All are welcome here! It's time for a new school year and I'll admit, I'm just as nervous as the kiddos! It's my 9th year of teaching, but I still get butterflies and so many emotions as the families come in to find their classroom, locker, etc.
This year, I'm starting music class with this amazing book by Alexandra Penfold: All Are Welcome.
The current climate in our country is far removed from our origins. We are a land of many different peoples and should be embracing that. Children need to come to school and know they are safe, loved and accepted. This book is a beautiful way to share with any grade level or classroom.
To get my kids singing on the first day, we will be singing the tagline instead of speaking. Initially, I will sing it and have them echo. Once we begin the story and they catch on, the singing grows and everyone is confident by the end. It's a simple refrain, but powerful.
All are welcome in school. All are welcome in music. All are welcome here.
Happy Spring! Our school year has been crazy! We had several weeks of illnesses - so bad that they considered closing our building and cleaning it. Then, we had several snow storms in a row. We didn't miss that many full days as much as we had late starts. When the snow melted, massive flooding occurred. Our area was able to absorb most of the water but other parts of Iowa and Nebraska were not so lucky. Many places (including our schools) have begun donating items, money and volunteering to help these people put their life back together. #NebraskaStrong
But, spring has given me some more time to share ideas and thoughts as we finish one year (and start thinking about another). Today I'm going to share with you my organization for various puppets.
I love puppets so much! You can read about some of the puppets in my room here: Puppets - A Newfound Love.
For my soft, plush puppets, I use a shoe rack. I found this pretty durable one on Amazon. It's not exactly the straightest one, but my custodian was able to tighten it up for me. I've organized mine a little differently to evenly distribute the weight.
I place the puppets on the different hooks using the gap where you would place your hand to use each one. It's even able to prop up my smallest finger puppets, like the seal and bird.
My favorite collection of puppets, though, are the ones on a stick. Education Insights makes these wonderful plastic puppets on a stick, giving you two different ways to use them. I especially love these because you can easily clean them! This is so important with all the germs going around. I would even clean them when we didn't use just to be safe. You can push down the thumb lever or pull the ball at the base of the puppet.
They've released different sets in the past few years, but I currently have:
Monsters (Fez, Kai & Lex)
Rainbow Prancers (Dazzle, Twinkle & Shine)
Prehistoric (Buster, Crusher & Stomper)
Sea Squad (Bob, Chomper & Dipper)
Zoo Crew (Elephant, Giraffe, Lion & Monkey)
I have 35 in all - some I have duplicates of while others don't. I like to have extras so the kids do have some selection even if they're the last ones called to come up. Because of their interesting shape, I struggled to find something that would hold all of them, not take up much room and also be easily accessible for my students. Then, I struck gold!
Walmart was clearing out the last of their "back-to-school" items and had these wonderful storage crates for $2! I bought one and brought it to my classroom - they were perfect! Thankfully, I was able to snatch up a few more for my puppets and general storage. The bright colors were also a big bonus. The puppet is able to slip through a hole at the top and dangle inside the crate. Since some of the heads are large or irregular, I space them out a bit and try to sort them. I actually have a student that comes to my room and sorts them regularly as a calming activity. She never sorts them the same way, but it a place for her to come and find comfort in a unique sensory situation.
I hope this gives you some new ideas on what to do with those puppets. Do you have another way to store them? Share below!
