Looking at Sugardoodle... as usual, there are some cute ideas. But as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I'm concerned about keeping the activities meaningful. Our goal shouldn't simply be for the kids to have fun with something that is thematically related to the lesson topic. Our goal should be for them to learn something meaningful with each activity. That doesn't mean it can't be fun, too!
With one of the activities posted on Sugardoodle, though, the person who posted it explicitly mentioned that it really kept the kids busy for awhile. But, keeping them busy shouldn't be the point, and shouldn't be our focus. Teaching them should be. However, we all have those days where we are simply trying to survive. At times like that, busy is good!
So maybe I will also list "busy" activities that you can use when you have one of those days, or to have with you in case you need to fill some time. You can use them if you feel you are losing control of the class, too! But even so, I would encourage you to make some kind of meaningful connection with whatever you do! If you make meaningful connections, then it's not just about survival!
On Sugardoodle, some of the activities I really liked included the Fish in a Bag craft, the starfish craft, the beaded necklace craft, and making a fish tank craft. But, the fish in a bag is outside of my comfort zone. I would need to learn more about making soap/melting soap before I did that one, but I think the children would love it! And what a way to give the children a meaningful home connection to the lesson! You could make a little handout note to have the parents remind the children of this lesson each time they took a bath and used the soap.
The starfish craft would be a cute craft (but I like my craft better - see below). But it would be good to attach it to some explicit reminder that we should be thankful for fish.
I've done necklaces before with stringing beads. I like this one, too. It would be nice to attach a tag to the necklace, though, saying that "I am thankful for fish".
I love the fish tank craft, but I don't like the idea of bringing paint into the classroom. Paint requires too much set-up time, but more importantly, too much clean-up time, and dry time. And I don't like risking getting paint on children's clothes, or my own.
But aside from Sugardoodle, there are so many other activities out there.
Let's Go Fishing game is one such activity (I found this one on Amazon, but you can find it most places that sell kids games). Though it only allows 4 children to play at once if you use the fishing poles. But, if you let them use their fingers (which can still be challenging for young children), you can let more play. If you have a large class, though, this will get very chaotic and out of control.
You could make this meaningful by asking children why we go fishing? What do we do with the fish that we catch? But also, pointing out that catching fish is not easy. They are animals created by God, and we need to respect the fact that they are living animals.
You can also make a fish bingo game or matching game.
Our Water World by Finch Family Games is one I've used. It's a simple bingo type game (but it's for up to 5 children). (This will work well for my class, but maybe not those that are larger.)
I have also made cards for a matching game.
There are also some nice file folder games. One I found on Etsy ($2.50).
So... onto what I am going to do for this lesson.
As with the past few weeks, we will start the lesson off with the Creation storybook by the Barefoot Teacher found on Teachers Pay Teachers ($1.75), that I introduced in Lesson 8. I printed out the pages, but didn't bind them in any way. This way I could pull out the focus page(s) when the story was done and place them on the board. We will repeat this each week for the Creation lessons until we've completed all of the pages. Reading the same story each week will create a concrete connection between the lessons and help the children better grasp the process of the Creation.
The activity selection is going to be done by fishing. I have the activities listed on the backs of fish cutouts with paper clips attached. I have a short dowel with a short string attached, tied to a magnet. The children will take turns fishing to select the activities.
(I used the fish design from the back of the lesson to do the fish cutouts, but wouldn't recommend it. They're not easy to cut out. I would recommend a simpler design with straight edges and simple curves. Try cutting one out before you commit to doing a whole bunch!)
If you do the fishing activity, make sure to not have the string too long, or the "pole" too long. Young children (and adults) will have a difficult time "fishing" if the string is too long, and they will get frustrated. Also, make sure to spread the fish far enough apart that they will only catch one fish when the magnet drops.
Activities:
- Aquatic animals matching game - the cards show different kinds of fish, as well as frogs, turtles, dolphins, crabs, seals, seashells, etc. As children turn over cards, we will discuss what each animal is and where they live, to help children become familiar with them. (This goes along with the manual section "Heavenly Father asked Jesus Christ to create fish and other water animals".)
Copy each page twice and cut out cards. You don't have to use all of the cards, but I included a wide variety to give choices and still allow children to be exposed to the wide variety out there! (I will only be using about 1/3 of them.)
The first page shows different kinds of fish. Starting from the top left (moving right): clown fish, blue tang, shark, sting ray, seahorse, tuna, puffer, eel, trout, lion fish, sword fish, goldfish.
The second page shows other kinds of aquatic life. Starting from the top left: whale, dolphin, sea lion, crab, frog, turtle, jellyfish, starfish, lobster, octopus, scallop, anemone.
I don't mix all the cards together, as traditional "memory" is too much for many of these little children, and too time consuming. I separate the two sets into different groups and have the children choose one card from each group. But I leave the cards up, so they don't have to remember where they are. They just have to figure out if they've made a match.
To make sure that this activity has meaning, I will remind the children that God made each one of these fish and aquatic animals... for a purpose. We eat many of them, and others are there to support the marine life. But they all have a special purpose, just as we do.
- (Another option... but I won't be doing this.) Pretend game - have cards showing different aquatic animals (could be some of cards used in matching game). Have children select a card and act out how that animal would move - swim, walk, or hop. You could either have the children mimic or guess. (This goes along with the activity listed under "Heavenly Father asked Jesus Christ to create fish and other water animals".)
- Story of Jonah and the Whale - using Jonah and the Whale visuals from the Friend (January 2006) to tell the story. The children LOVE these visuals, and always want to be able to hold the whale and make the jaws move up and down. Use the manual for guiding questions you can use.
- Story of the loaves and fishes - for this story, I'm going to show a picture of Jesus teaching people (1-55 from the Manual Pictures, or pg. 39 from the Gospel Art Book will work). But for the part of feeding the people, I've got a small stack of blue post it notes that I've cut into the shape of a fish, and yellow post it notes cut into the shape of a piece of bread. (There is at least one fish and one bread per child.) To tell this part of the story, I will let each child pull a fish and bread off the stack, and then point out that there are still fish and bread remaining. Or, there are some free visuals for the story on Teachers Pay Teachers that you can use.
- (The manual includes plenty of finger plays or poems that children would enjoy!) I like 5 Little Speckled Frogs which isn't listed in the manual. Finger plays are good to get children engaged and active. And learning to count is a very necessary cognitive skill.
- Song - Follow the Prophet (Jonah verse)
- Craft - "I am thankful for fish" showing a large fish. Children will decorate the fish with squares of different colored tissue paper and glue sticks.
- (I also like the guessing game using clues listed under the additional activities for younger children.
For a take-home, Finch Family Games has a cute take-home of an "Under the Sea" necklace. But I'm going to do the craft from Sunday Savers. As with many I've chosen in the past, it is interactive, which I particularly love. If it is interactive, the children are more likely to "interact" with it than if it is just a piece of paper. The more interaction, the more reminders and connections with the lesson and what we want children to learn. I also believe parents are less likely to throw something like this in the trash immediately than they would just a piece of paper.
Also, as mentioned above, the children always love the story of Jonah and the Whale. Since they love the visuals from the story, I decided this would be the take-home. I also prefer take-homes that are explicitly linked to the scriptures or the gospel to ensure that children focus on the spiritual aspects of the lesson in any home reminders.
For the coloring activity, we will use the black and white poster from Sunday Savers.
During snack time, I will read "Rainbow Fish" to the children. I know it's not a church story, but the message is good, and the story is entertaining. (Keeping them entertained during snack time will alleviate many of the problems that typically occur during that time.)
OK... so I'm so excited! My friend Brandi taught this lesson before me, and it's so great getting her thoughts and input... and questions! If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please send them to me! My goal really is to help anyone who wants help, to make Sunbeams a better place for our precious little children!
So, Brandi asked what she should do if she has more children than activities. "Won't those who don't get picked get upset?" Absolutely! Little children like things to be fair. They like getting their turn, and feel cheated if they don't get it. Sometimes you can break longer activities into shorter ones, but that's not always possible. So, instead, you could just make extra selection cards. In this case, fish. Instead of leaving the extra fish blank, you could put a scripture on it, or a reminder ("Trees give us many wonderful things!"), or something like that. You can let the children know that not every fish has an activity on it. Make it part of the game... let's see who can find the activities! But this way, every child will get a chance to fish or choose a card.
Also, what happens if the children get rowdy, and you lose control? How do you get it back? Well, yelling doesn't work very well... that just upsets them, and you. Punishment never works as well as positive reinforcement, and also tears down their self esteem. So try to avoid punishment. So, how do you do it? You offer something more enticing than misbehavior. If stickers work, pull out stickers and give to those children that aren't misbehaving. The others will see and stop so they can get a sticker. (Once you've got their attention back, make sure to do something engaging to keep their attention!) If they are all getting fidgety, that might be a good time to break for snack. But, in general, don't give someone snack who hasn't calmed down and is showing they can sit reverently. If you do, you will only reinforce the bad behavior. Or, you can pull out a more engaging, hands-on activity. But again, don't let them participate if they don't improve their behavior. You ALWAYS want to reward good behavior, not bad behavior. However, if there are special needs involved, this may require more flexibility, and more compassion. But, even so, you don't want to reward bad behaviors.
My boys both have Autism, so their behaviors have posed challenges for many of their Primary teachers. You cannot expect more than the child is capable of doing. But, most children truly do want to meet expectations and to be good. So you have to make sure that your expectations are appropriate, and the necessary supports are there.
If a child cannot sit still, you do not want to require them to "sit still". You can sit that child on your lap. You can give the child a "fidget". That is something an occupational therapist calls something that a child can "fidget" with in their hands to provide sensory input. There are many different "fidgets" available on the market. Do a search on Amazon.com for "fidget toys" and you will see a lot of options. I personally like the Tangles and squishy balls. There is also Theraputty, and a lot of different options from suppliers for occupational therapists.
If you have a child with special needs in your class, learn as much as you can about the special need. Talk to the parents. Do some research. You want to be proactive in terms of meeting the needs. That is not only the most loving and compassionate approach, it is also the one that will minimize frustrations and problems in class.
You also want to make sure that children have choices. Some children may elicit challenging behaviors because the only option they have to show some independence is to "disobey", because you have not offered them any choices. This can be overcome by offering choices. You will quickly discover which children need choices. The activity selection is one "choice". When you are using visuals, ask the child to help you and offer a choice as to which visual to hold. For coloring activities, offer a choice of pages to color. Simple choices will alleviate problems with those children seeking to gain their independence in this way.
So... how did it go? I used only 10 pairs for the matching game, and it went well. With each card, we identified what it was before drawing another card. The kids were very engaged. Leaving the cards up, the game went fast, and they were all excited to find the matches.
Jonah and the Whale was a big hit! It always is. And they were so excited to get the take-home of Jonah and the Whale.
We ran out of time and never got to the loaves and the fishes. I was a little disappointed to not get a chance to try out the Post it notes.
We did 5 Speckled Frogs, and the kids loved it! I have a glove with frogs on the fingers and I used that to sing the song. Some of the kids used their own fingers to count down the frogs, but they all were completely engaged and focused on my hand as I counted down the frogs.
The craft went well! Instead of giving every child a glue stick, I used a glue stick to generously cover the fish before giving the paper to the child. It stayed plenty sticky for them to stick on the tissue paper pieces.
I also included something at the last minute. Yesterday I stopped at the Dollar Store to get some tissue paper, and they had packages of seashells. So, I spent $2 and picked up two packs of shells. We talked about going to the beach and finding shells in the sand. I pulled out a small container with the shells, and we talked of how beautiful they are, and how wonderful it is that God created such beautiful things! Each child was allowed to choose two seashells to keep. I put their names on ziploc bags and they put their shells in their bags.
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