Lovely Lilacs!

Day 3 of the week. The theme this week is Painting.

Project - Lovely Lilacs - Use purple and lavender colored paint. Dip the eraser of a pencil into the paint and then press it on a white piece of paper. Repeat the process until the paper is filled with purple prints. When the paint is dry, trim the paper into several lilac-shaped cutouts. Then glue the lilacs on a green piece of construction paper cut into a bush shape. (Source: The Mailbox Magazine April/May 2009)

Materials Needed - purple paint, pencil, white paper, green construction paper, scissors, glue stick.

Learning Activities

Today's Activities:

Alphabet: J, writing, beginning sound
Numbers 1-10: 10, counting, number recognition
Math Readiness: more or fewer

Reading Readiness: What belongs together
Transition Math: Counting and writing numbers 5-10

Kindergarten Skills: logical reasoning; what comes next

Marble Paper!

Day 2 of the week - The theme this week is painting!

Project - Marbled Paper - Cover a baking sheet with half-inch layer of shaving cream. Smooth it out. Dot the cream with drops of food coloring, then use a craft stick to swirl it in the cream. Lay a sheet of card stock on top of the shaving cream and press lightly or firmly!! Peel off the paper and remove the excess shaving cream - we used a paper towel to remove the excess. (Source: Family Fun Magazine August 2009) Materials Needed: baking sheet with rim, shaving cream, food coloring, craft stick, card stock, paper towel.

Learning Activities

Today's Activities:

Alphabet: I, writing, beginning sound

Numbers 1-10: 10, counting, following directions

Math Readiness: one less

Reading Readiness: Same and Different

Transition Math: Counting and Matching, 6-10

Kindergarten Skills: The seasons

Hidden Colors!

Day 1 of the week - The theme this week is Painting Fun!
Project - Hidden Colors. Connor colored a piece of white card stock with bright-colored crayons. Then he painted over the colors with black paint, using long vertical strokes. While the paint was wet, he used a craft stick to draw a picture in the paint. He decided to draw a house, tree and sun! Materials Needed - white card stock, crayons, paint brush, black paint, craft stick.
Today's Activities
Learning Activities:
Numbers 1-10: 10, counting, following directions
Math Readiness: one less
Reading Readiness: Same and Different
Transition Math: Counting and Matching, 6-10
Kindergarten Skills: The seasons

Pasta Scales!

Day 3 of the week - The theme this week is Reptiles.

Project - We again sang the reptile song from Day 2. (Sung to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot" I'm a little snake, my oh my. My skin has scales; it's nice and dry. You may think I'm slimy. What? Not me! I'm a reptile, yes siree! (Substitute appropriate reptile name).

Directions: Use enlarged tagboard copies of reptiles. Cut the reptiles out. Brush glue on the reptile and press the melon shaped pasta on the glues. When the glue is dry, brush paint over the pasta to complete the reptile. (Source: The Mailbox Magazine June/July 2008)

Materials Needed - reptile copies, scissors, paintbrushes, glue, melon shaped pasta, paint

Learning Activities

Today's Activities:

Alphabet - writing H, beginning sounds
Numbers 1-10- 9, recognition, counting, following directions
Reading Readiness - Shapes - circles and triangles
Transition Math - writing numbers

Splendid Snake Skin

Day 2 of the week - The theme this week is Reptiles!

Learning Activity: I explained that reptiles - like snakes, lizards and alligators - have dry and scaly skin. I had Connor and Lauren choose and identify cutouts of reptiles. Then I lead Connor and Lauren in singing the following song, singing about a different reptile each time. (Sung to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot" I'm a little snake, my oh my. My skin has scales; it's nice and dry. You may think I'm slimy. What? Not me! I'm a reptile, yes siree! (Substitute appropriate reptile name). I then explained to Connor and Lauren how snakes shed their skin.

Project - Draw a snake onto a piece of construction paper. Cut a piece of bubble wrap into the shape of a snake. Pop the bubbles on the material. The result looks and feels like a real snake's shed skin. Glue the snake bubble wrap below the snake. Draw leaves and branches and sticks on the paper too. (Source- The Mailbox Magazine June/July 2008)

Materials Needed - construction paper, marker, glue stick, bubble wrap, scissors

Learning Activities

Today's Activities:

Alphabet - writing G, beginning sounds

Numbers 1-10- 8, recognition, counting, following directions

Math Readiness - One More

Reading Readiness - Shapes - rectangles

Transition Math - writing numbers, counting sets

Kindergarten Skills - writing alphabet in order

Painted Turtles!

Connor, Addie and Lauren's Turtles!!
Day 1 of the week - The theme this week is Reptiles!
Project - Painted Turtles - Paint a condiment cup brown and green and then glue the cup to a turtle body cutout. Add googly eyes or draw eyes on. Source - The Mailbox Magazine June/July 2008

Materials Needed - Condiment cups, brown and green paint, paint brushes, glue, green construction paper or foam, googly eyes

Learning Activities
Today's Activities:
Alphabet - writing E an F, beginning sounds
Numbers 1-10- 7 and 8, recognition, counting, following directions
Math Readiness - Same number
Reading Readiness - Shapes - squares
Kindergarten Skills - Making Pairs

Buster The Dog!

Day 3 of the week - The theme this week is Books!

Learning Activity- (Source: The Mailbox Magazine) I placed a stuff kitten into a shoe box and had Connor and Lauren predict what might be in the box. Then I opened the box and removed the stuffed kitten. I introduced the kitten as Betty and I explained that Betty shows up in the story in a box just like the box I showed you. Then I took out the book, Buster by Denise Fleming, and read it aloud.

Project - Paper Buster - I cut shapes from brown construction paper to make Buster. Connor and Lauren glued the shapes together to make Buster. They looked at the illustrations in the book as a guide. Then they drew a face on Buster! Materials Needed - brown construction paper, scissors, glue, black marker

Learning Activities

Today's Activities:

Alphabet - D, writing, beginning sound

Numbers - 5 - counting, following directions

Math Readiness - counting, following directions, recognition

Kindergarten Readiness - The same size

Transition Math - matching, recognition, following directions

Paper Plate Goose!

Day 2 of the week. The theme this week is Books.

Project/Learning Activity- I read the title of our book out loud to Connor and Lauren. (The Day the Goose Got Loose by Reeve Lindbergh) I asked them if they thought the book described a good or bad day. Then, I had them predict what happens when the goose gets loose. Next, I read the story aloud and had Connor and Lauren check their predictions. After the story, Connor and Lauren described their favorite parts of the story. (When the horse gets into the bathroom and when the goose bothers the chicks.) Project - Connor and Lauren fringe-cut a paper plate folded in half. Then the cut the fringe-cut paper plate in half (the wings). Next, they cut the neck/head template out. I stapled the wings and head to another paper plate. Connor and Lauren then glued an orange construction paper beak to the head and drew eyes. Source: The Mailbox Magazine April/May 2008 Materials Needed - 2 paper plates/child, scissors, white card stock (for head/neck), orange construction paper (for beak), glue stick, crayons, stapler.

Learning Activities:

Today's Activities:

Alphabet - writing C, beginning C sound
Numbers - 4, recognition, following directions
Math Readiness - writing numbers, counting, following directions, recognition
Reading Readiness - bigger

Kindergarten Skills - observing details

Writing- journal writing

Fingerpainting Clouds!

Day 1 of our week. The theme this week is Books.
Project/Learning Activity - Fingerpainting Clouds - We talked about how we sometimes see shapes in the clouds, and they shared different shapes they had seen. I then introduced our book by saying that it is about a little cloud that turns into different shapes. I read Little Cloud by Eric Carle out loud to Connor and Lauren. After the reading, we reviewed the different shapes that the little cloud made during the story. Project - I showed the illustrations in the book to Connor and Lauren again and prompted them to notice how they appeared to be fingerpainted. I then, place a dollop of white fingerpaint on a piece of light-blue paper. Connor, Lauren and Addie spread his/her paint around to make individual cloud shapes. Then, Connor and Lauren described their cloud shape and wrote it down on after the writing prompt on the blue paper. Source - The Mailbox Magazine June/July 2008 Materials Needed - Little Cloud by Eric Carle, white paint, blue paper, marker.

Learning Activities:

Today's Activities:

Alphabet - writing, A, and B, beginning A and B sounds

Numbers - 1, 2, 3, recognition, following directions

Math Readiness - writing numbers, counting, following directions, recognition

Reading Readiness - smaller

Writing - journal writing

Silhouettes!

Day 3 of the week - The theme this week is Mother's Day.

Project - Silhouettes - I have been wanting to do silhouettes for a long time, but I never have gotten around to it, plus I don't think they would have been able to sit still for the amount of time needed. I had saved a silhouette project idea from Family Fun Magazine last year, but completely forgot about it until I saw silhouettes done on the blog http://www.veterankindergartenteacher.blogspot.com/ She blogged about the silhouette projects she does for Grandparents Day. She did an awesome job with the silhouettes and it sparked my mind into doing silhouettes for Mother's Day. Check out her blog - she has creative ideas, funny stories, touching stories and very insightful posts! We did the silhouettes earlier this week, and I just got done framing them today. Then Lauren says to me "We did these in pre-school yesterday." Well, come to find out they did silhouettes in pre-school as gifts for Mother's Day! Connor told me they made secret gifts for Mother's Day, and he wasn't going to tell me what they were! Poor thing, he knew we made these at home and at pre-school and he still kept it a secret. When he found out Lauren had told me about the silhouette gifts in pre-school he cried. He felt so bad about me finding out! I told him that I still didn't know what my gift looked like and it would still be very special, because he made it just for me and there was still another secret gift! He seems to feel better about it now. I think our silhouettes turned out great - and now we will have double ones!! I framed their silhouettes and matted each one with decorative paper. Pink and butterflies for Lauren and blue and green for Connor. I think they turned out pretty cute! Connor did have a hard time holding still - we had to start over about 4 times - that is why he looks like he is pouting in his! Lauren said he had a hard time holding still in pre-school too!! :) HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Paper and Pom Pom Flowers!

Day 2 of the week - The theme this week is Mother's Day. The letter of the week is Z, z.

Project - Paper and Pom Pom Flowers - I can't remember where I saw this project, but I saw it a while back, and I thought the flowers were adorable. Directions: Trace a flower cookie cutter or draw your own onto colored construction paper. Cut the flowers out. Cut a slit from one edge to the middle of the flower. Overlap the slit petals and tape to make a sort-of cone shape. Tape the flowers to colored drinking straws. Glue pom poms in the center of each flower! You can also add green paper leaves to the stems - we did not do this! Materials Needed: flower cookie cutter, colored drinking straws, construction paper, tape, glue, pom poms scissors

Learning Activities:

Today's Activities:

letters - lowercase z

numbers - number review, counting

writing- journal writing

Mothers Day Cards!

Day 1 of the week. The theme this week is Mothers Day! The letter of the week is Z, z.

Project - Painted Mothers Day Cards - I let Connor and Lauren decide how to paint flowers on their cards today. I showed them how to make fingerprint flower or told them they could paint flowers anyway they wanted too. They both did a wonderful job creating and painting their individual flowers. Addie even wanted to paint (of course her painting is not flowers). Addie's card is on the top, Lauren's is the blue flower with the purple background and Connor's is the multi-color flower!

Learning Activities:

Today's Activities:

Letters - Uppercase Z

Numbers- writing review

Writing- journal writing