Thursday, October 28, 2010

Preschool Theme: Pirates.






This lesson was fun to put together. The kids came in pirate jackets, jammies, socks, and tattoos. We had a fun time.

Circle Time. Each child stood up in the circle, and showed us something they "treasure". They had books, pictures, and a picture of a train. It's cute to see how confident they are now. We did the normal circle time activities, and for our big book today we read Mrs. Muddle Mud-Puddle that had a Halloween theme to it. Here are the words to the "Days of the Week" song we sing every week (sung to the tune of The Addam's Family Theme Song):

There's Sunday, then there's Monday
There's Tuesday, then there's Wednesday
There's Thursday, then there's Friday
And then there's Saturday

clap...clap

Days of the week

clap...clap

Days of the week
Days of the week
Days of the week

clap...clap



Art Time. Ship Mosaics.






Materials Needed:

Thermo Web (you can buy in the scrapbooking section at craft stores)

Something to hold the beans
Picture (from a coloring book or off the internet). Click on image below for this pirate ship.


Dried/colorful beans (got mine from the bins at Sprouts)

Directions
1. Print out picture.
2. Thermo Web is like a sheet of double sided tape. Stick it to the picture and peel off the other side when the kids are ready to go to work.
3. Put the beans out for the kids to "color" to make a mosaic. I used the plastic container the apples come in at Costco. I cut it in half and put half the beans in one side and half in the other (so all the kids could reach wherever they sat at the table).

Academic Time. We counted 10 shells for this sheet the kids colored shells, traced the number 10, and traced their name (I made dashes for their names at the top). Click on the image to print.



We celebrated letter J. Click image to print.



Snack and a Story. We had "Ants on a Log" (raisins on peanut butter stuffed celery). The kids had fun putting their "ants" on top.






Music Time. The kids learned a new song called "Beaver Time" today. The kids took these "pirate swords" (glow sticks) and had sword fights in a dark room and jiggled them around. They loved it (each a dollar at Dollar Tree). Here's a pic I took of them playing in the dark.





Science Experiment.
The kids dropped as many drops of water on the penny as they could. We talked about surface tension.








Games.
Hidden Treasure. I had a zip lock bag full of rice (rice from Sprouts) for each student.



Then, in empty baby food containers, I put some small little objects: dice, bugs, fake coins (for the pirate theme), wooden beads, jacks, and colored beads.




The students took one of each object and put in in their zip lock bag. For their "homefun" this week, the kids are going to gather tiny objects around their house to add. Once they get all the objects, they'll make a list of everything inside and tape it to the back. The kids search for the items in the bag-great for road trips or any time to keep kids busy. The bag can be stapled together or items can be added later if you don't want to seal it.






Physical Fitness. Treasure Hunt. Here are my scary...or silly pirates.















To make a pirate hat, click on the pirate hat image below.





I printed out the template, cut it out, and let the kids color it themselves.




I got large Popsicle sticks and made a super simple version of a treasure hunt. Each stick had a location on one side and a physical activity on the other (like 10 frog jumps). After they did the activity, one student would choose the next stick/location. I saved the last stick and it took us to the "treasure chest" (toy chest). Inside, I had gold covered candy and rings I had made for them. I found ring blanks on line and glued gem looking buttons and brads to them.








Before review time, the kids worked on their pirate scenes with reusable stickers so they can do it again if they want.









Halley brought Halloween goodies she had made for the kids to share. So cute!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Preschool Day 9: Creepy Crawlers.

Self Selected Time. Carleton saw this play table on the side of the road with a sign that said "free" so he added some bolts. The kids love it. We've even had kings and firemen try it out and they love it too.










Circle Time. We talked about items the kids have been testing out to see if they sink or float. We read some bug and Halloween books. There is a cute one that has a bug dance in it. We all did the bug dance together.




Art Time. We attempted to make "worm" bowls out of clay. To make the clay:1 Cup salt, 1 Cup flour, and 1 Cup water. Here's the one my niece, Maddy made (she's 7) I think the kids need at least another year under their belts to try again (or some 1 on 1 help).

My friend Carol, left some insect and other sun catchers that the kids painted.




We made bug antennae out of pipe cleaners, beads, and headbands (from the Dollar Tree)-no glue necessary.




Here are their "bug" faces. Never seen cuter bugs!








4. Academic Time. We celebrated the letter I today...I is for insect. I put together a little sheet of insects for the kids to color from here and added upper and lower case "I"s on the bottom of the sheet. If you want one, let me know and I'll send an email attachment.









I found this darling caterpillar to help the kids celebrate number 9. I put a little glue in each circle. Click on the caterpillar template image below to print it.





I cut up these circles and we glued them all together one at a time. When we were all done, we pointed to the number as we counted out loud. Click on the image below to print.

Snack and a Story. The kids ate and decorated bran muffins. Making them look like some type of bug.







Bran muffins

Ingredients
1 cup Bran Flakes Cereal
1/4 cup Skim Milk
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup melted margarine
2/3 cup mashed ripe banana
1 1/2 tsp. bak
ing powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, soak cereal in milk for 5 min. In a large bowl, combine remaining ingredients, then add cereal mixture. Beat a
t medium speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes). Spoon into greased or paper-lined 12-cup muffin pan, filling cups 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until tops spring back when touched lightly. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan. Yield: 12 muffins.


Music Time. Each child chose a colorful sock to make a worm hand puppet (thanks Carol for the beautiful socks). I wanted to keep the socks, so we just stuck little eyeball stickers that could be taken off once the kids were done. We used our little puppets to sing some bug themed songs I found here.



Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee

I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee, Won't my mama be so proud of me
I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee
Ouch! That bumblebee stung me!

I'm smashing up my baby bumblebee, Won't my mama be so proud of me
I'm smashing up my baby bumble bee
Yuck! It's all over me!

I'm licking up my baby bumblebee, Won't my mama be so proud of me
I'm licking up my baby bumblebee
Ugh I don't feel so good!

Bee Hive

This is my bee hive (put hands together)
(loud) but where are the bees?
Hidden inside where nobody sees
One, two, three, four, five, (raising up fingers)
There they go, off to the trees (point)


Caterpillar Change

There was a little caterpillar crawling all about. (Walk with fingers on arm)
He worked and he worked without a doubt. (Wiggle fingers)
Wrapping himself in a snug cocoon.(Wrap other hand around fingers)
Waiting and waiting, will it be soon? (hold fingers)
Look, he's coming out, my oh my! (raise arms in excitement)
For now he's become a beautiful butterfly (Cross thumbs and flap hands like wings)


The kids had bug wands and black ribbon wands I made for preschool.






Games. I bought some plastic insects from the Dollar Tree. Grant and I hid them and the other kids came back in and collected them in their bug catchers. It's good to practice so the kids know what to do (how to use and open things) before going outside to find the real bugs.







Physical Fitness. Put a soccer ball in the middle of the circle and take turns kicking it to one another.


Science Experiment.We went outside to find real bugs. Every time we go outside we find worms...but not on the day we purposely go out to collect them. I sent them home with their bug collecting kits (also from the Dollar Tree) so they can find more at home.