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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Bears, Bears, Bears

To kick off preschool we did 3 straight weeks about bears. Our first week focused on a true family favorite "We're Going on a Bear Hunt", the second week we transitioned into "Blueberries for Sal", and the third week we finished off with "Brown Bear, Brown Bear"

*=OPEN ACTIVITY (These are activities that we do together the first time [or first couple of times] but then they are left out to enjoy whenever the kids want to go back to them, since they can be done alone)


Week 1- We're Going on A Bear Hunt

Art/Cooking: We made chocolate pudding "mud" and served it with teddy graham "bears"

Fine Motor/Pre-Writing: We worked on pencil skills and did a tracing activity, following the "path" thru the places in the book.

*Math/Science: We talked about size and put printed pictures of bears in order from littlest to biggest.

*Storytelling: We made felt story sequencing squares and reenacted the book.

Plain Fun: We watched THIS wonderful video of author telling the story. Over and over.

Bonus Books: You and Me, Little Bear by Martin Waddell and Goldilocks and the Three Bears


Week 2- Blueberries for Sal

*Art/Cooking: We used bingo dobbers, scissors, and glue to make "blueberry pie".

*Fine Motor/Pre-Writing: We used tweasers to pick up and move blue (blueberry) buttons.

Math/Science: We talked about direction words and played a "where is little bear game" in which Zeke had to put a printed little bear where I said on the scene (example: Little bear is above the stump). Then we played "where is Zeke" in which Zeke had to go where I said (example: Zeke is beside the couch).

*We worked on number recognition and counting playing a "blueberries in the pail" game.

We also played Hi-Ho-Cherry-O.

Bonus Books: Jamberry by Bruce Degen and The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood


Week 3- Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Art/Cooking: We made and colored our own Brown Bear book.

Fine Motor/Pre-Writing: We played "I spy" games with our magnet letters. (example, "Mommy Bear Mommy Bear What do you see?" "I see the Letter C looking at me!"

*Math/Science: We played a heads and tails matching game.

*Story Telling: We reenacted the book with felt board animals.

Bonus Books: Where Does the Brown Bear Go? by Nicki Weiss and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Eric Carl



Thursday, April 21, 2011

Reverse Painting

A fun take on painting is to finger paint right onto the table. Yes, its messy.

But its also fun.

Just spread a good amount of paint out, and then draw your finger (or any other tool) thru the paint.

And if you decide you want to keep your masterpiece simply lay a piece of paper over it and press down, then carefully peel your paper up.

Dirt Sensory

I lined a basket with foil and then filled it with dirt, burying small plastic bugs and even a few dinosaurs for "finding". Of course before I thought to take a picture of it, Zeke and I planted some moss we found in the backyard and built a tomb for our Easter centerpiece. Oops.

G is for Garden

Books





Activities
Preparing our Garden beds outside
Stickers
Planting Sunflowers


Art Study
Vegetable Garden by Joan Miro

Arts and Crafts
Reverse painting "worm tunnels"

Cooking
"Dirt" cups, made with pudding, crushed oreos, and gummy worms

Thursday, April 14, 2011

U is for Underwater

Books













Songs

Slippery Fish Song
Slippery fish, slippery fish, sliding through the water,
Slippery fish, slippery fish, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp!
Oh, no! It’s been eaten by an …

Octopus, octopus, squiggling in the water
Octopus, octopus, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp!
Oh, no! It’s been eaten by a …

Tuna fish, tuna fish, flashing in the water,
Tuna fish, tuna fish, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp!
Oh, no! It’s been eaten by a …

Great white shark, great white shark, lurking in the water,
Great white shark, great white shark, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp!
Oh, no! It’s been eaten by a …

Humongous whale, humongous whale, spouting in the water,
Humongous whale, humongous whale,
Gulp! … Gulp! … Gulp! … BURP!
Pardon me!

Activities
Water Sensory
Coloring Books and Crayons
Shell Collection

Art Study

Arts and Crafts
Waterpainting



Sunday, March 6, 2011

H is for Hammer (A Week about Construction)



Circle Time
Plus The Story of the Three Little Pigs

and "The Wise Man Build His House Upon the Rock" song

The wise man built his house upon the rock (3x)
And the rain came tumbling down!

The rains came down and the floods came up (3x)
And the wise man's house stood firm!

The foolish man built his house upon the sand (3x)
And the rain came tumbling down!

The rains came down and the floods came up (3x)
and the foolish mans house went splat!


Activities
Magnet Letters
Toy Tools
Melissa and Doug Tool Puzzle
Wood Blocks
Magnet Blocks
Legos

Art Study
The Ride of Paul Revere by Grant Wood

Felt Board
3 Little Pigs

Arts and Crafts

Cooking
Tapioca Pudding

Field Trip
The Children's Museum Construction Zone

Bird's Nest Craft

To do this craft I first blew up a small balloon and then mixed 2 parts elmers glue to 1 part water.

Zeke and I took pieces of yarn and first dipping them into the glue solution (making sure they were well coated) commenced to drape them over the balloon at random.

Once we felt like we had enough yarn, we left the balloon overnight to dry. It took a full 12 hours for the glue to be completely dry, and then we popped the balloon.

For a final touch we added a bit of green wool and a fake egg.