Jack and Jill

This morning we stared off by talking about the nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill. The girls colored a picture and they each had to trace their name and write it once as well as the words Jill and Hill.

Addie was practicing her lower case e's. For circle time we recited the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill and used felt pieces to retell the story. We then moved on to focus on rhyming words. I was planning on doing a rhyming concentration game but seeing the skill level that the girls were on with rhyming changed my plans to create a matching game. 

Each girl took a turn to choose a card from the bottom pile they then had to identify the picture and find the matching picture with the one on the board. Once they found their match they put it in their own pile. When we were finished they each organized their rhyming pairs into piles. 

We put them back on the board while singing a rhyming song by Dr. Jean. 

For example:

"Whale, tail, these words rhyme 

Whale, tail, these words rhyme

Whale, tail, these words rhyme 

Now let's sing some more"

Sung to the tune: Skip to my Lou

Craft stick Puzzles

These number puzzles are so great! I got the idea/printout from MakeTakeTeach@blogspot.com. She has wonderful products, some are free but mainly I love getting ideas from her blog. It was fairly easy to do and I love that I can put any picture on the craft sticks and use whatever symbols I want on the bottom (numbers, letters, etc.) The ones shown here are print outs from the previously mentioned blog but using a variety of pictures and number if sticks could be a great way to keep kids quietly entertained. 

Addie loved figuring out the puzzle and she used the numbers to help her figure it which stick was next. Great for those counting skills. 

Luke on the other hand liked destroying the puzzle and of course eating the puzzle. 

Preschool- Vegetables

Picture search: I spy. 

 Told the story of Stone Soup with flannel storyboard pieces. Each child cut out pictures if vegetables and glued them to their own black pot.

We made play dough and the girls used it to create their own salads. I gave them plastic knives and plates and let them have at it. By then end they were creating cakes, but I guess cake is tastier than salad. 

Jack be Nimble

Today we discuss the nursery rhyme Jack Be Nimble. First we introduced the nursery rhyme by singing it several times through. Then for fun we put each girls name in place of Jack's name. As we recited the rhyme with the girls names they got to jump over the candlestick. 

Next we worked on some math by arranging four candlesticks from smallest to largest. 

Next, we went back to the nursery rhyme.   We looked for all the uppercase and lowercase J's, circled them and then counted them all up. 

Once we finished, it was time to make our own candlesticks. We used paper towel rolls cut in half; the girls decorated those with markers and stickers and then brought them over to be glued to paper plates. I use a hot glue gun to attach them to the plates. To add the "flame" we use orange tissue paper that we twisted, placed in the hole and fluffed at the top. 

I is for Igloo

Today in preschool we talked about construction, specifically the construction of an igloo. The girls constructed the letter I using circles and rectangles; they made uppercase and lowercase.

After we read through and talked about how to make an igloo. We used the book Igloos by June Pressler and Curious George Builds an Igloo. Then I had the girls use marshmallows to cover the igloo. After they finished with the marshmallows they counted how many it took to build their igloo. 

Stone soup

This week we read the story Stone Soup and each of the girls made their own pot of soup by cutting vegetables out and gluing them in the pot.

 

We sorted fruits and vegetable cards and made a salad with play dough. The girls used plastic knives and plates to create their salads, however, when I asked them what they were making they all responded with cake or cupcakes. 

They also did a picture search where they each had their own cards and used whiteboard crayons to mark the pictures they found. They spent 20 minutes doing this activity and probably would have gone longer but it was time for playtime. 

Apples

Addie's apple prints; she used an apple to make these, but the star in the middle of the apple didn't show up. Still she had fun. 

Addie also put the apple stickers on the apple tree. 

It was a great fine motor activity and kept her busy. 

We read The Riddle of the Star and for a snack made apple muffins, which dissapeared as quickly as they were made.