Fruity Friday

Hello and happy Friday to you! Today I'll teach you some fruit signs. Many of the signs for fruit are done near your mouth. I like to think that they are next to your sweet tooth since fruit is sweet. I didn't include the sign for orange since it is the same sign for the fruit and the color (2 squeezes below your chin), which I showed you on color day.

A fun way to reinforce food signs is to distribute a piece of toy food to each student. Ask students to take turns to stand and sign what they have, as in, "I have *an apple." *(When they are signing, the article "an" is implied and is not signed.) After each student has had a turn to sign a sentence, the teacher can sign "I want (food sign)" and ask the student who is holding that food to silently return it to the basket and sit back down. Continue until all food is collected.

It might seem time consuming to spend 15 minutes of your precious class time teaching sign language, but remember you are also teaching students to use complete sentences, to take turns, and to pay attention. All of these are important preschool and kindergarten skills.