The little ones should be getting more used to the routine and being away from mom and dad for a whole school day. This second week of ‘All About Me: My Body’ activities should make them want to go to school all the time. I hope you and your class will enjoy this week’s hands-on learning centers, games, activities and Art as much as we did.
All About My Body Activities
Creative Space
Each morning, there is a 30 min space, where I set out play dough, stamps, scissors, lacing beads and cards, puzzles and blocks for the children to choose from and get creative. For this week, I will also trace individual children’s body outlines on a big sheet of white paper for our art activity. Some children might not feel comfortable with this, in which case you can send the paper home and ask their parents to trace them.
All About My Body Circle Time
Everyday during Circle Time we do the morning routine, which includes the Calendar and ‘Number, Color, Shape and Letter of the week’. We then read a story, sing a few songs and do a group activity.
On every Monday we change the ‘Classroom Helpers’ Classroom Jobs. Each child has a name card on a popsicle stick, and they get to choose their job of the week.
Circle Time Activities
Activity 1 – Weekend News:
Every Monday morning each child gets a chance to talk about their weekend and what they did. The children then draw a picture in the ‘weekend news’ journal, and the teacher writes down what they have said. Parents love looking at these books at the end of the year.
Activity 2 – I Have/ Who Has …? :
Children sit in a circle. Th teacher hands out cards evenly. The child with the first card says, ‘I have the first card, who has…’. Whoever has what the child asked, replies with ‘I have …, who has…?’ Continue until all cards have been used.
Activity 3 – One, Two, Three, Touch Your Nose
The teacher says 123, touch your ‘nose’ while modelling. Keep playing, and then say ‘123, touch your head’, while touching a different body part. Anyone that touched a different body part than their head, is out.
Activity 4 – Body Parts Bingo:
Everyone sits in a circle. Hand out the bingo cards and 6 bingo counters. The teacher calls out the body parts words while the children place a counter on the picture the teacher called out. The first one that covered all the pictures on their cards shouts ‘Bingo!’ and is the winner.
Activity 4 – Body Parts Memory Game
Print out 2 sets of the bingo calling cards. Place facing down on the carpet. Children take turns to turn 2 cards over at a time. If they are the same, they get to keep the cards. If not, they have to place them back face down.
All About My Body Songs
Eight action songs all about our different body parts, to get those bodies moving and grooving while making school so much more fun. Click on the image to head over to the post.
All About My Body Books
Twenty of the best story picture books that goes with the ‘All About Me: My Body’ theme. Click on the image below to read what these books are about.
All About My Body Literacy Activities
Activity 1: Label the Teacher
For this activity we sang ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’. I then showed the children the body parts word cards and they named the pictures.
After that the children ‘labelled’ me by sticking the word cards onto my different body parts using sticky tape. They all loved this part.
When they were done, I asked a volunteer to lie down on a big sheet of white paper and I traced around their body outline. The children worked together to color the body template, we put it up on the wall, and they labelled the body parts.
Activity 2: Label the Body Parts Cut-and-Paste Activity Sheet
After the children labelled the body parts on the body outline, the teacher hands out the above activity sheet and asks the children to cut out the words. The teacher draws a picture of a body on the board. Talk about the beginning and ending sounds of all the body parts words. Write the words next to the body parts and ask the children to find theirs and to paste it next to the correct body parts on the activity sheets.
Activity 3: Editable Names Activity Book
The teacher writes all the children in the class’s names on the board. Look at and compare the names e.g. How many names begin with (B) etc. Teacher then writes letters a – z on the board. Look and count how many children has the letter (a) in their names and write it down next to the letter a. Continue with all letters.
Once you are done, hand out the activity books and help the children to complete the pages where necessary.
All About My Body Literacy Centers
Center 1: Spin & Color
Center 2: Body Parts Bingo
Phonics
The first week of Phonics for the year! I teach phonics in order from A – Z and we spend the first semester on learning all the letter sounds. The second semester is spent on Word Families and Sight Words.
We learn 2 letter sounds a week through songs, crafts, centers, cut-and-paste activities, tracing & coloring. This week we will learn about the letters Aa & Bb. Please click on the links below that will take you to all the Phonics goodies that will be needed for the first semester.
All About My Body Math Activities
Activity 1: Numbering fingers
For the first Math activity of the week, each child was given a white A4 sheet of paper and asked to trace their hands. They then used circle stickers with numbers 1-10 written on (as prepared by the teacher beforehand) and stuck these in order on their handprints.
Activity 2: My Book About Numbers
In this book children complete four pages: ‘I have (2) pets, I have (4) people in my family, I have (7) letters in my name and I am (4) years old.
Math Center: Body Parts Dice Game
- Cut out the different body parts on the pictures of the boy and girl with the vest and pants on. Cut into 6 parts – hair, arms, clothes, legs, face and feet. Laminate these body parts as well as the dice sheet and the game sheets.
- This activity can be played individually, in pairs or in groups. Children throw the dice, check on the dice card which number corresponds with which body part, and places the laminated body part on the correct place. The first child that has covered all the body parts wins.
Art: Life-Sized Me!
The children loved this Art Activity. We traced each child’s body outline and they then got creative and painted it. When the paint dried, the teacher stuck on a picture of each child’s face (printed on A4 paper beforehand) and they had life-sized models of themselves!
Themed Stem
I found this great idea over at Kaplanko.com for this week’s STEM activity. They used straws, hard paper and string to create a moveable robot hand!! The children were amazed! And so was the teacher!
Science/ Social Studies
In Science and Social Studies, we observed our and others’ shadows, discussed it, and used chalk to trace our friends shadows outside. We also used different kinds of pasta to make a mini-human skeleton.
Find everything you will need for this weeks activities by clicking on the image below.
good idea