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Friendship Salad

TGIF!  Let me say that again, TGIF!  I am exahusted.  This has been a long week.  My kiddos are doing better but we just keep multiplying.  We got THREE new kinders today.  We’re now at 66 kids total.  That is 22 kids per class.  Remember, our cap is 15.  We will have a new teacher…in 20 days.  20 school days.  That’s the end of the month.  No big deal.  I got this, right?!  Right?!

Today we celebrated our first full week of Kindergarten with a friendship salad.  I want ot be completely honest and tell you that this is not my original creation.  I found this online a few years ago and have no idea where it came from.  If you know where it came from, please let me know so I can give credit.

I love this activity because it is such a fun and visual way to demonstrate just what we want our class to be.

Friendship Salad

Items Needed:
Very Large Bowl
Large Mixing Spoon
paper plates or bowls
 
plastic spoons
Several cans of fruit (a variety is good)
Marshmallows
Yogurt
1 very old and rotten banana

I explain to the kids that the big bowl is like our classroom and that there are many important things that our room needs..especially good friends and happy days at school.

Add one can of fruit….”These are the kind kids in our room.”(You can elaborate….they help each other at school, and wait their turn in line…We also talked about being nice to each other.)

Add another can of fruit…”These are the hard workers in our room” (..they get their work done and always try their best, even when work gets hard!  We talked about not quitting, and never saying Mr. Greg’s most hated words:  “I can’t”)

Add another can of fruit…”These are the kids who share”  (…they know how to share their supplies, and they share the toys at center time….)

Add some marshmallows…”These are the kind words being said in our room.”  (…words like please and thank you, and I’m sorry, when someone gets hurt…)

Add the yogurt….”This is the happiness we feel when we are at school.”  (…when we laugh, when we learn, when we have treats, and when we get to play at recess….)

Talk about the yummy friendship salad, how good it will tasted and then pretend to begin to peel the rotten banana.  The kids yell EEEEWWWW before I even get the banana peeled.  I tell them that this is the Rotten Banana that could cause trouble in our happy classroom.  This might be a banana that calls names, does not share, refuses to do school work, etc…  We all vote NOT to put the rotten banana in our Friendship Salad.

This is your opportunity to talk with the children about why the children do not want this banana in their friendship salad AND how to make the connection with them about the importance of following rules and having good manners.  It is fun to hear the children say throughout the year, “We don’t want any rotten bananas in here!” or “Don’t act like that or you’ll be like a Rotten Banana!” 


And the best part of the friendship salad:  You can eat it.  This was our first Friday Foody Fun!  Every Friday we cook or make some sort of snack!  I’ll post more about that later!
If you’re like me and forget to keep a banana to rot, just throw a banana in the freezer overnight. You’ll have a squishy, black, oozy banana.  
I would love to hear about your back to school ideas!

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