Car Talk

Each of my kids have a journal that I write in everyday about the activities that we do each day.

In each little entry I write I include:

• show and shares
• if they had a job that day
• the activities that we do
• which centers they go to in the morning and with who
• where we went for recess
• the story that we read

As a quick version of this, I have a little white board next to the kid's cubbies. I call it my "Car Talk" board, just a quick snapshot of our day for the parents to quickly see.  I got the idea from a blog where the teacher posted it on her class's message board every day. I though it was just such a good idea!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! (ABC review)

Our theme was"Chicka Chicka Boom Boom"Because of the short week, we had an ABC review week. **This week we did not get to do all of the activities that I had planned. We had a shortened day because of snow and I was also not able to get to school one day because of  the snow. I'll still include the descriptions and a picture of my example for the projects that we did not get to do. It's always good to have more letter activities than less!**

  

We read this week: Dr. Seuss' ABC's by Dr. Seuss
                              LMNO Peas by Keith Baker
                              Animalia by Graeme Base
                              Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.
                              
Our question of the week was "What is your favorite letter of the alphabet? Why?" This was one of those questions that really got the wheels turning in their heads, because they couldn't just give me a letter, they had to give me a reason why.

Our song of the week was.... The alphabet! So creative, wasn't I? =]

For our theme of the week, we did SO much with letters!

I have thick plastic lacing letters that I put out for the kids to play with. These are great for practicing that fine motor control.

Each child decorated a hand print with their name on it to put onto our "Alphabet tree". I made it Valentine-y so that I could leave it up for a little longer. =]

In our school gym we did another obstacle course like last week, but we did this one while talking about the letters in the action that we were doing (ie. C=climb, S=slide, J=Jump...) I love to get my kids really moving!

Last year I made a "game" for each letter of the alphabet. Using projects from the two Letter of the Week Mailbox books that I have, I colored and laminated pieces that the children have to figure out if they start with the letter. These took a LONG time to do, but the kids love when I put them out, so it was definitely worth it. Here's the game for Aa. *If you are interested in any of the other letters, message me and let me know!*

I had planned for the kids to finger paint letters, because what's more fun than that?? But alas, the snow had other plans.

We went fishing for letters! I cut out fish and put one letter on each one. We played this is small groups and took turns "fishing" (I attached a paper clip to each fish and we used a magnet fishing rod from a puzzle in the classroom). Whichever fish they picked, they had to tell the group what letter it was and come up with a word that starts with that letter.

Ever seen a rainbow letter? Aren't they pretty?? So colorful!

Freeze dance to fun alphabet songs from Twin Sister Productions was a blast too.

Using the letters in each of their names, this children wrote poems!

We played alphabet toss. As each child got tossed the beanbag, and had to say the next letter of the alphabet. We started by just passing the beanbag around the circle. It got more challenging when they tossed it across the circle. They loved it!

When we read Chicka chicka Boom boom, of course we had to make our own letter trees!

Up next week: "Construction" and a focus on Pp, 13 and yellow.

Let it Snow! (O, 12, White)

Our theme last week was"Let it Snow!" We focused on the letter O, number 12 and color white.

  

We read this week: Snow Day by Betsy Meastro
                               Curious George in the Snow by Margret and HA Rey
                               Polar Opposites by Erik Brooks
                               A Silly Snow Day by Michael Coleman
                               The Snowman by Raymond Briggs

Our question of the week was "What is your favorite thing to do in the snow?"

For our theme of the week, we talked about some cold related things related things.

Using oranges (also works for "O") we made snowmen! Our art closet was out of puffy and glitter paint, which is usually what we would use to decorate the snowmen. A little bit of macaroni and googly eyes came in handy. =]

We had a freeze dance party too!

We talked about the color white, and we sang "We Love White" to the tune of "3 Blind Mice"

"We love white, we love white.
That is right, that is right.
Clouds above and milk and glue,
Santa's beard, snow and ghosts say BOO!
Bunnies and paper are white too,
We love white"

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

We brainstormed together a list of all the different things that are white. We came up with quite a list.

The school had a white shirt day too. Yay, school spirit!!

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number 12.

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 played the games "1,2,3" and "Pop". These are both great quick games for the kids to play, and they help them count. These are both from Responsive Classroom.

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

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

The students wrote in their journals for the letter O. "Oo is for octopus" was definitely the favorite.

We turned a O into a Octopus! This book is great, although this week I made up my own.

The kids cut and colored a book called "Ostrich's House" from this book. Behind every door there is a new animal that starts with "O"!

From the same book, we played letter o bingo. I love this bingo board because it has so many different pictures, that each child's board can be totally unique (if they don't insist on doing the exact same thing as their neighbor =])

In our gym I made an obstacle course full of climbing, jumping, sliding, skipping. Each time the kids went around, I added one more thing for them to do. They loved it!!

Using a worksheet that another teacher gave me, we practiced the short o sound. The kids have to say the name of the picture and decide if it is a short o. If it is, they have to write an "o" on the line.

For our alphabet wall we colored owls to put in our nests from last week.

Here are the words we came up with this week!

A last week I mentioned my math boxes for counting projects. I did a bit of reorganizing this week and turned the original math containers into crayon boxes when for when the kids work with me in a small group. I found these awesome smaller containers at the dollar store this week. They stack wonderfully, and i was able to add more. =]

Up next week: "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and having an alphabet review.

Hibernation! (N, 11, Brown)

Our theme for last week was "Hibernation" and we focused on the letter Nn, the number 11 and the color brown. I have to say after all the short weeks and holidays, it feels SO GOOD to get back into the swing of our routine. =]

  
We read this week: Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson
                               Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
                               Curious George's Dream by Margret and H.A. Reys
                               Corduroy by Don Freeman
                               Bear's Loose Tooth by Karma Wilson

Our question of the week was "How long would you like to hibernate?" It fit perfectly with our theme this week, and some of the answers were so funny!

For our theme of the week, we talked about hibernation and sleep!

We met a bear! I am not a supporter of hunting, but it was interesting to see how the kids remembered what we had talked about in relation to the bear (claws, fur, nose).

We pretended to be grizzly bears. We talked about what they do throughout the year, foraging, hunting, playing and hibernating. I called out the seasons of the year and the children changed heir activities. They had so much fin looking for a "cave" to hibernate in when I called out WINTER!

With white and black paint and a little glitter, we painted polar bears! I love how each child did it a little different. So fun!

We talked about the color brown, and we sang "3 Brown Bears" to the tune of "3 Blind Mice"

"Three brown bears, three brown bears.

See all their beds, see all their chairs.

The Mommy cooks in a big brown pot.

The Daddy's porridge is much too hot.

The Baby bear always cries a lot.

Three brown bears."

I found it here.

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

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number 11.

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 drew 11 balls for an elephant named Elmo to juggle.

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

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

The students wrote in their journals for the letter N.

We turned a N into a Nightcrawler! This book is great.

We made a short book all about "In The Nest" that I got from this Mailbox book.

Painting with noodles was super fun!

Using pictures of different food, we discussed as a group and sorted them into healthy/not healthy groups. It was a great way to start talking about nutrition.

Practicing writing the alphabet Aa-Nn was a good way to review the letters that we have already talked about.

Using old magazines, we made number collages. This is a challenging activity because of it's steps. Looking on the pages for numbers, cutting them out and then gluing them.

For our alphabet wall we used q-tips to paint nests. I love the "stripey" effect that the q-tip gets.

Here are the words we came up with this week!

Up next week: "Let it Snow!" and focusing on the letter Oo, white and 12.