Space!

The theme for the second week of August was "Space". The children are having so much fun in our "summer camp" this year!

This week we read: I Want to be an Astronaut by Byron Barton
                                       My Picture Book of Planets by Nancy E. Kryulik
                                       Our Stars by Anne F. Rockwell
                                       Roaring Rockets by Tony Mitton
                                       The Birth of the Moon by Coby Hol
                                       Circus in the Sky by Nancy Guettier
                                       On the Moon by Anna Milbourne

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!
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.

We played "Alphabet Catch" with a beanbag. We toss the beanbag around the circle and the kids have to say the next letter in the alphabet. If they drop it, we have to start back at the letter "A". This game helps us work on our communication, because the children have to let the person know that they are going to toss it to them!

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. Over the past year, I made a few different ones to add to my colors, shapes and Alphabet. I love having the different options now because it keeps the game feeling new and fresh!

We played "Number Ball" with a beanbag. We toss the beanbag around the circle and the kids have to say the next number. We stand in a circle and toss the beanbag across to friends and try to beat our record!

"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!

The special activities this week were a blast.  Since we are the oldest in the school, our class took over the little school garden. We spent time weeding it. It seems that our store bought plants are surviving, which is great! We've started to get some blossoms, so that is definitely promising!

Exercise is very important, so I thought it would be fun to have some kind of special exercise activity. This week, we did Yoga! Cosmic Kids Yoga on Youtube has great videos that the children love.

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!

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 Wall-E. 

Bubble day is quickly turning into a favorite. This week we just had a good time running around and blowing bubbles.

Our question of the week was "Where in space do you want to visit?"

For our theme "Space",  we did some neat space related activities. We talked about constellations, and how the stars show up the picture in the sky. The children picked a number to draw on a piece of black construction paper, and then poked holes along the number to make their own constellation.

We sang "Climb Aboard the Spaceship" to the tune of Itsy Bitsy Spider.

"Climb aboard the spaceship, we're going to the moon.

Hurry and get ready, we're going to blast off soon.

Put on your helmets and buckle up real tight.

Here comes the countdown, let's count with all our might.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... blast off!"

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

While we were talking about the sun, we also discussed how things look during the day vs how they look at night. I challenged the children to draw a picture, half during the day and the other half at night.

I made a little board game with construction paper and star stickers. Using dice we moved up the stars to the end of the game in small groups.

I added some cool space pages to our science binder, and space related buildings in our structure binder.

The children wrote in their journals about where in space they would like to go visit.

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.

For our sixth week of the  study "Buildings" we talked about towers and other tall buildings. They built towers as tall as they could, and measured them to see how tall it was.

We talked about the sun, and how shadows appear when the sun's light is blocked. The children built towers with blocks, and then traced the shadows that they created.

We explored building using plastic cups and popsicle sticks.

The children illustrated the tongue twister "Busy Builders bravely balance banging boards on the building's beams."

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

Going Green! (A&B, 24, Orange, Oval)

The theme for the second week of April was "Going Green". Since we finished our Letter of the Week study last week, we began reviewing our letters! We started off our review with letters A & B and continued our number study with the number 24! 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 ovals and orange.

This week we read: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
                                        The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood
                                        Maple by Lori Nichols
                                        Stuck by Oliver Jeffers
                                        Curious George Plants a Tree by Margret & HA Rey

Our question of the week was "How can you "Go Green"?"

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

For the number of the week:24 we started off by counting to and backward from twenty-four. 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-four. 

When I started in my class, I found a page like this from education.com, so I made my own for the number 24. 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 "Going Green", the children played with recycled materials and shredded in the sensory table. This was the sensory table that they were the most interested in so far this year! They loved it!

We sang "Reduce, Reuse Recycle" to the tune of Itsy Bitsy Spider.

"Reduce, reuse, recycle, words that we all know.
We have to save our planet so we can live and grow.
We might be only children, but we will try you'll see.
That we can save this planet it starts with you and me."

We planted seeds of various vegetable and herb plants that will (hopefully) go into our schools garden! Fingers crossed!

With wax paper and crayons the children made Earth Suncatchers!

The children made recycle themed collages! They colored pictures of recyclable items and glued them on to construction paper, added stickers and then glued on recycled shredded paper.

In their journals, the class wrote about things that they can do to help the planet.

While reviewing the letter A and B, 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 "am".

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, A and B. 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 alligator, akita, antelope, armadillo, affenpinscher, bat, beaver, bee one, bee two, butterfly, blue tongued skink, bison, buffalo one, and buffalo two.

I made an "I have, who has" game filled with A and B 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!

Outer Space!

We continued our summer fun with the theme, "Outer Space!"

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.

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: I Want to be an Astronaut by Byron Barton
                               My Picture Book of Planets by Nancy E. Kryulik
                               Our Stars by Anne F. Rockwell
                               Roaring Rockets by Tony Mitton
                               The Birth of the Moon by Coby Hol
                               Circus in the Sky by Nancy Guettier
                               On the Moon by Anna Milbourne

Our question of the week was "If you were an astronaut, where would you go?"

For our theme of the week,  I made a little board game with construction paper and star stickers. Using a dice we moved up the stars to the end of the game in small groups.

We talked about the differences between day and night, like different things that we see and the way that things look. on one piece of paper we divided it into day and night, and I challenged my class to draw the way things look during the day and during the night.

From _____ the kids colored stars in with the correct colors. Never can have too much practice! =]

The class painted their own planets and stars, and we made a galaxy in our hallway!

In journal my class wrote about what planet in our solar system they would go to.

While my class wrote in their journals, the older children filled out these reading response pages to the books that we read.

We made number constellations. After choosing and writing a number on a square of blue construction paper, the kids took a pencil and poked holes along the number or on the points. When they were hung up on the window, you could see the constellations! So cool!

Using play dough the kids made moonscapes and other space shapes.

We watched Wall-e!

Our song of the week was "Climb Aboard the Spaceship" to the tune of Itsy Bitsy Spider.

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

The games that we played this week at morning meeting were so fun!

"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!

"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 "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!

The Weather Changed" is a fun game. The kids decide on movements for 5 different weathers before we start. I start as the Weather Person and go through the different weather, while we change the movements. Then the kids get a turn as the weather person!

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.

That's all for now! Leave me a comment please if you visit! =]

Happy Birthday, Dr Seuss! (and Me!) (U, 18, Orange)

Our theme this week was "Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss" and we focused on the letter U, number 18 and color orange.

We read this week:  The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
                               The Cat in the Hat Comes Back by Dr. Seuss
                               One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
                               The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
                               Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

Our question of the week was "Who is your favorite Dr. Seuss Character?" We've read some Dr. Seuss already this year, so I quickly reminded them of the different characters that we have met.

For our theme of the week, we had so much Seuss-y fun. On Youtube, I found some of the original movies, so we watched The Sneetches (beware- they say "stupid" which prompted a discussion about not-nice words), and The Zax. I saw that there are also the original cartoons of Green Eggs and Ham, and Horton Hears a Who. We also watched The Lorax, and Horton Hears a Who. We stopped centers a little early and split each movie into 40 minute sittings before lunch. the kids LOVED the special movie treats.

The kids were so great and really enjoyed celebrating my birthday AND Dr. Seuss's.

We balanced like The Cat in the Hat. It was fun to have them try balancing on one foot while doing all sorts of silly things with their hands. We jumped and hopped on one foot, and even tried to dance!

The kids each decorated a Cat Hat with crayons and tissue paper. I love the individuality!

After reading "One Fish, Two Fish..." we went alphabet fishing! I love when I get to use a project more than once. It makes all the time making it so much more worth it! I wrote the capital and lowercase letter on each fish, and when the children "caught" one, they had to tell us what letter it was and think of a word that starts with it.

Each child got to paint a Truffula tree for our class mural. I even made a vine while getting it ready!

We made and ate green eggs and ham!! It was so fun!

The Cat in the Hat even came to visit with us!

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

"We love orange, we love orange,
yes we do, yes we do.
Crunchy carrots so good to eat,
Juicy oranges, oh so sweet!
Pumpkins ready for trick-or-treat,
we love orange."
 (C) Jean Warren www.preschoolexpress.com
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 orange. Here is what we found. 

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number 18.

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.

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

The students wrote in their journals for the letter U. 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 U into a Unicorn! This book is great.

This book has great pages for helping the kids work on the letter recognition of both the capital and the lowercase versions of the letter, and they are always a little different, which is great!

My kids did a great job of turning shapes into an underwater picture! I cut out the different shapes for them ahead of time, they picked three, and then let their imaginations run wild! It came from this Letter of the Week book.

From this Alphabet on Parade book, I got the idea to have the kids practice the concepts of "over" and "under". I drew and umbrella and 12 small pictures for them to cut out and glue either over or under the umbrella. I let them pretty much do their own thing on this project and then tucked it away in their portfolios.

From Sounds Like Fun, I got the idea to buy little paper party drink umbrellas and say different vowel sound words. Anytime they hear a long or short u sound, they had to put up their umbrellas! So fun. Bonus, they got to keep the umbrellas and were thrilled!

For our alphabet wall we made urchins! (I know it's a bit of a stretch, but the kids went with it and loved it. That being said, I had to make an ocean portion of our wall, which will come in handy when we make whales!

Here are the words we came up with this week!

I was not the only birthday we celebrated this week. Yum!

I know I put a lot of updates on here about our pumpkin plant from the Halloween post, but it has not yet ceased to amaze me with it's growth! We are still getting new shoots... and this week, we got our first blossom!!! Really for a project that was so easy to do, the kids just filled the pumpkin with dirt and as they started to decompose I planted them under dirt, we are fascinated every day!

Up next week: "Shamrocks" and a focus on the letter Vv, number 19, color green and circle shape.