Family *FAMILY TREE - Give them each a tree shape drawn on a piece of paper and sponges cut into apple shapes have them sponge paint the apples onto the tree to represent each family member provider will write names on the apples. *COOKING - GRAHAM CRACKER HOUSES - spread with peanutbutter and apply to sides of SMALL milk caton decorate the houses with mini marshmellows, red hots, raisins, etc. *COOKING - FAMILY TREES - place broccoli stalks on each plate cherry tomato for each family member serve ranch dressing on the side. *POTATO PRINT FAMILY - Use different sizes of potatoes to represent each family member paint them different colors and print onto construction paper. *STORIES - Is your Mama a Llama? Momma do you Love Me? Are You my Mother? * THE FAMILY Art: 1. Draw pictures of your family 2. Paint a picture of your family's home 3. cut and paste family collage from magazines Books: 1. IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU by Charlotte Zolotow 2. I LOVE YOU FOREVER by Robert Munsch 3.DADDY MAKES THE BEST SPAGHETTI Anna Grossnickle Hines 4. DADDY PLAY WITH ME by Shigeo Watanabe 5.THE RUNAWAY BUNNY by Margaret Wise Brown 6.DADDIES:WHAT THEY DO ALL DAY by Helen Walker Puner 7. I LOVE YOU MOUSE by John Graham 8. DADDY HAS A PAIR OF STRIPED SHORTS by Mimi Otey 9. JUST MY DAD AND ME by Leah Komaiko Group: 1. graph with the number of people in every child's family; what is a family? Who is in yours? 2. What daddies and mommies do 3. favorite activities with mom, dad, siblings 4. learn Hebrew for family names 5. old/young; grandparent, parent, child etc. Songs: 1. "There are five people in my family" 2. "This is the Way" daddy rocks the baby I take out the garbage Mommy goes to work Sister does her homework, etc. 3."I want you to meet my family (Hebrew/English song not applicable for loop) In Hebrew we call it mishpacha We all live in a bayit (house) Me and my mom and pa There's my mother; that's eema, say eema There's my father; that's Abba, say Abba. Chorus: That's my family, that's my family There's my brother; that's ach, say ach There's my sister; that's achot, say achot There's my grandpa; that's sahbah, say sahbah There's my grandma; that's savtah, say savtah Repeat chorus Finger plays: 1. Grandma's Spectacles 2. Finger people are such fun We will meet them one by one First comes mother (index finger) Next comes father (middle finger) Then there is the big brother (ring finger) Here is sister (pinky) with her ball Here is baby (thumb) last of all. Now we'll count them Just to see How many people in our family 1-2-3-4-5 >> *One of the things I do during the family unit is the three bear family. First I get a refrigerater or wash machine box and cut off one of the sides. Then on the center piece I cut a peeked roof and a window on each of the sides. It's no longer a complete box but an opened up "U" shape. The kids can get on both sides of it and paint it using bright colors. When this is dry, we use it as kind of a back drop for the house. The kids build beds, chairs, and a table using the hollow blocks - good math activity trying to figure out the different size beds: if we use two blocks for the baby bed, how many for mom's and dad's? Same thing with the chairs. I provide pillows and blankets, and: a baby bonnet for baby bear, an apron and hat for mama bear, a tie and hat for papa bear, a dress and barrette with yellow curls for goldilocks, a giant bowl, middle sized bowl and baby bowl, a giant wooden spoon (the kind that hangs on the wall - a thrift store find), a tablespoon and a baby spoon. Then we enact the play. *Fingerplays: My Family If you peek into my room aat night (stand on toes as if peeking) My family you will see (nod head) They kiss my face and tuck me in tight, (blow kiss) Why? Because they love me! (hug yourself) Families Some families are large. (spread arms out wide) Some families are small (bring arms close together) But I love my family (cross arms over chest) best of all! This is my Family This is my mother, kind and dear. (make a fist and point to your thumb) This is the father sitting near. (shown each finger in turn) This is the brother strong and tall. This is the sister, who plays with her ball. This is the baby. littlest of all. See my whole family large and small (wiggle all the fingers) * Here are some ideas for a "family" unit: Grandma's Spectacles (good for quieting down) These are grandmother's spectacles, (makes circles around eyes with fingers) This is grandmother's hat.(use both hands and cup on head) This is the way she folds her hands, (fold hands) And puts theeem on her lap.(put hands in lap) Food experience: Have parents share favorite family recipe or tradition. Have parents come in and read to children. Books: Mercer Mayer Just me and my Mom Just Me and My Dad Just Me and Grandpa Are you My Mother by P E Eastman Love You Forever by R. Munsch What is a Family by Gretchen Super I also make a chart "How many people in your Family" On a large poster board, list childrens names. Glue small people cut-outs next to each child cooresponding with the # of people in the family. Line them up neatly so the children can compare size of family. E-mail me if this is not clear. I can give you more details. This is great for math. I find the children learning independently: they count and compare . Also great for name recognition: letter recognition. * When we did our family unit each child brought pictures of their families to school. I put each child's name on our classroom tree and placed some of the pictures. ( The extra we put into a photo album that we keep in the library center) The children each told us about the pictures and their families. One child even brought in a photo with 20 family members from a wedding. Later we asked for photos of the places our parents worked and what they do there. We placed these around our community display. I discovered while doing the family pictures that some of these children thought the the other kids didn't have siblings... because they had not seen them so this was very exciting to them. * UNIT 3: THE FAMILY Art: 1. Draw pictures of your family 2. Paint a picture of your family's home 3. cut and paste family collage from magazines Books: 1. IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU by Charlotte Zolotow 2. I LOVE YOU FOREVER by Robert Munsch 3.DADDY MAKES THE BEST SPAGHETTI Anna Grossnickle Hines 4. DADDY PLAY WITH ME by Shigeo Watanabe 5.THE RUNAWAY BUNNY by Margaret Wise Brown 6.DADDIES:WHAT THEY DO ALL DAY by Helen Walker Puner 7. I LOVE YOU MOUSE by John Graham 8. DADDY HAS A PAIR OF STRIPED SHORTS by Mimi Otey 9. JUST MY DAD AND ME by Leah Komaiko Group: 1. graph with the number of people in every child's family; what is a family? Who is in yours? 2. What daddies and mommies do 3. favorite activities with mom, dad, siblings 4. learn Hebrew for family names 5. old/young; grandparent, parent, child etc. Songs: 1. "There are five people in my family" 2. "This is the Way" daddy rocks the baby I take out the garbage Mommy goes to work Sister does her homework, etc. 3. "I want you to meet my family In Hebrew we call it mishpacha We all live in a bayit (house) Me and my mom and pa There's my mother; that's eema, say eema There's my father; that's Abba, say Abba. Chorus: That's my family, that's my family There's my brother; that's ach, say ach There's my sister; that's achot, say achot There's my grandpa; that's sahbah, say sahbah There's my grandma; that's savtah, say savtah Repeat chorus Finger plays: 1. Grandma's Spectacles 2. Finger people are such fun We will meet them one by one First comes mother (index finger) Next comes father (middle finger) Then there is the big brother (ring finger) Here is sister (pinky) with her ball Here is baby (thumb) last of all. Now we'll count them Just to see How many people in our family 1-2-3-4-5 1. An idea from More Than Counting book (Sally Moomaw and Brenda Hieronymus, Redleaf Press) that has been successful for choice time when I've done a baby theme: Create 2 laminated grids of baby pictures (wrapping paper or greeting cards are good sources-I actually had the same one illustrated in the book). Set out on a table with die or dice and two containers of small baby theme counters (I found inexpensive plastic diaper pins, rattles, and pacifiers that are sold as party favors for baby showers). Older children may play by taking turns rolling dice and taking the appropriate number of baby items for the babies on their grid. Younger children may just place counters on babies, exploring one-to-one correspondence. WOW-THIS SOUNDS COMPLICATED, BUT IF YOU'RE FAMILIAR WITH THE MORE THAN COUNTING GAME FORMATS, ITS' REALLY EASY TO CREATE AND PLAY! 2. I often combine human babies with animal babies. My students have enjoyed learning some of the less familiar names of animal babies and playing matching games with animals and their babies. 3. I ask parents to send in baby photos for a "We All Were Babies" bulletin board. Children enjoy guessing who is pictured in each of the baby photos and get a really laugh out of the photos of their teachers! 4. We put our baby dolls in the water table for a bath. * Family Projects. For every holiday or season, I send home a simple project starter and instructions with a due date (very important to have a due date- some parents are extremely busy and/or forgetful; a due date helps them remember!). Here is the one I will use for Fall, to give you an example: -------------------------------------------------- Dear Parents: Throughout the year, your family will have a wonderful opportunity to participate in Family Projects. The idea is to use things around the house to complete the project, and to use as much imagination and creativity as possible. I encourage every member of the family to get involved! If possible, send a photo of your crew at work on it! Our first Family Project is a Fall Tree. Please try to turn these in by Sept.15 so they may be displayed on the bulletin board outside our classroom door!! I can't wait to see the creations!! Sincerely, Mrs. Melanie -------------------------------------------------- I will send home a plain pice of white posterboard (1/2) with a simple outline of a tree. I keep the Family Project bulletin board up all year long! Parents and children from almost every classroom stop by to visit the new projects!! Once, a family sent their Turkey project (Thanksgiving, of course) decorated completely from magazine pictures- the pictures were cut into very small pictures and catagorized into color groups. I had this laminated for them. * Around Valentine's Day we did a project along another line. I have a child who has not a lot of family near by. So, we did "People who love us" instead of families. The made pictures of everyone they could think of who loved them. They loved seeing all the people who loved them, and no one felt left out. It went great. * Partners trace each others shape on butcher paper (with arms spaced away from body) These go home to be worked on as a FAMILY PROJECT. I give them one week with at least one weekend as a deadline. Each family member is to glue pictures of that student as the family member sees him/her. EX: Mom may paste pictures of a child doing different chores. Sister may paste pictures of a/the child roller skating Dad may paste pictures of a/the child reading a book or studying. Magazine pictures showing ideas/activities relating to the student is also accepted. The "little people" are brought back and shared by the students telling why a specific picture was used by that family member. All cut outs are then hung up side by side almost seeming to be holding hands. This becomes a picture of our "family" I try to make a "little person" representing how I see our classroom.