Weather! (T, 17, Purple)

Our theme this week was "Weather" and we focused on the letter T, number 17 and color purple.

We read this week: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
                               Little Cloud by Eric Carle
                               Duck by Randy Cecil
                               The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
                               Bear's Busy Year by Marcia Leonard

I got this huge box and decided to bring it into school to make a puppet hut. The kids colored and decorated it and then I put it in the library center so they could play with the puppets. They were so excited about it!

Our question of the week was "What is your favorite kind of weather?"

For our theme of the week, we paid extra attention to the weather depicted in each of our stories this week. Even though we do the weather report every morning, I asked the kids, "what is weather?" because I wanted to see what they really thought.

Using ice, a plate, a glass jar and some very hot water, we made our own rain! We talked about the water cycle and how water is in the air all around us. Then we did this very cool experiment together as a class. As the hot water rises in the jar, it condenses on the bittom of the plate that is very cold and "rains" back down. The kids were fascinated.

Using some paint, straws and our breath, we made wind art!

We talked about the color purple, and we sang "We love purple"

"We love purple, we love purple,
yes we do, yes we do.
Purple grapes and eggplant too,
Purple plums and grape juice
Just for me and just for you,
we love purple."
I got it from here!

When we focus on a color I love to do "color hunts" in our classroom. Each child takes a turn to walk

around the classroom and bring back something that they found that is purple. Here is what we found.

Using only purple crayons, the kids made pictures that I then cut into "puzzles". I put them in baggies and put them out for a few days so the kids could put their friend's puzzles together.

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number 17.

I made these worksheets that reinforces the one to one concept. The kids practice writing the number and have to color a square for each picture that they see.

With my math boxes (check them out on this post- at the bottom), we counted out 17 items. Then I had the kids divide it into two groups. Using this worksheet that I made, we started doing and talking about addition.  They liked being able to make up their own groups to add.

For our letter activities, we used our handwriting sheet for the letter Tt from this book.

The students wrote in their journals for the letter T. It's really cool to see the children thinking about what they want to put in their journal. They love these books and always want to go through them when they're finished writing for the day.

We turned a T into a Turtle! This book is great.

With some sugar cookie dough, the class made their own turtle cookies. (Once they baked, they flattened out, but they sure looked like turtles before they went in the oven!)

We acted out a poem called "Tired Turtles" from this phonics book. They love theses kinds of activities.
"Turtle is too, too tired today. (yawn)
But Turtle didn't run, and Turtle didn't play. (shake head no)
Turtle is too, too tired to talk (slump over tired)
Just because he took his turtle walk." (walk very slowly in place)

They made a book about a tiger getting ready for a tea party!

For our alphabet wall we made turtles!

Here are the words we came up with this week!

We had a special guest come to visit us this week too: Lincoln!

 Check out the pumpkins! We have what I'm calling little "bud pods"! I remain amazed watching this plant grow. It all started here, back in October.

Up next week: "Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss" (and me =]) and a focus on the letter Uu, number 18 and color orange.

Hibernation! (N, 11, Brown)

Our theme for last week was "Hibernation" and we focused on the letter Nn, the number 11 and the color brown. I have to say after all the short weeks and holidays, it feels SO GOOD to get back into the swing of our routine. =]

  
We read this week: Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson
                               Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
                               Curious George's Dream by Margret and H.A. Reys
                               Corduroy by Don Freeman
                               Bear's Loose Tooth by Karma Wilson

Our question of the week was "How long would you like to hibernate?" It fit perfectly with our theme this week, and some of the answers were so funny!

For our theme of the week, we talked about hibernation and sleep!

We met a bear! I am not a supporter of hunting, but it was interesting to see how the kids remembered what we had talked about in relation to the bear (claws, fur, nose).

We pretended to be grizzly bears. We talked about what they do throughout the year, foraging, hunting, playing and hibernating. I called out the seasons of the year and the children changed heir activities. They had so much fin looking for a "cave" to hibernate in when I called out WINTER!

With white and black paint and a little glitter, we painted polar bears! I love how each child did it a little different. So fun!

We talked about the color brown, and we sang "3 Brown Bears" to the tune of "3 Blind Mice"

"Three brown bears, three brown bears.

See all their beds, see all their chairs.

The Mommy cooks in a big brown pot.

The Daddy's porridge is much too hot.

The Baby bear always cries a lot.

Three brown bears."

I found it here.

When we focus on a color I love to do "color hunts" in our classroom. Each child takes a turn to walk

around the classroom and bring back something that they found that is brown. The tricky thing is that they have to bring different things, no duplicates allowed! Here is what we found for the color brown.

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number 11.

I made these worksheets that reinforces the one to one concept. The kids practice writing the number and have to color a square for each picture that they see.

We drew 11 balls for an elephant named Elmo to juggle.

For our letter activities, we used our handwriting sheet for the letter Nn from this book.

We did this worksheet that helps work on letter recognition that I got from this book.

The students wrote in their journals for the letter N.

We turned a N into a Nightcrawler! This book is great.

We made a short book all about "In The Nest" that I got from this Mailbox book.

Painting with noodles was super fun!

Using pictures of different food, we discussed as a group and sorted them into healthy/not healthy groups. It was a great way to start talking about nutrition.

Practicing writing the alphabet Aa-Nn was a good way to review the letters that we have already talked about.

Using old magazines, we made number collages. This is a challenging activity because of it's steps. Looking on the pages for numbers, cutting them out and then gluing them.

For our alphabet wall we used q-tips to paint nests. I love the "stripey" effect that the q-tip gets.

Here are the words we came up with this week!

Up next week: "Let it Snow!" and focusing on the letter Oo, white and 12.

Farm Animals! (I, 6, Heart)

Sorry I'm a little behind on posts, life has a tendency of getting in the way every once and a while. =]

Our theme for the first week of November was "Farm Animals" and we focused on the letter Ii, the number 6 the heart shape.

We read this week: Humphrey's Farm Adventure by Igloo Books
                               Duck for President by Doreen Cronin
                               Little Oink by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
                               The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
                               Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming

Our question of the week was "What would you grow on your farm?"

For our theme of the week, we danced the chicken dance, sang "Old MacDonald" and pretended to be different farm animals with a game of charades.

I painted a picture of a farm scene with no animals and hung it up on the wall. The kids were all very intrigued as to what we would be doing with it. Well, we turned their hand prints into farm animals. I love this craft. They get to choose what animal they want to make, we paint their hand and with some eyes, ears and a mouth we have a farm animal! The kids and the parents love when this mural is hanging on the wall. =]

We talked a lot this week about the shape heart. To the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot" we sang,

I found it here! 

I drew hearts, triangles and circles and asked the kids to color each shape it's own color. They did a great job with it!

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number 6.

I made these worksheets that reinforces the one to one concept. The kids practice writing the number and have to color a square for each picture that they see. (I forgot to take a picture =[)

For our letter activities, we used our handwriting sheet for the letter Ii from this book,  and the sheet that helps work on letter recognition that I got from this book,  The students also wrote in their journals for the letter I.

We turned an I into an Insect! This book is great.

I found this worksheet that has words with different vowel sounds. The kids have to color the pictures that have the short i sound in them to make the fish. I did this in small groups and gave each child a choice between a word that did or didn't have the short i, then the group would color the short i word that was picked.

We watched a short video that I found of a young boy learning how to make an igloo. The kids really love this one. Then I gave them a blue piece of paper, white squares that I cut out ahead of time and a glues stick. We talked about how the boy built the igloo, how he layered it from the bottom, how it has a door, a curved roof, and then set them free to create their own.

We played a category game and sat in a circle naming different ice cream flavors. Next time I do a category game I'll write down all of the things we come up with so that they can see it.

We practice cutting with "The Insects are In" The kids had to color the insects, cut them out and put them "in" the right container.

For our alphabet wall we made fingerprint insects.

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

Here are the words we came up with this week!

We had a special visitor come this week. A local girl scout made display boxes for our school nature trail and came to talk to my class about the different things that we could put in them. She gave us deer bones, tree cookies and we even got to meet a baby box turtle! She talked to us about worms, foxes, chipmunks and different kinds of trees.

Another teacher and I went out to the nature trail the next day and put some of the things she donated in the displays. (We also added some things that we found in the woods :])

Up next week: The letter Jj, the number 7, star and "The Harvest".