* Telephone Repair pantomine

Give directions and let children use motions to silently act out each step
of a telephone repair person fixing the broken wire on the telephone line.
1. Get in the truck.
2. Drive the truck to the place needing repair.
3. Haul out all the equipment we will need.
4. Put it on our back.
5.Climb the tall telephone pole.
6. Fix the wires.
7.Climb down the pole.
8. Ooops. We forgot our tools. Climb back up the pole.
9. Get our tools.
10. Climb down the pole.
11. Dial a repair phone to check that the wire is working well now.
12. Get in the truck and drive away.

song  Teachers ( Tune: "Mary Had A Little Lamb")

Our teacher comes to school each day,
School each day, school each day.
Our teacher comes to school each day, 
To help us learn and grow.
She smiles and helps us learn all day,
Learn all day, learn all day.
She smiles and helps us learn all day,
We're glad we come to school.


* SONG:Smokey the Bear.

Smokey the bear, smokey the bear,prowlin  and a snifin the air, 
He can smell a fire, be--fore it starts to flame, That's why they call him
smokey, and that's how he got his name.


Traffic Light  song.

Red says stop ( hold up left hand in "stop" gesture )
Green says go. ( right arm motioning )
Yellow says wait. ( Hold up index finger )
You'd better go slow.
When I reach a crossing place (cross arms at wrist )
To the left and right I turn my face.
I walk, not run across the street. ( Use fingers )
and use my head to guide my feet. ( point to head and feet)

I'M A BIG RED FIRE TRUCK

Sung to the tune of I'm A Little Teapot.

I'm a big red fire truck long and stout, when I am needed I roar and shout,
, people love to see me rush about,
Just turn me on and head me out.

I'm a big red fire truck stout and long, here is my ladder,tall and strong,
when I get a call you'll hear my song, Just climb aboard and turn me on. 


* How about sponge printing?  You could use various people shapes (available in
a variety of school supply catalogs) and let them dip them in skin tone
paints and stamp on a piece of paper cut into a house shape.

OR decorate "baby bundle" quilts with scraps of fabric squares....a baby
bundle is sort of an oval shape with the top end (the head) a bit wider than
the bottom... like the shape of a baby wrapped up in a blanket....  Let them
draw a face at the top (or you could supply a circle to be the face and have
them draw their facial features then glue on to the "bundle")  Fill the
remainder of the bundle with fabric squares to be the baby's quilt.

OR have available lots of magazines (women's magazines have the best family
pictures) and lots of popcicle sticks, glue and scissors.  The children can
cut pictures out of the magazines and glue on to the sticks for family
puppets.  Maybe they could make their own family!


* * In the fall we learn about our community and the people who help us.

For a baker or chef we make a  hat by cutting a strip of white poster board,
staple it to fit the size of each childs head. Then we take one sheet of
white tissue paper and staple it to the top of the poster band and fluff up
the tissue to look like a bakers hat.
The children wear their bakers hat and we bake some cookies for our snack.
For art we make pizzas with paper plates for the crust, red paint for the
sauce, yellow and white construction paper cut into thin strips for cheese,
brown construction paper cut into circles for sausage.

* fingerplay
If I Were
If I were a baker (pretend to put on a hat and apron)
What would I do? 
Bake lots of cookies (make a circle with thumb and forefinger)
For me and you. (point to self and a friend)

If I were a secretary, (pretend to type and write on a notepad)
What would I do?
Answer the phone, (hold pretend phone to ear)
"How do you do?" 

If I were a veterinarian, (pretend to put a stethoscope in ears)
What would I do?
Care for your pet (pretend to examine a cat or dog)
It's special to you.

If I were a dentist, (look in mouth of friend)
What would I do?
Check those teeth (pretend to drill or x-ray friend's teeth)
That's good for you!

*  Here are some songs and fingerplays for a Community Helper theme.

Ten Workers
Said the farmer, the miller, the baker,
"We'll give the dear baby his food."
Said the carpenter, glazier, and mason,
"We'll build him a house strong and good."
Said the weaver, the tailor, the cobbler,
"We'll make him warm pretty clothes."
The mechanic said, "I'll fix the auto
When off on a journey he goes."

Police Officer
Police officers are helpers wherever they may stand.
(Stand with feet apart, hands on hips.)
They tell us when to stop and go by holding up their hands.
(Signal stop by holding up hand and go by pointing index finger.)

Cowboy
Home on the Range
Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,
And the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Home, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Firefighter (tune:  "Eensy Weensy Spider")
The firefighter helps us learn our safety rules.
Playing with matches is only for fools.
If you see a fire, "Help," you'll scream and shout.
Dial 911.  The firefighter will put it out.

Farmer
First the farmer sows his seeds.
(Imitate planting seeds.)
Then he stands and takes his ease.
(Stand with hands on hips.)
He stamps his foot.
(Stamp foot.)
He claps his hands.
(Clap hands.)
And turns around to view his lands.
(Turn around with hand across eyebrows, looking.)

Dentist
If I were a dentist,
I know what I would do.
(Point to self.)
I'd tell all the children, "Brush your teeth."
(Imitate brushing teeth.)
"Keep a smile like new."
(Make a big smile and point to lips.)
And if a tiny hole should show,
I'd say, "Climb into my chair."
(Make circle with fingers.)
I'd make my little drill go buzzzzzzzzzz,
And put a filling there!
(Point to teeth.)

*  GATHER

* 2 cups salt
* 1 cup cornstarch
* 1 1/4 cups cold water
* paper clips

GO

1. Mix the salt, cornstarch and cold water in a saucepan. Ask an adult to
heat the mixture until it is very thick.

2. Let the dough cool a little. Then squish it between your fingers until
it's smooth.

3. Use the dough to form the letters of your name. 

4. Press the paper clips into the backs of the letters to make hooks.

5. Let the dough dry until it's hard. Then hang the letters in your room as
a reminder to be the "salt of the earth."


__Salty Scenes_____

GATHER

* 1 cup salt
* 1 cup flour
* 2 cups water
* 2 cups tempera paint

GO

1. Mix the salt, flour and water. Divide the mixture into four pie tins.

2. Add 1/2 cup of tempera paint to each tin and mix it in. (Use a different
color for each tin.)

3. Paint a picture of the world that will remind you to give to others.


__Light of Love_____

     
___________
Try one of these ways to spread love...

* Bake cookies for a neighbor and deliver them with a smile.
* Make your bed--without anyone asking you to.
* Help a friend who is hurt or sad.
* Send a homemade card to a faraway friend or family member.
* Say "please" and "thank you."
* Invite a new friend over to play.
* Collect some of your old toys and give them to a children's shelter.



* Doctor's Bags  
  Materials: black construction paper, red contruction paper, stapler, white
chalk
  items such as band-aids, cotton balls, etc....
   Fold the black paper in half & draw a docot bag on it so that the fold is
the bottom of the bag. Cut it out and staple the sides together. Cut a red
cross out of the red paper & glue it on the bag. Write Dr. ____ on the other
side of the bag. Put cotton balls, band-aids, & guaze pads whatever else you
would find in a doctor bag that the kids could play with. 


* 
We will be doing Community Helpers for the next two weeks.  This is what
we have planned.
We are going to make placemats-discuss waiters-we will use our placemats
on Wednesday.
We are going to read Stone Soup and then each child is bringing in a
vegetable to make soup with.  We will talk about cooks and what they do.

We have a field trip lined up to a Grocery store.
We are having our mailman come into our room so we can hand him
"letters" we have written to send home.
We have a field trip to the firestation planned.  There is a brand new
one in town so it will be different then last year.  We are going to do
tool prints.  Dip real tools in paint and place them on paper.  We also
have a little boy in our class whose dad is a cop here in town.  He is
going to come in and talk to the children.  They just love it when he
comes in to pick up his son.  He gets surrounded each time he does.
I haven't planned real hard for this theme because everytime I plan
something the assistant director tells me there is  a field trip planned
and I have to change everything around.
The children love the field trips though.


* 
For our unit on community helpers we usually designate a day for each helper
.  For example, for a doctor we had a doctor visit the class and talk about
what they do.  We played with the stethoscope, played a game naming body
parts.  Talked about nutricious food and read a book THE DOCTOR by Richard
Scarry.  For art we made a doctor's kit.

Dentist

Finger play:

If I were a dentist (point to yourself)
I know what I would do.
I'd tell all the children, "Brush your teeth."  Imitate brushing
"Keep  a smile like new." (Smile)
And if a tiny hole should show, (Make circle with fingers.)
I'd say, "Climb into my chair."
I'd make my liffle drill go buzzzzzzz,(Make bzzzz sound.)
and put a finger there. (Point to teeth)

POSTMAN

We had the postman visist our classroom.  Before he came we wrote out
letters to our special adults.  (Most colored pictures)  Explained where the
address went.    We made mail bags out of paper bags from the grocery store
and pretented to go to the post office.  When the mailman came we sent our
mail to our special adults.  

POLICMAN

We also had an officer come to our classroom.  We talked about if we were in
an emergency how we would contact help by dialing 911.  We acted out this
scenario and dialed 911 explaining the situation.  (a fire)  We showed the
children how to call for help out the window, put a cloth by the door and
stay low to the ground until a police officer or fire fighter found them.  

We made badges out of aluminum foil.


Librarian

We made a trip to the library and made our own books.  Cut several "9 X 12"
sheets of construction paper in healf.  Use a hole punch to make holes down
the left side of the pages.  Have children make a wordless book by drawing a
story .