I want to give a quick shout-out to all the teachers out there! Teachers are amazing. Somehow they manage a class of a million different personalities, teach them to read, help them learn basic life skills and do it without getting paid half of what they are worth.
I’ve volunteered in the classroom since Griff was in Kindergarten, and can only ever make it a couple of hours before I’m exhausted and ready to run away. Boy is it a lot of work!
My goal since the kids began elementary school has always been to both make my kids’ teachers feel appreciated, and help a little so they get a short break during their very long day to get done what they need to get done.
This break typically has come in the form of class parties where I handle all the planning, set-up and crafts. I have had Halloween parties, Christmas parties, Valentine’s Day parties, End Of Year parties, etc. More details on the specifics of each of those events will come in additional posts.
Today I want to talk about the latest idea I’ve come up with to give Owen’s first grade teacher a little break. It is Craft + Story Time. Every two weeks I head into Owen’s classroom to read a story and do a craft inspired by the book.
We have had two Craft + Story Times so far this year and both have been extremely successful. The first was around Halloween where we read a story about a Haunted Mansion and then made our own haunted mansions.
This past week we read a story about scarecrows and then made our own scarecrows. The book was called The Scarecrow by Beth Ferry and it is both heartwarming and charming. The kids enjoyed rooting for the scarecrow, and looking at the amazing illustrations as I read the story out loud.
Then we sat down and worked on our scarecrow craft, which involved a ton of cutting. This is a great skill for first graders to learn!
We started by cutting out all of the different shapes that I had printed out. Then worked to glue them together onto our purple craft paper.
The final task was naming our scarecrows, which is something I always encourage the kids to do after any craft. It helps engage their creativity and makes everyone’s final product more unique.
We had a ball reading our story and doing our craft, and Owen’s teacher appreciated the small break in her day.
I highly recommend volunteering to take something like this on for your elementary aged kid! Your child will love having you in their class, all the kids will appreciate having a fun activity with a loving adult to cheer them on and their teacher will enjoy some time away.
What volunteer activities have you done in your child’s class? Let me know how it went in the comments!
