Big & Little! (R, S, &T)

The theme for the last week of May was "Big and Little!". Since we finished our Letter of the Week study, we are now reviewing our letters! This week we reviewed letters R, S, & T!
I was on vacation this week, and my substitutes did an AMAZING job.... but I didn't take a whole bunch of pictures! =/

The end of the month brings us a completed calendar pattern, AB this month, and weather graphs to compare!

This week we read: Maple by Lori Nichols
                                        Big and Small by Elizabeth Bennett
                                        There's a Hippopotamus Under My Bed by Mike Thaler
                                        Little Puppy and the Big Green Monster by Mike Wohnoutka
                                   
Our question of the week was "What are you bigger than?"

Whoops!

For a number review the children practiced the numbers 1-5, counting and recognition.

For our theme "Big and Small",  we had a lot of fun comparing measurements and objects. We started off the week by measuring each child to see how much they have grown since their first day of the school year. Wowza, they got tall!

I gathered a few items from around the classroom and asked in small groups about what larger and smaller means. One day I asked them to tell me which was larger, and the next day I asked for the smaller object. I always ask them why they think their answer is correct, and I love to see their reasoning and thought process. To go along with this, I had them complete these  two worksheets that I found in Shapes and Measurements. When they were done coloring the smaller or larger picture, they each found something in the room that they were larger or smaller than, and drew a picture of it on the back of the paper.

While reviewing the letters R, S, and T, we are really focusing on practicing writing, having good control over letter formation, and having a solid knowledge of the letter sounds.

My children that are moving on to kindergarten next year, are working on sight words and this worksheet from Confessions of a Homeschooler are amazing! They challenge the children to think of the word in a new way and get creative. This week they worked on the word "run".

I created envelope games for each letter of the alphabet that we played the first way through the alphabet. My children that are staying with me another year played these again to work on their letter sounds.

We reviewed writing and finding the letters that we are talking about, R, S, and T. The pages for my younger group came from Letters for Little Learners, and I found these more advanced worksheets for my older children from education.com.

The book Alphabet and Counting that we used used  to turn our letters into fun animals, also has cute little tongue twisters for each letter. I printed them large and illustrated them, then I laminated them with contact paper. Using wet erase markers, we take turns finding the letters hidden!

On their own, they searched for the letters as well, with a worksheet I made saying "Rita and Stacey went to the train station. They tried raspberries and snozberries."

The letter of the week books have pages that you can make a book into. I picked from both to get my "favorites". Each week, we'll work on these pages, and each child will end up with an alphabet book at the end of the year. I like to do these pages, because not only do they get more practice writing the letter, but they also have to finish the sentence on the page, which is really cool. It gets them thinking!

There is a 15-20 minute span of time while the children are waking up from our rest time and afternoon snack. During this time, we talk about what they will be doing in the afternoon with their afternoon teacher, and what we did in the morning. We also spend some time learning about animals through videos. This week we watched about rabbits, raccoons one and raccoons two, rats one and rats two, reindeer one and reindeer two and rhinoceros. Seahorse, seal, sea lion, sheep, shark, skunk one and skunk two, sloth, snail, snake one and snake two, spider, squid, squirrel and stingray. Also  tiger one and tiger two, tortoise one and tortoise two and turtle. Whew!

I made an "I have, who has" game filled with R, S, and T things. I love this game because once it starts, the children completely direct it. I love seeing them help each other and play with each other.

 Leave a comment below and let me know that you stopped by!

Colors! (O, P &Q, 30)

The theme for the third week of May was "Colors!". Since we finished our Letter of the Week study, we are now reviewing our letters! This week we reviewed letters O, P & Q and continued our number study with the number 30!

This week we read: Mix it Up! by Herve Tullet
                                        Roy G. Biv Is Mad At Me Because I Love Pink by Nancy Guettier
                                        The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Dewalt
                                        The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
                                        Little Green Peas by Keith Baker
                                     
Our question of the week was "What color is your house?"

For the number of the week:30 we started off by counting to and backward from thirty. They love doing this every day and when we get to the end of counting backward, they all scream blast off!! ;) The kids also practiced writing the number and word for thirty. 

When I started in my class, I found a page like this from education.com, so I made my own for the number 30. The children have to practice writing the number and then color in that number of squares. It's a great way to introduce graphing and helps them to work on their one-to-one correspondence.                    

For our theme "Colors",  had a lot of fun playing around with colors. Check out our sensory table!

The children did a really cool science experiment where we used the primary colors in water to create the secondary colors. Then they had fun trying to create their own colors!

We sang "Great Big Rainbow" to the tune of I'm a little Teapot.

(C) Jean Warren www.preschoolexpress.com

Coloring outside on the sidewalk with chalk was super fun!

We played Color Cat Memory, which was a lot of fun. I have loved playing memory ever since I was little!

Using the letter clues in the picture's key, we colored a picture of a clown. This came from the Ultimate Skill Builder.

The children used dot painters to make their own Rainbow Fish!

In their journals, they wrote about their favorite color.

I found little water guns at the dollar store, and I immediately thought "ART PROJECT!" I filled them with liquid watercolor paint, and cut out rectangles of poster board where I wrote each child's name. I rigged them so that they hung between two chairs, and we went outside to squirt gun paint. It was so fun, and they turned out so cool!

While reviewing the letters O, P, and Q, we are really focusing on practicing writing, having good control over letter formation, and having a solid knowledge of the letter sounds.

My children that are moving on to kindergarten next year, are working on sight words and this worksheet from Confessions of a Homeschooler are amazing! They challenge the children to think of the word in a new way and get creative. This week they worked on the word "please".

I created envelope games for each letter of the alphabet that we played the first way through the alphabet. My children that are staying with me another year played these again to work on their letter sounds.

We reviewed writing and finding the letters that we are talking about, O, P and Q. The pages for my younger group came from Letters for Little Learners, and I found these more advanced worksheets for my older children from education.com.

The book Alphabet and Counting that we used used  to turn our letters into fun animals, also has cute little tongue twisters for each letter. I printed them large and illustrated them, then I laminated them with contact paper. Using wet erase markers, we take turns finding the letters hidden!

On their own, they searched for the letters as well!

The letter of the week books have pages that you can make a book into. I picked from both to get my "favorites". Each week, we'll work on these pages, and each child will end up with an alphabet book at the end of the year. I like to do these pages, because not only do they get more practice writing the letter, but they also have to finish the sentence on the page, which is really cool. It gets them thinking!

There is a 15-20 minute span of time while the children are waking up from our rest time and afternoon snack. During this time, we talk about what they will be doing in the afternoon with their afternoon teacher, and what we did in the morning. We also spend some time learning about animals through videos. This week we watched about the ostrich, opossum, otter, orangutan, one and two octopus, one and two ocelot. Pig, puffin, porcupine, polar bear, platypus, pangolin, penguin one and two. Pelican, peacock, parrot, panther one and two, quokka one and two.

I made an "I have, who has" game filled with O, P and Q things. I love this game because once it starts, the children completely direct it. I love seeing them help each other and play with each other.

 Leave a comment below and let me know that you stopped by!

Birds & Bugs! (L,M&N, 29, Grey, Hexagon)

The theme for the second week of May was "Birds and Bugs!". Since we finished our Letter of the Week study, we are now reviewing our letters! This week we reviewed letters L, M & N and continued our number study with the number 29! We have gone through our shapes and colors once, so from now until graduation, we will talk about two each week and do some small review activities. We worked this week on hexagons and grey.

Just for fun, I added water into the sensory table full of shredded recycled paper. It was awesomely gross!

This week we read: I Took a Walk by Henry Cole
                                        Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
                                        The Pigeon Wants a Puppy by Mo Willems
                                        Some Bugs by Angela Diterlizzi
                                        Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems
                                        Duck & Goose by Tad Hills
                                        Duck, Duck Goose by Tad Hills
                                     
Our question of the week was "If you were a bird, where would you fly?"

To review the color grey we talked about things in real life, at morning meeting, that are grey. The kids also colored pictures of grey things. I found these pages on pinterest, and I love the concept! My general rule of thumb is that if the children can explain to me their reasoning for coloring an object, then I am all for it!

To review the hexagon shape the children practiced recognizing the shape and colored hexagons. I created this little picture full of the shape. They needed to color the hexagons yellow, the triangles blue, and the trapezoids purple. 

For the number of the week:29 we started off by counting to and backward from twenty-nine. They love doing this every day and when we get to the end of counting backward, they all scream blast off!! ;) The kids also practiced writing the number and word for twenty-nine. 

When I started in my class, I found a page like this from education.com, so I made my own for the number 29. The children have to practice writing the number and then color in that number of squares. It's a great way to introduce graphing and helps them to work on their one-to-one correspondence.                    

For our theme "Birds and Bugs",  we walked outside and took special care to look for birds and bugs around us.

We sang "the Itsy Bitsy Spider". 

To the block center structure pages, I added pages about homes for birds and bugs.

To the science center binder, I added pages about some interesting bugs and birds.

In their journals, the children wrote about the type of bug that they would like to be.

The children played the board game, The LadyBug Game. Board games are always a blast, and the children really do well practicing math and social skills all at once!

The children made handprint bugs! The children drew and colored the background first, and then we put their handprint over!

How about a hand-print bird as well? We used feathers to make them fancy and even gave them a nest out of ripped up lunch bags!

While reviewing the letters L, M, and N, we are really focusing on practicing writing, having good control over letter formation, and having a solid knowledge of the letter sounds.

My children that are moving on to kindergarten next year, are working on sight words and this worksheet from Confessions of a Homeschooler are amazing! They challenge the children to think of the word in a new way and get creative. This week they worked on the word "like".

I created envelope games for each letter of the alphabet that we played the first way through the alphabet. My children that are staying with me another year played these again to work on their letter sounds.

We reviewed writing and finding the letters that we are talking about, L, M, and N. The pages for my younger group came from Letters for Little Learners, and I found these more advanced worksheets for my older children from education.com.

The book Alphabet and Counting that we used used  to turn our letters into fun animals, also has cute little tongue twisters for each letter. I printed them large and illustrated them, then I laminated them with contact paper. Using wet erase markers, we take turns finding the letters hidden!

On their own, they searched for the letters as well!

The letter of the week books have pages that you can make a book into. I picked from both to get my "favorites". Each week, we'll work on these pages, and each child will end up with an alphabet book at the end of the year. I like to do these pages, because not only do they get more practice writing the letter, but they also have to finish the sentence on the page, which is really cool. It gets them thinking!

There is a 15-20 minute span of time while the children are waking up from our rest time and afternoon snack. During this time, we talk about what they will be doing in the afternoon with their afternoon teacher, and what we did in the morning. We also spend some time learning about animals through videos. This week we watched one, two and three about lions, one, two about leopards, llamas, and lionfish. We also watched one, two, three about Meerkats, one, two about monkeys, manatee and moose.

I made an "I have, who has" game filled with L, M, and N things. I love this game because once it starts, the children completely direct it. I love seeing them help each other and play with each other.

 Leave a comment below and let me know that you stopped by!