Gratitude Week 3

Mondays Schedule - Thankful for our Homes

Book - Children Around the World
We picked a couple kids out of the book and read about how they live their lives.  Most where from different countries and had different things than we have.  We discussed that not everyone has a house like us and live the same way we do.

Movement - Three Little Pigs
I told the story of the three little pigs and let the kids help build the houses out of straw (tooth picks), sticks (Q tips), and bricks (blocks).  Then I pretended to be the big bad wolf and blow the houses down.  At the end I let them each build their own house out of bricks.  They really enjoyed this activity and we did it over and over again.

Alphabet/Writing - White Boards
We bought little white wipe off boards and have not really used them so I decided to get them out.  We went through letters A-H (just capitals)  I demonstrated how to write the letter and they did their best to copy what I did.  I was quit impressed with how well they did and how much they enjoyed it.  Then we worked on writing their names.

Art/Craft - Homes
Prior to preschool I wrapped cereal boxes in white paper.  The kids got to color their house whatever color they wanted.  Then glue on windows, door, and a chimney.

Game - Doll House
I got our doll house set out and let them pretend play with that.  They played so well with them.  It was nice to sit back and watch them interact with each other and pretend play.


Wednesdays Schedule - Thanksgiving

Book - Turkey with a Terrible Temper

Movement - Outside Play
It was a beautiful day outside so we bundled the kids up and let them run around outside for a little.

Alphabet - Turkey or Letter
In a basket I put pieces of paper with letters on them and a few with pictures of a turkey on them.  The kids took turns picking a piece of paper.  If they got a letter they had to name it and make its sound.  If they got a turkey they had to run around the room gobbling like a turkey.  They loved this game!

Art/Craft - Q tip Leaves
I printed a picture of a bare tree and the kids used Q tips to paint the leaves on.

Game - Matching
Color matching game we own.  Great to work on taking turns, following rules, and matching colors.

Gratitude Week 2

Monday's Schedule - I am Thankful for my Body

Book -  Hand Hand Fingers Thumb

Alphabet - Lower/Upper Case Match
I found cute matching alphabet cut outs that they kids could match.  I laid all the lower cases letters on the floor and one at a time we picked an upper case letter they told me what it was a what sound it made.  Then one kid at a time would find the lower case match.  Here is where I got the cut outs - http://www.2teachingmommies.com/2011/08/my-body.html

Movement - Just Dance
We talked about different ways we can take care of our bodies.  Exercise being one of them.  I let them know that we can get up, move, and get our hearts going.  One way (that is my favorite way) is dancing.  So we put in Just Dance found some simple kidish songs and danced to them.  We had so so so much fun!

Arts/Craft - Trace Bodies
Each kid laid down and I traced their body.  Then we talked the different parts of our body (mostly face) that we could add to the picture.  They drew the faces in and then colored clothes on them.  It went great.  They LOVED tracing their bodies and adding the features.

Game - Simon Says
This was there first time playing and had a hard time understanding that they only move when Simon says.  But did pretty good for the first time and quite enjoyed the game.

Wednesday's Schedule - Field Trip to the Kids Museum

A fun field trip!  And a great place.  I am sure we will be going back there.

Gratitude

Monday's Schedule - I am Thankful for Food

Book -  Mickey's Lost Muffins
I really wanted to read When You Give a Moose a Muffin, but could not find it.

Number - Sandwich Making
My SIL found a cute game where you roll a dice and build a sandwich.  Here is the website - http://www.prekinders.com/sandwich-shop-math/.  The kids really enjoyed it and they got to practice number recognition.  I wrote the numbers on a dice that they rolled.

Movement - Baking Muffins
The kids took turns adding ingredients, mixing, and scooping.  It was so much fun to bake with them and even make a mess.  They loved baking and its great activity for them to learn so much.  And then we got to munch on the muffins for snack later.

Art/Craft - Food Collage
I cut out food from magazines before hand.  Then the kids choose from the different pictures and glued them onto a plate.  Simple and fun.

Game -  Kitchen Play
I brought our pretend kitchen down stairs and they pretended to cook for each other.  This was so cute to sit back and watch.  Pretend play is always a great way for them to learn.

Wednesday's Schedule - Thankful for Animals

Trip to the Bug Museum

We had a fun morning visiting the local bug museum and exploring the bugs and reptiles.

Last of Fall/Halloween

Mondays Schedule

Books - The Biggest Pumpkin surprise Ever
I finally got a couple Halloween books:)

Movement -Mummies and Ghost Rockets
The kids were given toilet paper and we took turns wrapping each other up.  It was so much fun!  Then they played in the scraps for a while.
I aslo blew up white balloons and drew faces on them.  Then taped a cut straw to the bottom.  Strung yarn across the room.  Threaded the yarn throw the straw and let go of the ballon.  The kids loved watching the ghost go!  After a few times doing that.  I just blew up their balloons and let them play.  A fun morning!

Numbers - Pumpkin Seed Counting
Each kid was given two pictures of a pumpkin.  they took turns rolling the dice.  They named what number it landed on and then glued that many pumpkin seeds to their pumpkins.  We did this until we ran out of pumpkin seeds.

Arts/Craft - Candy Corn and Spiders
I cut out small pieces of paper colors - yellow, orange and white.  Beforehand I drew a shape of a candy corn on black paper.  Then had them fill in the different levels with the different colors to make it look like a candy corn.
I also wanted to make spiders.  The kids stamped their hands in black ink and I helped them stamp on paper so it looked like a spider.  Then I let them add as many goggly eyes as they wanted.

Game - Glow in the Dark Ring Toss
I got glow in the dark necklaces.  We pulled them out and went up to Clifton's dark room.  And tossed  them onto a cone.  The kids LOVED this one.

Wednesdays Schedule -

Books - Max and Ruby Halloween

Movement - Pumpkin or Ghost
Had a bag filled with paper pumpkins that have letters on them but a few had a picture of a ghost. We sat in a circle and took turns pulling out a paper. If it was a letter then they had to make the sound of that letter. If it was a ghost they pretended to be ghosts as they danced around their chairs and then sat back down. Clifton didn't want this game to stop.

Numbers - Monster Guts
 I had a bowl with noodles, grapes, and numbers mixed in it. I taped a monster face to the top of the bowl. They had to reach in the monsters mouth and pull out a number. Then would jump that many times. The grape eye balls were their favorite part.

Arts/Craft - Frankenstein Sun Catchers
Kathryn cut out Frankenstein on contact paper beforehand.  The kids covered the contact paper with green tissue paper.  They turned out super cute!

Game - Duck, Duck, Goose

Fall/Halloween Week 2

Monday's Schedule

Book - Caps for Sale (realizing I don't have many Fall books)

Movement - Leaf Sorting
I found a cute leaf size sorting activity online at www.homeschoolcreations.com.  I laid the words small, medium, and large on the floor.  They had different size leaves that they had to determine if they were small, medium, or large.  They had to place the size leafs under the words.

Alphabet - Apple Pick
I found pictures of apples online and printed 26 of them.  I then wrote lower and upper case letters on each leaf.  Beforehand I taped each leaf to the tree we had out front.  I gave each kid a basket and they got to go pick the apples from the tree.  When we were finished picking we went over what letter apples they picked.  The kids really liked this one.

Arts/Craft -  Handprint Tree
One at a time (the others were looking at books) I painted the kids hands and they made prints to make a tree.  I think they turned out real cute and the kids loved the fact that I painted their hands.  They were really good at waiting their turns as well.

Game - Sorting
I found a sorting leaves and apples online at www.homeschoolcreations.com.  I cut out the apples and leaves before and they glued them to were they should go.  A fun activity.

Wednesday's Schedule

Book - No book because we had a field trip!

Movement - Corn Maze
We spent the morning at the corn maze wondering around and exploring.  It was a lot of fun!

Numbers - Counting Candy Corn
On a piece if paper Kathryn put numbers the kids had to count that many candy corns and put them on that number.

Arts/Craft - Ghost
Kathryn cut out card stock of a ghost before hand and had the kids glue cotton balls to the ghost Also put on eyes and a mouth after gluing the cotton balls.

Game - Hi-Ho Cherry-O
A good game to work on counting, fine motor skills, and taking turns.

Fall/Halloween Week 4

Mondays Schedule -

Book - Shapes Shapes Shapes (realizing I don't have any halloween books)
The kids raised their hands when they found shapes in the pictures on each page.  They really liked the book and having to find the shapes.

Movement - Hammering Pumpkin
I had a pumpkin set up for the kids to hammer nails into.  I decided we should take turns hammering nails (with a plastic hammer).  I also had goggles that i thought would be fun for the kids and funny for me that the kids could wear if they wanted and of course they wanted to.  They waited so patiently as we took turns.  They really liked it.  And at the end it made for a cute decoration!

Numbers - Pumpkin Hunt
I hid pictures of pumpkins around the room that had numbers on them.  I told the kids i needed help hunting for my pumpkins but need to find them in order.  So we started at 1 and went to 10 until they found them all.

Arts/Craft - Stamping
I cut out some potato stamps and also used cookie cutters.  The kids put them in paint and then stamped them on paper.

Game - Pumpkin Walk
I laid the same pumpkins I hid around the room on the floor in a circle.  Each started on a pumpkin.  When I turned on the music they walked on the pumpkins in a circle until the music stopped.  When they stopped they had to tell me what number was on the pumpkin they were standing on.  They loved this activity!

Wednesdays Schedule -

Book - How the Monster Lost His Mean.  
This is my new favorite book about how a monster lost his Monster friends because he was mean but gained great little kid friend which made him happy. We talked about being nice to our friends.

Movement - Feed the Monster
They kids used straws to blow candy into the monsters mouth.  They really enjoyed this activity.

Alphabet - Magic Potion
Each got a pile of magnetic letters. I had cups of vinegar and spoons with food coloring the same as the letters hiding under baking soda. They took turn mixing the baking soda/food coloring mixture into the vinegar to discover which color it had on it. They watched the reaction and then had to find their magnets of that color and match them on the cookie sheet with the alphabet on it.

Arts/Craft - Monster Puppets
Using brown paper sacks the kids glues on different shapes to make a monster.

Game - Roll the Dice
Rolled a color on the dice and then did what the card of that color said. Great at learning to enforcing how to take turns. Also good for following directions and simple steps.

Fall/Halloween Week 3

Monday's Schedule

Book - Cat

Movement - Leaf Window
The kids went outside and found leafs.  We then placed them on contact paper.  And then laid a layer of contact paper over that.  And they placed them in the windows to make cute leaf sun catchers.

Alphabet - Alphabet Monster
I made a monster out of a card board box.  Then I explained to the kids that the monster is so hungry but he only eats letters.  So he needs help eating.  I still had leaves with letters on them so we used those and alphabet magnets.  They had to name the letter before feeding him or else he would spit it back out.  And we worked on what sound the letter made as well.  Something we need to work a little bit more on.  This activity was a huge hit.  They loved the monster and wanted to play for ever!

Art/Craft - Monsters
I taped goggly eyes to paper.  I gave the kids a marker and the went to town making monsters around the eyes.  They loved this one and it was such a simple no messy craft.  Big success!

Game - Halloween Scavenger Hunt
Before hand I printed a piece of paper with pictures of things we see at halloween like black cat, pumpkin, ghost, skeleton, etc...  We went on a walk around our neighborhood.  Every time they say something that was on that piece of paper they were given a sticker to place next to what they found.  I enjoyed getting out and seeing the decorations and the kids loved pointing out what they say. Pumpkins got the most stickers:)

Wednesday's Schedule


Book - Stelluluna

Movement - Hung Upside Down
They practiced hanging upside down like a bat does.  Kathryn would hold onto their ankles while they did that.

Alphabet - Alphabet Dots
Kathryn went over the letters A-H and their sounds.  She made a piece of paper with 3 of each letter on it.  They would pick a letter and then had to dot with a marker on the paper.  This was a good activity for them to match letter to sound and look.

Art/Craft - Apple Prints
Kathryn cut apples in half and let the kids stamp the apples into paint and then onto paper.  The kids thought it was cool to paint with apples.

Game - Bat Counting
Kathryn hung bats from he ceiling before hand.  She had the kids pick a number and they had to run around looking for the bat that had that number on it.  They had to jump up and grab the bat.

Ocean Week 4

Monday's Schedule - Jelly Fish

Book- Poke A Dot Fish
The kids loved this book.  It required popping little bubbles.

Movement - Animal Dance
The picked a sea animal out of the bag and danced like that animal until the music stopped.  They love dancing!

Alphabet - Letter Run
There were letters at the other side of the room.  Then a bag of letters.  They picked a letter out practiced the sound it made.  Then when we said go they would run to match the letter to a letter at the other side of the room.  They loved this game and love running.  It was a big hit and they did not want to stop!

Arts/Crafts - Jelly Fish
Use a bowl and glue streamers onto the inside.  Then glue and glitter the bottom of the bowl.  And add goggly eyes.

Game- Do A Dot Jelly Fish
Use daubers and filled in the dots of a jelly fish.

Wednesday's Schedule - Pirate Day

Book - I can't remember:/  But I remember I did not have a book about pirates:(

Movement - Treasure Hunt
Each kid got a map that have five circle on it.  They had to solve 5 different (simple clues) and put stickers on the circles.  Once they filled it up they got to X marks the spot where treasure (aka candy) was hidden.  they loved loved loved this.  And I had a blast making clues and finding the treasure with them.

Alphabet - Buried Treasure
I brought some sand in and put it in a big storage container.  I hid coins (pennies, nickels and a few quarters), and letter.  They had to dig to find all the letters.  Once they found a letter they had to match it to a metal pan that had letters on it.  They really enjoyed this.  The loved the coins and thought it was so cool.  They tried to find all the coins first before finding letters:)

Arts/Crafts - Hook and Flag
I made a hook out of tin foil and plastic cup.  They kids decorated it with stickers.  I also put together a small flag that they decorated with stickers.

Game - Pretend Pirates
I aslo made a eye patch for each kid.  So at the end of all this fun they wore their eye patch and hook and carried their flag.  They could have ran around for hours.  It was a fun day!

Ocean Week 3

Mondays Schedule - Fish

Book - 1 Fish 2 Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

Movement - Shape Puzzles
Kathryn has a puzzle that has fishes on it and you have to fish for the fishes.  On the bottom of the fish she cut out different shapes.  When they got a fish they had to name the shape and match the shape to the shapes on the window.  The really liked this one.

Numbers -
Take pipe cleaners.  On the top tape a piece of paper with a number on it.  Then have them place beads on the pipe cleaner.  Have them place the number of beads to match the number on the paper.

Arts/craft - Fish
The kids painted the back of paper plates.  Then they got to glue on the tail and eyes.

Wednesdays Schedule -

Book - Animals that Live in the Sea by National Geographic Society
This book had lots of words but we spent that time looking at the pictures and naming the animals we say and reading a little about each animal.  The enjoyed seeing new and different kinds of animals.

Movement - Sea Animal Cake Walk
I found cute sea animal action cards on this website http://www.toddlerapproved.com/2010/07/ocean-animal-movements.html .  On the website it had lots of ideas of what you could do.  I decided to do a cake walk kind of game.  I put them in a circle and played music and the kids walked around the circle. When the music stopped the stopped on animal they were on or near.  Then they had to do the action that animal does.  They LOVED this and never wanted to stop.

Numbers -
I found measuring sea animal worksheet on this website http://www.2teachingmommies.com/2011/08/oceans-updated.html .  We used goldfish to measure how big each animal was.  Then we counted how many goldfish there were.  They did real well at this one.  Also on that website they had counting cards.  You circle the number that matches how many animals there were.  This one was great for them because they can count well and need to work on matching the number to what the number looks like.

Arts/Craft - Starfish
I cut out big stars before hand.  I had them glue the star fish to blue paper.  They then put glue on top of the star fish and each took a turn sprinkling sand on top of the glue.  They turned out super cute and the kids loved that we used sand.  I did have to explain that we are using sand inside for this activity but that does not mean we bring sand inside any other time.

Game -
I used the same sea animal action cards from the movement activity.  I gave each kid three animals.  I then drew animals out of the hat.  The person who had that animal would stand up and bring it to me.  The person who ran out of animals first won.  We just played till everyone was out of animals.  They really enjoyed this simple game:)

Ocean Week 2

Mondays Schedule

Book - My Very Own Octopus  (read on youtube)

Movement and Numbers - Fishing for Numbers
The kids were giving fishing poles with magnets on the end.  the would fish for numbers.  When they got one they matched the number to the numbers on a poster board.

Arts/craft - Octopus
Cut the legs on the octopus and put "dots" on their legs representing suction cups.  They watched a video of an octopus and talked about how they used their legs and suction cups on their legs.

Game - Cutting
They cut up pieces of paper.  The kids loved this.  Simple but fun:)

Wednesday Schedule -

Book - The Playful Dolphin by National Geographic Society
This book has a lot of words so we did not read a lot of it, but mostly looked at all the pictures and talked about what was going on in the pictures.  The kids really enjoyed looking at the pictures and learning a little about dolphins (and I enjoyed sharing my love for dolphins with them).

Movement - Crab Racing
My kids love racing do this was perfect for them.  They struggled with crawling like a crab but enjoyed it any way and laughed every time they feel down.  We would race from one side of the yard to the other.  They could have done this for hours!

Numbers - Puzzle and Counting Cards
I found a picture you cut into strips and have a number at the bottom at this website http://www.2teachingmommies.com/2011/08/oceans-updated.html .  They helped me put the puzzle together and helped count and make sure they were in order.  This was a little over their heads but good for them.
We also laid number cards that I found on the same website above.  I wanted to use fish but we at them all so we used raisins.  They helped me count out how many raisins should go on in each number card. They did great at counting but still do not recognize their numbers yet.

Art/crafts - Shells
We collected shells on the bay last wednesday.  I kept them and cleaned them out.  For crafts today they choose a few shells they wanted and painted them.  Then we glued eyes on the shells that where whole.  They turned out super cute and the kids loved it.

Game - Bay Trip
It was another beautiful day in Washington so we so went the rest of the afternoon on the bay exploring:)

Ocean

We started a new theme for this month, oceans!

Monday Schedule

Book - By the Seashore by Maurice Pledger
The kids loved looking at each page and telling me the different animals they see that live in the ocean. They were so excited and anxious to tell me that I had to make them raise their hand and wait until they were called on.  Which actually turned into a great lesson on patience and taking turns.  After we read the book we watched a powerpoint the ABC'S of the ocean.  They loved it.  I found the powerpoint on this website - http://homeschoolcreations.com/oceanpreschoolpack.html

Movement -
We talked about the different animals we saw in the book we read and in the power point (or movie as they called it) we saw.  They then acted out the different animals they saw.

Numbers - Graph chart
I found a cute activity on this website - http://homeschoolcreations.com/oceanpreschoolpack.html
At the bottom of the chart there were pictures of ocean animals and on the side there were numbers for each row.  I printed pictures of the different ocean animals that were at the bottom of the chart and taped them on a dice.  They rolled the dice and the animal it landed on they had to find on their chart and put a fruit loop on.  Once they got to the number five of one of the animals they won.  They did really well at this game.  Waited their turn, matched the animals, and recognized numbers.  It was a fun activity!

Art/Craft - Fish Hand Prints
I let them paint blue onto paper to make the ocean.  Once they were done I let them choose a color they wanted their fish (Baylee choose first and choose pink so they boys followed her example).  I painted their hands and let them make a hand print.  After it dried I added the eyes and mouth for final touches. My kids love getting paint on their hands and making hand prints.  So this was a fun activity for us.

Game/Worksheet -
This is a skill that needs more attention.  They have a hard time controlling their hand movement so doing tracing is great for them.  I found a worksheet where fish need to go to their home and they have to trace the line to their home.  I found the worksheet here -http://homeschoolcreations.com/oceanpreschoolpack.html


Wednesday's Schedule -

Book  and Movement- Wiggle!  Like An Octopus
My kids love this book because it requires them to act out the animals and be silly.

Movement - Beach Exploring
At the end of all the activities we pack the car up and drove down to the bay.  It was low tide so they kids got to explore and find shells and look for crabs under rocks.  My favorite part of the day!  They loved exploring.  It is so great for them.

We found a couple small little crabs:)

Alphabet - Matching Fish
Before hand cut out big fish and put uppercase on them and then cut out little fish and put lowercase letters on them.  I laid the Mommy fish out (the big ones/uppercase).  Then explained that the baby fish need to find their mommy fish.  So we started matching them the lowercase letters to the uppercase.  This took us a while since my kids have not worked much with lowercase letters.  It was good for them though.

Sorting - Ocean animals
I found a cute idea on this website - http://homeschoolcreations.com/oceanpreschoolpack.html
I cut the animals out before hand.  I then had them glue the animals on the correct side of the paper.  One side was for animals that live in the ocean and the others that do not live in the ocean.  I thought I would have to help them out a lot on this project.  But they totally got it and put all the animals on the correct side by themselves.  I was very proud of them:)

Art/Craft -
I let them choose a picture of an ocean animal coloring page.  And they colored it.  Then I was going to let them cut it out or a circle around it.  I have not let Clifton really explore with scissors so that was expecting too much.  However they were having a blast cutting so they cut for a while.  It was great for them to work with scissors.  Something I think I need to let them do more often.

Game - Fishing
I pulled the fishing game out.  A much loved game at our house.  We played for a good amount of time and had a blast talking about what color fish they caught and how many they caught.  It was fun!