do on a weekly basis?
2. Have students pick their favorite day of the week and illustrate why it is their favorite.
Sympathy for Others
1. Discuss times when you have not felt well. Share the things that cheered you up and made you feel better. Ask students to draw a picture of a time when they were not feeling well. Ask them to show what made them feel better.
2. Create "Get Well" cards. This could be done at a specific time when someone in the class, another teacher, or the principal is sick. This could also be done at any time during the year for children at a local hospital.
Helping New People
(Such as the Substitute Teacher)
1. This is a great book to use in preparation for a time when you may be out of the classroom. Introduce your students to the idea of another teacher supervising them. Describe the ways in which they could help the substitute.
2. Talk about what it feels like to be a new member of the class. Ask them to remember how they felt on their first day of school.
Miss Bindergarten Takes a Field Trip with Kindergarten
Project: Create a small town in your classroom.
Goal: Introduce students to the basic industries of their town or neighborhood, and learn basic geometric shapes.
Identifying Shapes
1. Introduce shapes and their names, using large cutouts. Talk about what shapes you can see in everyday objects around the classroom.
2. Divide the class into shape teams (circle, triangle, etc.). Ask each team to draw the things around them that have their shape. Let them explore the classroom and playground for help (e.g., square windows, rectangular door, etc.).
3. For a rainy day, hold a scavenger hunt in the classroom. Hide objects that represent all the shapes around the room. Each team then has to collect the objects that have their assigned shape.
4. After these activities, have the members of each team draw and cut out their team's shape. Ask each student to write the name of the shape on one side, and list or draw objects that have that shape on the reverse side. Attach the finished cut-outs to their individual mobiles.
Create Your Own Town
Divide the class into teams – one for each of the places mentioned in the book: library, post office, and firehouse. Designate these areas in the classroom and have the class help you decorate and staff them accordingly. Students can send "letters" to each other through the post office, where everyone has their own mailbox. Create a system for borrowing books from the library. When holding fire drills, be sure to rely on your firehouse. Rotate students in these positions throughout the year.
Miss Bindergarten Plans a Circus
with Kindergarten
Project: Host your own classroom circus.
Goal: Introduce students to animals and their characteristics, discuss basic alliteration, and spend a fun afternoon at your own circus.
Animals and Alliteration
1. Each student in Miss Bindergarten's class is actually an animal (i.e., Danny is a dog, Matty is a moose, etc.). As you read the story, point out these animals to the class and ask them to identify each animal. Introduce various characteristics of each animal (e.g., elephants drink through their noses, iguanas smell with their tongues, etc.).
2. Each character's name begins with the same letter as the type of animal it is. Ask students to imagine themselves as an animal whose name starts with the same letter as their first name and have them draw a picture. Attach the pictures to their individual mobiles.
Circus Day
1. Create your own circus day, with you as the ringmaster.
2. Create a variety of circus act "rings" in a circuit around the classroom, so that each student gets to "perform" each task (e.g., hula-hooping, juggling, balancing books on their heads, etc.).
3. Serve animal crackers or popcorn and juice for a snack.
Individual Student Mobiles
At this point, each student should have five pieces for their own personalized mobile. Display them for the next parent-teacher conference or for other members of the school. Afterward, students may take their mobiles home.
MISS BINDERGARTEN BOOK LIST
All of the following titles are available from Dutton Children's Books & Puffin Books, Divisions of Penguin Books for Young Readers.
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten
0-14-056273-7 (40 pp.) $6.99 pb
0-525-45446-2 (40 pp.) $16.99 hc
Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten
0-525-46000-4 (40 pp.) $16.99 hc
Miss Bindergarten Stays Home from Kindergarten
0-525-46396-8 (40 pp.) $16.99 hc
An IRA-CBC Children's Choice
Miss Bindergarten Takes a Field Trip with Kindergarten
0-525-46710-6 (40 pp.) $16.99 hc
An IRA-CBC Children's Choice
Miss Bindergarten Plans a Circus with Kindergarten
0-525-46884-6 (40 pp.) $16.99 hc
Visit author Joseph Slate at
www.josephslate.com
and illustrator Ashley Wolff at
www.ashleywolff.com.
Brought to you by Penguin Young Readers Group.
The Penguin Group is the second-largest English-language trade book publisher in the world. The company possesses perhaps the world's most prestigious list of best-selling authors and a backlist of unparalleled breadth, depth, and quality. Penguin Young Readers Group features books by authors and illustrators including Judy Blume, Brian Jacques, Eric Carle, and beloved characters like Winnie-the-Pooh, Madeline, The Little Engine that Could, and many, many more.
