Transportation! (F, G, H, 26 and Octagons)

Our theme this week was "Transportation" and we focused on the number 26, and reviewed the letters F, G and H, and octagons.

A new month means looking back at our weather trends. Here's April, this year and last year.

In April I challenged the kids to keep our calendar numbers in an ABAB pattern. They did fantastic! For May, we're going to try an AABAAB pattern. I think they're up for it!

We read this week: 1,2,3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle
                              He Came with the Couch by David Slonim
                              I Love Planes by Philemon Sturges
                              The Wheels on the School Bus by Mary Alice Moore
                              Polar Opposites by Eric Brooks

Our question of the week was "Where do you want to go on Vacation?" My class DEFINITELY has some strong opinions about the best places to vacation, let me tell you!

For our theme of the week, we made name trains. I cut long pieces of white paper for the background, a picture of a train engine and colorful squares with each letter of their name. The kids had a lot of fun creating the scene for their trains and loved explaining to me what the train was carrying and where it was going.

We pretended to be a train and "Chug Chugged" down the nature trail.

I found this worksheet that gives a key for coloring a picture of a train based on the shapes in the picture. I had the class do this all together and they did AMAZING! This is definitely one that I'm going to keep for their portfolios!

We wrote in our journals about where we would like to take a train to. I love journals! Almost all of my class has moved on from tracing to copying. So exciting!

We played "Red Light Green Light", which is always a lot of fun! Then we made traffic lights with construction paper, glue and tissue paper!

This next project I found here, and thought it was such a great idea that I just had to try. Using a white shower curtain that I got from the dollar store, I drew a really big town "map". Together as a class we colored it and then played with some cars on it. I did this project last year and my kids this year liked it just as much. It's always fun to get to work on the same project at the same time as all your friends.

Our song of the week was "The Wheels on the Bus". It's such an adaptable song that it can be totally different each day.

We talked about the shape octagon and practiced recognizing them. I created this page based on ones that we had done in the past.

For our number,  I made these worksheets that reinforce the one to one concept. The kids practice writing the number and have to color a square for each picture that they see.

Using a "gumball machine" we practiced, in small groups, counting to the number 26.

The class also worked on their writing of the number and the word for 26.

For our letter activities, we reviewed writing and finding the letters that we are talking about; F, G and H. These pages came from Letters for Little Learners.

Made a book of all the possible things that Goat might get at his "G" themed birthday party. This project came from Letters for Little Learners.

The letter of the week books have pages that you can make into a book. I picked from both to get my "favorites". Each week, we work on some of these pages, and each child at the end will have an alphabet book. 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!

This week the "F" page came from Book 1, the "G" page came from Book 1, and the "H" page came from Book 2.

We also worked more on recognizing our review letters in the tongue twisters from Alphabet and Counting. We used this book to turn our letters into fun animals, but on the pages is also a little tongue twister. I printed it large and made a picture, then laminated them with contact paper. Using wet erase markers, we take turns finding the letters that are hidden!

We kept working on our sight words! Every morning we go over around 10 of them. Once we've mastered them, they will go on our sight word wall! So exciting! We're working our way through the 220 Dolch sight word list.

Here is what we have mastered so far! 

If you are a reader of this blog, you'll know how excited I get when things that we plant grow (i.e the THOUSAND updates I gave about our pumpkin plant, which started here!) I planted them outside... I hope they make it! 

Last week we planted African Daisy seeds, and they already started sprouting! I love nature. =]

We had a birthday this week... YUM!

Going Green! (C, D, E, 25 and Hexagons)

Our theme this week was "Going Green" and we focused on the number 25, and reviewed the letters C, D and E, and hexagons.

We read this week: Duck and Goose by Tad Hills
                              The Story of the Root Children by Sibylle Von Olfers
                              Living Sunlight by Molly Bang
                              The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
                              My Garden by Kevin Henkes

Our question of the week was "How can you 'Go Green'" It was such a strange saying to my kids that some of these answers are hilarious!

For our theme of the week, we made Earth Sun-catchers using wax paper and crayon. They almost glow when the sun shines through them!

We also made recycle themed collages and talked about why recycling is better for the planet then just throwing something away.

I already know that my kids love the newer movie version of the Lorax, so I wanted to show them the original. (Be warned! There is some not nice name calling... chalk it up to being from the 70's I guess...)

We also wrote in our journals this week about ways that we could help the planet. We brainstormed a list, and then the kids picked what they were going to do.

We planted seeds!

Our song of the week was "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" from here. This song was big hit with my class last year, so I'm hoping my kids this year like it just as much!

"Reduce Reuse Recycle

Are words that we all know

We have to save our planet

So we can live and grow

We might be only children

We have to try, you’ll see

We will save our planet

It starts with you and me!"

We talked about the shape hexagon practiced recognizing them. I created this page based on ones that we had done in the past.

For our number, I made these worksheets that reinforce the one to one concept. The kids practice writing the number and have to color a square for each picture that they see.

We also used our math boxes to help us count to 25. This is a great way to really get kids to learn that each number stands for something.

For our letter activities, we reviewed writing and finding the letters that we are talking about, C, D and E. These pages came from Letters for Little Learners.

We Celebrated "C" with a cake full of c pictured candles. Cut and paste projects are so fun because my kids can do them now completely on their own and they are so proud of themselves! This project came from Letter of the Week- Book 1.

From Sounds Like Fun, we did the "Elephant Exercise" It was really fun to bend and stretch and swing our trunk, all while listening for the sounds that the letter E makes.

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!

This week the "C" page came from Book 1, the "D" page came from Book 2, and the "E" page came from Book 1.

We also worked more on recognizing our review letters in the tongue twisters from Alphabet and Counting. We used this book to turn our letters into fun animals, but on the pages is also a little tongue twister. I printed it large and made a picture, then laminated them with contact paper. Using wet erase markers, we take turns finding the letters hidden!

We kept working on our sight words! Every morning we go over around 10 of them. Once we've mastered them, they will go on our sight word wall! So exciting! We're working our way through the 220 Dolch sight word list.

Here is what we have mastered so far!

Speaking of sight words, from Confessions of a HomeSchooler, I got these great sight word pages. We continued this week with the word "do".

"Our Garden"- The Art Show Edition!

Okay, So I know I've been hinting at our school's art show for weeks now, and it's finally here! We all followed a garden theme, and it came out so much cuter than I ever thought it could.
(This was a great example for me how teachers and different age groups can come together to make something so amazing!)

I just HAVE to share some pictures, but I'll also run through at the end what each class did.

Our youngest class (infant-2.5) made: handprint flowers, painted river rocks and sprouted bean and sunflower seeds.
The toddler class (2.5-3.5) made: a footprint pond, rainbow fish, handprint flowers, footprint robins and paper plate birds
Our class made (3.5-5): giant flowers, bird feeders, pumpkin paintings, and frogs
The oldest class (5+) made: sunflowers, "stained glass" flowers and clay insects and bugs!