The Beach!

The theme for the first week of August was "The Beach". The children are having so much fun in our "summer camp" this year!

This week we read: On a Pirate Ship by Anna Milbourne
                                        Pig Kahuna Pirates by Jennifer Sattler
                                        On the Seashore by Anna Milbourne
                                        A Day at the Beach by Mircea Vasiliu
                                        What Lives in a Shell? by Kathleen Weidner Zoefeld
                                        Penguin on Vacation by Salina Yoon

The older children that join my class for Summer Camp do not nap during rest time. They have time in the gym in a small group while my class does. To keep them working on their skills, I make them  packet to bridge their grades.

The games that we played this week at morning meeting were so fun!
 We played "Number Ball" with a beanbag. We toss the beanbag around the circle and the kids have to say the next number. We stand in a circle and toss the beanbag across to friends and try to beat our record!

"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!

"Pass the Vader" is a fun game. It's just like Hot Potato, except we do it with a small stuffed Darth Vader that children gave me this past Valentine's Day. Love it!

 We played "Find the Clothespin". I found this game on KindergartenSmorgasboard, and I thought it just sounded so fun! While the children are not peeking, I hide a clothespin one myself, on a child or somewhere close around us. When they look for it, they can't yell out where it is, they put their finger on their nose! They have so much fun searching.

We played "Crocodile Snap". 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!

The special activities this week were a blast. Exercise is very important, so I thought it would be fun to have some kind of special exercise activity. This week, we brought out the parachute and had a lot of fun bouncing balloons and balls on it like popcorn!

Since we are the oldest in the school, our class took over the little school garden. We spent time weeding it. It seems that our store bought plants are surviving, which is great! We've started to get some blossoms, so that is definitely promising!

Every Wednesday my class has sprinkler day. This is always a fan favorite. The children wear their bathing suits and water shoes, run around in a sprinkler outside, and play in a water sensory table. It really helps beat the summer heat!

Bubble day is quickly turning into a favorite. This week we made popped bubble art! I hung a big piece of white paper on the fence, and added a little bit of water color to some cups of bubble solution. The children had fun blowing bubbles at the paper! I think it turned out pretty neat!

I LOVE having a movie day in the summer. It gives the kids a chance to relax, wind down and just enjoy themselves. Plus we have snacks and make it feel like the movie theater... who doesn't like going to the movie theater? This week we watched Surfs Up.

Our question of the week was "What do you like to do when you're at the beach?"

For our theme "The Beach",  we talked all about the different things we can see and do at the beach. The kids loved the sensory table from last week, so i kept it and added some gold pirate dubloons!

We sang "Pretty Shells" to the tune of Jingle Bells.

"Pretty Shells, pretty shells, laying all around.

What a lovely sight to see, shells upon the ground.

Pick one up, it's good luck! Listen to the roar,

Of the never ending waves that beat upon the shore."

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

I love using non standard units of measure, so to go with this theme I thought we could measure with dubloons! The children picked two things each in the classroom, drew a picture of it and measured with the coins.

The children wrote in their journals about things that they see at the beach.

In the summer I have elementary children that join my class. While my pre-k students write in their journals, the older children work on a reading response page based on the book that we read at morning meeting.

We talked about what the beach looks like and things that we can see (sand, water, sky, clouds, boats, sand castles, waves etc.) Then the children drew their own picture of the beach using crayons. When they were finished, the squeezed out some glue and added some sparkly sand!

We went fishing for Alphabet Fish! when the children caught a fish, I asked them what letter it was, the sound that it makes, and for a challenge, a word that starts with the letter.

From the book Alphabet, Colors, Numbers and Shapes the kids worked on their color word knowledge to correctly color in the fish.

We tossed around a beach ball for a really fun time too.

For our fifth week of the  study "Buildings" we focused on the materials that can be used to build. The children brainstormed a list of different materials to use to build first. Then they walked around the inside and outside of our building to see the materials that our building is made of. We also talked about the ways that we can make a building sturdy, or not so sturdy.

With glue and popsicle sticks, the children put together houses.

I asked the children if they could build a house out of anything, what would it be? Then they drew a picture of it.

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