Within the first week of school, introduce the clean-up song that you intend to use throughout the year. Throughout the first week, when it is time to transition from free play to circle time, take a few moments to introduce the children to one area of the room, such as the block corner, housekeeping area or reading rug. Remind children that they will be responsible for returning toys, games and other materials to their proper places after free play. After instructing the children to begin cleaning up, begin singing as you straighten up the classroom and return items to their proper places. Choose lighthearted, simple lyrics for your clean-up song, such as these:
"Clean-up, clean-up, everybody get some toys. Clean-up, clean-up, all the little girls and boys. Clean-up, clean-up, everybody do your share. Clean-up, clean-up, everybody, everywhere."
Encourage the children to find partners and distribute a large sheet of butcher-block paper to every child. Working in pairs, the children take turns lying down on their sheets of paper as their partners trace around them. Every child then adds details to his self-portrait, including such features as hair, eyes, clothing and jewelry. The partners can give feedback to each other, pointing out which details seem important to include. Finally, the class gathers together on the floor. One at a time, every child holds up his partner's self-portrait for the rest of the class to see and, using it as a guide, he introduces and describes his partner to the rest of the children.
With this game, even shy or less verbal children can enjoy and benefit from the opportunity to reveal bits of information about themselves. The children seat themselves in a circle. Instruct the children to cross to the other side of the circle if they have a certain thing, have done a certain thing, or are able to do a certain thing. For example, you might say, "Cross the circle if you have a pet at home." When children cross over, they should sit down in seats that became available on the other side. If no one on the opposite side stands up, the children seated there will need to widen the circle a bit to make room for the new children to sit down.
Preschool children are fully capable of understanding the concepts of same and different. At a time when children may be overwhelmed by how foreign everything feels in preschool, this is a great way to encourage children to focus on what they share in common with their new peers. Instruct the children to seat themselves on the floor, and identify two or three children who have something in common, such as eyeglasses, sandals, or hooded sweaters. Ask those children to stand up in their places. The other children must look hard at the standing children and determine what feature makes them twins or triplets.
Gather the children together and instruct them to seat themselves in a circle. Place a basket of small crackers in the center of the circle. The children take turns coming forward to take a small number of crackers from the basket. When all the children have taken their crackers and are seated again, they count how many crackers they have. Every child then takes a turn introducing himself and telling his peers several things about himself. If he is holding 5 crackers, he should describe 5 things about himself. If he is holding 3 crackers, he should describe 3 things about himself. After the children complete their turns, they may eat their crackers.