Helping Hands

Self-reliance, helping others, responsibility, good manners, getting to know community helpers -- these are the things this unit will help young students learn. It begins with ideas on developing an If I were Center and a Helper Center in the classroom, to help students learn to take on new roles and think about what each role might require. It's a perfect opportunity to invite parents and members of your community to your classroom to talk about how they help the community. A seven-page section is devoted to Kenny's Story, a story about helpers, with accompanying activities for your kids. Other topics and activities include: Cooperating with Others, Working Together as a Family, A Helping Family Fingerplay, I Can Do it Myself, Cooperation at School, I Can Help, Be a Helper, Helping Hand (paper) Quilt, Helping Hand Math, School Helpers, Manners Are Important (featuring follow-up activities to the book, The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners), Please and Thank You Tokens, My Good Neighbor -- a dialogue to act out, Helpers in Your Neighborhood, and People Who Help, accompanied by Picture Cards (fireman, bus driver, mail carrier, dentist, construction worker, sanitation worker, doctor, mechanic, police officer and others). In addition to a Pop-Up Helper Book with lots of Helper Riddles to solve, and follow-up activities for the book, Wanda's Roses, by Pat Brisson, there is a full-color, two-sided pull-out poster with a Who Will Help? Poem on one side and Helpers in My Neighborhood on the other. Teaching suggestions provided. Includes bibliography, and complete step-by-step instructions for all activities. All pages are reproducible and perforated for easy removal.