Being Healthy (D, 1, Rectangle)

Our theme this week was "Being Healthy" and we focused on the letter Dd, the number 1 and the shape rectangle.

We read this week: Duck and Goose by Tad Hills
                               Duck, Duck Goose by Tad Hills
                               Bear's Loose Tooth by Karma Wilson
                               Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
                               1,2,3 Peas by Keith Baker

Our question of the week was "What do you think Dad does at work?" Some of the answers were spot on, and some were just hilarious.

For our theme of the week, we talked about different ways to be healthy, healthy minds, bodies, teeth. Everyone was very open to our daily discussions and special activities.

We did yoga in the gym and talked about healthy minds. My friends who were not with us for summer camp had a great time with the video. Its a great one that our director found that relates simple yoga poses with animals and plants. The kids get to sniff like a bunny, hiss like a snake and roar like a lion.

The kids practiced using tooth brushes against "plaque monsters" in an activity that I found here.

We also discussed that we keep our teeth healthy by not only brushing and flossing but also by the food and drink that goes into our bodies. Each child got to give me one way that they keep their teeth healthy and they got to stick it to our giant tooth. I found the activity here.

We talked about making sure to eat healthy things and to always try something before saying that you don't like it (and to try often and more than once =]) Each child "tried" (there were some licks and tiny nibbles here or there) red, orange, yellow and green bell pepper, celery and carrot.

We also got to exercise with our schools parachute. The kids LOVED it. Actually I'm not sure who had more fun, the teachers or the kids. It's hard not to be happy around a billowing and bouncing parachute.

We talked a lot this week about the shape rectangles. We sang this song to the tune of "Jingle Bells":

We walked around the school and tried to spot as many things as we could that were the rectangle shape.

We talked about the differences between squares and rectangles. The kids practiced drawing squares and rectangles with this cool worksheet, found here.

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number.

The kids also used a key to color a picture. It was the first time we did something like this, and the kids did a great job.

For our letter activities, we used our handwriting sheet for the letter D,  and the sheet that helps work on letter recognition, both are from books that are mentioned in the "All About Me" post. The students also wrote in their journals for the letter D.

From one of The Mailbox books, I got the idea of having the students jump distances measured in pictures of little dachshunds. They didn't want to stop!

We turned D's into Ducks.

And we of course had a dance party. =]

For our alphabet wall we made dogs out of paper plates.

 And with the D addition, our wall now looks like...

Our list for words beginning with D's was very impressive. Here it is!

Up next week: The letter Ee, the number 2, ovals and "Community Helpers/Fire Prevention".