Monthly Family Projects

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1 Monthly Family Projects Teacher Overview Thank you so much for purchasing these monthly family projects! Family projects are a great way to encourage family togetherness and to strengthen the home-school connection. Many families have told me how much they enjoy these projects. I learn so much about my students and their families through these projects. I have included everything that you need to get started using these in your classroom. Typically, I send home a project at the beginning of each month and give the families about two weeks to complete it. Since these projects are meant to be fun and are personal, I don t give a rubric or count it as anything other than a participation grade/homework assignment. Students share their projects after they have been turned in and they are always displayed somewhere in our classroom or in the hallway. Here is what I have included in this packet: Monthly Family Project Letter: A letter explaining to families that each month their child will complete a family project and present it to the class. September: Family Scrapbook- Students will make scrapbook pages of their family. I always take these pages and put them into a big class book about our families. This is always a favorite in our class library. October: Decorate a Pumpkin- Students will decorate a pumpkin. Template is included. You will probably want to copy this onto cardboard for durability. November: Dress a Turkey- Students will decorate a turkey. I give the students a large cutout on butcher paper to decorate. December: Family Traditions- I send this project home during Thanksgiving break so students have as much time to work on it as possible and to take into consideration how busy this time of year usually is. January: Decorate a Snowman- Students decorate a snowman. Template is included. You will probably want to copy this onto cardboard for durability.

2 100 th Day Project: 100 th Day Display- Students make a display of 100 items. February: Make a Valentine s Day Mailbox- Students make and decorate a mailbox for their valentines. March: Leprechaun Trap- Students design and build a trap to try to catch a leprechaun. April: I have included two projects here for those who do a school egg hunt and one for those who do not. Egg Basket- Students make and decorate an egg basket for the school egg hunt. OR Make a Rainbow- Students make a rainbow using different materials. Template is provided. You will probably want to copy this onto cardboard for durability. May: How-To Project- Students pick an activity and write a how-to book on it. I did not include a Family Project for June as it is the end of the year and everything is winding down.

3 Monthly Family Projects Dear Parents, Each month, I will be sending home a monthly family project for your child and your family to complete together. This is meant to be a fun activity for everyone to participate in and enjoy. Family projects are another means of opening up the doors to a school and home learning connection. I would like to encourage all family members to take part in our monthly activity. Please remember that your child should have the largest part in completing this project. Family members are encouraged to help your child complete their project. Your child will be invited to share their family project each month with the class. This is a great opportunity for students to be active participants in speaking, listening and questioning. These fundamental skills will become very valuable as they journey through their education. The finished family projects will always be posted in the classroom or in the hallway. Displaying the students work will develop a sense of pride and ownership. I hope you will appreciate and cherish the times that you spend together during these projects. If you have any questions about any of the projects, please contact me. Thank you,

4 September Family Project Family Scrapbook Due: We spend the beginning of the year learning about each other and our families. This month, your and your child will make family scrapbook pages to help us make a class book about our families. Please turn in scrapbook pages no later than. Collect pictures of family members. Identify each family member for your child as you sort through the pictures, then help them arrange them by generation or family grouping on pages of the album. Point out similarities in physical appearance and explain that this is part of her heritage -- the blue eyes like Daddy and Grandma have, or the red hair like Nana. Let your child decorate the album with stickers or simple drawings. I have given you pieces of paper to use, but you may also use your own (8.5x11) paper if you like. Please put pictures of your family on these pages and decorate them however you like. You may include pictures of fun family events, pets, etc. This a project the whole family can work on together. After everyone turns in their scrapbook pages, your child will get to share their project with the class. I will be taking these pages and putting them into a big class book about all of our families. This is always one of the most popular books in our class library. Have fun! Please Send in Scrapbook Pages By

5 October Family Project Decorate a Pumpkin Due: This month s family project is to decorate a pumpkin. Please decorate the attached pumpkin and return it to school no later than. The pumpkin may be decorated in any way you would like. Start by making a plan and then gather materials. Be creative with anything you have around the house: seeds, fabric, paint, feathers, crayons, cotton balls, buttons, bows, noodles, cereal, etc. I hope your family will have fun working together on this project. Please remember that the purpose of these Family Projects is not only to have fun with your family, but also to encourage speaking and listening skills. For every project, children will present to the class and talk about how their family worked together. Learning to be an audience and ask questions or share compliments and comments are also important skills. Have fun! Please turn in pumpkins by:

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7 November Family Project Dress a Turkey Due: For this month s family project, your child will decorate a turkey! Please return your completed turkey no later than. The turkey may be decorated in any way you would like. Start by making a plan and then gather materials. Be creative with anything you have around the house: seeds, fabric, paint, feathers, crayons, cotton balls, buttons, bows, noodles, cereal, etc. I hope your family will have fun working together on this project. As with all our family projects, the students will each take a turn sharing their project with the class. Please remember that the purpose of these Family Projects is not only to have fun with your family, but also to encourage speaking and listening skills. Students will present to the class and talk about how their family worked together to make this turkey. Learning to be an audience and ask questions or share compliments and comments are also important skills. After the turkeys have been shared, they will be displayed in our classroom. Have fun! Please turn in turkeys by:

8 December Family Project Family Traditions Poster Due: This time of year gets us thinking about the traditions that we do with our families. For this month s family project, your child will be sharing some of their favorite family traditions with us. Projects should be turned in no later than. These traditions can be from any time of year. Pick 1-2 of your favorite family traditions (a holiday, vacation, etc.) You are going to tell us about these traditions on a poster. Tell us all about each tradition. What do you do? How long have you been doing this? Is there any special food? Do you wear special clothes? Why is this a special tradition? You can tell us through pictures and words, just make sure your child is able to explain it. Put finishing touches on the poster by adding stickers, small photos of your family at the tradition, or anything else that would tell us more about the traditions your family enjoys during the year. Be sure at the top to label it with your family s name, for example The Dabul Family Traditions. Your child will be sharing these posters with the class. The students will be able to see the similarities and differences between all of our family traditions and even learn about some new ones. I hope you have fun working with your child on this project. Happy Holidays! Please Turn in Family Tradition Posters By:

9 January Family Project Decorate a Snowman Due: For our January Family Project, children will work with their families to create a paper snowman using various objects. I have provided you with a snowman template to use if you like. Make sure to cut it out. Please turn in snowmen no later than. They may want to make a snowdad, a snowmom, a baby snowman, a snowcat, etc. Will your snowman have a scarf, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hat, arms, etc.? Your family gets to decide! Begin by helping your child cut out the attached snowman and then get started! What types of objects could your family use? How about seeds, popcorn, raisins, peanuts, kernels of corn, ribbons, string, buttons, bottle caps, plastic forks, sticks, jewelry, etc. Whatever you find! Students will share their Snowman Family Project with the class and they will be on display in the classroom. I look forward to seeing what you come up with! Have fun! Please turn in snowmen by:

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11 100 th Day of School Family Project 100 th Day of School Display Due: It is time to party and celebrate! On, we will celebrate the 100 th Day of School! We have many fun activities planned across the curriculum. I would like to make a connection between home and school by inviting you to create a 100-item display. The students have been shown some examples and there are many ideas online (Google, Pinterest, etc.). You may use 100 marshmallows, pennies, Legos, sweet tarts; cereal pieces the options are endless. The item to be displayed can be glued to poster board, built, or even made (jewelry, cooked ) Students will be sharing these displays with the class on the 100 th Day as part of our 100 th Day of School Museum. I look forward to see what your family creates! Have Fun! Please send displays to school on. Examples of Displays

12 February Family Project Valentine s Day Mailbox Due: For February s project, I would like for you and your child to create a valentine mailbox. The first thing you need to do is to decide what you want to use to hold the valentines. Some ideas are a basket, a covered shoebox or cereal box, or anything else you choose to use. The only guideline is that it must be able to stand up by itself on the table. That will make it easier when children are passing out their valentines. After you have decided on your container, you will need to use different materials to decorate the holder. Some suggestions are markers, tissue paper, paint, ribbon, glitter, buttons, felt, fabric, etc. My goal for sending these projects if for families to spend time creating the project TOGETHER! The only limit for this project is your imaginations... so think together how you want the finished project to look. Your child s name must be clearly labeled in bold letters and easily visible on the front of your container when standing upright on the tables. Friends will need to see the names quickly while passing out their valentines. As with all Family Projects, we will spend time sharing them with our classroom family. Please send in mailboxes by: Examples of Mailboxes

13 March Family Project Leprechaun Trap Due: Every year, a tricky leprechaun visits our classroom. The day before he comes, we set traps in the classroom to see if a lucky student can catch him. This month, your child will make a leprechaun trap and bring it to school to see if they can catch him. The leprechaun trap project should not be much larger than a shoebox and needs to have at least 1 moving part to trap the leprechaun. Keep in mind how you will attract the leprechaun to your trap as well as how you will entice him to go in your trap! Be clever, smart, and tricky! Don t make it too big - remember you re catching a tiny leprechaun, not a giant! Be ready to explain how your trap works. You will use your trap to demonstrate. If you need some ideas, there are several online. **Hint: Leprechauns are tricky fellows! They like shiny things, things that glitter. They also are attracted to rainbows. They are always trying to find their pot of gold. Their favorite color is green. If your child will be making a leprechaun trap, please send it in by Examples of Leprechaun Traps

14 April Family Project Egg Basket Due: This month s family project is for you and your child to make and decorate an egg basket and put together eggs for the kindergarten egg hunt, which will take place on. For the egg basket, you may use any materials you wish. There are several ideas online. Some suggested materials are milk cartons, the bottom of a 2-liter soda bottle, etc. You may also buy and decorate a basket. Please make sure the basket has your child s name on it. For the egg hunt, your child will need to bring in eggs. We are asking that each child bring in at least 10 eggs. You may send in more if you would like. You may fill the eggs with candy and other trinkets. Please be mindful if your child is in a nut-free classroom. Please also be sure to fill the eggs before sending them to school. Please send in your child s egg basket and eggs by Egg Basket Examples

15 April Family Project Make a Rainbow Due: For this month s family project, your family will be coming up with a creative way to make a rainbow! Please turn in rainbows no later than. Use the attached rainbow and be as creative or imaginative for each arc of color as you d like. You can use many different items for the arc colors such as yarn, cloth, magazine pictures, beads, markers, etc. Encourage your child to offer their ideas, cut, color, and glue so they will be involved in the process. Make sure the colors are in the correct order (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). As with all family projects, students will be sharing their rainbows with the class, telling how they made it with their families. These rainbows will be displayed in our classroom. Have fun! Please turn in rainbows by: Rainbow Examples

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17 May Family Project How-To Book Due: This month for your child s family project, they will be teaching the class how to do something! Here are some steps on how to complete the project: 1. Please help your child brainstorm and list activities you can do together as a family. (ex. Make a sandwich, play a game, brush your teeth) 2. Choose one of the activities and decide what items you need to perform the activity. (peanut butter, jelly, bread, knife, plate, etc.) 3. After you have collected what you need, do the activity with your child. While engaged in the activity, be sure to talk about what you did FIRST, NEXT, THEN and LAST. 4. When you have finished the chosen activity please have your child draw a picture and write a sentence for each step of the activity. Use one page per step. Be sure to begin step one with FIRST, step two with NEXT, step three with THEN, and the final step with LAST. (Activity can be more than four steps) 5. Make a cover page with title for your book. Put pages and cover together. Your child will be sharing their how-to book with the class. Then, students will get the chance to read each other s books. Have fun! Please Return How-To Projects By: