Any name game activity is a must for the beginning of the day and for the first few weeks of school, until you're sure that everyone knows each other’s names. Denise Fischer, a Kindergarten teacher for twenty years in Missouri, presents this game on her Kinder Themes website. Have children sit in a circle and chant the following poem while clapping their hands and patting their knees. Begin by asking the name of the child next to you and lead the following chant: “ _______ (child's name) ________ (child's name) How do you do? Who's that sitting next to you?” At the end of the chant, the next child says his name and the chant begins again.
“The Kissing Hand,” by Audrey Penn, provides the inspiration for this activity from Gayle’s Preschool Rainbow website. After reading children the story and using a stuffed raccoon to prompt a discussion, place a heart sticker on each child’s hand to remind them that their mom, dad or grandma loves them. Following the story, the children make their own hand prints and place another sticker inside. If any child becomes sad later in the day, remind her of the raccoon and ask her to put the sticker up to her cheek like the raccoon did.
Introduce your students to two similar but different puppets that you can use throughout the year to model appropriate and inappropriate behaviors. Amy K. on Gayle’s Preschool Rainbow website uses this technique to illustrate getting along with others. Amy shows one puppet playing with a student and then has the second puppet pull on a shirt or arm in an effort to join the game. She then pauses and asks the class if the second puppet could have chosen a more effective way to get into the game. Use puppet play to illustrate any classroom behavior, such as getting in line, cleaning up or checking off attendance on a bulletin board.