Tower of Babel

We recently studied the tower of Babel in kindergarten.  This story is always so much fun for the kiddos!  This year I have a very small classroom, so I had to adapt my "normal" lesson plan.  Usually I have the kids build a tower with cardboard blocks as they come into class.  Inevitably someone will fuss about how it's being built, etc., and that leads us right into the communication problems the builders had.  This year, however, I had to think "smaller."

First of all, I cut out and laminated some "multicultural" paper dolls that came from our teacher's workroom.  If you search online, you can find something similar!  I put "stands" on the dolls so they could stand up around the table and had them out when the kids came in the classroom.  As they asked about them, I told them to wait and see what they were going to be used for in the story. 

Once all the kids arrived, I start the lesson in French, since I grew up learning French in South Louisiana.  I say basic sentences asking how the kids are, telling them my name, etc.   At the end, I ask (in English!) why they didn't answer me.  Of course, they giggle and tell me they couldn't understand me!  Then, I teach each of them how to say "Hello" in a different foreign language, and on the count of 3, we all say hello in our designated tongue.   Confusion ensues, along with plenty of giggles!    That is when we tell the story, which has come alive for them after their demonstration.   They love the funny-sounding words, and it's so cute to hear them shouting out their greetings!

After telling the story, I pass out a page with a blank tower on it and each child decorates his or her own page.  (Sometimes I start this at the beginning of class if I have several early arrivals!)  When they finish, we tape the completed towers together to make one BIG tower.  

Finally, at the end of class, we create this mini-book, found here:

Tower of Babel mini book

I do it in black and white and let them color it and retell the story.   The more times you can repeat the story in different ways, the better the kids will remember it!