Monday, October 25, 2010

Kindergarten Pasta Pots.

It is really hard to figure out what to teach Kindergarten at the first of the year. They don't know much, but really just want to make art. It is also hard for them to sit still for directions.

I forget this sometimes.

I found a lot of lesson plans online, but not many for Kinder, and where there were Kinder activities they wanted me to PAY! ugh. I understand the desire for teachers to try to earn money for their program, but education should be free. so here is one that I did, free of charge.

Something they will always sit still for is a good story. On the second day of class this year I read my Kindergartners "Strega Nona." To make a long story short, in this book Strega Nona has a magic pasta pot that gets hijacked by her employee and almost buries the town in Pasta.

This lesson centers around working together, and lines. the students have a huge piece of paper for each table, and on each paper is a pasta pot. The kids at each table have to make pasta coming out of the pasta pot that is not too fat, and overlaps. Overlapping is a huge challenge for these kiddos. I show them with my arms how you cant see through the arm in front to the arm in the back, and we practice by yelling STOP and HOP when
we want to over lap. It's goofy, but it works.