Christmas Lesson

They did it all by themselves! Their first paper chains... I want to keep them forever! It's absolutely my favorite Christmas tree ever.

Little Turkeys

Monday we revisited the theme of Thanksgiving. After some playdough time, we cleaned up and read the story of the first Thanksgiving (from the History section of What Your Preschooler Needs to Know). We played some games on our pretend football field - hopping races and "Red Light, Green Light" - and did some crafts. There was a dot-to-dot/coloring page, with the letter T. There was a yarn-threading activity (football shaped). And of course, turkey hats!

Exploring the 5 Senses

Sorry, no photos this time. It was all Nathalie and I could do to keep the herd contained, today.

We did a lot of fun stuff, though! First up was some hands-on exploration of that tactile wonderland - cornstarch goop. Jarrod took an especial liking to the stuff, enjoying the feel of it on his fingers. After we cleaned up the goop, we had a short discussion about our five senses. We talked about what our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin do to help us perceive the world around us. Alexander quickly demonstrated proof of concept by pulling his own hat down over his eyes, successfully obscuring his own vision. Hehe.

We started our journey through the senses with an activity centered around each. For Sight, we went on a rainbow hunt, seeking out the colored pieces of paper all around the room. ("Everybody put your hand on a red square! Now put your foot on an orange one. Pick up a yellow and put it on your head. Put your elbow on a green square. Find a blue one and sit down on it!")

We moved on to Taste next. Everyone had a paper plate separated into 3 numbered sections, and each section held a tiny pinch of mystery powder. We practiced our numbers, tasting in order #1 (Salt), #2 (lemonade mix), and #3 (sugar), while talking about the difference between saltiness, sourness and sweetness. In an informal poll, Salt was the surprising favorite of most of the kids. Go figure!

After snack - actual snack, I mean, not just the stuff from the previous activity - we were nose detectives, using our sense of Smell to identify things hidden inside plastic film canisters. Leftover banana and clementine oranges, from snack, were easily identified, along with peanut butter. Cumin, garlic and vinegar were a little trickier.

We took a book break and then moved on to Touch. There were cardboard pieces with different textures on them, so we talked about things that are soft, rough, bumpy, smooth, crinkly, etc. Arwen did a great job collecting together similar textures, putting all the bumpy ones in one pile and all the fluffy/soft ones in another.

For our craft activity, the kids made cinnamon-scented sandpaper gingerbread men. They got to stick on googly eyes (in some cases many more than the standard 2 each), then decorated them with crayons and "drew" on them with cinnamon sticks. Of course, I completely forgot to send them home with everyone, so they will be sitting on the shelf for you to collect when you're back here on Monday!

Lunch of "rainbow mac & cheese" was next. Red sun-dried tomatoes, orange bell pepper, yellow corn and green peas represented most of the color spectrum (sorry, no blueberries or purple grapes...hehe).

Our final sensory activity was to Listen and identify animal sounds on the computer. Ian and Sophie both did a really good job figuring out the different noises.

Everyone was a little amped up from the word "Go" today, but I think they still had a good time with the activities. I'll definitely be revisiting this lesson after the New Year!

Thanksgiving

All the Little Turkeys (Sung To: Shortnin' Bread)
See all the turkeys up in the tree,
All the little turkeys try to hide from me.
All the little turkeys go gobble, gobble,
All the little turkeys go just like this
All the little turkeys go wobble, wobble,
All the little turkeys go just like this..

Thanksgiving (Sung To: Where is Thumbkin)
Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving
Here it comes, here it comes.
Turkey on the table, turkey on the table.
Mmm-good, mmm-good.
Cornbread muffins, chestnut stuffing,
Pumpkin pie, ten feet high.
We were so much thinner,
before we came to dinner.
Me-oh-my, me-oh-my!

Today we played with the color-match turkey bulletin board, made cornbread, sang about Thanksgiving, and read pages 104-109 in What Your Preschooler Needs to Know, which cover the Piligrims and the First Thanksgiving.  We also read Goldilocks and the three bears and had plenty of good run around time outside, where the kids gassed up all the vehicles and picked berries for the deer to eat.

We continued to reinforce hand washing and using full sentences for requests (Please, may I... instead of CHEESE! .... please.) as well as nice table manners.

Bulletin board was done using construction paper.  Feathers were cut on the diagonal of a single sheet of each color, and taper to be stapled behind the turkey body.  The Turkey body is two pieces: One that's a large oval slightly flattened on the bottom and one that looks like a bowling pin.  The beak and wattle are small pieces of paper and the eyes are black crayon.  Staple the bottom of the body first and then arrange the feathers behind it.  Velcro was stapled to the middle of each feather to allow sticking the laminated photos (one per child) on each color.

November 8th

Today we learned about animals and the homes they live in. They started off by playing with play-doh and having all sorts of fun with the animal cutters. They also had all sorts of fun with the other animal toys around the house...the barn, safari play set, a matching puzzle. After snack time they decided it was time for a parade. During circle time we read 'Good Night, Gorilla' by Peggy Rathmann, 'Sheep in a Jeep' by Nancy Shaw and 'Diary of a Wombat' by Jakie French.

We took a quick yoga breach to stretch our wiggles out:

Showing Daddy her Yoga

And then we talked about different kinds of animals: mammals, birds, reptiles. We looked at an Usborne book all about 'Animal Homes'. Afterwards we played a matching game where we found all the homes for our critters. We talked a little bit about each animal as we found their home figuring out things such as 'If squirrels eat acorns they must live in trees'.

Which home belongs to the frog?

After circle time they each made a lion mask using multimedia art. They all enjoyed practicing their gluing skills to decorate their masks!

Maybe a heart should go on his nose?

Roar!

While lunch was being made we play a rousing game of Animal Scramble:

Which animal eats bananas?

During lunch they all practiced their manners saying Please and Thank You. They also practiced how to ask politely for the food using 'Please may I have....?'. After lunch they took out the music instruments and danced to Raffi's Animal Songs CD. For added fun there was bubbles!

After dancing all the kids started to get too excited so they got to go outside to play. They were disappointed to discover that the sand table was put away for the winter but decided to garden instead. There was dirt everywhere and messy kids are the happiest!

All about Numbers

We had a Montessori day at school all about numbers. When the kids showed up they were very excited to see that there were all sorts of stations to explore. They strung beads in patterns, matched numbers, learned about shapes, learned about heavier and lighter and played with the number balance.

3 is the same as 3. What will happen if I add one more?

What comes next?

The big shell is heavier than the little shell!

After exploring for a while they all cleaned up the toys, washed their hands and sat down for snack time. They used wonderful manners and politely asked to be excused when they they were finished. All of them cleared their plates without being asked.

Next was circle time. Today we read "One" and "Zero" by Kathery

n Otoshi. They all agreed that Red wasn't very nice to Blue and it was important to be nice to your friends. Counting along with the colors was a lot of fun. After the stories Mr. Eric led all the children in song.

Then we played a couple of games. First was Follow the Teacher and all of the children were very good at it.

Spin in a circle three times.

Then it was time for the number line game. They were too excited to f

ollow all the rules but they had lots of fun jumping up the number line while counting out loud.