Being Healthy (Ff, 3, Octagons)

The theme for the 8th week of the school year was "Being Healthy". We continued our Letter of the Week study, with the letter F. This week we also focused on the octagon shape, and we kept going on our number study with the number 3!

This week we read: Grandmas Are For Giving Tickles by Harriet Ziefert
                                        Grandpas Are For finding Worms by Harriet Ziefert
                                        Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems
                                        The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food by Stan and Jan Berenstain
                                        Gregory the Terrible Eater by Mitchell Sharmat

Our question of the week was "What is one reason that you like the fall?"

The shape of the week: octagon was fun to talk about. At our morning meetings, we would talk about the shape and things in real life that are an octagons. We also practiced drawing octagons in the air, which to be honest, is really kind of difficult! The children worked on their fine motor skills and shape recognition by finding octagons. I made this sheet myself based on recognition sheets that we have already done.

For our song this week we sang "This is an Octagons", I wrote this one myself based on some of the shape songs that we have already sang. There's not a whole lot of catchy songs out there for octagons. :/

"This is an octagon, this is an octagon,

How can you tell? How can you tell?

It had 8 sides,

And looks like a stop sign, 

It's an octagon, it's an octagon."

For the number of the week: 3 we started off by counting to three and backward from three. The kids had no problem with this one. ;) The kids also practiced writing the number and word for three.

In some papers in my room I found a random number page like this from education.com, so I made my own for the number 3. The children had to practice writing the number and then color in that number of squares. What a great way to really introduce graphing and what a great way for them to work on their one-to-one correspondence.

For our theme "Being Healthy", we touched on how to stay healthy in different aspects of life. We started off my talking about how to keep our smiles and teeth healthy. I made this large tooth, and each child told me something that they do for their teeth. We watched these short videos that I found on Sesame Street. There were three videos on the Healthy Teeth, Healthy Me toolkit. Captain Mega Super Ultra Smile Man is pretty cool too.... I think I got his name right... =].

I drew plaque infested teeth on white boards and the children used toothbrushes to clean them!

We exercised using the parachute! Parachute games are so fun, and there is just a certain excitement that fills the air when the kids see the parachute coming out. =]

I also made this exercise activity cube (you know in the spirit of my cube making every week... I've gotten quite good at them!) Each child had turns to roll the cube and we all participated in the direction. It really got us moving!

We sorted different foods into what we thought were healthy choices and not so healthy choices. Then we talked about the kinds of food that we should be eating more than others.

The letter of the week: F activities that we worked on this were were Fantastic! The book Sounds Like fun, Phonemic Awareness has great phonics activities for the alphabet. For the letter F, the children have to cut out and glue the words that "Begin like Fox". Together we talked about the beginning sounds of the words, and then they work on their fine motor cutting skills.

The children turned a capital letter F into a fish. I got the idea from the book Alphabet and Counting from Twin Sister Productions. They give tips for how to make it a glue and paste projects, but I like to give them crayons and the challenge to add the parts of the animal to the letter. It opens up room for more conversation about the shape of the letter AND the features of the animal.

I created envelope games for each letter of the alphabet. I adapted them from activities from Mailbox Letter of the Week projects, both book one and two. The children had to put the "F" fish in the Fishbowl. All the other letters? They needed to find a different bowl!

We went "fishing for F's". On cutouts of fish I wrote letters A-F. I put a paperclip on each fish and the kids used a fishing pole with a magnet on the end to catch a fish! They had to name the letter they got. If it was and F, they got to keep it, and if it was a different letter they had to "throw it back in".

Grandparents joined us for a breakfast to celebrate how much we love them. While they were visiting our class, we all finger painted fish for our Alphabet Wall. As we work through the alphabet, the children will make projects to go on the wall. It's a very fun way for the class to see the alphabet in a new way. By the way, watching grandparents paint is really fun!

We practice and work on our handwriting for each letter as well. The Original Summer Bridge Activities, for PreK-K has great handwriting practice sheets. The kids trace and write the letters and then have a little phonics practice at the bottom.

Each child has a journal that they write in every week. When we focus on a letter, they write for that letter. On shorter weeks and during our review later in the year, they write to the theme. This is such a great way to get children excited about writing and reading. I start the children out by tracing, and once they are comfortable and controlling the crayon well, they move onto copying.

From the book Alphabet, Colors, Numbers and Shapes, the kids practice letter recognition AND direction following. Some weeks certain letters have to be colored specifically and sometimes it's up to them. I love these!

We danced the Hokey Pokey while we pretended to be foxes (bushy tails, pointy ears, paws) Love it!

I made a cube of cardboard and glued pictures of "F" things one each side. The children say "Firefly, firefly what do I see.... I see a ____ looking at me!" They roll the cube and fill in the blank. This idea came from a Mailbox activity book, and let me tell you, it was a hit!! They loved it!

Also from a Mailbox Book we made A Flower for Fox!

During the week we made a list of words that begin with the letter F. I totally forgot to take a picture.. coming soon!

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

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".

Community Helpers/Fire Prevention Week (E, 2, Oval)

Our theme this week was "Fire Prevention Week/Community Helpers" and we focused on the letter Ee, the number 2 and the shape oval.

We read this week: Career Day by Anne Rockewell
                               Bendemolina an American "silly story"
                               Detective Dinosaur by James Skofield
                               Curious George and the Firefighters by Margret and H.A. Reys
                               Duck for President by Doreen Cronin

Our question of the week was "What do you think Mom does at work?" The kids really love answering these questions.

For our theme of the week, we talked about the different people that help our community be successful, really focusing on fire safety and prevention.

We played community helper bingo. I made the game board and found pictures of various jobs (teacher, paramedic, police, crossing guard, store cashier, judge, chef, etc). The kids had to color the pictures, cut them out and then glue them onto the board. It's a great activity for fine motor and then we get to play a game!

I found on Pinterest last year the idea for turning a hand print into "5 Little Firefighters".

We talked about stopping, dropping and rolling... and practiced. That was a lot of fun. =]

The fire truck and firefighters from a local station came to visit us. The kids loved it. They got to talk to the firefighters, see them with their gear on and go in the truck! They came through the school afterward to see all the classrooms and I'd never seen my class so shy! It was hilarious.

The next day we wrote about saying thank you when people do something special for us, so we wrote thank you notes to the firefighters.

We had a Grandparent's breakfast and our visiting Grandparents helped us use dot paint to decorate 911. We talked about the number, when to use it and especially when not to.

We talked a lot this week about the shape ovals. We sang this song that I found here.

"This is and Oval, this is an Oval,

How can you tell? How can you tell?

It is long on one end,

And short on the other, 

It's an oval, it's an oval."

The kids practiced recognizing ovals.

And drawing ovals and squares with this worksheet or a cute egg-headed man.

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

The kids also used a key to color a picture. This time we tried is as our first whole group activity of the year. They did a great job and really worked on following directions, listening, being patient and trying to focus on what they were doing.

I made these worksheets that reinforces the one to one concept. They 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 E,  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 E.

We turned E's into Elephants.

For our alphabet wall we made Eagles. After we made them we watched some of this video so the kids could see Eagles in action.

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

Our list for words beginning with E's was very impressive. Here it is!

Up next week: The letter Ff, the number 3, octagon and "Falling for Fall".