Cars, Caterpillars, & Colors

Theme: Letter "C"

Choosing Time: Cars, ABC Magnets, Caterpillar Puzzle
Craft: Colorful Caterpillars & Color Box Cars
Music & Movement: "C" is For Cookie & Scat the Cat

Story: I used a puppet to tell my version of The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

Lesson: Letter "C" makes two sounds. It is fun to draw. It is fun to make a "C" shape with our hands and bodies. Many things begin with "C" such as Camel, Cat, Cookie, Cake, Cupcake, Cup, Color, Crayon, Calendar...Letter "C" makes me hungry!

Book: Chicken Soup is Nice by Maurice Sendak

AM Snack: Thank you Makaylah for the yummy snack today! We had cheese sticks, Go-gurts, cheese crackers, and cookies.

PM Snack: Thank you Sam for a fun snack today! We ate fruit snacks and animal crackers.

AM Game: Cookie Bingo & "Car" Races
PM Game: "Who Stole the Cookie From the Cookie Jar?"

Cute Quote of the Day: "I've never been to see animals, only to see Vicious Beasts!" --Jack

Cute Word of the Day: "Here Teacher, a 'Donut' for you." --Byron [Donut=Bead]

Blue & Black Balloons, Balls, & Bubbles!

Theme: Letter "B"

Choosing Time: BIG Brick Blocks, Balloon Bungalow, Books, Boat, & Basketball
Lesson: Letter "B" makes two sounds. We guessed some "B" words from "teacher's" clues. Letter "B" is really fun!

Writing: Practiced writing Letter "B's" in our workbooks.

AM Snack: Thank you Holly for the tasty popcorn and apple juice!

PM Snack: Thank you Susie for the tasty Teddy Grahams & Bananas!

Recess Activity: Blowing Bubbles
Science: Do bubbles come in different shapes?

Math: We made a graph to see how many in each class like bananas and how many like dried bananas (Thank you to the Jacobs for the dried bananas). We counted the totals and then compared them to see which is more popular.

Art: Bubble Painting

Book: The Berenstain Bear's B Book by Stan Berenstain

Movement & Music: Bazooka Bubble Gum, Colors, & Bubbles All Around

A, A, A Apples

Theme: Apples

Choosing Time: Lincoln Logs, Pop-up Pirate, Finger Puppets, Trio Blocks

Music: The Lord's Been Good To Me, You Are My Apple, & Way Up High In the Apple Tree

Letter Game: I passed out a unique letter "a" to each child. As they "hid" on their tummies, I hid apples with corresponding "a's" throughout the classroom. We took turns to find the matching apples. We all really enjoyed this. Thank you Byron for bringing some apples for our game!
Snack: Lydia was a super "Helping Hand" today! Thank you for the yummy apples and grapes!
We all love crisp apples. We talked about other ways we like to eat apples: applesauce, crisp, dipped in caramel, pie.....We talked about how apples are used for many things.

Science: We looked at several apples. We noticed some worm holes. I cut a couple of apples up to see the worms and count the seeds. I cut one apple horizontally to see the star shape inside. We each took an apple seed to put on a wet paper towel. We hung them up on the window and will watch to see what happens.

Mini-Lesson: I told them the true story of Johnny Appleseed.

Craft: Apple "Worm" Lace Cards
Movement: Criss-Cross Applesauce
We tried many different ways we can "Criss-Cross."

Game: Pass the Apple
We passed an apple around while listening to some fun music. When the music stopped, the child with the apple, went to sit in the middle....

Book: Apple Trouble by Ragnhild Scamell

Apples

Theme: Apples

Choosing Time: Hi-Ho "Apple"-O!, Counting Apples, Pick An Apple, MarbleWorks, Lincoln Logs

Music & Movement: Criss-Cross Applesauce

Safety Minute: Some basic rules for when we go out on a walk or field-trip: Stay Together, No Running, & Do Not go in the Street.

Outdoor Excursion: We walked around the corner to find 2 apple trees. Everyone picked an apple. We also noticed an amazing spider's web still wet with water droplets. All of the children found it extraordinary and lovely.

Snack: Rafter was an amazing "Helping Hand" today! Thank you for the yummy apple snacks! We enjoyed the apple fruit roll-ups, apple juice, applesauce, and Apple Jacks.

Science: We looked at the apples we collected. Some were small, while others were big. We noticed how some apples had bruises and some had worm holes. We cut one apple open and saw how the worms were living inside. We guessed how many seeds would be in each apple. I'd heard that there would be the same number in each apple. We didn't find this to be true. Two apples had 10 seeds, one had 9, and one had 8. We had fun trying to stick the apple seeds onto our cheeks. We tasted the green apples and liked them. We took 3 apple seeds and put them into a plastic bag. We will watch to see what happens...

Art: Apple Puzzles: We practiced coloring in our "best" way. We then practiced using scissors to cut the apple out and then into pieces.

Book: Apple Trouble by Ragnhild Scamell

Game: "Pass the Apple"
As the music played we'd pass an apple around in a circle. When the music stopped, the child with the apple went in the middle.

Ants & Alligators

Theme: Letter "A"

Choosing Time: Duplos, Trains, ABC Puzzle, Animals, Puppets, Pokemon

Music: 5 Little Monkeys Swinging on a Tree, ABC Coconut Song, Donkey Song, Alligator Finger-play, The Ants Go Marching

Movement: Criss-Cross Applesauce & Flying Like Airplanes to the Air Force Song

Books: Max's ABC's by Rosemary Wells & Hush Little Alien by Daniel Kirk

Lesson: We met Letter "A". It makes 2 sounds. We had fun making the sounds throughout the day. We played a game: Apple Picking. If the picked apple had an "A" associated with the picture, it went into the "A" basket, if not, it went into the unmarked basket.

Writing: We received our writing books today. We practiced making Upper Case A's.

Science: We opened our coconut. We tasted some. It wasn't tasty. We tried some bagged coconut. It was yummy. We noticed that the outside of the coconut was hard and rough but the inside is smooth and soft. It smelled nice. Miss Jodi thinks the coconut was rotten...oops!

AM Snack: Pretzels & Alphabet Cereal
I gave each child a handful of cereal. Each child sorted all of the A's out. We counted how many A's we found.

PM Snack: Thank you Van! We all loved the fruit snacks & carrots!
I gave each child a handful of cereal. Each child sorted all of the A's out. We counted how many A's we found.

AM Art: Alligator A's

PM Art: Letter "A" Collage (It was a great activity to practice cutting & gluing!)

ABC--Join me in the Coconut Tree!

Theme: Alphabet

Choosing Time: Potato Heads, Blocks, Animals, Magnetic ABC's, Writing Practice, ABC Laundry (We sorted our alphabet laundry and matched it with a corresponding clothespin to hang up on the clothesline), & "Our Friends" Memory

Science: We touched, smelled, and shook a coconut. We used many great adjectives to describe our experience. We listened to the sloshing sound it made and some guessed that water may be inside. Next week we will open it to find out!

Snack: Thank you Byron for a fun snack today! Byron and his Mom choose to highlight the Letter "O." We enjoyed the Oreos and Oranges!

Music & Movement:

• ABC's
• ABC's in the Coconut Tree (We learned a fun new ABC song. I would sing and we all danced. When the song finished I called out an alphabet letter and then we made that letter with our bodies)

ABCDE I'm in the jungle in a coconut tree
FGHIJ Do you want to come and play?
KLMNOPQ I will bring a friend or two
RSTUV A zebra and a chimpanzee
WXYZ We'll play until it's time for bed (I sing "sleep")

• Clap the Crazies...(We clapped the crazies, skipped the skitters, jumped the jiggles, shook the sillies, ran the rowdies, and twirled the twisties)

Book: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault

Art: "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" Coconut Alphabet Trees
Game: Alphabet Bingo

Alphabet

Theme: Alphabet

Choosing Time: ABC Magnets, Safari Gears, Animals, ABC Puzzle, Writing ABC's, ABC Fishing Game, Pegboards

Music: Traditional ABC Song, Wheels On the Bus, Donut Song, Donkey Song, &
Coconut ABC Song:
ABCDE I'm in the jungle in a coconut tree
FGHIJ Do you want to come and play?
KLMNOPQ I will bring a friend or two
RSTUV A zebra and a chimpanzee
WXYZ We'll play until it's time for bed (I sing "sleep")

Snack: Thank you Noah for being a super helping hand today! We loved the BIG Fruit Snacks & Goldfish Crackers :)

Lesson: We talked about the alphabet: Letter Names & Sounds. We played a game with the 26 letters. It was similar to "Musical Chairs." When the music stopped I called out a letter & the child standing on it put it in a bucket.

Book: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin & John Archambault

Art: Coconut Name Trees

Writing/Reading: We found our name plates. We searched for ABC stickers that matched the ABC's in our names.

Friendship

Theme: Friendship

Choosing Time: Identify Pictures on our Trees, Little People Village & "Our" Friends Matching Game
Art: Friendship Rainbow: Both Classes worked together to paint a rainbow!
AM Class also painted their Stars.
Recess Game: "New Friend, What Time is It?" We had so much playing this game together! We practiced using one another's names, counting, and running :) Some of us figured out that if we wanted to be "it" we just had to slow down and get tagged.
AM Snack: Thank you Dani for bringing a "harvest feast" for us to share! We loved our strawberries, donuts, and nerd ropes.PM Snack: Thank you June for sharing popcorn and apple slices with us today! Yum!

Music & Movement: Donut Song, Count to Five, Will You Be My Friend Today? (We sang this while playing "London Bridges")

Lesson: We read the book, Do You Want to be my Friend? As a tiny mouse approached a tail to ask for friendship, your kiddos helped guess what animal might belong to each tale. Everyone giggled when we were wrong. We all helped me use a small and squeaky voice to ask, "Do You Want to be My Friend?" We discussed which animals would make a good friend for the mouse and which ones wouldn't. For example, a lion would not make a good friend because he would eat the mouse. Finally, the mouse finds another mouse to be his friend. It is good to have a friend.

Books: Do You Want to be My Friend? by Eric Carle
My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann

Science: We learned how to harvest sunflower seeds. We pulled apart a "dead" sunflower and gathered the seeds. We learned that birds like to eat the seeds off the dead flowers. Some of us tasted the seeds. We decided the birds can keep the seeds for themselves.

I'm A Shining Super Star!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Theme: I Am A Shining Super Star!

Choosing Time: Trio Blocks, Puzzles, Duplos, Foam Puzzle Blocks, Dr. Kit
We are beginning to form friendships and work together to solve problems. It is so fun to watch!


Lesson: We looked inside Miss Jodi's Magic Box to see an amazing shining star. Each child is an amazing shining super star! We reviewed our class rules.

Snack: Thank you Grace for a yummy snack today! We ate Teddy Grahams, grapes, and crackers. Yum! Grace did a super job passing out our napkins. Everyone is anticipating his/her turn at being our "Helping Hand."
Music & Movement: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star & Ring-Around-the-Roses

Book: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star by Sylvia Long

Activity: Play-doh
Art: Shining Super Star Medals