Treasure Boxes

I'm gonna come right out and say it... treasure boxes are LOVED! I love them, other teachers love them, and most importantly, my class loves them. I created them at first way back when as an option for children who were growing out of naps. They have come a long way since then.

The children over the past three years have loved them so much, that I have started to incorporate them into our day to day. They are a great option for in-between times, transitions and free time, as well as some nice structures partner play and individual play. I love to search dollar spots and sale sections for some new exciting things to add, only following the parameters that they have to fit in the boxes. (Around back-to-school time, you can get these boxes at Walmart for 57cents!!)

Here are the "regular" boxes that we have now!

 I drew a town map and put in cars that I got from the dollar store.

 I found a few sets of magnetic letters at Walmart for pretty cheap. The kids love to put them together and try to sound out the crazy words they create.

I wrote shape names and numbers on colored popsicle sticks. The kids have to try to put the shapes together. They use the drawn pictures to help out if they get stuck.

 They love this squishy, gooey and creepy crawlies.

 These flashcards are a favorite.

 I actually found this bunny game at Stop and Shop last year for $2. Can't beat it!

 Legos are always a beloved classic. I even find myself playing with them sometimes. 

 How cute!

 A very fun hodge-podge!

Good old fashioned playing cards. Don't underestimate simple stuff like this. The kids love to sort them, look at the numbers and letters on them.

I found these little puzzles at the dollar store. They came in a pack of 4 and have different numbers of pieces. anything with animals is always a hit with my kids.

These three connector sets I found in the Dollar Spot of Target.

In addition to the above treasure boxes, this year, I created some "small group" boxes. The toys I put in these I think lend themselves better to a small group of children.

 This cute little finger puppet set came from IKEA!

$Spot at Target!

 These cool guys came from Pottery Barn Kids! They were a bit more pricey than I would usually spend, but with all the superhero mania, I knew my class would really like them.

How about some feeling balloons? I filled them with sand, flour, corn, and sprinkles. Yay Texture!

Do you use treasure boxes in your classroom? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Zoo!

The theme for the third week of July was "The Zoo". The children are having so much fun in our "summer camp" this year!

This week we read: The Perfect Tail by Mie Araki
                                        Splat the Cat and the Cool School Trip by Rob Scotton
                                        A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead
                                        Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire
                                        Curious George Feeds the Animals by Margret & HA Rey

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 "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.

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!

The special activities this week were a blast. Bubble day is quickly turning into a favorite. This week we tried to make the biggest bubbles possible. It was so neat to see the Eureka moment when the children discovered that blowing gently created larger results. I created a bubble station with a plastic drink dispenser from Five Below and plastic cups that we rinse and reuse. For the bubble solution, I simply used Dawn dish soap from the Dollar Tree and water! 

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!

Since we are the oldest in the school, our class take over the little school garden. We spent time weeding it. Most of our sprouts did not make it.. so I purchased a few flowers and small vegetable plants to plant. Fingers crossed!

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 Monsters Inc.

Our question of the week was "What is your favorite animal at the zoo?"

For our theme "Zoo",  we talked about animals at the zoo! I made this zoo game with a large piece of construction paper. Add some small zoo animal figurines, a dice and some excited kids and we get a super fun time!

We sang "We're Going to the Zoo" to the tune of farmer in the dell.

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

On Pinterest I found this great zoo flap book that the children created!

I made pages of a few different habitats and three animals that live in each one. As small groups, the children worked together to correctly put the animals in their homes. The kids felt like the Kratt Brothers while they were doing this. Our class LOVES their show!

Using shapes cut out from different colors of construction paper, the children created their own zoo animal. I adapted this from this monster activity that I found on Pinterest. I love that it is a project that really is all about the process, and the kids were so happy with their finished products!

The children wrote in their journals about what they see at the zoo.

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 third week of the  study "Buildings" we focused on the people that build buildings and how they do. The children made a class book filled with illustrations of Construction Sites.

My assistant teacher brought in a toolbox for the children to explore tools. They felt them, picked them up and asked questions about them.

The class had a discussion of who the different people were that built various parts of our classroom; plumber, electrician, general contractor.

I emptied out my sensory table and added unifix cubes and pieces of construction paper. The children worked in small groups to build different height buildings and create a Unifix city.

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

Painting to Music! (U, V, & W)

The theme for the first week of June was "Painting to Music". Since we finished our Letter of the Week study, we are now reviewing our letters! This week we reviewed letters U, V, & W! Many of our projects over the next few weeks are in preparation for our Graduation! Check out the "If You Give a Butterfly a Diploma" post to see it all in one place! This week we made the shirts that everyone would wear for the ceremony, as well as the backdrop!

This week we read: Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
                                        Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker
                                        The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
                                        LMNO Peas by Keith Baker
                                        Curious George Plants a Tree by Margret & HA Rey
                                 
Our question of the week was "What kind of music do you like?"

For a number review the children practiced the numbers 1-10, both counting and recognition of the numbers.

For our theme "Painting to Music",  we did exactly that! While listening to different styles of music each day, the children all painted on a large piece of white bulletin board paper. I love projects like this, free-form and loose, whatever the children want to do!

Country Music: Yellow, Orange and Brown paint.

Jazz Music: Blue, Red and Brown paint.

Classical Music: Red, Green and Yellow paint.

Dance Music: Blue, Purple and Yellow paint.

Rock Music: Red, Black and Purple paint.

I will be using these in a few weeks as the backdrop for our graduation ceremony!

The children wrote about the kinds of music that they like the best.

While reviewing the letters U, V, and W, 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 "we".

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, U, V, and W. 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 a wallaby, vulture and wolf!

I made an "I have, who has" game filled with U, V, and W 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!