Hanukkah: A Celebration of Lights! (K, 8, Blue)

Our theme this week was "Hanukkah: Celebration of Lights" and we focused on the letter Kk, the number 8 and the color blue.

The beginning of December means that we compared November weather from this year and last.

 

We read this week: The Hanukkah Mice by Steven Kroll
                                Latkes and AppleSauce by Fran Manushkin
                                How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukkah? by Jane Yolen
                                Hanukkah! by Roni Schotter
                            
Our question of the week was "What is your favorite color?" We finished talking about our shapes and have started colors, so I thought it would be nice to get the conversation started about colors.

For our theme of the week, we talked all about the tradition of Hanukkah. I brought in my childhood menorah to show the kids and for us to put "candles" in for each night.

We played dreidel.

 The kids used Hanukkah cookie cutters and painted with blue, yellow and black paint.

I have Hebrew alphabet blocks that I brought in and let the kids explore with. They like looking at them and building towers with them.

Using different materials like feathers and pastas, the kids made collage menorahs. I drew with glue the shape of the menorah and the kids used the art materials on the glue. I love the way this project turns out.

We talked a lot this week about the color blue, and we sang "We Love Blue."

"We love blue, we love blue,

Yes we do, yes we do.

We love the ocean and sky so blue,

We love blue ribbons and blue jeans too.

We love blueberries, so good for you,

Yes, we love blue."

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 blue. The tricky thing is that they have to bring different things, no duplicates allowed! Here is what we found for the color blue.

I gave the kids dots of blue, white and black paint to make shades of blue.

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number 8.

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.

We colored a picture using a "color by number key" that I got from this book.

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

We also did this worksheet that helps work on letter recognition that I got from this book.

The students also wrote in their journals for the letter K.

We turned a K into an Kangaroo! This book is great.

With playing cards we tried to find the kings. Each turn children flip over a card and have to name what letter or number it was. If they turned over a king, they get to wear the crown!

We hopped like kangaroos during a dance party.


The class watched this video to watch how the kangaroos hop around. I found this cool one that like a real life "Kratt Brothers" which the kids love from PBS.

For our alphabet wall we made kites.

Here are the words we came up with this week!

My class starts to turn 5 with this birthday! Yum!

Up next week: "Candy Land", Ll, 9 and red.

Keeping Naptime a Quiet Time

This post was inspired by a newspaper clipping that I saw hanging in our school's parent library.

As any preschool teacher would agree, nap or rest time in the classroom is 1-2 hours of desperately needed quiet in the classroom. Not only is it so beneficial for young children to have that time to relax and decompress, it is also a wonderful time for the teacher to lesson plan, organize the classroom, or simply take a quiet and deep breath.

Some of my kids don't always sleep the whole time, or even at all, so I've had to be creative in keeping the room quiet so that the others can rest.

The kids bring books and stuffed animals from our class library to their little cots with them, so they have that to keep them occupied for a little bit of time. I've also developed these "treasure boxes" that the kids just go wild for when I put them out. I've used pencil boxes and an assortment of different toys and materials that have become like little games. I'm always changing the boxes, but here is what I have now just for some ideas.

  This puzzle is a little tough for them, so it keeps them pretty busy when they try to make it.

 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. 

 These were actually left in the class as a center toy, but that didn't really make sense to me, so I made is a treasure box.

 I found this lego-esque garden set in the clearance section of Walmart.

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.

If you have any ideas that you use in your classroom during nap time, please share them in the comments. I am always open to new ideas!

These treasure boxes are also great for partner and small group play! The children can take turns to choose which box they want to play with, and it is a mostly quiet and contained toy, which is great. They are also super easy to switch out and add new things too.

We Are Thankful!

Our theme for the week of Thanksgiving, our theme was "We Are Thankful".

We read this week: Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks by Margaret Sutherland
                               A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting
                               Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson

Our question of the week was "What is something that you are thankful for?"

For our theme of the week, we talked about all the things in our lives that we are thankful for. The kids wrote in their journal with what they answered the question of the week.

We made "Thankful Turkeys".

Our school has a feast the day before Thanksgiving. We colored turkeys and made hats to wear.

[There's me, modeling our hats. ;)]

The kids did a pumpkin maze and practiced the concept of alike and different. They also helped a turkey find his way through a maze and did a turkey dot to dot. 

We did a cut and past project to make a cornucopia. The kids sure did have a hard time saying that word!

We sang "Let's Be Thankful" to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle" which I found here.

"Let’s be thankful for this day,

For our friends and for our play.

Let’s be thankful; let’s be glad,

For the food and things we have.

Let’s give thanks for you and me,

For our home and family."

We did not talk about a letter, number or shape this week.We played the counting games "1,2,3" and "Pop!" The kids love those responsive classroom games.

Here's an update from our "planted" pumpkins! We planted them the week of Halloween, and we got a sprout!!

The pumpkins were staring to get soft, so I planted them under soil. I'm hoping that the soil on top will help them decompose without attracting bugs and smelling. Anyone out there have any tips about that?

Up next week: The letter Kk, number 8 and color blue. Our theme will be "Hanukkah: The Celebration of Lights".