The Kissing Hand

        We finally had our first day today and it was great.   I have read The Kissing Hand on every first day of school.  I love when my kiddos are all excited to tell Mom that they will kiss her hand in the morning so she won't be too sad during school time because I know that those first days really are harder for Mommy than they are for my little ones :)  I call the children over one at a time and paint each child's hand.  I like having a private minute to talk about their day and about the kissing hand. I know the parents will love looking back at their child's little kissing hand as that hand gets bigger and bigger.

I write "child's name"'s Kissing Hand and September 2012 on each one.

A Wall of Smiling Faces

       My very favorite decoration in my kindergarten classroom was my wall of smiling faces.   I always had the kids paint their face during the first week or two of school.  I worked with just one child at a time so I was able to use the opportunity to do an informal observation as we talked about their facial features.
        I started with a tracer I made from a file folder.  I traced the outline on a piece of bulletin board paper.  We then talked about the fact that our eyes are actually just about even with the tops of our ears and about what colors they would need for their eyes, lips and hair.  I would usually use my pencil to show where the eyes should be.  The children then painted the whites of their eyes, their lips and hair.  They decided what color shirt they wanted and then painted that and the colored part of their eyes. Finally, they added details to the shirt, and "ballies" and barrettes to their hair.  Some children added their nose and eyebrows.

When I cut around the face I could cut out some of the "extra" painting such as the outline Shakira added.

        When the paintings dried, I cut out the beautiful faces and added the children's names.  I love, love, love these!!

The poem is actually one of the first songs we learn.  It is sung to the tune of Frere Jacques.

        At my nursery school, the Pre-K students are traced in Science class and they then paint their "people" as we call them.  I LOVE these too.  In fact, for many, many years, my basement was decorated with the the life size paintings of my 4 children.

Pre-K People