Breaking the ice with a new group of students is always a challenge. Get started on the right track by welcoming your students back to class with a fun donut themed activity that will sprinkle kindness throughout your classroom. This back-to-school activity will get quality conversations started and will help your students get to know their classmates. When you are all done you will have a fun visual display for your classroom as well. So start sprinkling the kindness!
As you start to get your classroom ready for back-to-school you need some ideas to fill those boards until the student work is ready to display. This board displays a positive message and will look great until you are ready to add your students' artwork. To get started, use the fadeless shiplap paper to cover your board. I like to layer several borders together to make my boards stand out. This works best by lining them up on a table and stapling them together 2 or 3 at a time. Then you can easily align them on your board and staple. For this bulletin board I layered the Lots of dots orange border, white scalloped border, orange scalloped border and the pink and white polka dot border.
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Once the borders are up you can top your board using colorful tissue paper fans. I chose orange, hot pink and mint. To add some fun elements to the board I used fishing line to hang inflatable donuts. I used the burlap bulletin board letters and the black letters to spell out sprinkle kindness. Now your board is all set for some student work once they arrive.
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Prepping the donuts before your students arrive will save you a lot of time. Trace a large circle onto tan construction paper. Trace a smaller circle into the middle then cut both out using scissors. Next, use pink construction paper and trace the same large circle. Within the circle use a pencil to create waves of frosting. The last step is to trace a smaller circle into the center of the donut and cut it out to create a donut hole. I like to layer my paper and cut out several at a time to save time.
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To create sprinkles use bright colored index cards and cut them into small strips using a paper cutter. Divide up into colors.
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Now that all of the parts are prepped you can set up a fun donut bar where your students can access all of these items. This extra little step really helps set the stage to engage! Making it fun and unique really helps your students to connect and get excited about the activity. You can use a plastic sprinkle tablecloth and fun donut bar banner to set the stage for your donut cut-outs.
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As a class, brainstorm kind words. Talk about what it means to have good character. Write some of those words on your board for your students to refer to. Have your students visit the donut bar to grab their supplies to build their donut. Using glue sticks have them glue their frosting onto their donut. Then have them glue the word "I am," onto their donut. On each sprinkle they can write down one character trait. They should have one of each color. Now its time to mix it up. Have students walk around the room placing a sprinkle onto each other's donuts. Make sure that each donut only has 5 sprinkles; one of each color.
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You can use the same ideas from above to create a fun activity for meet the teacher day. As students come in, greet them with a fun treat on their desk. I wrapped up a few mini donuts, a cute "donut forget school starts Monday" tag, and a donut pencil in cellophane bags to give to each student. They will make the perfect little gift to welcome students to your room. Encourage them to use colorful notes (cut into strips) to leave you a little note about themselves; something the teacher should know about them, a favorite sport, hobby or what they hope to learn this year. Then have students stick these onto a large donut. This is a fun way to meet your new friends!
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