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Grade: Pre-School
Subject: Literature
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> Book bags are a wonderful project! If it makes you feel any better, it
> took me a full year before I could start sending them home!!! I call my
> book bags "Snuggle Packs"...so parents and children can snuggle up
> together and read. The parents seem to like that idea!
> Okay, let's see if I can answer your questions...
> I let my students choose which bag they want. I have enough so that
> there is really a choice, even for those that choose last. On Manday
> mornings they can choose a snuggle pack as soon as they walk in as part
> of our morning routine. When I first started I waited till the end of
> the day on Monday and let them come up and choose by who was the
> quietest or best behaved...sometimes you need that at the end of the
> day! :0) I have all my packs listed on a grid and I just write in that
> student's number so I know who has which pack. I can also tell at a
> glance which pack is checked out the most or the least.
>
> Yes, I put Cheerios in a baggie. I bought a GIANT bag which last over a
> semester.
>
> Have I ever lost anything? Not so far. When I check the contents if I
> discover something missing I have a form letter that goes home letting
> the parents know it was missing and asking them to please look for it.
> It is very tactful, not accusing! The parents and students WANT to keep
> the packs going so they are very careful about the contents really. I
> have had a couple of books missing but as soon as I sent the letter they
> were returned the next day.
> All snugle packs must be returned on Friday or they don't get another
> one the next week. May sound a bit harsh but I have had 2 students
> forget to bring theirs back and after having to go a week without one
> they have never forgotten again!
> I guess if something was permanently missing I would just replace it.
> Like I said in the other letter, I am pretty thrifty...I don't put alot
> of expensive items in the bags. The books I use are paper back books so
> if I had to buy another one it's only about $4 or $5.
> Workjobs....are you familiar with Math Their Way? If not you really need
> to look into it, especially for Kinder. Anyway, one branch of Math
> Their Way is a set of activities called Work jobs. Basically they are
> manipulatives and work mats. The children use them at various stages of
> number concept development. It's a great way to tie math into reading.
> I had a ball making the manipulatives one year. Many are made from lima
> beans, they are so cute! In work jobs they describe quite a few
> different ones for example, colored pasta with a work mat with a picture
> of a bowl on it. Frogs and toads made from painted lima beans with a
> workmat of a lilly pad. Birthday candles with a work mat of a birthday
> cake, milkbones with a work mat of a dog and a doghouse... Once I got
> started I couldn't stop! I ended up creating about 40 different kinds of
> manipulatives on my own! I suggest to the students that they make up
> story problems with the workjobs and write them in the journal. It's
> just one more "prop" that is fun, creative, and relatively inexpensive!
> Well, I hope that helps! Please e-mail me if you have any other
> questions or suggestions! By the way, I would love to hear your ideas
> too!
> Happy teaching!
> Dawn
>
> Hi!I have received several e-mails regarding the book bags so again, I
> though I would just answer them all at once, if nobody minds!
> First of all, I call my book bags Snuggle Packs. In the introductory
> letter I send home to parents I explain that the whole purpose of these
> bags is to get parents and children to "snuggle up and read".
> How do I organize them? I have 18 students and around 40 packs. I let my
> students choose which pack they want. I have enough so that there is
> really a choice, even for those that choose last. On Manday mornings
> they can choose a snuggle pack as soon as they walk in as part of our
> morning routine. When I first started I waited till the end of the day
> on Monday and let them come up and choose by who was the quietest or
> best behaved...sometimes you need that at the end of the day! :0) I
> have all my packs listed on a grid and I just write in that student's
> number so I know who has which pack. I can also tell at a glance which
> pack is checked out the most or the least.
> Yes, I thought of the "props" or activities for my packs myself.
> Basically, I looked at what I had and organized from there. I did not
> invest alot of additional money into it...just used what I already had
> on hand.
> Have I ever lost anything? Not so far. When I check the contents if I
> discover something missing I have a form letter that goes home letting
> the parents know what was missing and asking them to please look for it.
> It is very tactful, not accusing! The parents and students WANT to keep
> the packs going so they are very careful about the contents really. I
> have had a couple of books missing but as soon as I sent the letter they
> were returned the next day.
> All snuggle packs must be returned on Friday or they don't get another
> one the next week. May sound a bit harsh but I have had 2 students
> forget to bring theirs back and after having to go a week without one
> they have never forgotten again! I like the idea of teaching
> responsiblity at the same time!
> I guess if something was permanently missing I would just replace it.
> Like I said in the other letter, I am pretty thrifty...I don't put alot
> of expensive items in the bags. The books I use are paper back books so
> if I had to buy another one it's only about $4 or $5.
> What are "Workjobs?"....are you familiar with Math Their Way? If not you
> really need to look into it, especially for Kinder and first. Anyway,
> one branch of Math Their Way is a set of activities called Work jobs.
> Basically they are manipulatives and work mats. The children use them
> at various stages of number concept development. It's a great way to
> tie math into reading. I had a ball making the manipulatives one year.
> Many are made from lima beans, they are so cute! In work jobs they
> describe quite a few different ones for example, colored pasta with a
> work mat with a picture of a bowl on it. Frogs and toads made from
> painted lima beans with a workmat of a lilly pad. Birthday candles with
> a work mat of a birthday cake, milkbones with a work mat of a dog and a
> doghouse... Once I got started I couldn't stop! I ended up creating
> about 40 different kinds of manipulatives on my own! All from lima
> beans, pasta, or beads!
> I suggest to the students that they make up story problems with the
> workjobs and write them in the journal. It's just one more "prop" that
> is fun, creative, and relatively inexpensive!
> When do I start my packs? We start school the middle of August here.
> I like to have my Snuggle Packs out the first week in September. I have
> enough packs to last all year that way. Every student can get a
> different pack every week of the school year.
> How long did it take to get it all together? Well, I enlisted the
> help of many of my "moms" so it really didn't take all that long.
> There's nothing saying you have to wait till you have 20 or 30 packs
> before you start, either! I chose to do it that way because I didn't
> what to have to decide which students got packs and which didn't! But if
> you are starting out with very limited resources I'd say develop enough
> packs for one-fourth of your class and rotate those so at least each
> child would get a pack one week per month. Just a suggestion. I made up
> about 15 extra parent and student journals in case I made up more packs
> and sure enough, I did. It's nice to have extras on hand so I can just
> slide them into the new packs, though.
> Well, I hope that helps! Please e-mail me if you have any other
> questions or suggestions! By the way, I would love to hear your ideas
> too!
> Happy teaching!Dawn
>
> > HREF="http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Tower/1217/reading.html" rel="nofollow">The
> First Grade Backpack - Reading
>
>
> > HREF="http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hollow/1213/discovery_packs.html" rel="nofollow">Dis
> covery Packs
>remember...you can always go into the archives to view the transcrips of all the online meetings! http://teachers.net/archive/index.html
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