Grow Me. Grow You.

Preschool Theme: Dinosaurs

Today was such a wonderful and fun day. The kids loved every activity and loved being together. I think dinosaurs are pretty intriguing for kids. Hope you have fun trying some of these things with your kids or students.

Self-Selected time. I try to model everything and do all the activities the kids do. One of the kids missed his mom last week, so I wanted to model free play. I saw how much I impeded their creativity and little bond they have between each other. They all wanted to show me what they made instead of talking to each other and all wanted to make a road just like me. So, I’ve learned that I need to check myself out of self-selected time for the kids to get the greatest benefit.

Circle Time. We read a big book about families today and a book that had pictures of letters taken just on the street called Alphabet City . We always play “The Hokey Pokey” to transition from playing to circle time.

For the kids' "homefun", they each brought a dinosaur fact to share. I'm amazed at how confident they grow each week as they share ideas in front of the group.



Art Time. We colored dinosaur puzzles. I got them from a dollar bin - I think from Target.


We also took noodles or “dinosaur bones/fossils"and glued them to a coloring dinosaur page I printed off the internet (just Google "dinosaur coloring pages"). I got this and a few other ideas from THIS website.




Academic Time. I bought each child a dinosaur workbook for a dollar each at Target. The kids colored a dinosaur and put stickers on the dinosaurs they found in their book.



We traced number 3 in our number workbook again.


Since we celebrated letter C and number 3, I got a foam C and 3 from the kids foam bath toys (they're cool and stick to the tub and bathroom wall). One child would hide the C and 3 and then we would all come out to find them.




Snack and a Story. I read off different flavors of Lara Bars and let the kids choose. I got my last ones from Trader Joe's and these from Sprouts. I love that they hardly have any ingredients-for example, one has "dates, almonds, unsweetened bananas". Great for a snack on the go. My friend, Jill, turned me on to them. Listen to these yummy flavors: Tropical Fruit Tart, Coconut Cream Pie, Chocolate Coconut Chew, Peanut Butter Cookie, Peanut butter and Jelly, Cinnamon Roll, Banana Bread, and Pecan Pie. We have a major road trip starting tomorrow so I bought some for the road too.



I'm loving these tiny books that we can all look at together. I have a dream that some day we will all be on the same page at the same time;)


After snack time, we became "cave men", putting blankets over the table and chairs. I turned off the lights and brought a candle in so we could see.




We looked at different dinosaurs on the computer, their x-rays, facts about them, and played a couple games. Apollo (2 yrs old) has really had fun playing on THIS site.

Music Time. I went HERE for some dinosaur songs.

Dinosaur Song
Youngsters participate by sing and acting out the motions to this dinosaur song by Kay who says, "My older three's loved it".

I'm a Mean Old Dinosaur
(Tune: I'm a little Tea Pot)

I'm a mean old Dinosaur
(Make a mean face, the kids make the cutest mean faces)
Big and Tall
(Gesture hands big and tall )
Here is my tail, here is my claw.
(Gesture hands behind your back for tail and make claw hands)
When I get all hungry
(rub your tummy)
I just growl
(have the kids exaggerate the grrroooowwwlll)
Look out kids I'm on the prowl.
(Here I tickle each one of the tummy and they all giggle)

Comments: I thought this might scare my three's, but they all giggled
and thought it was fun. They went home and taught their parents.

Rhyme: Dinosaurs
Subtracting Numbers

Five enormous dinosaurs
Letting out a roar--
One went away, and
Then there were four.

Four enormous dinosaurs
Crashing down a tree--
One went away, and
Then there were three.

Three enormous dinosaurs
Eating tiger stew--
One went away, and
Then there were two.

Two enormous dinosaurs
Trying to run--
One ran away, and then there was one.

One enormous dinosaur,
Afraid to be a hero--
He went away, and
Then there was zero.

We also sing the song "Slippery Fish" with different sea animals. Each child holds his/hers up when we sing their animal.

Quiet Reading. We bumped up quiet reading to 10 minutes today. Thanks Krista for bringing over the dinosaur books.


Games. Each child played with their 3-D dinosaur puzzle (Dollar Tree goody).





Physical Fitness. We went back and forth outside roaring like dinosaurs, flying like an airplane, and doing other fun things to get from one side to the other. Here are the kids giving me their best dinosaur face.







Science Experiment. The little paleontologists dug for dinosaur bones-got pretty dirty. We talked about carbon dating and how we can figure out old things are if they were once living. I taught this same lesson to my high school kids...a little more in depth. As Apollo was digging, he said "We're digging for fossils and noodles" (noodles because of the pasta noodles we used as dinosaur bones earlier). I had to explain to the group that we were just pretending the pasta were dinosaur bones-hehe so cute.





Review Circle Time. We played a couple games around the mini trampoline. I asked the kids to put their hands in the center if they could say something we did today.

Weekly Letter: Every week I send out a letter with some random thoughts about each child and a list of what we do so they can review with their kids. Carleton is going over the list right now with Apollo-so so awesome to listen to them-a great review and a bonding time.


Annie gets spoiled...again. Annie made brownies and Katie's house. Carleton and I are so happy that Annie gets such great one on one time and gets treated like a star. The purse I sent her off with today was a cute retro one I got in NM for $5.