"Being polite" or "courteous" involves
lots of other good character traits (using our manners, being kind, showing respect,
etc). And "manners," especially "table" manners
fit very nicely with a "Food and Nutrition" theme.
Have
children role play various real-life situations calling for courtesy/being polite:
Examples: *Joey accidentally
burped while eating. What should he say? *Alice
bumped into Sara? What should she say? *The
lady visiting the preschool dropped her pencil onto the floor right next to Andy.
Can Andy help? How? *Mrs.
Jones passed out her special cookies for snack and when she came to Susie, Susie
said, "I hate coconut cookies!" What could she have said
that sounded nicer? ("No, thank you.") *Shawn
saw Alice's picture on the floor that she had drawn for her mommy. It
had fallen out of her cubby. What can he do? (Showing respect)
Extension to above activity: The above example allows us to
also review issues of "safety" as someone could slip and fall from Alice's
picture being on the floor.
Easel: Color of "Nice": Ask each child as they come to do
easel painting: "When someone is nice to you, how does it make you feel? And
when you are nice to someone, how does it make you feel? What color
would you like to paint with at the easel today that makes you feel good? This
could also be done at a table, and how about using water colors? :-)
Rewarding Courtesy: After discussing "courtesy," and what it means,
tell the children early in the day that you are going to listen for how many times
you hear kind words and manners. (Throughout the day, make notes as
to who says these words and in what situations.) At the end of the
day, discuss with the children what you had observed and give special stickers
to those who had been courteous. (During your observations, pay special attention
to EVERYONE so that all can be praised and rewarded :-)
Reading
Words: On tiny little white cards, print "please" on some and "thank
you" on the others. Show the words to the children, discussing the
various letters (sound out "p," point out the fact that thank you is
two words, etc). During Free Choice Play, children can take turns playing
a patterning game with you: Begin by laying several cards out on a table
in a particular order (for example: please - thank you - please - thank you -
please - thank you). Have the child copy the pattern beneath yours.
Another pattern example might be: please - please - thank you - thank you
- please - please - thank you - thank you. You get the idea. To
lessen the difficulty: Print "please" on one color of cards and "thank
you" on another color. Yes, then the children are focusing more
on color patterns rather than words, but they are still getting "word exposure/language."
Suggested
Books:
What better way to teach to teach "politeness"
than through the rhymes of the "goops" books? No one wants to
be a "goop!" Goops and How to Be
Them: A Manual of Manners for Polite Children, by Gelett Burgess; Introduction
by Barbara Ross
And here's a book with a story
that's hilarious: The Last Chocolate Cookie, by Jamie
Rix; Arthur Robins, Illustrator
Also consider: It's a Spoon,
Not a Shovel (Picture Puffins), by Caralyn Buehner; Mark Buehner, Illustrator
Through my research on children's books for you, I have
found a whole series of titles by Janine Amos that are "Courtesy"
books for ages 4-8 although I haven't personally read them. All of them
are illustrated by Annabel Spenceley: *After
You *No, Thank You *Please *Taking Turns
--------------------------------
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from Stormie: If you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom
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