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!

Transportation! (G&H, 27, Pink, Pentagon)

The theme for the last week of April was "Transportation!". Since we finished our Letter of the Week study, we are now reviewing our letters! This week we reviewed letters G & H and continued our number study with the number 27! 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 pentagons and pink.

This week we read: How to Make Apple Pie and See The World by Marjorie Priceman
                                        Polar Opposites by Erik Brooks
                                        Steam Train, Dream Train by Sherri Dusky Rinker
                                        I Love Planes by Philemon Sturgis
                                        Curious George Takes a Train by Margret & HA Rey

Our question of the week was "Where do you want to go on vacation?"

To review the color pink we talked about things in real life, at morning meeting, that are pink. The kids also colored pictures of pink things. I found these pages on pinterest, and I love the concept! There wasn't one for pink, so I made my own! 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 square pentagons the children practiced recognizing the shape and colored pentagons. I created this little picture full of the shape. They needed to color the pentagon houses pink and then the rest of the picture!

For the number of the week:27 we started off by counting to and backward from twenty-seven. 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-seven. 

When I started in my class, I found a page like this from education.com, so I made my own for the number 27. 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 "Transportation",  we did my favorite project of the entire year! I turned a white shower curtain from the dollar store into a map and the children colored it in over the course of a few days! Then we had it to use as a unique playmat!

While walking in line all week, we pretended to be a train!
The children also colored specific shapes in a picture of a train. I kept this to tuck away in their portfolios.

We sang "The Wheels on the Bus."

I wrote the letters in each child's name on colorful squares, which turned into cargo on their name trains!

We played "Red Light Green Light" while outside on the playground.

The children each made a straw rocket, and then we raced them! These were definitely a class favorite!

In their journals, the children wrote about somewhere that they would like to take a train to.

While reviewing the letter G and H, 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 "go".

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, G and H. 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, three, four, five videos about hamsters. The class could not get enough! We also watched one and two about hedgehogs, hippos, hyenas, horses, hummingbirds, gorillas, goats, gerbils, geckos and one, two, three about giraffes.

I made an "I have, who has" game filled with G and H 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!

MDA Hop-a-Thon! (E&F, 26, Black, Diamond)

The theme for the fourth week of April was "MDA Hop-a-thon!". Since we finished our Letter of the Week study, we are now reviewing our letters! We started off our review with letters E & F and continued our number study with the number 26! 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 diamonds and black.

This week we read: Can I Play Too? by Mo Willems
                                        Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Krous
                                        The Mixed Up Chameleon by Eric Carle
                                        Max and Tallulah by Beverly Gooding
                                        Love Monster by Rachel Bright

Our question of the week was "What can you do with your muscles??"

To review the color black we talked about things in real life, at morning meeting, that are black. The kids also colored pictures of purple 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 diamond shape the children practiced recognizing the shape and colored squares. I created this little picture full of the shape. They needed to color the squares purple and then the rest of the balloons other colors!

For the number of the week:26 we started off by counting to and backward from twenty-six. 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-six. 

When I started in my class, I found a page like this from education.com, so I made my own for the number 26. 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 "MDA Hop-a-thon",  our school raised money for muscular dystrophy and learned about our muscles.

We sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes."

The MDA has a week of activities that are really great to introduce children to muscles and differences. To go with the lessons, there is a short video each day and then an activity in little workbook. The kids really enjoyed them!

Everything was topped off on Friday with our Hop-a-thon! We hopped to music while holding puppets that we had made.

While reviewing the letter E and F, 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 "eat".

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, E and F. 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 flamingo one, two, three, fox one, two, elephants one, two, three, falcon one, two, frog, ferret, eel, and eagle.

I made an "I have, who has" game filled with E and F 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!