America's Independence Day!

The theme for the last week of June was "America". It was a short week, as school was closed on the 3rd in observance of the holiday.

We started off the week by doing some yoga! I love yoga, and the children really love to stretch and twist their bodies in new ways. I find a lot of great yoga videos for children on YouTube.

This week we read: Duck for President by Doreen Cronin
                                        If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff
                                        Down by the Barn by Will Hillenbrand
                                        Click, Clack, Moo by Doreen Cronin

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!

"Number Ball" is a lot like our alphabet catch in that we toss a beanbag to our friends. This game is a little different. The goal is to get to 30, but if the beanbag is dropped we have to start back at 1. I wonder if we will be able to get to 30 by the end of the summer?!

Our question of the week was "What are fireworks made of?" I am in love with these ideas!

For our theme "America",  we celebrated... America! (And the 4th of July!) The children worked together to paint a big American flag. When we were all done, we used it as a backdrop for a Independence Day themed "Photobooth!" I found the props at Walmart for under $2, and the kids had so much fun with it!

On Pinterest I found this really cool Salt and Glue Firework project. I think for us it turned into more of a process over product project. The children had so much fun adding the different color to their fireworks, but when they dried, it mostly all fell off.

We baked and decorated some Red Velvet cupcakes.... yum!

We used forks to make fireworks! They didn't believe me that they were going to paint with forks... it was fun! We added some glitter to white paint to make these fireworks even more special. I found this project here. 

We also watched the movie Barnyard!

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

Kwanzaa and Happy New Year!

Our theme for the fourth week of December was "Kwanzaa and Happy New Year". Because our school had a half day for Christmas Eve and was closed for Christmas, we did not talk about a letter, number or shape.

  

We read this week: How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
                               How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas by Jane Yolen
                               Corduroy by Don Freeman
                               A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Phillip C. Stead

Our question of the week was "If you were an elf, what would your name be?" I love when the questions make the kids think and be creative. We have some very unique names!

Our song of the week was "If You're Happy and You Know It!" Always fun and always a favorite.

For our theme of the week, we had a lot of fun talking about the different holidays!

I created a Christmas bingo board that the kids had to color, cut out the pictures and glue onto their boards.

We played "Santa, Santa, Reindeer". They thought it was so funny that I changed the name from duck, duck, goose, but they indulged me. =]

I found a picture of a Kinara and we painted with Kwanzaa colors.

I created a memory game with symbolic Kwanzaa pictures, i.e candle, kinara, fruit, corn, Africa, etc. My class jumps at the chance to play organized games like these.

I found a worksheet online and decided to make one based on it. I drew symbolic parts of kwanzaa with specific coloring instructions. As I gave the directions for what to color, we talked about why that item is important to celebrating Kwanzaa. A worksheet that is very close to what I did is found here.

I wanted to challenge my kids, so I made an alphabet code. We started it together and then whoever wanted to worked on their own. A worksheet that is very close to what I did is found here.

We painted and played with home made noisemakers. I used toilet paper rolls, some macaroni and some beads, and a stapler. Voila, instant New Years fun!

I made construction paper confetti, and with it we made fireworks on dark colored construction paper.

We mixed and baked a confetti cake with some confetti frosting. Something sweet to bring in the new year!

Now I couldn't have an entire week go by without any number or letter activities, so I squeezed a few in there!

On this website, you can create your own handwriting worksheets, so I have one for each child in the class. They trace their names (first and last) three times, and then have a line to write it on their own. I do this a few times a year and stick them in their portfolios for an example of their improving writing skills.

We colored a butterfly labeled with #6-10. I love these so much. It really forces the kids to slow down and think about what they are coloring. I use this book for all my number pages like this.

Up next week: "Winter Numberland"