Butterfly Book!

Connor is done with Kindergarten and excited for summer vacation.  Today was his first day home with us - he was able to sleep in and do projects with us again!!
Project:  Butterfly Book!  (Source:  The Mailbox Magazine  - Kindergarten-Grade 1, April/May 2007)
In advance make a supply of white butterfly-shaped pages.  Make a colored butterfly-shaped  cover for the books.  Cut out a butterfly shaped body and two antennae out of black paper. 
1. Brainstorm adjectives to describe butterflies. 
2.  Give each child a page and have him create a butterfly illustration. 
3.  Help him complete the following prompt -  _____________'s butterfly is _______________.
4.  Bind the book or books together and title the book and decorate the front cover.

*You can make one book or individual books for each child. 

ABC Book!

Ty has been making this ABC book for the last couple of months.  Every time he mastered a new letter of the alphabet we added a page to his ABC book.  We finished the book up today, and I am glad to say that Ty now knows all of his uppercase letters!!

ABC Book:  Cut 8 1/2 x 11 pieces of paper in half.  Write each letter on the top of the half sheets of paper. (Aa if for . . . .    Bb is for . . . .   and so on)  Cut pictures out of magazines, draw pictures or print pictures of different items to correspond with the sound of each letter.  (A - apple, airplane.  B - ball, basket, bread and so on)  You can add a cover to the book once all of the pages are complete. 

Materials Needed:  paper, markers, magazines

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

Cock-a-Moo-Moo and Rooster Finger Puppets!

Day 2 of the week-The theme this week is Books! The letters of the week are x, Y, y. Learning Activity- I read the book Cock-a-Moo-Moo by Juliet Dallas-Conte', to Connor and Lauren. I cut a barn shape out of red construction paper and wrote - I am proud like rooster because . . . I can _____________. Connor and Lauren filled in the blank with something that they can do that they are proud of. Connor is proud that he can eat pizza big (this has been an ongoing power struggle in our house that was finally conquered!!) Lauren is proud that she can zip her coat. Then they both drew pictures of their statements. Again, they both wrote their own sentences - I am so proud of their writing and letter formation!! Source - Mailbox Magazine June/July 2008

Project - Rooster Finger Puppets -We received a finger puppet making kit at Christmas from my mom and dad. The kids have been wanting to make finger puppets for a long time,but we kept on forgetting to make them. Today we remembered and we made rooster finger puppets. They turned out ok - the kit really didn't have many options - we used our own feathers to complete the rooster!
Today's Learning Activities:
Numbers - writing numbers, counting, adding, subtracting

Letters - writing Uppercase Y

Writing - journal writing

Duck On a Bike and Free Paint!

Day 1 of the week-The theme this week is Books! The letters of the week are x, Y, y.
Learning Activity- I read the book Duck on a Bike by David Shannon to Connor and Lauren. Then using the form sheet from Mailbox Magazine, (April/May 2009) Connor and Lauren drew a picture of an animal riding the bike. They wrote their animal and what the animal was doing on the page too! They are really improving with their writing. They hardly ever need help with letter formation!
Project - Free Paint- We haven't painted in a long time, so I let the kids just paint today. As you can see they each painted in their own style. Addie just painted, Connor was in his full imagination mode and he painted a "circle of doom!" and Lauren painted a house and a tree. They really enjoyed painting their item/items of choice. We really have to do this more often.

Today's Learning Activities:
Numbers - writing numbers, counting
Letters - writing lowercase x
Writing - journal writing

One Duck Stuck!

Day 1 of the week - The theme this week is Books! Then letters of the week are W, w, X.

Learning Activity- I read the book One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root to Connor and Lauren. We talked about the "uck" rhyming words, by coming up with words and comparing duck, stuck, buck, luck . . . . We also talked about the different animals and the onomatopoeia words that are used with each group of animals. Then Connor and Lauren chose an animal and a number and wrote their sentence. I created a sheet with a duck stuck in the muck on the bottom of the paper and lines for the number, the number word, the animal and the action word, plus the typed words - No luck, Still Stuck. (4, four moose clomp to the duck. No luck, Still Stuck). Connor and Lauren then drew their animals on the bottom of the paper next to the stuck duck - Connor drew 4 moose and Lauren drew 2 frogs. Project - Pom Pom Duck- To accompany the book One Duck Stuck the kids also made pom pom ducks. Directions: Cut feet out of orange foam, Glue yellow pom pom onto the orange foam feet, glue googly eyes onto other yellow pom pom, Glue orange tri-bead onto yellow pom pom (underneath the googly eyes), Glue head pom pom on top of the pom pom glued to the orange foam feet, glue yellow feather to the back of the pom poms. Materials Needed -2 yellow pom poms, orange foam, googly eyes, orange tri-bead, yellow feather, craft glue, scissors

Today's Learning Activities:
Numbers - subtracting writing numbers, counting
Letters - writing Uppercase W

Writing - journal writing