In the Garden!

The theme for the first full week of July was "In the Garden". Summer camp has officially started! This year I decided that I wanted to make it more of a camp feel, and less of an extension of the school year, so I created themed days that rotate throughout the week. I'm excited!

This week we read: My Garden by Kevin Henkes
                                        Backhoe Joe by Lori Alexander
                                        Living Sunlight by Molly Bang
                                        Build, Dogs, Build: A Tall Tail by James Horvath
                                        Mortimer's First Garden by Karma Wilson

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!
"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!

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.

The special activities this week were a blast. Since we are the oldest in the school, I thought it would be great to take over the little school garden. We spent time weeding it and getting it ready for all the things we had sprouted in the classroom during our Going Green week.

I thought having a bubble day would be so much fun each week. This week I brought out this adorable small bubble machine that I found for $3, and just let it do it's thing. the children had an amazing time running around in the hundreds of bubbles.

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!

Exercise is very important, so I thought it would be fun to have some kind of special exercise activity each week as well. This week, the children moved their bodies like insects. This pin gave me great ideas of what to call out, and the children really enjoyed it! 

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 A Bug's Life.

Our question of the week was "What do you want to grow in your garden?"

For our theme "In the Garden",  we talked about things happening in a garden! In small groups the children played "The Ladybug Game". We've played this before, and the children really enjoy it.

On TeachersPayTeachers I found a great FREE worksheet that is not only a cool coloring, cutting and gluing project, but really helps kids with those tricky teen numbers!

The children wrote in their journals about what they would plant in their own gardens.

We sang "I'm a Little Watering Can" to the tune of teapot.

I’m a little watering can, Tall and thin.
To fill me up, Just pour some water in.

When you tip me over, And the water sprinkles out.
“Thanks for the drink,” The flowers all shout!

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

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 how plants and flowers drink their water up from the ground and I thought the best way to illustrate that would be the celery experiment! SUPER SIMPLE TO DO!
I got 4 celery stalks (full stalks with the leaves at the top) and put one in plain water, and one in each dyed water blue, yellow and red. I showed the class the set up and we made hypotheses about what would happen to the celery. (I made the worksheet up for this one).

Then we looked at the celery that had been sitting in the water for a few hours t osee what actually happened. That was what we recorded on our papers.

Just for fun I kept the celery around to the end of the week and it looked SO COOL!

The children painted flowers.

We have begun using the Creative Curriculum's Studies, which seem pretty cool. Each study lasts as long as the children are interested in them, and they can be customized to the class's interest in the subject. We decided as a school to start with the  study "Buildings". In the sensory table I put some building blocks in dirt to make a construction site.

We began by exploring the topic. We went outside our school and sat in front of it, and each drew an Observational picture of it. It was really cool to see the the children take such an interest in it.

Using different size and shape blocks, the children worked in pairs to build.

We talked about different kinds of buildings and the types of things that happen inside them.

The children each picked a kind of building to draw the inside of, and we turned it into a book.

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

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! =]

Transportation! (F, G, H, 26 and Octagons)

Our theme this week was "Transportation" and we focused on the number 26, and reviewed the letters F, G and H, and octagons.

A new month means looking back at our weather trends. Here's April, this year and last year.

In April I challenged the kids to keep our calendar numbers in an ABAB pattern. They did fantastic! For May, we're going to try an AABAAB pattern. I think they're up for it!

We read this week: 1,2,3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle
                              He Came with the Couch by David Slonim
                              I Love Planes by Philemon Sturges
                              The Wheels on the School Bus by Mary Alice Moore
                              Polar Opposites by Eric Brooks

Our question of the week was "Where do you want to go on Vacation?" My class DEFINITELY has some strong opinions about the best places to vacation, let me tell you!

For our theme of the week, we made name trains. I cut long pieces of white paper for the background, a picture of a train engine and colorful squares with each letter of their name. The kids had a lot of fun creating the scene for their trains and loved explaining to me what the train was carrying and where it was going.

We pretended to be a train and "Chug Chugged" down the nature trail.

I found this worksheet that gives a key for coloring a picture of a train based on the shapes in the picture. I had the class do this all together and they did AMAZING! This is definitely one that I'm going to keep for their portfolios!

We wrote in our journals about where we would like to take a train to. I love journals! Almost all of my class has moved on from tracing to copying. So exciting!

We played "Red Light Green Light", which is always a lot of fun! Then we made traffic lights with construction paper, glue and tissue paper!

This next project I found here, and thought it was such a great idea that I just had to try. Using a white shower curtain that I got from the dollar store, I drew a really big town "map". Together as a class we colored it and then played with some cars on it. I did this project last year and my kids this year liked it just as much. It's always fun to get to work on the same project at the same time as all your friends.

Our song of the week was "The Wheels on the Bus". It's such an adaptable song that it can be totally different each day.

We talked about the shape octagon and practiced recognizing them. I created this page based on ones that we had done in the past.

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

Using a "gumball machine" we practiced, in small groups, counting to the number 26.

The class also worked on their writing of the number and the word for 26.

For our letter activities, we reviewed writing and finding the letters that we are talking about; F, G and H. These pages came from Letters for Little Learners.

Made a book of all the possible things that Goat might get at his "G" themed birthday party. This project came from Letters for Little Learners.

The letter of the week books have pages that you can make into a book. I picked from both to get my "favorites". Each week, we work on some of these pages, and each child at the end will have an alphabet book. 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!

This week the "F" page came from Book 1, the "G" page came from Book 1, and the "H" page came from Book 2.

We also worked more on recognizing our review letters in the tongue twisters from Alphabet and Counting. We used this book to turn our letters into fun animals, but on the pages is also a little tongue twister. I printed it large and made a picture, then laminated them with contact paper. Using wet erase markers, we take turns finding the letters that are hidden!

We kept working 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.

Here is what we have mastered so far! 

If you are a reader of this blog, you'll know how excited I get when things that we plant grow (i.e the THOUSAND updates I gave about our pumpkin plant, which started here!) I planted them outside... I hope they make it! 

Last week we planted African Daisy seeds, and they already started sprouting! I love nature. =]

We had a birthday this week... YUM!