Community Helpers Activities for Kindergarten Throughout the Year And a Pizza Parlor Classroom Transformation

4/28/2021

Our community helpers learning begins during Fire Safety Week in October. As we learn about being fire safe, we learn about the job of firefighters. We also learn about the tools they use. Students easily connect to this topic when we compare firefighter tools to student tools.
The following week, we focus on police, doctors, and teacher jobs, along with their tools. This flows nicely with our writing unit's focus, putting things into groups. Each day, we write about tools community helpers use. We start with the anchor chart. For example, students use the chart to write, "Firefighters use a hose." Then we create a word bank that includes more tools for each helper. Students write additional sentences, using the word bank.

At Christmas, we discuss needs and wants during our kindergarten social studies lesson. Later in the year, we make a connection to the topic with saving and spending. With that discussion also comes the topic of goods and services and jobs. To start things off, we discuss the concepts of goods and services with this anchor chart. We talk about all of the goods we can buy. My job, however, does not include goods. I provide a service. My students all know my job is to teach them and keep them safe while they are at school, so this anchor chart is very easy for them to connect with and understand.

Community Helper Books for Kindegarten

In the Spring, we talk about all of the different jobs available. Below are my favorite titles to share with the kiddos. These community helper books for kindergarten are just perfect with sharing a variety of work options. They include the following titles: All Through My Town, When Dinosaurs Came with Everything, When I Grow Up, Jobs People Do, Whose Hat Is This?, Snowmen at Work, and Alphabeep!

Exploring the Job of a Chef, Pizza Style!

It's a fun challenge for me to connect themes across the curriculum. This is what drives me to engage the kids while challenging them in every aspect of their learning experience in our classroom. To learn all about what a job looks like, our classroom turns into a pizza parlor, and the students become chefs!

As students enter the hallway to our classroom, they are greeted with giant pieces of pizza and a pizza parlor canopy. Small pieces of pizza are hanging from the door, too.

Once inside of the classroom, they find their tables have been moved and our classroom is now a pizza shop! Their tables have coloring pages for them, along with small packets of crayons, just like in a real pizza parlor!

To start our day, students create chef crafts for morning work. During our kindergarten writing lesson, students write about what they would do if they were chefs. In math class, students become "real" chefs when we make hats. Students collect "ingredients" and get busy cooking! They take turns using the classroom kitchen to prepare their pizza. They are thrilled to get to bake pizzas in the oven! We complete pepperoni addition, which is easily differentiated with up to 10 pepperoni slices.

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Pizza Kindergarten Arts and Crafts Math Activity with Pepperoni Addition (to 10)

$3.50

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Community Helper Activity with a Chef Craft & Writing Prompt for Literacy Center

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When their pizzas are ready, they use the pizza delivery cart to "serve" them to the hungry guests who are lined up in the hallway. (They hang them on their clips in the hall.) We've loved pretending together all year long, and I love how much more the students get into adding to the creativity now that they've had plenty of experience with just how to pretend!

The entire kindergarten team works together to create a progressive dinner for the kiddos on our special cooking day, too! Each teacher takes a genre and provides a snack to go with it. We rotate students to each classroom to do a bit of book tasting together!
In my classroom, students came to read nonfiction texts. Kiddos love to learn about animals, so all of the books in my collection were easy readers about animals, and students were served animal crackers for their dining experience.

Guidance TIme and What DO You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

During guidance time throughout community helpers week, we read Be You! by Peter H. Reynolds. The pages below are the pages that speak to me personally. This book is a great book to use as a reflection tool for students of all ages! I used it to encourage my students to be anything they wanted to be when they grow up. After reading the book, students share about what they would like to do when they grow up. As a follow up, they write about what they want to be with the craft backs listed below.

I have the kiddos write and draw about what they want to be when they group up, and I keep the writing sheets for graduation! Near the end of the year, we create the crafts to attach to the tops; these are perfect for our graduation ceremony display.

Kindergarten Graduation Craft and Writing Activity: When I Grow Up

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As your students graduate from kindergarten, they write and draw about what they want to be when they grow up. This is the perfect writing lesson to wrap up the end of the year. These crafts make great decorations for your graduation ceremony! It's also adorable for students to share what they want to be on the microphone at the graduation!

Page 1: Cover

Page 2: Krazy for Kindyland Note

Page 3: Product Details

Page 4: Example

Page 5: Tassle (4)

Page 6: Frame

Page 7: Writing Sheet

The student writes a sentence to tell what s/he wants to be when s/he grows up. Draw a picture to match in the box.

Page 8: Hat (2)

Page 9: Body (3)

Page 10: Head, Two Hands

Page 11: Hair (2)

GIRLS ONLY:

Page 12: Two Pigtails (4 sets)

Pages 13: Two Bows (9 sets)

Book companions to go along with this craft include, but certainly are not limited to, the following titles:

The Last Day of Kindergarten

The Night Before Kindergarten Graduation

Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the Last Day of Kindergarten

Be sure to check out our DISCOUNTED BUNDLES prior to purchasing individual products.

Note:

The cover of Krazy for Kindyland products includes exact JPEG(s) of included craft(s).

What our customers are saying about our products:

-provides engaging, hands-on fine-motor practice while learning across the curriculum

-easily differentiated kindergarten activities, based on student needs and also allows room for teacher choice

-includes consistent layouts; easy for students to understand

-low prep and a huge time saver; GREAT for subs

Questions? Requests?

Email us at krazyforkindyland@gmail.com

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Graduation Craft and Writing Activities for Kindergarten and Preschool

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As students prepare to graduate from kindergarten or preschool, they create graduation crafts! During a writing lesson or literacy center, students complete the included writing activities. Six options are included to best meet the needs of your little learners. Students have options to write/draw about their favorite part of the year, what they’ve learned, what they are proud of, or what they want to be when they grow up! You could also complete a few of the writing options and staple them together for display!

Contents:

Page 1: Cover

Pages 2, 3: Product Details

Page 4: curly hair girl

Page 5: ponytail girl

Page 6: curly hair boy

Page 7: straight hair boy

Page 8: cap, shoulders

Page 9: tassel, diploma (2 sets)

Page 10: I’m so proud I can… writing sheet

Page 11: When I grow up, I want to be a … writing sheet

Page 12: writing and drawing sheet