#1047. All About Me - the teacher

Reading/Writing, level: Elementary
Posted Sat Jun 19 20:54:57 PDT 1999 by Mayra (mayra@nconnect.net).
Wisconsin
Materials Required: binder, sheet protectors, photos, different color paper
Activity Time: varies
Concepts Taught: Establishing rapport with children, getting to know the teacher, providing a class book

Last year I did student teaching in first grade. [Not my first experience with the age group] As a way to get the kids to know me I made an all about me book, which I shared on the first day of school.
The book followed a picture book format, with simple sentences and enlarged print.
It turned out to be one of the most popular books for SSR, something I didn't expect. Later many of the kids made comments about the many things we had in common. I also left it out during parent conferences to let them know
a bit about me too.
This is a sample of the first two pages.
First page:
I was born in Puerto Rico.
It is an island far away from here.
People speak Spanish.
Some people speak English.
[I had two maps on the page - one showing the US and the Caribbean, the other a close up of the island]

Second page:
Here I am with my abuela and my mamá.
Abuela means grandmother in Spanish.
Can you tell what mamá means?
[I was a toddler in the photo]

I included other things like school pictures (a first grade one, of course), my family, and the things I liked. The last page had a question: Can you tell what else I like? followed by lots of photos of children from the
various places I've worked and the word "kids" in big letters.
I feel kids need to know that we are people too and that we don't live in the school.