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Becoming Familiar With Classroom/Playground What do you do at the beginning of the year to help the children in your class feel comfortable in their new surroundings?

From Stormie:

Although I'm posting ideas below as often as I can, my very favorite ideas for "Becoming Familiar With Classroom and Playground" have been reserved for my "GETTING ACQUAINTED" booklet. I create and sell booklets and other teaching aids to help defer the costs of keeping my website on the internet. You can find my booklets and games here in "Stormie's Stuff for Teachers" then keep hitting your back button to return to this page. Financial donations are also greatly appreciated as my website is now a part-time career for me.

Where Are You? Here's a spur-of-the-moment two-line little ditty I once created that is helpful at the beginning of the year when you (and the children) are learning each other's names. It's to the tune of the first two lines of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Where is (child's name)? I want to see Her (or his) bright smile looking at me. (The child then raises his/her hand and smiles. Once they learn the words and become more at ease around school, they like to be the one to sing the song to someone which makes it a great game for practicing social skills.)

My Cubby: One way to help children identify their own cubbies in the beginning of the school year is to let them decorate their cubby name tags in some way on the first day of school. Later on, to increase the difficulty, give them new name tags without the decorations so they are looking for their names rather than their decorations.

Introductory Walk: In my "Getting Acquainted" booklet, I suggest ideas for helping children become acquainted with their classroom, but don't forget to introduce them to other people, places, and things they may come in contact with throughout the year. For example, take a walk to the school offices, have children meet the janitor, the director, the cook, to name a few. Where's the water fountain? Where's the fire extinguisher? What's that sign above the door (what does "Exit" mean)? What do they do in this big room with the long tables and all these chairs? (This is a good activity simply because it's one more way for children to learn about the world around them.)

Creative Art (within the limits of a theme): Provide paper and crayons then ask, "Today, I would like you to draw a picture about your favorite thing at preschool." Later, ask them, "What is your favorite thing at preschool?" Print their exact words at the bottom and read it back to them. (Praise them for whatever they draw, regardless of whether it's related to what you requested.) This activity aids you in learning where the children are in terms of following directions.

Favorite Games: During Group Time, ask children to go get their favorite game in the classroom and bring it to Group Time. Then allow each child a turn at describing the game or how it's played.
Alternative: Narrow down the choices by saying something like, "Angie, would you go get your favorite game in the Pre-Math Center?" "Danny, would you go get your favorite block shape from the Blocks Center?" "Linda, would you get get your favorite toy from the Play Kitchen?" And so on. (This tells you if children know the names of the learning centers.)

Language/Social Activity: This is a good activity for later in the month when you would like to find out it the children know where things are in the classroom and if they understand what all is available for them to do. One day during Group Time, tell the children, "We are going to play a game. Let's pretend that we have someone new in our classroom but they don't know anything about our room and so we need to tell them all about it." Then ask for volunteers to go to various learning centers and tell us what they would say to the new person about that learning center. Guide them as needed by asking questions.
Extension: You can add classroom rules to the game. For example, if Shawn is in the Blocks Center, you can ask, "Shawn, do we have any special rules for playing with our Blocks?" (Hopefully, he'll remember the rule about not building blocks higher than our heads.) Don't forget to ask why we have the rule.

Gross Motor: Ask, "Alison, can you hop from the easel to the playdough?" "Johnny, can you jump from the blocks to the water table?" "Ali, can you crawl from the Play Kitchen to the door?" (You get the idea.)

Social Game: After children have had a chance to get to know the learning centers, place several items from the centers into a pillowcase. Children take turns reaching into the bag and pulling something out and then putting it away where it belongs while you and the others sing:
(Tune: Mulberry Bush)
(Child's first name) knows where the (item name) goes, the (item name) goes, the (item name) goes,
(Child's first name) knows where the (item name) goes, at our preschool.

Favorite Books:
Benjamin Comes Back, by Amy Brandt; illustrated by Janice Lee Porter: This is a story to help ease separation anxiety as Benjamin learns through daily routine that, just as he will be coming back to school, Mommy will be coming back to get him after school.

You are invited to share your ideas too. E-mail me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com

Here's a great idea for helping children get to know each other, from Kathy:
I took pictures of all my children and made double copies of each. I glued each picture to a 5x7 card and laminated them. The children love to find themselves on the cards and ask to play the "picture matching game" time and time again. This is a great "memory skills" game too! (I got this idea from my "Mailbox" edition.)

From Cassie Leatherwood, in Attalla, Alabama:
If you have children at the beginning of the year who aren't familiar with "lining up," have them all hold onto a very long piece of brightly colored yarn or rope. After just a few weeks, you will no longer need the yarn.

Here's a fabulously simple idea from Laura Pugni, in Hunts Point, New York:
Dear Stormie, We play this "Name Game" each day during Circle Time. We stand in a circle and sing this song while clapping (no particular tune):
Let's play the name game, the name game, the name game,
Let's play the name game, What's your name?
At this point a child says his/her name, and we respond with:
His (or her) name is ________, ________, ________, What's your name?
We continue around the circle naming everyone, including teachers. At the end, we say, "And that's the name game!"

From Cherie Stanley, in Evangeline, Louisiana:
Our Own Book: Here's how we get to know the people at our school: First we walk around our school and take pictures of everyone we come in contact with on a daily basis. I read the story "Brown Bear, Brown Bear....." (by Bill Martin/Eric Carle) and then we make our own version of the book, calling it "Evangeline, Evangeline" (the name of our school).
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Reminder from Stormie: If you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom ideas (each on a 4 x 6" index card), as well as new ones that I create, you can do so by ordering my "Activity Cards." Click here to check them out.

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