Need a Project Idea for 1St Graders for Our School Auction

K.:
What bout a book called "Hand to Hand With Love". You could have each one of the children put their hands in safe paint and then place their print/s on a page and within the hand print or just under write, (Love is _________.
Let them complete it with one-three words.
Good luck with your project, F. M.
A little about me. I am the mom to one child, Ryan who lives in heaven. Ryan died with meningococcal meningitis at age 18. I have also taught K-6th grade in the past. I now direct a national organization I founded called Meningitis Angels in Ryan's memory.

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In 2nd grade, I was room mom, and we did a "popcorn bowl" with the entire classes fingerprints. We made "flowers" out of their fingerprints.

I went to an art shop where you do your pottery/design there and they fire it etc. I told them what I wanted to do, bought the bowl. They gave me paints to take to class and I had each kid come up and make a fingerprint flower on the bowl. Then I returned it and the paints to the shop, they fired it and we had our contribution!

I wasn't clever enough to put popcorn bags in the bowl but it still went for a good price at the auction.

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We did a nastalgic cookbook and interviewed all the children by asking what their favorite meal was and how to make it, including the ingredients. It was then hand bound and a picture of each student, with chef cap and a utensil of choice, was inserted by their "recipe". It turned out soooo cute and some of the things were just hilarious! It was also nice enough to display.

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You could do a cook book with the help of a parent. A favotite snack, dessert, entree or appetizer. And drinks too- smoothies, hot chocolate or punch. Good Luck

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A collection of things/hobbies that kids would like to do. I'm always stumped about things to do with my son. Have each child submit a picture or drawing and description of something they like to do by themselves or with a parent/adult.

You can make a memory book for their grade. You can send home a memo to each parent to ask that they send a toddler pic of their child and a extra-curricular activity the child is involved in outside of school. Have the children right something about themselves. We did a memory book for our fifth graders, the parents submitted two pics the toddler and extra curricular. They each wrote what they will miss about elementary and what they are looking forward to. They each drew a picure and we took picures all year long from their parties, and field days and ect. It was really nice my son drew a pic of a rocket their mascott flying to the junior high. Ours was a gift from the PTO but it wasn't costly at all it would be easy to make a profit on. We also included their group picture and then also took one of our own.

How about having the students bring receipes, their favorite or one their mom fixes they really like and put them together as a book.

My son goes to a private christian school, and the room mom is organizing a project for our schools auction...I think the idea she found is awesome! Each child is designing a ceramic tile at one of those kid art places that have a kiln for firing the work. The tiles are going to be secured to a storage trunk. You could use this idea in a variety of ways like, a mosaic table top, or stepping stones for a garden, or even as a wind chime. I am sure the creative places for kids have a variety of sizes of ceramics to choose from to fit whatever project you might decide on. Hope this helps!
~K.

K.,

How about a cookbook? I love new recipes with food that my kids would actually eat. Have each student bring in their favorite recipe, it would be a great resource...personally I would bid on it! I also like the response about the "kids say the darndest things. You could have the parents write down a funny thing their child has said, or you could get a few questions from the internet and ask kids individually and write out the funniest ones.

How about a book of photographs taken by the children? I just got a Mac computer and clicked on "book" and it walked me through putting my favorite photos in a hard bound book. They provide templates, so all I had to do was click and drag. It was so easy. Within a week I had great Christmas presents delivered to my house. The children could use disposable cameras and the best photos digitized. P. Runnels

What about an alphabet book. A is for . . . with pictures of 1st graders doing "A" activities or with "A" items. The kids could contribute pictures or drawings or even stickers for their letter. The main "A" could be made out of kids lying on the ground or floor in the shape of an "A" and having their photos taken from above. The various activities you have done during the year can be added to the appropriate letter page. For example, if your had a Thanksgiving feast it can go on the T page. This idea not only reinforces the alphabet/reading but it provides a great keepsake for a first grade parent. Of course, you need someone to assemble all the pages but my guess is you have that. P.S. if it turns out well maybe you could make color copies and sell them as additional revenue.

Hi K., what comes to mind immediately is a book of snack recipes for kids. Have your students bring a recipe of their favorite (healthy) snack from home; something simple (three ingredients or less) and make them into your book. Sometimes it's hard to find healthy snacks for kids and that would be a book that all the moms would fight for, I know I would! Good Luck.

I saw the cutest cookbook that my nephews did. Each child brought in their favoite dessert recipe which was printed after the child's version on how to make the dessert.(Next to their picture as a chef hat, apron, whisk) As you can imagine their recipes were filled with wonderful ingredients and cooking times. IT was very cute!

I made a cookbook with my child's class for an auction project one year. I asked the parents to send 2 of the child's favorite recipes. The children illustrated the page with their recipe. It was great!

A project one of my kids did at her private school (which I liked so much I duplicated at home with my own kids) was to have the kids decorate a metal trash can with lid. You can buy those at Home Depot, etc., for probably about $20, and it can be used as a can for toys and stuffed animals. The mother in charge, a talented artist, decorated the top of the can with the school logo. The kids put their handprints in different primary colors around the can, and their names were written underneath in pencil (later retouched with sharpie). With 80 kids, thumbprints would probably work better.

Hi! I am not sure about a book, but wanted to share an idea that our school used last year. Each first grade class made a flower pot. One mom from each class volunteered to come up at recess and paint the pots. They prepainted the pots a solid color and then used the childrens fingerprints to decorate. For example, One pot was baby blue for sky and the little flowers and bugs were painted with fingerprints. The children wrote their names next to their flower or bug. For the auction they tied ribbons around the top and put flowers inside. They were precious and of course, the moms went crazy bidding for their child's class flowerpot!!

What about a paper/constructon paper flower with only petals for each member of the childs family on it. It would be priceless with a history of 80 children at this time and place. Or a quote from each child, kids say the darndest things type book.

At my daughter's preschool (which was part of a private school that went to 8th grade), our class bought a school desk and one of the moms painted it in a solid primary color. Then she had all the kids put their handprint on it, in different colors, with their names on their hands. It was really cute and really stood out. That may be too much like the autographed bench (I love that idea!), so this may not be helpful, but it's possible that the desk idea could be painted or decorated another way. I think it would be fun to have a real school desk at home...this was the kind with the writing table on the right, and book storage underneath. Good luck!

Since you are thinking of a book, how about "My Favorite Thing(s)" Each child could draw or bring a photo or cut out from a magazine and then could sign their name, perhaps a brief explanation of why it's a favorite thing.

What about a 'recipe' book? The kids could write how to make their favorite food. Of course they would not be real recipes but it would be humorous and endearing.

Mypublisher.com has cute books that are bound, snapfish and shutterfly does as well.
I used to teacher kindergarten and my class made those precious paint your pottery plates with their thumbprints. You do their thumbprints and the people at the store make the plates. I have two, one that turned their thumbprints into what they wanted to be when they grew up, it is priceless and classy. They sold them at the school auction, went for over $200 and then gave it to me as a present. Cute, cute!

K.

What about a recipe book- you know that kind that kids write the recipes? (They are a hoot to read!) Then after the auction, you could sell additional copies to parents for a couple of bucks and use the money for a fieldtrip or end of the year party.

Recipe books work well. Have each child decide on their favorite food and write out a recipe for the food. Include a picture of the special dish drawn by the student. I still have the one my kids did over 20 years ago.

A class at my son's preschool last year made a quilt for the auction. each child had a square of the quilt that was decorated with their name and handprint. One of the parents sewed the squares together, then gave it to another grandparent to add the quilting and backing. It was lovely and sold for about $300.

I would be cautious of using pictures of the kids without consent from every parent. I would suggest a cooking basket (if not already suggested.) Have the kids create a recipe and write it out (parents can help) then compile it into a kids cookbook either making copies of the recipes in their handwriting or typing it out (I'd avoid using last names too.) Add dried pasta and other cute non-perishables!

What about a photobook that has pictures of the school and playground taken by the first graders? You could easily put it together through Shutterfly or other online source.

My son's pre-school just had a silent auction and his teacher did the cutest book. She included: pictures of each child in the book, pictures of the class, and had each child do some artwork in the book. The pictures of the class were from things like their Christmas program, when they dressed up like pilgrims for Thanksgiving and other activities they have done throughout the year. It appeared to be a really big hit at the auction - last I checked the going bid was $100.

K.,
At my daughter's school, her class made a "bathroom set," that came out REALLY cute.
They took a wooden step stool, a trash can, and I think a toothbrush holder (all white), and added handprints, footprints, made "bluebonnets" out of fingerprints. . . I don't know if there would be enough room for 80 kids, but I thought I'd toss you the idea, anyway.

Good luck!
M.

My school has done a cook book before....Each student could turn in a receipe and then maybe decorate the page that the receipe is on...

How about a book of what 1st graders say in response to certain things? I've seen an email like this, and it's both cute and humorous. Topics could include what does my teacher do after school, what did my mom &/or dad do before I was born, what was my mom &/or dad like when she/he was a kid?...You could brainstorm different topics with other teachers and parents.

I like your book idea. When my son was in Kinder, all the classes made a book called "what I want to be when I grow up." It was too cute. I don't know how much time you have, but they had the book "published." It was hard back and shiny paper, and was done by a publishing company. Each class did their own book, but I bet you could have all the classes in one? Hope that helped.

A scrapbook would be great fun and easy on any level; like a page per child. You could do a basic 12 X 12 page, as those are easier when doing many pages. If you wanted a smaller one, then go 6 X 6 or 8 X 8 sizes. (the 8 12 x 11 pages are nice too, but hard to come by those without having to cut up 12X12 paper.) Walmart is fab for good prices on materials, and of course Michael's and Hobby Lobby. And there are SO many websites to google about layouts, AND the library is awesome for that too. (old magazines.) Hope this helps...M.

One year I made a poetry book with a poem by each child. I used haiku, but you could use any formula poem you'd like. The poems were wonderful! I also included a laminated bookmark designed by each child.

I still have the "COOKBOOK" that two of my daughters made in Kindergarten. Each child wrote the recipe in their own handwriting with their own directions and some drew a picture of the completed food. You could add a picture of each child on their page with a chef's hat and a big mixing bowl and wooden spoon. Then have the pages laminated and do a cover and backing of the recipe book and have it spiral bound. Eighty recipes would make a nice sized book.

Some of the examples were spegeti and meetbls. open spegeti dump in water cook for 2 secuns. git a jar uf sas and dump in with spegeti and put meetbls on top.

Cake
mix it up. put it in the pan set the ovn for 4 degreez and cook for 8 minits. then eat it

Hope this helps. PS the illustrations were wonderful. The teachers did not help with spelling or directions.

Check out Walmart.com's photo books... you can have the kids take photos around school -- of themselves, projects, birds, whatever and then send them upload them to the walmart.com photo book and have the kids help you "write" the captions. You can make a great looking book for about 20 bucks and even order more than one copy!! I bet all 80 parents would want one!!!

I was a first grade teacher before I had my daughter. One of my favorite class books to make is a variation of "The Important Book" by Margaret Wise Brown.
After reading the book students then write and illustrate their own "important thing" following the pattern of the book. You could also do the "Important thing about me" instead of the important thing. You could then have the pages bound into a book...depending on how much you want to spend I know Creative Memories has a program that you can scan in pages and have them bound into a hard back book. I'm sure there are other companies that do that too.

Think Green.
Make something from recycled paper. Like, card sets.
Make BIG modern art pieces from recycled items.

GOOD LUCK.
Sorry I don't have more. After coffee I'll check back.

Two projects we have done in our school, buy a small table and have each child do a section in mosaic tiles, An adult can then grout it, Another is to have each child paint on a small square of fabric , perhaps his name and a drawing, then an adult can stitch them together to make a quilt and put binding around the edge.

My kid's schools always put together cookbooks with my kids and they always loved it! Some of the recipes were really cute! The only thing they never did was to have the kids color pictures of what the food looks like, I think that would be great!

How about scarpe book of all the kids.just a thought. my daughter likes to work on hers and she is 3..
good luck

I used to be a preschool teacher. One year I did a prject with my kids on wrighting a Kid's cookbook, I had them bring in there favorite recpies from home and I put it all togther on a page with there picture on it. I gave it out to all the mother's on Mother's day. It can be something they like to make at home, or something they like having made for them. I hope this helps in ideas for your book. Good luck with it. :)

Check out Illustory and they have other products as well. I bought this for my daughter and she is in first grade.I ordered it online at Target.com but they have it in store. You get 20 pages and markers and you create your own book. It comes with a pre-paid envelope for you to send the book back to the company and when it comes back it a professional hard back.. I loved it so much I ordered more for my family..

The cost of this item is $20.00 at Target.
You can do like an Advice to 1st graders, the do's and don'ts the kids have learned. Each page can include advice to other kids..

Hope this helps!

I'm a teacher at an elementary school. I work with 1st graders.
About the auction, great idea for a fundraiser! I'm thinking of suggesting it to my principle. As for your book, my son's school made a book of poetry and short stories written by the students with pictures drawn by the students. These books were published and hardback bound. Then we as parents could buy them. Of course, I bought it! It was adorable!! What a great keep sake!!! Also, each class could come up with a name for their book and even a theme if you'd like.
Hope this helps! GOOD LUCK!!

Each child (family) could submit a recipe along with the child's illustration of the recipe (i.e "Smith Family Spaghetti" child illustrates the spaghetti). You can have all of the pages bound at the school (if you all have one of the comb binding machines). Another route is making it a hard bound coffeetable like book- if you are interested in that, I consult for a company that does hard bound coffeetable books and I can get you more info on that. They are very nice keepsakes and you can actually print as many as you want once you make the original one. My website is www.heritagebyhelwig.com if you would like to see some examples- Just let me know. I hope this helps :-)

I taught 5th grade at a school that did something very similar every year. We made a cookbook one year and it was a big hit! Each kid asked their parent for help writing the recipe to their favorite dish or dessert and did the "artwork" for the page. To simplify it to first grade, they could each do their recipe on a different color construction paper sheet. You can help them "laminate" the pages when finished with contact paper. They can punch holes and help you assemble it by putting the pages in alphabetical order by recipe or by the student's name. To complete the basket, you could also get a plain white apron and have them all put their handprints on it in. Get a set of plain mugs - one for each class - and have the students sign their class' mug.

Another idea: have the children start an herb garden. Each class could do a one and put them in planters that the children can decorate. You can include with it the care instruction cards for each herb. This is also a mini-science lesson for the kids. To complete that basket, you can give the bidder "autographed" small garden tool items they will need to care for the herbs: a watering can, gloves, hoe, etc.

What about a cookbook with special recipes from each child's family?