Teacher Idea Factory

Teacher Idea Factory

GRANDPARENTS DAY IN THE CLASSROOM

by

National Grandparents Day is right around the corner (9/10/17). Many of us would love to jump into a celebration or quick study of our elders before the official day. However, September is a VERY busy month.  Teachers and students are just getting rolling. And, let’s face it, time is in short supply. With this said, I am here to share a few quick ideas that will make celebrating Grandparents Day in the classroom extra easy this year.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Why not use Grandparents Day to weave in a social studies standard? Take a moment to talk about community and family . . . grandparents fit so nicely into the mix. Students can discuss how families have evolved over time, why families live in certain locations, and why families may choose to move.  Simply extend this to capture that grandparent connection.  The possibilities are endless in this area and there are many cute family crafts out there.
To learn more about the fabulous family crafts above, I provided some clickable links for all you alls.
  1. Watercolor Houses (from Picklebum)
  2. Popsicle Stick Family Houses (found on Pinterest)
  3. Fingerprint Families  (via Ed Emberley’s Fingerprint Book)

STORY TIME

We all know that story time is a great way to slip current classroom themes into a busy day. There are so many wonderful read alouds that focus on grandparents and “grandfriends.” I compiled a short list of a few of my favorites. These wonderful stories always generate the best carpet conversations. Oh, and if you’re anything like me, you may struggle to hold back tears with a few of these gems. Keep a box of tissues handy.

CELEBRATION IDEAS

In 2012, our school started inviting grandparents to the classrooms for a little celebration.  I’ll be honest and say that it always fell at the WORST possible time of year.  We were just getting back into the swing of things and training was still in full force. One more thing seemed to tip the scale a little too much into “stressville” for me.  However, I always found myself feeling all warm and fuzzy inside after our annual grandparent celebration. Year after year, it proved to be worth the extra effort.
With this said, here are a few ideas on incorporating grandparent celebrations into your classroom.  These events can be as big or small as you choose and here are just a few ideas to get you going . . .
  1. Invite grandparents for a picnic lunch.
  2. Plan an afternoon art activity.
  3. Invite grandparents to drop in throughout the day.  Run with different themed stations that the grandparent can complete with his/her grandchild.
  4. Host a post-lunch dessert hour and quick activity.
I always went for the low-key grandparent ditty (number four).  Students invited grandparents in for lemonade, coffee, and cookies. The grandchildren served their elders and presented them with a card. As they were eating, the kids then sang a Grandparents song by Ron Brown (more info below.) Next, they read books together — this was priceless. Finally, the students completed grandparent interview sheets and a word search together. The whole thing took about 30-45 minutes.
For those students who didn’t have grandparents who could attend, we allowed them to invite a “grandfriend.”  I know what you are thinking . . . what if no one shows up for a little sweetie?  I cannot tell you how amazing it is when the grandparents who do attend “adopt” another kiddo.  As long as you frontload your students prior to the start of an event, solo students are typically able to quickly saddle up to a sweet grannie or grandpa who is there for another student.  It’s pretty magical.

GRANDPARENT PERFORMANCE

A quick performance is always a fun idea.  It doesn’t have to be anything over the top, but a quick song and student shout out to their grandparent(s) is always darling.  Such a performance doesn’t take much work either.  Ron Brown from Intelli-Tunes wrote a perfect tune that the kids can learn rather quickly. This toe-tapper tugs on the old heartstrings too.  Check out Ron’s Grandparents tune (and read more about it below).

GRANDPARENT QUICKIES

Don’t have time for a planned celebration?  No worries whatsoever!  There are a still a handful of quick activities that you can seamlessly slip into the mix.  Have your students create a quick and simple card to take home on the Friday before Grandparents Day.  Sneak in a little grandparent learning via a mini-book or easy can/have/are chart. These make for great parent helper or assistant centers.  Still pressed for time?  Assign a grandparent/”grandfriend” interview or friendly letter as homework for the week.

If you are looking for any of these items in a ready-made packet, I just so happen to have one.  It contains all of the ideas outlined above as well as Ron’s Grandparents song (in MP3 form).  Pop on over and take a peek at my Thank Goodness for Grandparents Packet.

Alright, I’m out of here.  Must mow the lawn before the neighbors start to form a less than desirable opinion about the Dollings 🙂  On a final note, if you are lucky enough to have a grandparent left in your life, think about taking a moment to call or write.  Not a day goes by that I don’t wish I could pick up the phone and tell my Grandad or Grammie just how much I love them.

 

Comments

Join the Newsletter

Latest on Facebook

View on Facebook