Don’t children love to bring little things and “show” it to their friends at school ?
Toys, stickers, books, pencils, etc etc ….
Instead of having children bring stuff randomly and cause distraction in the classroom, why not create a schedule for “Show & Tell” – so children can bring an item on a designated date ,Show it to their friends, share a detail or two about it.
How fun would that be for the children with minimal distraction/worries for the teacher….
I include the details about “What to bring” in the welcome letter (Welcome letter) I send to the parent at the start of the school year or when a child joins my classroom .
Here’s the excerpt about “Show & Tell” that I send out to the parents:
” Show & Tell will be done on Friday morning according to the schedule below.
Some items that would be great for Show & Tell are a picture from a vacation, child’s own art work, their favorite book, treasures from vacation like shells from a beach vacation, a postcard, a small musical instrument that they can play etc.
Please send the “Show & Tell clearly labelled with your child’s name.
I would not encourage toys as they will be a distraction in the classroom.
Please email me if you have any questions”
Would love to share some cool Show & Tell’s that children have brought in my classroom in the past few years ..
small drum , guitar and mini keyboard by a set of triplets – we had a fun jamming session that day in class.
gecko lizard (pet) – turned out to be a mini-science workshop, as the gecko decided to shed its skin in class that day.
sand pail, shovel, shells from a beach vacation.
picture of a “fish” a child caught while on a weekend fishing trip with his dad.
Snow globe from a trip to London with the child’s family picture inside the globe.
Don’t you think “Show & Tell’s” are a simple fun way to introduce public-speaking to the children?
Share what you do for “Show& Tell” in your classroom/school in the comments below — would love to hear about it.
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