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.

Leaves/Halloween Week 3

Tuesday's Schedule

Book - Miss Spider

Math - Pumpkin Smash
I made pumpkin cut outs and wrote numbers 1-20 on them.  We laid them on the floor and the kids danced/smashed on them while the music was playing and when the music stopped they stopped on a number and had to name the number.

Phonics - Feed the Monster
I made a little monster out of a cereal box with a hole for his mouth.  I laid out letters (and cvc words for the older kids) to feed the monster.  To feed the monster they had to name the letter or read the word.

Art - Cut a Pumpkin
On orange paper I traced four lines on them.  The kids cut on the lines making five strips of orange paper.  We then stapled the bottoms and tops of the strips together to make a pumpkin.  It was great practice for the kids.  We need to keep working on scissors skills, but they are getting better and better.

Movement - Halloween Scavenger Hunt
On a piece of paper I printed 4 different halloween decorations that people would use to decorate.  We took a walk around the block looking at halloween decorations and every time they saw one of the decorations at a house they could put a sticker next to the picture.  It was fun, the best part is I put a black cat on there and we were not having any luck finding that decoration.  But then a friendly black cat walks out in front of us.  It was just what we needed to have at least one sticker on each halloween decoration:)

Thursday's Schedule

Field Trip to Miracle Ranch Harvest Festival

We roasted marshmallows, ate s'mores, played games, tractor rides, pet farm animals, hay maze, and with friends.  Man we had a blast!  And we got so lucky with the weather the only hour or so of clear skies.

Leaves/Halloween Week 2

Tuesday's Schedule -

Book - There's a Monster at the End of this Book
We talked about Halloween and how it has scary costumes and characters but those things are pretend and for fun.

Math - Halloween Dice Game
I got the idea and free printable page off of Pinterest, http://handsonaswegrow.com/halloween-dice-game-free-printable/.  They had to roll two dice and add the two together (counting the dots) then find that number and mark it off.  The first to mark all the numbers off wins.  It took a long time to mark off all of the numbers so we ended up working together to mark them all off after a while.

Phonics - Roll and Say
I had a paper with leaves on it.  I wrote simple cvc words on it.  This time I had a penny on hand so they dropped a penny and whatever leaf it landed on had to read the word or tell me the beginning letter.  For the older kids they read the word and for the younger they named the first letter.

Art - Ghost
I drew a spiral on white paper.  Then had the kids cut on the line (as well as they could).  After they finished we drew a ghost face on the top.  We need a lot more work with scissors, but they are getting better.  And they loved the ghost it created!

Movement - Roll a Halloween Character
I printed little pictures of 6 different halloween characters then taped them to my large dice.  We took turns rolling the dice and whatever it landed on we had to act out the character.  This was a big hit!  We had a lot of fun being halloween characters (especially vampire for some reason "I want to suck your blood" is hilarious).


Wednesday's Schedule -

Book - My Fairy Adventures

Math - Roll a Jack-o-latern
I cut out different parts of a jack-o-latern.  And each part had a number related to it.  (1- pumpkin, 2 -eye, 3- eye, 4- nose, 5- mouth, 6- nothing).  Each took turns rolling the dice and figuring out what part of the jack-o-lateen they got until they put it all together.

Phonics - Pumpkin Patch
I cut out a pumpkin for each letter.  Laid them on the floor and we were smashing pumpkins.  I called a letter out for each kid to stomp on.  This wasn't working though because the younger ones needed a lot of help while the older ones were getting bored.  So instead I turned on music and had them stomp the pumpkins until I turned off the music and whatever they landed on they had to name the letter.  The older boys had to name the letter, sound it makes, and name a word that starts with the letter.  This was a way better way of doing it.

Art - Spider Web
Before that day I put clear tape on white paper in the shape of a spider web.  I had the kids paint the whole paper and then wiped the paint off of the clear tape.  I also cut out black spiders that they could glue onto their spiderwebs.  This might be one of my favorite crafts we have done.  The kids thought it was so cool that I wiped off the paint and it made a spider web.  Very fun and super cute turn out.

Movement -Spider Web
We sat in a circle and tossed yarn back and forth to each other making sure to always hold onto the yarn.  The kids thought this was cool, but often let go of the yarn making it not work as well.  At the end we laid down the yarn and let them crawl on it like a spiders.

Leaves/Halloween

Tuesday's Schedule -

Book - The Biggest Pumpkin Surprise

Math - Leaf Toss
I cut out leaves and wrote numbers on them.  On the count of three we threw them in the air and tried to catch as many as we could.  They had to name the number on the leaves they caught.  At the end I yelled out a number and they had to find the leaf as fast as they could till all the leaves were picked up off the floor.

Phonics - Leaf Matching
I had cut out leaves with lower case letters on it (a-z).  They had uppercase magnets that they had to match to the leaf.

Art - Leaf Rubbing
We went outside and got three leaves.  Came in and placed them under paper then colored with crayon all over the paper.  This was a little hard for them to cover the whole paper but with some help they did it and thought it was super cool that they could see the leaf afterwards.

Movement - Zoo trip
I had planned to go play in the leaves but decided to do a zoo trip instead, and boy was that fun.

Thursday's Schedule -

Book - A Squirrel Tale...

Math - Roll and Say
I printed out a paper with different leaves on it.  I then wrote numbers on the leaves (1-10).  The kids went and found a pinecone to use.  We rolled the pinecone on the paper and what ever number it landed on they had to name.  We did this until all the numbers had been named.

Phonics - Tree Letter Leaves
I printed an outline of a tree for each kid.  I then wrote upper case letters on the tree (I thought doing all 26 would take too long so I only used letters that look different when they are lower case).  I then printed small leaves on colored paper and wrote lower case letters on them to match the upper case letters on the tree.  They had to glue the leaves onto the tree, matching the upper case to the lower case.

Art - Hand Tree
I traced the kids hands and had them color it in with brown marker.  I then got out paint colors of leaves we would see in fall (yellow, orange, red, green) and q tips.  They made the tree have colorful leaves by dipping the q tip in paint and then on the paper.

Movement - Leaf Soup
We went outside with scissors and bowls.  I told the kids any leaves or grass on the ground they were available to cut up and put in their bowl to make some leaf soup.  They really got into this and it was great scissor practice for them.

Apple/Farm 5 and Leaves/Halloween

Tuesday's Schedule (actually Wednesday due to sickness)

Book - Duck and the Book
We reviewed the purpose of farms.

Math - Number or Oink
I printed 8 pictures of pigs and cut them out and put it in a basket with pieces of paper that has numbers on it (1-20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100).  They each took a turn grabbing out of the basket over their head so they could not see what they were grabbing.  If they grabbed a number then they had to say what it was.  If they grabbed a pig they had to pretend to be a pig and oink.  They thought pretending to be a pig was so funny.

Phonics - Hatching Eggs
I put simple words in Easter eggs.  I hide them and they had to find all of the eggs.  Then we went through each egg opening and reading the word.  They are getting so much better at reading and sounding out.

Art - Paste a Cow
I cut out pieces of a cow and the kids glued it together.

Movement - Milk the Cow
I put milk in a rubber glove and punched a small hole in the fingers using a safety pin.  One kid held the glove up while another squeezed the fingers to get milk to squirt out into a bowl.  This was a huge hit!  They loved this and kept them entertained for quite a while.

Thursday's Schedule

Book - Leaves
We discussed that it is a new month and a new season.  They don't understand seasons very much so we talked about the different seasons and what each would look like.

Math - Leaf Number Stamping
I printed a black and white outline of a tree for each kid.  Then wrote numbers on it (11-20 since that seems to be where we struggle the most).  They got a dauber and marked all of the number that I called out.  We would switch colors for different numbers until all the numbers were stamped.
They actually struggled a little with this and needed a lot of help.

Phonics - Leaf Toss
I had leafs cut out with the letters (upper and lower case) on each one.  I let the kids throw them in the air.  I then called out a letter and they had to get that leaf.  That seemed to simple so we did it another way.  I gave each a handful of leaves and had them throw them and try and catch one.  The one they caught they had to name the letter and think of a word that starts with that letter.

Art - Leaf Collage
On our nature walk we collected leaves of different colors, shapes, and sizes.  We came back and stuck the leaves they found to contact paper.  I then put that up in our window.

Movement - Nature Walk
We went over to the golf course trails and collected leaves.  Always fun to get out and take a walk in the beautiful sunny fall day.