Around the World

This week we went "Around the World" and it was so much fun!!

During summer camp, one day a week we do yoga as a school with a child-centered yoga DVD. The kids really love it. We also have a splash day where the kids bring their bathing suits and we put out water tables and a wiggly sprinkler. It really is so much fun.

I have some older children that have joined my 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.

This post is going to be written a little bit differently, as I'm going to organize the pictures and projects by each country that we visited. I found these "passport stamps" that I put in my class's journals for each day that we traveled, and the older kids filled in a passport page each day and wrote a fact about the country.

We sang the song each morning"I'm an airplane" and pretended that we were the airplanes flying to our destination.

"I'm an airplane, I'm an airplane
Flying up into the sky.
Flying higher, Flying higher
As I watch the clouds go by.
I'm an airplane, I'm an airplane
See me flying all around.
Flying lower, flying lower,
Till I land down on the ground."

I found it here.

When the song was over we "landed" in the country of the day and went to our foreign classroom in front of the our class whiteboard. I made a plane ticket for each flight that we took, a copy of the flag of the country and some facts that we talked about. Then we would open the discussion and the kids would tell me what they wanted to know about the country (and then I would look it up for them!)

Monday: Spain
When we got to Spain, we read the story Ferdinand by Munro Leaf. We talked a bit about facts that I found about the country from ScienceKids.

 

One of my student's parents visited Spain and was generous enough to share some pictures with us. She was our Ambassador! (The kids got really into it when I really got into the role of traveling. It was like our class had kind of an inside joke for the whole week!)

I put these two pictures in the art center, and for our project we made paper plate shakers and danced while listening to Flamenco music.

Tuesday: China
When we got to Spain, we read the story The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack. We talked a bit about facts that I found about the country from ScienceKids. Writing the words in Chinese was pretty cool, the kids thought it was so pretty and we talked about writing in that style instead of our alphabet. My Director was our Ambassador, as she traveled to China to teach and showed the class pictures of her adventures.

I put these pictures in the art center and we used water color paint to create paper fans.

Wednesday: Italy
When we got to Italy, we read the story Strega Nona by Tomie DePaola. We talked a bit about facts that I found about the country from ScienceKids.

 The lovely parent who shared pictures of Spain with us also had pictures of Italy which the kids loved to see. They asked a lot of questions about ruins and asked if there were any that they could see around where they live. The pictures also sparked a conversation about volcanoes and that people live near them.

 I put a picture of the flag and the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the art center.

 For our project we made stained glass windows! I showed the class pictures of stained glass on my iPad, and using construction, tissue and contact paper. They turned out so cool!

The younger class made little pizzas!! I'm definitely going to have to remember that for next year.

Thursday: France
When we got to Italy, we read the story Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans. We talked a bit about facts that I found about the country from ScienceKids. I brought my iPad again that day and we looked at pictures of the Eiffel Tower, the Mona Lisa and the Louvre.

 In the art center I put a picture of the flag and the Eiffel Tower.

 We made collages about France using the colors of the flag in different materials and small pictures that I found online. I used the crown, the Arc de Triumph, the Eiffel Tower, a picture of France and a man on a bike. Some kids questioned me on the man on the bike, and we talked about the Tour de France race.

Friday: Poland
When we got to Poland, we had a special Ambassador waiting for us. One of my class parents, who has family in Poland and has visited there brought in pictures, stories and special treats!

 The movie theater in Poland was originally going to be playing Mulan, but due to world events, they changed their movie to Aladdin. (RIP Robin Williams)

 Wycinanki is the art of paper cutting in Poland. We made our own paper cuttings!

Morning Meeting Games
"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.

"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 "Alphabet Catch" with a beanbag. We toss the beanbag around the circle and the kids have to say the next letter in the alphabet. We started tossing it to the person next to use, once the kids get more comfortable with the game we'll stand in a circle and toss the beanbag across to friends.

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! =]

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! =]