The first thing I did was blow up each image to make it much larger. I did this by taking a screenshot of each one and then increasing its size in Microsoft Word. I didn't know how it would work, but it actually wasn't bad. The images aren't blurry at all, and they're now a decent size to be seen from the back of my story time room.
I don't have them ready for the flannel board just yet, but here is what they look like, lying on my folding table at home. (Full disclosure: I have no cutting skills whatsoever. My boyfriend cut these out for me while we watched Jeopardy.)
(countries represented from left to right: Germany, Vietnam, England, Ghana, Greece, Russia)
(countries represented from left to right: Sweden, Kenya, Spain, United States)
(countries represented from left to right: China, Vietnam, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands)
(countries represented from left to right: Korea, India, Saudi Arabia)
I have two ideas for what to do next, once they're all covered in contact paper and fastened with Velcro.
The first is to somehow adapt Raffi's Song "Like Me and You." This is the song where he names a series of children and the countries they live in, and then sings about how they're all basically the same, even if they have many differences. The only problem is that almost none of the countries represented in the clip art are mentioned in the song, so I'd be stuck trying to fit the ones I do have into the rhythm of the song. Which might prove difficult. (I'm so still going to try.) I'd use the song for my younger kids, mainly the baby/toddler group on Tuesdays.
The other idea was for my older groups: Preschool, Pre-K, and Kindergarten. Using books like Hello World! and Say Hello, and various websites as guides, I have compiled a list of greetings from each country, and given each child a name that is common in that country. The idea would be to tell a simple story, introducing each character by name, then teaching the kids how to say hello in that character's language. There are eighteen of them in all, so it might be a bit much to do all of them in one session, depending on the attention span of the kids, but I think it would be an interesting way to talk about the summer theme, and to expose kids to languages they may not have heard before.
I have to admit that I've hardly been using flannel boards since summer started. I'm hosting Flannel Friday next week, though, so I hope to have something to share by then! (Something simple, is the plan. I am complicating my life too much these days.)
Today's round-up is hosted by Anne, over at So Tomorrow. Make sure to check out everyone else's posts!
