Thursday, April 29, 2010

I Took the Moon for a Walk!

Day 3 of the week-The theme this week is Books! The letters of the week are x, Y, y. Learning Activity- I read the title of the read aloud out loud to Connor and Lauren and asked if they think this story takes place during the day or at night. Then I had them predict what happens when the boy takes the moon for a walk. Finally, I read the book I Took the Moon for a Walk by Carolyn Curtis, to Connor and Lauren. After the read aloud, I had Connor and Lauren cut out a manila circle moon. They glued the the moon to a sheet of construction paper labeled with the writing prompt "If I took the moon for a walk." Connor and Lauren completed the sentence and wrote their own sentences down! Finally, the illustrated their words. (Connor's sentence - If I took the moon for a walk, we would play Candy Land.) (Lauren's sentence-If I took the moon for a walk, we would go to the park.)
Source- Mailbox Magazine June/July 2009

Today's Learning Activities:
Numbers - dot-to-dot, number recognition
Letters - writing lowercase y
Writing - journal writing

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

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





Monday, April 26, 2010

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

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Earth Day and Where Is the Green Sheep?

Day 2 of the week - The theme this week is Books! Then letters of the week are W, w, X.
Learning Activity- I read the book Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox to Connor and Lauren. Then, Connor and Lauren each chose a color. I cut a construction paper cloud usingtheir chosen color. They glued the shape to the form sheet (Mailbox Magazine February/March 2009). Next, they decorated the shape so it resembled a sheep from the bookand named the color of their sheep and where their sheep might be. They wrote the information on the provided spaces.
Project - Coffee Filter Earth- To celebrate Earth Day, we discussed how we can take care of our earth and how important it is to take care of earth. They came up with; shut off the water and the lights, recycle and throw away trash. Then we talked about what earth looks like from space Directions: paint a coffee filter blue and green with water color paints. Let dry. Glue painted coffee filter onto black construction paper (use a glue stick), write Earth Day on black paper with white chalk. Materials Needed -water color paint, paint brush, water, coffee filter, black construction paper, glue stick, white chalk.

Today's Learning Activities:
Numbers - subtracting writing numbers, counting
Letters - writing lowercase w and uppercase X
Pre-reading - same and different, matching
Writing - journal writing




Monday, April 19, 2010

One Word About Me!

One Word About Me! Mandy from http://www.suburbanstereotype.com/ tagged me in this game.

One word to describe each of the following...

Hair – blonde

Your Mother – honest

Your Father – dependable

Fav Food – cereal

Dream Last Night – Polar Bears!

Fav Drink – Gin and Tonic

Room are you in – loft

Hobby – Reading

Fear – suffocation

Where were you last night? – home

Something that you aren’t – messy

Muffins – Blueberry

Wish List Item – for our house to sell!!!

Where you grew up – Wisconsin

What you are wearing –pj's

Your Pet – None

Friends – wonderful

Something you’re not wearing – makeup

Fav Store – Target

Fav Color – green

Last time you laughed – today

Your Best Friend – entertaining

Best Place you go over and over – to bed

Person who you email regularly – hmm!

Fav Place to Eat – Accapulco

Now I will tag a few of you.
Participate if you will!

Kinsey at http://www.idontknowwhyilaughsometimes.blogspot.com/

Peggy at http://www.lookatitasanadventure.blogspot.com/

Julia at http://www.everydaymomideas.com/

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

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Spectacular Suns!

Day 3 of the week - The theme this week is Colorful Spring! Then letters of the week are r, V, v.
Project - Spectacular Suns- Sometimes you think that a project will turn out better than it actually does. This is one of those projects - oh well - the kids had fun painting the suns with forks! I guess if they enjoy the process of the project than that is all that matters!!! :) I found this project in the June/July 2009 issue of The Mailbox. Directions: Trace several circular lids in different sizes on white card stock. Use orange and yellow crayons to color the tracings. Then dip a fork in yellow paint and drag the back of the prongs outward over each sun to make rays. Sprinkle glitter over the wet paint.
Materials Needed - card stock, yellow and orange crayons, yellow paint, plastic fork, glitter, circular lids

Learning Activities
Today's Activities:
Numbers - subtracting writing numbers, counting
Letters - writing Lowercase v
Writing - journal writing