Velcro is one of those amazing classroom tools that has so many uses!! Check out these creative ways that our Pine Village teachers use VELCRO in their classrooms!
HOMEMADE WATERFALL
Denise in Kendall Square created this "waterfall" using her easel, plastic cups, a big plastic bin, velcro and of course, AGUA!!
She put three horizontal strips of black velcro across the easel, and added cups with holes on the SIDES of the cups near the bottom. The water is added to the big plastic bin, and the children need to move the velcro cups in a way to make the water go from one cup to the next. The children use the pitcher to create the waterfall effect by pouring it into the top cups. SO NEAT!!!
ATTENDANCE BOARDS
In the SOUTH END, the teachers each have a "Quien Vino Hoy" board with the names of the children. As part of their circle time routine, the kids have to add their name to the velcro board!!
They change out the nametags to reflect the season or theme!!
They also use the children's LAST NAMES!!
TIC TAC TOE GAME
Claudia in NEEDHAM created this Tic Tac Toe board using "paz y amor" instead of "x's and o's". The children would play over and over again to try to get THREE IN A ROW!! She had it hanging on the door as a vertical game for the children to play! This can be adapted to ANY THEME!! Try it for your Artists's and Authors Unit!!
Newton teachers use this "Parejas y Trios" board with velcro to make daily partners for the kids. This helps to break up the cliques, and to encourage the children to play with all the kids in the class. Whoever your daily partner is, that's the person you sit next to, walk down the hall with and line up with.
NAME MATCHING GAME
Here's a name writing activity to do with velcro and letters!!
JOB BOARD
Teresa and Fiorella in JP started this "Pequenos Ayudantes" board to assign JOBS to the class. Velcro is used to place the hands to the Job Board.
SEQUENCE CHARTS
Kids LOVE being able to add and remove the velcro pieces to help them understand the sequence of their day. This chart was made using the Boardmaker program, but you can easily get images from Google Images.
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Additional Curriculum Ideas for the Week!!
JOURNALS
Sometimes we start the year off with great intentions to have the children write in JOURNALS everyday, and they end up turning into scrap paper! Here's a creative way that the Pre-K teachers, Claudia and Katie started implementing to create a structure to their journaling. They taught the kids to draw on the paper in a sequence, and they put a DATE STAMP on the page so it goes in order. Dating the children's work is SO IMPORTANT in order to be able to assess the progress of the child over time.
On this particular day, the kids were learning about dinosaurs. They practiced writing the word "Pterodactyl" with both upper case and lower case letters.
They then were asked to draw their own interpretation of the dinosaur. They were able to use invented spelling to write a story about the dinosaur if they wanted to. The kids then made dinosaur puppets! So fun!
LA FRUTA DE LA AMISTAD
Eliana in Porter Square uses a colander to collect the FRUTAS so it can easily be washed before cutting it for more Friendship Fruit!! Love it!!!
SENSORY TABLE IDEAS
Here are a few sensory tables ideas that I saw this month. We want to make sure to change the table at least once a week to stimulate interest and to keep those hands busy!!!
Cynthia in Kendall Square put out tubes and circles from the recycling center.
Wendy in the South End had "grass", magnifying glasses and baskets and bugs to explore!
Teresa in JP had silk rose petals, cars and cups to play with!
Math Bug Sorting
Savannah in Needham had this math sorting game out for the kids to sort by color or by bug type!!
DOCUMENTING THE PROCESS
Marissa in Needham always puts photographs of the children in the process of their activities!
She also puts a little sign to explain the GOAL of the activity for the parents to see and learn! You can easily take these down and place in the children's portfolios too!!
LITERACY IDEA
After reading a story with the class, have them review the PERSONAJES, EL LUGAR y LA SECUENCIA to learn about LAS PARTES DE UN CUENTO like the Pre-K class in Newton did here!
MATH IDEA: MONKEY ADDITION
Denise in Kendall Square created this Math Idea using "bananas" and monkeys to count and add! The children use a dry erase marker on the equations to write down the answer!!
This can be made with just about any theme!!!!
DAILY WHITE BOARD
Christie in Kendall Square was working alone today, so in order to keep her daily white board up to date without leaving the children, she simply removed it from the wall, brought it into the classroom to write the daily news, and then put it back on the wall!!
Tattle Tale Monster
Denise and Alejandra in Kendall Square were encountering lots of tattling on their friends in the class. So they taught them this three step process:
1.) You tell your friend that you don't like what they are doing and you ask them to stop.
2.) Then the second time if they keep bothering you, you ignore them or walk away.
3.) After you have tried those other steps, THEN you can come tell a teacher. Of course if it's something that's dangerous or hurting somebody else, then they can immediately tell a teacher. Furthermore, at any point in this process, they taught the kids to write down their "tattles" at their writing center and then add it to the monster's mouth!
INSPIRATION FOR THE PVP DIRECTOR...
Here's an EXCELLENT way to let your staff know where you are going, and what you are up to each month! Christina in Needham, has all of her tours, fechas especiales, training nights and "all things PVP" on this large dry-erase board calendar hung up in her office. It works for Christina since it's always right there in writing for everyone to see. She also likes that there's a spot on the bottom to write upcoming dates to add to the calendar as things come up! Furthermore, the information is sent in her weekly email to the staff, and also communicated to them in the staff meetings! We never never communicate information too much!
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Espero que gozen todas las ideas!!
Jacie
