Christmas Week 3

Tuesday's Schedule -

Book - The Penguin Who Couldn't Fly 

Math - Christmas Tree Walk

I printed ten christmas trees out and wrote numbers 1-10 on them.  I laid them on a circle and they walked around while the music played and stopped when the music stopped.  The number they landed on is the number they had to tell me.  We then also danced around and placed the Christmas trees all over the room.  When the music stopped I shouted out a number and they all had to run to that number and put a foot on it.

Phonics - Gingerbread Man Letters

I traced a gingerbread man on brown paper.  I then wrote letters on the gingerbread man in places that frosting would be (eyes, mouth, buttons, feet, and arms).  For the older kids I wrote lowercase letters and for the younger kids I wrote uppercase letters.  I then wrote uppercase letters on round white circle stickers.  The kids had to find the match and place it on the gingerbread man.  So older had to match lower to upper and younger kids had to just match the letters.

Art - Wreaths

I gave the kids a piece of green paper and had them cut it into small pieces.  After that they glued the green pieces to a circle I cut out of cardboard.  Making sure to cover every bit of the brown circle.  Then at the end we added a red bow and red puffy paint to make hollies.  I love how they turned out.

Movement - Ice Cream Trip
The kids have been getting stickers each preschool depending on their behavior.  They filled up their chart so I promised to take them to Blueberries.  So we ventured out together and got some yummy treats.

Thursday's Schedule

Book - Tooth Trouble

Math - How Many Candy Canes?
I bought a couple boxes on candy canes.  The kids had to guess how many candy canes it would take to be as tall as each other.  This was a tough concept to understand, but once they got it.  They loved guessing and then measuring to find out.  Their favorite part was measuring how many candy canes tall I was.

Phonics - Snowball Letter Toss
I have a mat with letters on it and pictures around the outside that start with each letter.  The kids took turns throwing snowballs (cotton balls) and had to name the letter they landed on.  The older kids helped us find the picture that started with that letter.

Art - Gingerbread Men
I bought a gingerbread kit that had gingerbread men, icing, and candy to decorate.

Movement - Cars in Snow
We got shaving cream out and called it snow.  They each grabbed some toy cars and drove the cars through the snow.  A huge hit!

This is my last day of preschool for a while.  I will miss it but excited to have another baby and will eventually get back to it.

Christmas Week 2

Tuesday's Schedule -

Book -
Sadie and the Snowman

Math - Number Christmas Tree
I printed a picture of a Christmas tree that had ornaments on it.  On the ornaments I wrote numbers.  The kids rolled the dice and added the dots together.  Then had to find the number on the tree and color it in with daubers.

Phonics - Snowman Name
I wrote the letter of their names on different circle snowman body.  I laid them out on the floor and they had to find all the letters in their name.  Then take them to the table and put them in the correct order.  We finished by putting the snowman's head and hat on.  I also had them try and write their name next to the letters I wrote.

Art - Melted Snowman
The kids started with white paint and colored their paper.  We added, eyes, hat, carrot, and arms.  It looked like a melted snowman.  Super cute and easy.

Movement - Snowball Toss and Fight
We used cotton balls and tried to toss them into cups.  We then ended by throwing cotton balls in the air and at each other pretending it was snow.

Thursday's Schedule -

Book -
The Snowy Day

Math - Color by Number
Printed out color by numbers and let them choose which one they wanted to do.
http://www.itsybitsyfun.com/christmas-color-by-numbers.html

Phonics - Christmas Light Letters
I printed pictures of black and white christmas lights.  I wrote lower case letters in each bulb.  Then laid uppercase magnet letters on the floor in the living room.  One kid at a time would run and grab a uppercase letter then we all found the lower case and colored it in.  We did this until all our lights were colored in.

Art - Candy Cane Ornament
Red and white beads on pipe cleaners.  Getting the pattern of red and white was hard for the little ones, but still a fun craft.

Movement - What's in the Stocking
I showed the kids 6 different objects before putting one in the stocking.  I hid them under a blanket but choose one to put in the stocking.  They took turns reaching into the stocking (without looking) and use their touch to figure out what object it was.  They really enjoyed it and were quite good at it.

Christmas

Tuesday's Schedule

I have a friend every year that puts together gingerbread house making, she builds the houses, gathers candy, and makes frosting.  So I thought that would be a fun preschool day.

And it was fun!

Thursday's Schedule

Book - The Penguin the Wanted to Fly

Math - Roll a Gingerbread Man
I used this template of a gingerbread man - http://moneysavingmom.com/2010/12/educational-freebies-christmas-preschool-printables.html and gave each part a number 1-6.  They had to roll the numbers to make their gingerbread man.

Phonics - Catch a Gingerbread Man
I printed gingerbread men, wrote letter on each one and a few with cvc words (for the older boys).  I gave each kid a spatula or kitchen utensil to catch the cooking gingerbread men.  They had to use their spatula to pick one up and then name the letter or read the word.

Art - Christmas Ornament Sun Catcher
I cut out circles to look like ornaments and placed them on contact paper.  The kids placed pieces of tissue paper to the ornament.  Then I placed another layer of contact paper on top to keep it in and hung ours in the window.

Movement - Gingerbread Man Hunt
This was a huge hit and my kids have been begging to do it again and again.  Before hand I wrote out hints and placed them in envelope of where the gingerbread man was running to.  I placed the hints throughout the house and also a gingerbread man at the last location with treats.  Finally he got tired of running and they found him with treats.  It was cute to watch them get super excited about the clue and where to find the gingerbread man.

Thanksgiving Week 3&4

Tuesday my kiddos were sick so we had to cancel and the next Thursday is Thanksgiving so we are not doing preschool.  So here is the two preschools we had in the last couple weeks.

Thursday's Schedule -

Book - Thanksgiving Bracelet
On pinterst I found a Thanksgiving story that you make a bracelet while reading it.
http://fun-a-day.com/thanksgiving-story-bracelet/
It was a cute story and making a bracelet was a hit.

Math - Turkey Walk
I printed pictures of turkeys out and put numbers 1-10 on them.  I placed them in a circle on the ground.  The kids walked on the turkeys while the music played and when it stopped they stopped and named the number they were on.  After doing this for a little we also moved the turkeys all over the room.  The kids just danced were ever when the music played and then when it stopped ran to the closes turkey and named what number was on it.  Also a fun activity!

Phonics - Find the Turkey
I had leaves with letters on them.  I laid them out on the floor and hide two turkeys under two of them.   The kids took turns guessing what letter leaf the turkey was under.  They really liked playing this.

Art - Turkey Feathers
I cut out and made turkey bodies for each kid and stuck them to contact paper.  The kids put their feathers and glitter on the turkey (sticking to the contact paper).  They turned out really cute and the kids loved making a mess :)

Movement - Where's the Silly Turkey
I had printed out a silly looking turkey and we took turns hiding the silly turkey.  Hide and seek is a big game at our house.  They loved being the ones that hid the turkey.


Tuesday's Schedule -

Book - Thanksgiving Story
I found a little video on youtube that was cute and explained Thanksgiving.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faUYJ9fMiGg&feature=c4-overview&list=UU5w7NjlGP7JUSK811dQVHVA

We had a Thanksgiving Feast for preschool.  The kids and I worked together to make the meal.
They all had aprons to put on, dressing the part is important.

We started with making chocolate chip cookies.  They were so good at waiting their turn to add an ingredient.  They loved scooping out the cookie dough and placing them on the pan the most.

We then placed rolls in the pans, chopped up bananas, rolled their turkey meat, and opened green beans can.

Then we set the table.  They helped me lay the table cloth out and colored it while everything was baking.

Then we dug in.  A super fun feast and the kids made it all!

Thanksgiving Week 2

Tuesday's Schedule -

Book - The Turkey with the Terrible Temper
http://family-home-fun.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-turkey-with-terrible-temper.html
Printed this out from the website.  The kids really like this book, we can talk about colors, tempers, how to control our temper, and being nice.

Math - Color the Turkey's Feathers
I printed a picture of a turkey and wrote numbers on its feathers.  The little kids rolled one dice and had to find the number they rolled and color it in.  The big kids rolled two dice added the two numbers together and then found that number and colored it in.  I was going to have them go until the first person colored all their feathers but that was taking too long and they were losing interest so after a certain amount of rolls who ever had the most feathers colored won.

Phonics - Match Feathers
I had printed out feathers on different colored paper and on them I wrote lower case letters.  We used my upper case magnet letters to match to the lower case feathers.

Art - Thankful Turkey
I had cut up a paper towel roll into four pieces.  Then glued eyes and beak onto it.  The kids cut out feathers to put on their turkey.  After they cut out the feathers they thought of things they are thankful for and we wrote it on there then put them on our turkey.

Movement  - Parachute
We got the parachute out and played with it.  I put my feathers on it and had them try to get all the feathers off as fast as they could.  Then of course we had to go underneath and play.

Thursday's Schedule -

Book - The Turkey with the Terrible Temper
They named things they were tankful for.

Math - Find the Turkey
I had leaves already cut out with numbers on them 1-20.  I hid a picture of a turkey under one of the leaves.  The kids had to guess what leaf it was under.  They pointed to the leaf and named the number on it.  I then turned it over if the turkey was there then they found it, if not we kept guessing.

Phonics - Letter or Gobble
I put my feathers with letters on it in a basket.  I also put in pictures of turkeys.  The kids reached in the basket without looking and pulled out a piece of paper.  If they pulled out a feather the named the letter (the older kids thought of a word that started with that letter) and if it was a turkey they had to get up and gobble.  Of course they loved the gobbling.

Art - Thankful Wreath
We traced their hands and then cut them out.  The kids glued the hand cut outs to a circle cut out of cardboard.  After they finished they thought of things they are thankful for and we wrote them on their wreath.

Movement - Turkey Pokey
Just like the hokey pokey but with turkey parts, like wing, drumstick, etc...

Thanksgiving

Tuesday's Schedule

Book - If You Give a Moose a Muffin
I don't have any thanksgiving books.  But after we read the book we discussed Thanksgiving.  What it is, why and how we celebrate.  For this month I want to ask the kids each preschool what they are thankful for.  So that we are full of gratitude this month.

Math - Turkey in the Bag
I put numbers 1-20 in a bag along with 10 pictures of turkeys.  The kids reached in the bag and grabbed a piece of paper and either told me what the number was or if it was a turkey they had to run around and gobble like a turkey.  They loved getting the turkey!

Phonics - Feather Hunt
I cut out feathers and put words on them.  Then the kids closed their eyes as I hid them around the room.  They would race to find them all.  Once all was found we sat down and the older kids read the cvc words and the little kids said what the first letter was.

Art -Turkey Hats
I cut out different parts of a turkey for each kid and a headband.  They glued the turkey onto the hat.  Always cute!

Movement - Turkey Race
We made a balloon rocket but added a turkey to it.  We blew up the balloon and watched it rocket to the other side of the room.  So it looked like the turkey was racing.  The kids loved this.  They took turns running the balloon back to me.


Thursday's Schedule

Book -If You Give a Moose a Muffin
We talked about the things they were thankful for making sure to think of something different than what they said last time.

Math - Color by Number
http://simplelivingmama.com/2013/11/thanksgiving-activities-for-kids/
This was real good for them.  The older kids did real well and could do almost all of it by themselves.  The little kids needed guidance but surprised me with how well they got it.

Phonics - Connect the Dots
http://www.cupcakediariesblog.com/2012/11/thanksgiving-activities-for-kids.html
Printed this and we connected the ABC dots.  This was a little hard for even my older kids.

Art - Turkey Puppets
The glued parts of the turkey to a brown bag.  And of course when we were done we had to do a puppet show.

Movement - Duck, Duck, Turkey
Just like duck, duck, goose but with the word turkey instead to match the theme.  Always a go to game.

Leaves/Halloween Week 4

Tuesday's Schedule

Books - The Lie Monster
I found a cute story with a monster cut out to go along with it here - http://mormonmommyblogs.com/2013/04/family-home-evening-lesson-about-honesty.html
It was good to talk about lying and what could happen if we keep lying and choosing bad choices.

Math  - Monster Eyes
I cut out monster shapes in different colors of construction paper.  Got google eyes that were sticky so no glue needed.  The kids pulled a piece of paper out that had a number on it.  The younger kids pulled one number and added eyes to the monster of the number they got.  The older kids pulled two numbers and added them together and then added that number of eyes to their monster.  They really liked doing this.  I only put numbers 1-5.

Phonics - Ghost Hunt
Before preschool I cut out ghost and wrote CVC words on them.  Then taped them all over a couple rooms upstairs.  I gave each kid a flash light and we went on a ghost hunt.  Each took a turn finding a ghost and we all shined our light on it.  The younger kids told me the letter it started with and the older kids read the word.  This was a ton of fun.  Hints that would make it better for next time, give them time to run around and be silly with the flash lights before hand so they get that out.

Art - Mummies
On black paper I traced a shape of a body out with white crayon.  I put pieces of masking tape hanging from the table next to each kid.  I gave them scissors to cut pieces of the tape and then put it on their mummy.  After they covered their mummy I cut out the body shape to make the mummy.  We had a couple extra google eyes so we added that to the mummies as well.  They turned out super cute.

Movement - Mummy Wrap
I got toilet paper out and let the kids wrap each other up.  I put a big mixing spoon through the roll so they can hold onto that and walk around.  Makes it so it doesn't tare as easily.  This was a big hit.  But the best part of it was taring it off of themselves and then playing in the toilet paper on the floor.

Thursday's Schedule

We got together with our friends and had a Halloween party.  And it was a blast!

I have to give a huge shout out to Kathryn for letting us have the party at her house, for being so amazing, and fun.  It was such a good idea and we all had so much fun playing together.