If You Give a Child a Pancake...

Theme: Letter "P"--Pancake Pajama Party

Choosing Time: Puppets, Puzzles, Pop-UP Pete, Princess Castles, Mr. Potato Heads

Lesson: Letter "P" is like a pansy in full bloom. The little "p" is a baby pansy that is still partly "underground."


Snack: Pancakes with choice of syrup, mini-chocolate chips, powdered sugar, or all of the above :) Between both classes we consumed 7 batches of pancakes!
Movement: Fun to Do--using actions that start with the letter "P" such as Playing the Piano, marching in a Parade, pretending to Push/Pull, fly a Plane....We also had a "Pajama Parade." Everyone had a turn to model his/her jammies and then show us a favorite moving way. I have a small trampoline upstairs and each child had a turn to jump for a few minutes alone.

Music: Pizza Hut, A Peanut, Pop-Goes the Weasel, I Like (pancakes, popcorn, peaches, pizza,....) Yes, I Do!

Game: Pig In A Blanket!--This was so fun. One child went out of the room. We chose a child to hide under the Pink Blanket. The child returned to the room and had to guess which child was in the Blanket.

Media: All pajama parties include a movie...We watched a 3-5 minute segment of Sesame Street's Alphabet Jungle. It has some pretty catchy tunes and we had fun dancing along as we watched.

Books: If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff & The 26 Princesses by Dave Horowitz : We all had fun Pretending it was time for bed as we snuggled in our blankets and listened to some "Good Night" Stories.

Octo: Two O's Make 8

Theme: Letter "O"

Choosing Time: Octopus Legs in the Ocean, Ocean in a Bottle, "O" Toss, Ocean Puppet Show, Octo Blocks, Puzzles, Ocean Memory, Tea Party, & Pokemon
Music: 8 Arms Swimming & The Octopus

Movement: Hokey-Pokey, Once There Was A Snowman, Shake the Sillies, Dancing Snowmen, Fun Dancing, & We went ON and OVER

Lesson: We sang a song, "I'm Learning O Today." I showed various pictures of things that begin with "O" such as olive, oval, orange, on,.....We sang about each picture. We practiced drawing O. We practiced saying the 2 "O" sounds. I drew an O and had them say "Octo" with me. We had fun seeing that two letter "O's" make the number 8.

Books:

• Olivia by
• Oliver & the Monsters by Tony Blundell
• Octopuses by Diane Swanson
• Octopus by Lynn M Stone
• Blue-Ringed Octopus: Small but Deadly by Natalie Lunis
  

Art: Octopuses
Math: Fruit Loop Number Book
Science: We learned many things about Octopuses.

1. When there is more than one octopus, you have octopuses or octopi
2. Octopi have 8 arms called tentacles
3. Their mouths are underneath their bodies
4. There are many "suckers" under the tentacles
5. Octopi do not eat people.
6. The Blue-Ringed Octopus is a poisonous one. It is very tiny. It lives near Australia, which is far from us.
7. They can change color and shape
8. They don't have a back bone, but they have large brains, and large eyes
   

AM Snack: Orange Fish Crackers, Orange Fruit Snacks, & Orange Slices

PM Snack: Orange Crackers & Apple Slices

Numbers Not Letters

Thursday, January 20th

Theme: Letter "N"

Choosing Time: Foam Puzzle Blocks, Dominoes, Puzzles, Trio Blocks

Lesson: I had large number flashcards. We reviewed the numbers 1-10 all together. I then shuffled the cards. I had scattered 10 of each number on our table. I chose one flashcard to show them and they all quietly had to go find a match. After each match we sang a song, read a book, or did a movement activity.
Music & Movement: I'm a Nut, 10 Dancing Snowmen, Once There Was A Snowman, A Chubby Little Snowman, 4 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, 3 Little Ducks, 5 Jumping Jacks, Tick Tock It's 8 O'Clock, Pet Snowball, & 2 Blind Mice

Books: No, David! by David Shannon
I strongly recommend this book. ALL of the kids begged me to read it again and again. To be honest for years I avoided ALL the "David" Books because the illustrations on the front did not interest me. I've repented since I met David Shannon and now understand that his illustrations are based on his self-portraits he made of himself as a child :) And, they have sweet endings.
We also read several Nursery Rhymes.

AM Snack: Fruit snacks & Alphabet cereal. We tried to find any "N's" in our cereal.

AM Art: We finished our indoor snowballs. We had so much fun popping the balloons! We were all scared to pop them and then pleasantly surprised when they just fizzled and lightly popped like rice cereal. We also had fun making Letter "N" collages with newspaper, noodles, & numbers.
PM Snack: Thank you Lydia for snack today! Your mom went the extra mile! I am sorry that I've waited too long to post this and now I can't remember...maybe go-gurts? I know it was yummy! Thank you!!!

PM Art: We finished our snowflakes. It was cute to see them wear them home as necklaces :) Hopefully they survived the trip home to hang in a window to admire :)

Winter Fun

Theme: Winter Fun

Choosing Time: Trains, Puzzles, Balloons, Books

AM Art: Sparkling Balloon Snowballs
AM Snack: Granola Bars & Fruit Snacks

AM Game: ABC Bingo with M&M's

AM Science: How will an ice cube melt the fastest? We tested ice cubes in cold water, hot water, dirt, empty cup, & snow. We also tried wrapping ice cubes in tin foil, paper towel, & saran wrap. We all predicted that the ice cube in the HOT water would melt the quickest and it did :) It might surprise you that the second fastest to melt was the one we wrapped in tin foil. The slowest to melt was the ice cube in the empty cup!

PM Art: Q-Tip Snowflakes
PM Snack: Apple Slices, Crackers, & Cheese Sticks

PM Game: Musical Snowflake

PM Science: We observed the ice cubes from the morning class. We helped Miss Jodi to identify which ice cubes were melting the fastest. We also enjoyed making snow cones together. Watching the ice being shaved was exciting! Many of the children exclaimed, "It looks just like snowflakes!"
Music & Movement: Hokey Pokey, Itsy Bitsy Monkey, 10 Dancing Snowmen, Snow is Falling, Once there was a Snowman, If All the Snowflakes, A Chubby Little Snowman (which we had fun making up some new verses!), &
My Pet Snowball
I made myself a snowball
Just as perfect as could be.
I thought I'd keep it as a pet
And let it sleep with me
I gave it some pajamas
And a pillow for its head.
Then, last night it ran away,
But first . . . .it wet the bed!

Book: On A Wintry Morning by Dori Chaconas

Making Snowflakes

Theme: Snowflakes
Choosing Time: Large Brick Blocks, Dinosaurs, Babies, Ponies, Books, Math Games
Art: Snowflake Wands
AM Snack: Mini Muffins, Mandarin Oranges, & M&M's (We are saving the M&M's for Tues to play ABC Bingo...thought it would be fun to do today, but we ran out of time)

PM Snack: Mini Muffins & Orange Circles

Motto for the Day: You get what you get and you don't throw a fit

Circle Time: Our "mailman" delivered a package with some fun things inside. Each object had a corresponding activity...

• Read the book, Stella, Queen of the Snow, by Marie-Louise Gay
  
• Sang, The Itsy Bitsy Monkey
• Made a snowflake wand (practiced using scissors)
  
• Sang, Dancing Snowmen
• Danced with our Snowflake wands to slow music without using our voices

• Sang, Once There Was a Snowman
• Recited, Chubby Little Snowman
• Read, First Snow, by Bernette G. Ford
  
• Read, A Silly Snowy Day, by Michael Coleman

A Special Show 'N Tell: Thank you Jack for bringing pictures and a little movie of you with your new baby sister! She is precious! Wishing your mom & baby lots of health & sending much love!

Monkeys & Masks

Theme: Letter "M"
Choosing Time: Marble Works, Magnets, ABC Letters, Monkeys, Muffin Tin Play, Memory

Math: Counting Muffins Game & Moose Math Matching
AM Snack: Go-Gurts, Animal Crackers, Fruit Roll-ups, Mini-Donuts

PM Snack: Apples & Marshmallows

Show 'N Tell: It was fun to see what everyone brought! We had motorcycles, monkeys, a Mallard Duck, "My" whistle, Microphone, Map, Marshmallows, Monster Pillow, & of course Makaylah :)
We enjoyed looking at the map of Utah and locating Provo. I'm not sure we were all convinced that we can all live on a small dot :)

Music & Movement: We had a "Mailman" deliver some "Mail" with some fun ideas for our music today...

• 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
• Dancing Snowmen
• Itsy Bitsy Monkey
• 10 Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree
• Once There Was a Snowman
• Skidamarinkydinkydink
• Do You Know the Muffin Man?
• Three Blind Mice
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes

Art: Masks
Science: Do all Metal things stick to Magnets?
Book: Mousetrap by Diane Snowball