Hanukkah: A Celebration of Lights! (K, 8, Blue)

Our theme this week was "Hanukkah: Celebration of Lights" and we focused on the letter Kk, the number 8 and the color blue.

The beginning of December means that we compared November weather from this year and last.

 

We read this week: The Hanukkah Mice by Steven Kroll
                                Latkes and AppleSauce by Fran Manushkin
                                How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukkah? by Jane Yolen
                                Hanukkah! by Roni Schotter
                            
Our question of the week was "What is your favorite color?" We finished talking about our shapes and have started colors, so I thought it would be nice to get the conversation started about colors.

For our theme of the week, we talked all about the tradition of Hanukkah. I brought in my childhood menorah to show the kids and for us to put "candles" in for each night.

We played dreidel.

 The kids used Hanukkah cookie cutters and painted with blue, yellow and black paint.

I have Hebrew alphabet blocks that I brought in and let the kids explore with. They like looking at them and building towers with them.

Using different materials like feathers and pastas, the kids made collage menorahs. I drew with glue the shape of the menorah and the kids used the art materials on the glue. I love the way this project turns out.

We talked a lot this week about the color blue, and we sang "We Love Blue."

"We love blue, we love blue,

Yes we do, yes we do.

We love the ocean and sky so blue,

We love blue ribbons and blue jeans too.

We love blueberries, so good for you,

Yes, we love blue."

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 blue. The tricky thing is that they have to bring different things, no duplicates allowed! Here is what we found for the color blue.

I gave the kids dots of blue, white and black paint to make shades of blue.

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number 8.

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 colored a picture using a "color by number key" that I got from this book.

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

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

The students also wrote in their journals for the letter K.

We turned a K into an Kangaroo! This book is great.

With playing cards we tried to find the kings. Each turn children flip over a card and have to name what letter or number it was. If they turned over a king, they get to wear the crown!

We hopped like kangaroos during a dance party.


The class watched this video to watch how the kangaroos hop around. I found this cool one that like a real life "Kratt Brothers" which the kids love from PBS.

For our alphabet wall we made kites.

Here are the words we came up with this week!

My class starts to turn 5 with this birthday! Yum!

Up next week: "Candy Land", Ll, 9 and red.

Happy Halloween! (H, 5, Pentagon)

Our theme this week was "Happy Halloween" and we focused on the letter Hh, the number 5 the shape pentagon.

We got to compare the weather in October this year and last year. I love getting the kids thinking about what is different and the same about the two graphs. We always have such good conversation. I like this activity, because I also thinks that it makes them realize that what we do at morning meeting really does matter.

We read this week:  Scaredy Cat Splat by Rob Scotton
                               What Was I Scared Of by Dr. Seuss (Last in The Sneetches and Other Stories)
                               Curious George Goes to a Costume Party by Margret and H.A. Rey
                               Mouse's First Halloween by Lauren Thompson
                               Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin by Tad Hills

Our question of the week was "What is your favorite candy?" This turned out to be a little tough for them to answer, they had trouble picking just one!

For our theme of the week, we actually didn't talk about Halloween that much. We did a little bit, but we focused more on pumpkins this week. I just have to say, I rediscovered that fresh pumpkin is one of my favorite smells. This of course prompted all of my kids to repeatedly come over and smell the cut open pumpkin. =]


First we cleaned out our large class pumpkin and separated the pulp from the seeds. Their faces when they stuck their hands in the pumpkin were priceless! The class voted on how I should carve our pumpkin. A silly face won over Frankenstein and sad face.

After we cleaned it out I roasted the seeds using a recipe that I found on this blog. I never would have thought to boil them in salty water first, but man, did it help make those shells nice and crunchy! My few kids who were adventurous really enjoyed them.

Each child in my class got a small pumpkin that they got to paint. I gave them white, blue and green paint and let them paint however they wanted. I love how each child does just how they want to.

I found the idea to "plant" a pumpkin from this blog. AMAZING! Just put dirt in the pumpkin and let the seeds sprout. Genius! I cut the pumpkin open and we talked about what was in there, what it looked like, what they thought about the inside of the pumpkin. Then they each got to put some dirt in the pumpkin... and we're just waiting for a sprout! (All that day they kept coming to tell me that we didn't have anything growing yet. I don't think they really believe me that it's going to take a couple weeks. =])

We had our school Halloween Parade, which is always fun, and the kids really love to show off their costumes. It's always nice to have a fun school day like Halloween.


I drew a cross section picture of a pumpkin. We talked  about the different parts and they colored it. I was sad that i forgot to save some of the raw seeds to clue on, so we used some macaroni to represent the seeds and pieces of string for the pulp.

We talked a lot this week about the shape pentagon. I couldn't find a song, so I wrote one like others that we sing to the tune of "frere jacques"

"This is a Pentagon, this is a Pentagon.

How can you tell? How can you tell?

It has five sides that are the same size,

it's a pentagon, it's a pentagon."

The kids practiced recognizing pentagons out of other shapes.

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number 5.

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 =[)

We also used a color by number page with the numbers 1-5. My kids are really getting good at this, and it's only the second/third time for them! They are getting better and sitting and listening for the directions, working at their own pace. I love it!

For our letter activities, we used our handwriting sheet for the letter H,  and the sheet that helps work on letter recognition, both are from books that are mentioned in the "All About Me" post. The students also wrote in their journals for the letter H.

We turned a H into a Horse

We played Monster Munch. The kids have to feed the monster candy, but he only likes to eat "h" candy.

We freeze danced and hopped to music.

For our alphabet wall we made hummingbirds and watched this video. I watched this with my kids last year too. It has great imagery of the hummingbird up close and in slow motion. We talked through the video about what they were saying. At one point we were standing up and "feeling" the difference between eagle bird flaps and hummingbird figure 8 wing movement.

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

Here are the words we came up with this week!

Up next week: The letter Ii, the number 6, heart and "Farm Animals".

Creepy Crawlies! (G, 4, Hexagon)

Our theme this week was "Creepy Crawlies" and we focused on the letter Gg, the number 4 and the shape hexagon.

We read this week: The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
                               Grandpas are for Finding Worms by Harriet Ziefert
                               Grandmas are for Giving Tickles by Harriet Ziefert
                               Curious George by Margret and H.A. Rey
                               King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood

Our question of the week was "What is your favorite song to sing?"

for our theme of the week, we did all sorts of activities dealing with bugs and crawly, creepy things. Yuck!

We sang the 'Itsy Bitsy Spider" and made spider webs! They came out so cute! First I gave the kids a square of newsprint paper and told them to ... scribble!! I also told them that this was probably going to be the only time they heard that out of my mouth, so to take advantage. =]. I folded the paper for them and drew lines for them to cut on. Everyone had to try to cut their paper by themselves first, and if they needed i was there to help. Then we unfolded and even though they knew it was going to be a web, each child was so happy with how cool theirs was!

I make sure to take my kids outside at least once a day unless it's pouring rain... I love being outside and so do they! We took advantage of our beautiful fall weather and dug around for worms. (I have to say, I don't know what's in the dirt there.. but those worms could moonlight as small snakes.. I've never seen such big worms... shudder.)

We played with play doh and I challenged the kids to make me some bugs. When we do activities like this I make sure that I'm not pressuring them to make an exact replica of a butterfly or something. I want them to make their own creation, but then they have to walk me through how it is a big. Where are it's legs, antennae, eyes, what kind of bug is it... these are all things that they have to tell me.

Here's my bug....

We marched around outside and sang "The Ants go Marching".

We walked around outside trying to find bugs to see what they do in their natural habitats. Look what we found!

We talked a lot this week about the shape hexagon. I found this cool song on Pinterest to the tune of "Head, shoulders, knees and toes."

"A hexagon has 6 sides, has 6 sides.

A hexagon has 6 sides, has 6 sides,

The sides are equal and angles are the same.

A hexagon has 6 sides, has 6 sides!"

The kids practiced recognizing hexagons out of other shapes.

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number 4.

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 get a picture)

For our letter activities, we used our handwriting sheet for the letter G,  and the sheet that helps work on letter recognition, both are from books that are mentioned in the "All About Me" post. The students also wrote in their journals for the letter G.

We made a class list of animals and colors that started with the letter G. Then the kids each picked what they wanted to make for a page in our class book.

We played "Goose Egg on the Loose", also known as hot potato but with a plastic Easter egg.

We painted "Shades of Green" I put spots of green and white paint on their papers and they used their paintbrushes to spread it out and mix the colors together. When they were done, we pointed out the different shades that they made.

We turned a G into a Grasshopper.

For our alphabet wall we made grapes with dot painters.

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

Here are the words we came up with this week!

Up next week: The letter Hh, the number 5, pentagon and "Happy Halloween".