puppets

when i first moved into this classroom, i had a lot of puppets but i didn't really know what to do with them and wasn't sure how effective they'd be. recently i've been trying them out....
i was reading this book, multisensory strategies, and they explained how one classroom was using puppets effectively and i thought i would give it a try.
i came up with three characters.
the first is yippie skippy the bouncy bunny. he's a pink rabbit who gets really excited whenever the kids speak english and try hard.
then there's harold the hippo, who really doesn't like loud noises and comes out whenever things are getting too noisy.
and donnie the dog who is too shy to speak, but whispers in my ear to let me know about things that he doesn't like...such as fighting, not sharing, not cleaning up, etc.
i thought that the last two would be good to use because they would take the discipline baggage off of me...in that, it wasn't *me* who thought that it was time for clean up...but we had to do it cuz donnie said so. but i actually haven't been able to use them. it's just too much of a pain in the butt to run and get a puppet every time i need to discipline.
but....yippie skippy is a *huge* hit. he comes out every morning with us during circle time. he sings the hello song and gets really excited when the kids say "my name is..." he also asks them how they are doing and gets really happy when they answer. the kids really like him. they all sit down when i tell them to and have an excited anticipatory smile on their face. a lot of them even try to sit really close to me so that yippie might even give them a lil snuggle when they get it right.
i'm really pleased with the effects and i'm sure that yippie skippy is going to be a permanent fixture in our classroom.
Tags: esl, teaching, puppets

Powered by Qumana