Schultüten Ceremony on the First Day of School 2013/14

We utilize the Theory of Multiple Intelligence at The Capitol School.  As part of our Verbal-Linguistic activities, we have lessons in German, Spanish, and Chinese.  We have many students from all over the world.  Our families have come from almost 70 different countries.  We have many students from Germany.  

In Germany, it is traditional for parents to give their child a cone-shaped gift, or schultüte on the first day of the first grade.  We utilize a multiage group structure, so our kindergarten and first grade age children are together in a cluster of 5-7 year olds.  This year, 2013/14, we have two 5-7 year old clusters.  

Our German teachers help us celebrate the first day of school by having our own Schultüten Ceremony. It is a great way to open school on the first day.  The teachers make a schultüte for each student. Hannah Box, one of our Lead Teachers devised this method several years ago.

Hannah picks some great colorful materials.

To use Hannah's method to make Schultüte, you will need:

poster board

scissors

duct tape

tissue paper

ribbon

gifts

Cut the poster board into this shape to roll into a cone.

Cut the duct tape to get it ready.  This really helps.

Roll the poster board into a cone shape.  Tape the bottom to secure.

Add a strip of duct tape to hold the ends of the poster board together.

Crumble some tissue paper into a ball.  Put it in the bottom of the cone.

The tissue paper ball will keep the gifts from falling through the bottom of the cone.

Tape some tissue paper around the top of the cone on the inside.

We used duct tape to tape the tissue paper around the inside of the top.  The duct tape is strong.

Add some gifts to the cone.

Hannah picked some great gifts.

We added play dough,  a glow in the dark bracelet, a whistle, a prismatic viewer, a ball, a lei, and some photo props.  The photo props were great since the parents took photos when the children opened their gifts.

Gather the ends of the tissue paper together to close the top.

Secure with a strip of ribbon.

Yes, we made 48!

Five of us worked together.

It took us about 2 1/2 hours.

It was so worth it.  The children loved them.

Here we are starting the ceremony on the first day of school.

Frau Schad taught us how to sing the traditional song in German.

The parents helped us sing, especially the German parents!


We walked to our classroom as we sang:

Hurra, ich bin ein Schulkind...

Hurra, ich bin ein Schulkind und nicht mehr klein.
Hier hab ich viele Freunde, das find ich fein.
In der Schule singen wir, schreiben, rechnen, zwei, drei, vier,
ich möchte vieles lernen, drum bin ich hier.


Und bei dem vielen Lernen da spielt man auch.
Und auch mal kräftig lachen, das ist hier Brauch.
In den Pausen toben wir, uns gefällt’s schon lange hier,
und alle neuen Schüler, die grüßen wir.

(Melodie von "Ein Männlein steht im Walde")

The Five Senses

Scientists use many methods to generate hypotheses or explanations for things they observe.  People tend to think we have five senses that we generally use to observe things in our environment.  However, experts believe that we have nineteen or more senses.  We use senses such as barometric or temperate to learn about things.

We watched the DVD, "The Magic School Bus Shows and Tells" about how scientists develop hypotheses.  Then I explained to the class how we use all of our senses to learn about things.  We explored each sense through a series of activities.

1.  Smell - I put different items in some condiment containers I purchased at Dollar General.  I saw this idea many years ago at The Exploratorium( http://www.exploratorium.edu/) in San Francisco.  I have used it ever since.  This year I put one of the following in each container:  lemon, orange, coffee, chocolate, honey, and garlic.  We passed these around, pressed the sides of the container to released a whiff of scent, and then guessed what the scent was after everyone had a turn.  The children love this activity.  They cannot see what is in the bottles so they must rely on their sense of smell to determine what is in the bottle.  I reminded them of our study of rocks when we scratched a sulfur rock to smell it.

2.  Touch - I keep some old socks to use for this activity.  I simply insert one item in the toe of each sock.  The children cannot see it.  They put their hands inside the sock to feel the object at the toe.  I vary the items in terms of smooth, rough, etc.  I like to include a shell in one and a rock in another.  This year I also put in a small flashlight, a plastic square chip, and a toy stegosaurus.

3.  Hearing - I like to play "Listening Lotto" for this sense.  I love watching the children try to guess the sounds.  They get so excited and caught up in the game.

4.  Taste - I talk about taste buds and that you can taste different things on different parts of the tongue.  I then have the children taste one food at a time and identify the taste.  I usually pick one food for each of these tastes:  sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.  This year I used lollipops, lemons, potato chips, and unsweetened chocolate.

5.  Seeing - I like to teach the children to play "I Spy" to explore this sense.  I ask various students to take a turn telling the group, "I spy with my little eye something ..."  They tell a color and then the others take turns guessing what the person spied.

I have a recording of the book, "The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses."  This is a great book that explains how our senses work in the human body.

Garden Stepping Stones for Mother's Day

We created Garden Stepping Stones for Mother's Day using quick drying cement.

The materials we used were:

aluminum cake pans
WD-40 (spray on lubricant)
quick drying cement mix
glass flat marbles and stones
white duct tape (for name labels)

We labeled every cake pan with each child's name.  I have also done this project the same way with plastic plant pot drip trays.  This time, I decided I would like the children to carry the stepping stone home in the pan.  When I use the drip trays, I keep the tray after removing the dried stepping stone.







Before adding the quick drying cement, we sprayed each pan with WD-40 so that the stepping stone could a easily removed from the pan when dry.

We mixed the cement in an old plastic pan and then poured some into each cake pan.

A 60 pound bag made enough cement for 16 cake pans.

Next, the students added glass flat marbles and stones. We told them to be sure to push them down into the cement so that they would be surrounded and not come out when dry.  Sometimes, I have the children stamp their name with cookie cutters or a stick.   They then place the marbles on the letters to form the shape of their name. This year, I decided to let them create any design they wished.

We allowed the stepping stones to completely dry for several days before taking home to our mothers.  Each student made just one, but you could produce multiple stones for a garden in the same manner.