Friday, March 16, 2018

Wearing of the green

Happy St. Patrick's Day! These photos are from when Nicole was in my class six years ago. 
This was one of the most fun days in my classroom. I dipped a tiny foot shaped sponge in green paint and made footprints all over the room. Then I dumped treasure such as pennies and gold trinkets and shamrocks on the floor. The students tracked the leprechaun right to the bathroom, where they noticed green footprints on the toilet paper and on the toilet seat. You should have heard the squeals when they noticed a drop of green food coloring in the toilet. That was the number one thing they wanted to show their parents. The leprechaun used their toilet! 


I placed a paper leprechaun (mouth cut out) over a green soda bottle and gave the children different lengths of beads to "feed" the green guy. This requires concentration, and hand-eye coordination.

We made a trap for our leprechaun and I recorded the childrens' responses on paper to these questions: Where will YOU keep the leprechaun if you catch him? What green things will you feed him? Funny answer: "You know that secret place where Daddy hides his money from Mom?" 

Then the kids cut strips and pasted them to make a rainbow on their papers which they had scribbled green. I glued a photo of their face onto a paper leprechaun and they were delighted to discover theirs in the hall.

 I really enjoyed teaching preschoolers. Kids were so eager to learn and I used play as a learning tool.

7 comments:

Sandi said...

"The leprechaun used their toilet!"


Hahahahahah!

What a great idea!!!

Sioux Roslawski said...

Linda--I hope you have a great St. Patrick's Day. Kiss someone who's full of blarney. ;)

Connie said...

Such wonderful, creative ideas! What a fun day for both your students and for you. I'm sure their parents enjoyed hearing about it too.

Kathy's Klothesline said...

I love that age, so much fun to teach. I taught that age in Sunday school one year when I was working in the ER. So many plastic things get tossed and one of them was the syringe holders for the suture packs. They never touch patients or anything, their only purpose was to keep the syringe sterile. I gathered them for about a month, then drilled a tiny hole in the cap to put a hook through. After I painted the outside to look like toy soldiers, the kids filled them with M&M's and we hung them on our little Christmas tree. Oh, we ate a lot of candy, too! They were so proud of their ornaments! This would have been in the early 80's. This would make me a pioneer in repurposing "trash"!

Val said...

With the sun out this morning, I saw a line of kids from a local Montessori school parading down the sidewalk. Each one was definitely marching to his/her own drummer. I chuckled out loud. From their body language, it looked like each one thought this was the best walk EVER!

Susan said...

Now I know who peed in the toilet, Linda. Little Patty himself. ha ha ha Susan

Lisa Ricard Claro said...

You make it sound like so much fun, Linda, and you make it look easy. But teaching a group of preschoolers requires skill and dedication not everyone possesses. You've been a blessing to many.