Subject: other

#2915. school tour

other, level: Kindergarten
Posted Fri Aug 15 18:32:46 PDT 2003 by Sandy Payton (kindergrten@cs.com).
Corbett Elem., Tucson, USA
Materials Required: see lesson plan
Activity Time: dependant upon size and staff of school

Hello. My name is Sandy. I am an 8th year kindergarten teacher and I have a new favorite first day activity. I did it last year and again this year. It's my new tradition.
I have heard of many teachers reading The Gingerbread Man and then going on a school tour to find the gingerbread man. I never got into that. Instead, I get with the support and specialty staff before the first day of school. I let them know that we will be touring the school and please give us this when we come to visit. I give each of them one of the things listed below. The staff is told to pretend that they have no idea who left it or why. The students start to make predictions. Distribute the following to the support/specialty staff:

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 qt. half and half
3/4 c. sugar (I always pre-measure it as I have enough to deal with on the first day
without having students measure)
vanilla (you will need about 1 Tbsp-I love vanilla, so I never measure it...I just have a
student pour it slowly until I say stop-how trusting, huh?)
rock salt
crushed ice
spatula
wooden spoon
electric ice cream maker
ice cream recipe

When we get back to class from our tour, we make and eat ice cream.
Mix first four ingredients directly into the can. Assemble ice cream maker and layer with several layers of rock salt (plenty) and ice. It will take about 20 minutes to freeze.
We end the year by making ice cream on the last day of school. Before I tell them that we are going to make ice cream for the last day, I see if any of them can recall what we did on the first day of school. I just think that ice cream is a great way to begin and end the year. If you haven't started school yet (We started on Aug. 14) and you use this idea, I'd love to hear how it went. Feel free to keep in touch. I will not pester you, but I will keep in touch if you e-mail me back. Good luck with your class.
Sandy