Under the Sea!

 We continued our summer fun this week with the theme, "Under the Sea!"

During summer camp, we always have Yoga day where the school does a child centered yoga workout. The video we've been using is great because most of the poses are named after animals, like a butterfly...flutter, flutter!

We also have splash day, where all the kids put on their bathing suits and we play outside in water tables and have a fun squiggly sprinkler to run through.

We also have some older children that have joined our class for the summer. While my kids are having their rest in the middle of the day, these children have extra play time out of the room and they also work on some practice sheets that I got from the Summer Bridge Books for K-1 and 1-2. They are great worksheets to keep the older kids practicing their skills over the summer! I love the Pk-K book and I use it through out the year for their letter worksheets.

We read this week: The Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen
                               The Pout Pout Fish in the Big Big Dark by Deborah Diesen
                               How Deep is the Sea? by Anna Milbourne
                               Who's in the Ocean? by Dorthea DePrisco
                               The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

Our question of the week was "What would you be under the sea?" I got a pretty nice range of answers for this one! =]

For our theme of the week, we sorted colored goldfish. I made this worksheet last year and give each child 10 random goldfish. They have to count how many of each one they have, tally it, and finally answer a few questions about their data. We only had one little problem with this activity...apparently they don't make purple goldfish anymore! Who knew? Guess I have to remake the worksheet for next year!

My picture disappeared!! =[

We wrote in our journals about our favorite thing in the ocean.

While my class writes in their journals, the older children (K and 1st grade) write a reading response log about the book that we read that day!

Using some more goldfish as math manipulatives, the class solved some simple addition problems, and then got to snack on some fish! I found the idea for this last year at obseussed.com

From the Letter of the Week Book 2, the kids made a booklet about what is underwater! I like this book because they have to draw their own pictures of a plant, a fish a shell and themselves!

Using two paper plates, some fish cut out of construction paper, glue and sand, we made little aquariums! My kids had such a great time with this project and really took their time to make their aquariums exactly what they wanted them to be. I put them up on the wall as if we were looking at a big wall of fish tanks. So cool!

Using the same idea as the flower number puzzle for the gardening week, I created a fish alphabet puzzle! I drew the picture of a fish, then cut it into strips. I glues them back on a piece of paper out of sequence and made copies. The children had to color the strips, cut them out and glue them in order to see their fish masterpiece!

We used our treasure boxes for a partner play activity this week too. I love the way my kids can work with anyone and create fantastic games a scenarios with any kind of toy. These partner play activities are great because they work on their problem solving, creative thinking, sharing, patience. To learn more about my treasure boxes, check out this post!

And our movie for the week was.... Finding Nemo!! Definitely a favorite!

Our song of the week was "Heart Fish" to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot. At the end, we pretend that we're blowing bubbles up to the surface of the ocean.

(C) 2001 - 2011 Jean Warren www.preschoolexpress.com

The games that we played this week at morning meeting were so fun!

We played "Body Drumming". Using only our bodies, we do different motions to make sound and rhythm. I model first and either make a pattern for the children to follow or I have them follow a sequence of 3 or 4 motions. Then I will pick a few children to be the leaders. I love this activity because it's something a little different, you can't get "out" and it's fun to see them trying to focus on when the motion is going to change.

"Pop!" is a really fun game, and definitely a favorite. We stand in a circle and each child says one number as we go around. But each round there is a pop number. Instead of saying that number, you POP! the person that would be next, out. We work very hard on having good sportsmanship, and the kids have fun even if they're out because they know they get to play again in the next round!

We played "I have, who has?" which I originally saw being played in a Montessori class. It's so cool to see the children take over the game and help their friends follow along. I currently have three versions that we play, but I am planning on making one with numbers and maybe a grab-bag of random things. That might be fun! This week we played Colors and the Alphabet.

"Just Like Me" is a great game when a child is feeling a little bit sad or just to get the class feeling like a group! I start by modeling with a few statements, i.e, I like vanilla ice cream. If a child also like vanilla ice cream, they stand up and yell, "just like me!" After I model a few statements like that, I will pick a few children to be the leader. It's so cool to see them thinking about what they want to say!

We played "Crocodile by the Lake". I found the idea for this game last year and adapted it to be my own. I turned a box into a crocodile with bulletin and construction paper, then filled it with little cards that have a letter, number or shape on them. The children have to reach into the crocodile's mouth (while he's sleeping of course), pull out a card and name what's there. Also hidden in the belly of the crocodile though are SNAP cards (the crocodile wakes up and SNAPS his mouth shut!). Once we pull three SNAP cards, the game is over!

That's all for now! Leave me a comment please if you visit! =]

Up in the Sky!

 Our theme this week was "Up in the Sky"! The kids are loving summer camp! We have so much free time that we can extend play if needed/wanted, have longer discussions and go completely off task if we want!

During summer camp, we always have  Yoga day where the school  does a child centered yoga workout. The video we've been using is great because most of the poses are named after animals, like a turtle... hello!

 (This turtle was rescued from the middle of the road by one of our teachers, and promptly returned to the woods after this picture :))

We also have splash day, where all the kids put on their bathing suits and we play outside in water tables and have a fun squiggly sprinkler to run through.

We also have some older children that have joined our class for the summer. While my kids are having their rest in the middle of the day, these children have extra play time out of the room and they also work on some practice sheets that I got from the Summer Bridge Books for K-1 and 1-2. They are great worksheets to keep the older kids practicing their skills over the summer! I love the Pk-K book and I use it through out the year for their letter worksheets.

We read this week: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
                              Little Cloud by Eric Carle
                              Duck by Randy Cecil
                              Polar Opposites by Erik Brooks
                              Up and Down by Oliver Jeffers

Our question of the week was "Why do you love the summer?"I tried this week to call them over one by one so that they had to think about the question, not just repeat what another friend said.

For our theme of the week,we used the ice paint again! We used it a few weeks ago inside, but decided this time to paint outside! It was a race against the heat!! The kids were challenged to paint something that they saw in the sky while we were out there. I love the way these turned out!

Using some dish soap, water and pipe cleaners we made bubbles! I challenged the kids to make a bubble that was not round, so they quickly got to work manipulating their pipe cleaner wands into new shapes. They seemed to catch on pretty quickly that they were only getting round bubbles, so then we started to observe the behavior of the bubbles; some went right to the ground, some floated, the colors we saw, how quickly they popped, etc.

Once we came back inside we sat down as a group and wrote up a "lab report". I talked about hypotheses, experiments and conclusions, and they loved being called scientists!

I like to keep working on our social play during the summer when we have downtime, so one of our afternoon activities was partner puzzles. I have a giant basket of small puzzles (mostly from the Dollar Tree) that are bagged. With a partner they pick puzzles and complete them. Very simple activity but they are working on so many skills like compromise, conflict resolution, sharing, taking turns and so much more!!

We brainstormed as a class different things that we have seen or could see up in the sky. After we compiled our list, the kids decided what they wanted to draw, then we made a class book! I make these little books a few times throughout the year and the kids really do love looking through them with their parents at pickup and throughout the day with their friends. I love when my kids are so proud of the work that they have done. Plus, it makes a great keepsake! I have all our class books from last year that I love to look through and so does my class this year.

We wrote in our journals about the places we would like in an airplane. England, here I come! :)

 While my class writes in their journals, the older children (K and 1st grade) write a reading response log about the book that we read that day!

Gazing at the clouds while laying in the grass is an awesome activity for an Up in the Sky theme! They had fun trying to see shapes in the clouds, and then wrote about what they saw!

We played my favorite game growing up... keep the balloon off the ground! So fun!

And our movie for the week was.... can you guess.... UP!

Our song of the week was "Great Big Rainbow" to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot.

(C) 2001 - 2011 Jean Warren www.preschoolexpress.com

The games that we played this week at morning meeting were so fun!

We played "Body Drumming". Using only our bodies, we do different motions to make sound and rhythm. I model first and either make a pattern for the children to follow or I have them follow a sequence of 3 or 4 motions. Then I will pick a few children to be the leaders. I love this activity because it's something a little different, you can't get "out" and it's fun to see them trying to focus on when the motion is going to change.

"Pop!" is a really fun game, and definitely a favorite. We stand in a circle and each child says one number as we go around. But each round there is a pop number. Instead of saying that number, you POP! the person that would be next, out. We work very hard on having good sportsmanship, and the kids have fun even if they're out because they know they get to play again in the next round!

We played "I have, who has?" which I originally saw being played in a Montessori class. It's so cool to see the children take over the game and help their friends follow along. I currently have two versions that we play, but I am planning on making maybe a shape themed one, numbers and maybe a grab-bag of random things. That might be fun! This week we played Colors and the Alphabet.

"Just Like Me" is a great game when a child is feeling a little bit sad or just to get the class feeling like a group! I start by modeling with a few statements, i.e, I like vanilla ice cream. If a child also like vanilla ice cream, they stand up and yell, "just like me!" After I model a few statements like that, I will pick a few children to be the leader. It's so cool to see them thinking about what they want to say!

We played "Crocodile by the Lake". I found the idea for this game last year and adapted it to be my own. I turned a box into a crocodile with bulletin and construction paper, then filled it with little cards that have a letter, number or shape on them. The children have to reach into the crocodile's mouth (while he's sleeping of course), pull out a card and name what's there. Also hidden in the belly of the crocodile though are SNAP cards (the crocodile wakes up and SNAPS his mouth shut!). Once we pull three SNAP cards, the game is over!

We are keeping up our work on our sight words! Every morning we go over around 10 of them. Once we've mastered them, they will go on our sight word wall! So exciting! We're working our way through the 220 Dolch sight word list.

We had a visiting guest one day this week... Lincoln!

Red, White and Blue!

 Our theme this week was "Red, White and Blue" and the kids are really enjoying summer camp so far!

During summer camp, we always have a Yoga day where the school all together does a child centered yoga workout. The video we've been using is great because most of the poses are named after animals, like a bunny... sniff sniff!

We also have splash day, where all the kids put on their bathing suits and we play outside in water tables and have a fun squiggly sprinkler to run through.

The new month started, so we looked back at our weather from June and compared it to June 2013'2 weather! The kids make such great observations and we talk about similarities and differences.

We read this week: If You Give a Moose A Muffin by Laura Numeroff
                              The Pigeon Wants a Puppy by Mo Willems
                              Duck for President by Doreen Cronin
                              How To Make Apple Pie and See The World by Marjorie Priceman

Our question of the week was "What are fireworks made of?" I had them think about the question and then I called them over one by one to ask them what they thought. We got some very creative answers!

For our theme of the week, we used forks to make fireworks! They didn't believe me that they were going to paint with forks... it was fun! I found this project here on Pinterest (best invention ever!)

I also found on Pinterest this cute little star person that all the kids made!

We used marbles on paper with red, white and blue paint to make really cool art pieces.

I drew out a picture of the American Flag and the kids all painted their own. While they were doing this we talked about why our flag has that design and is those colors. It was a really cool discussion! (I found great facts here and here!) At this site, it shows the history of the flag and how it has changed over the years.

Using paper plates we made fun and festive Fourth of July hats. I originally found this project for Valentine's Day, which was so cute! It's an easy project to adjust for any special day.

Our Movie Thursday was... Frozen!! (Blue... get it?? =])

Our song of the week was "Flags Are Flying" to the tune of Frere Jacques

(C) 2001 - 2011 Jean Warren www.preschoolexpress.com

The games that we played this week at morning meeting were so fun!

We played "Alphabet Catch" with a beanbag. We toss the beanbag around the circle and the kids have to say the next letter in the alphabet. We started tossing it to the person next to use, once the kids get more comfortable with the game we'll stand in a circle and toss the beanbag across to friends.

"The Weather Changed" is a fun game. The kids decide on certain movements for weather, and we continually do the movements until the weatherman changes the weather. This week I started out as the weatherman, but I will have the kids be the weatherman too.

We played "1,2,3" which we have played before and is definitely a fan favorite! We stand in a circle and each child says 1,2 or 3 consecutive numbers starting with 1 up to 9. So for example: "1,2,3" "4" "5,6" "7,8,9" and the next child who would have to say 10 sits down and is out of the round. Then it starts back at one. My class really loves this one, and usually if we play it in the morning, I will hear them in centers or at their lunch tables playing their own facilitated versions of the game.

"Number Ball" is a lot like our alphabet catch in that we toss a beanbag to our friends. This game is a little different. The goal is to get to 30, but if the beanbag is dropped we have to start back at 1. I wonder if we will be able to get to 30 by the end of the summer?!

We are keeping up our work on our sight words! Every morning we go over around 10 of them. Once we've mastered them, they will go on our sight word wall! So exciting! We're working our way through the 220 Dolch sight word list.

We have a guest for a few weeks in our classroom... Stella the gerbil!