I've always been a fan of the Curious George movie soundtrack- it went from the stack of nap time CDs in my 3 year old classroom, to being a regular supplier of background music for the end of Kindergarten slide show. If you don't own it- add it to your teacher collection, ASAP!The track that I use for this project is, "My Own Two Hands."
How often do we have to reassure our Kinders that they can do things? They live in a world where they are frequently the smallest, where adults often complete tasks for them, and where things take practice and perseverance to accomplish with independence. Yet, from 8:35am - 3:00pm there are these teachers (that's us, of course) who help them each discover the many things they can do!
Here's the break down of what I do for this project:
1. Begin by reviewing the important characteristics about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Talk about some of the changes that happened because of what he dreamed.
2. Have students turn and talk about what they could do to keep MLK's dream happening. (Be kind to a friend in the class, play with someone who is alone, help someone tie a shoe). Try to have students be specific when they say, "be kind" ask one way they could be kind.
3. Each student picks one idea that they talked about.
4. Provide students with a large piece of white paper. You will need to write the sentence stem, "I can _________ with my own two hands." Read the sentence stem to students and model where the words go. I do not model adult spelling, I use the same strategies I have my students use and have them 'help' me spell my words.
5. You will need to do the hand tracing for this project to work. While students wait for you to trace their hands they can write their words. I trace both hands with thumbs together.
6. I explain to my students that they need to sketch and color inside of the hands. When these are hanging on a hallway bulletin board it makes a nice visual to see all of these hands amid the white of the larger paper. (It really is OK to leave a paper without coloring in every inch of it as blue sky!)
Alternative version this year!
After completing the "My Two Hands" project with my Kinders we worked on a combined effort with our 4th grade buddies. This time we had students trace and cut their hands out of construction paper. Students worked together to complete this paper, focusing on what they could do together.
These projects came out so nicely we decided to share them at our all school meeting. Who doesn't love big and little buddy sweet projects?!
Remember, you, too can do many things with your own two (teacher) hands!
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