Community/Construction/3 Pigs Unit

We started our Community/Construction/3 Pigs unit last Monday.  The idea of this unit came from my awesome next door pre-k teachers!  I am using "The Three Little Pigs" story to transition into community/construction.  In our class, I read the story to begin with and the students discussed the role of the characters in the story. We talked about the three pigs being "builders" and then introducing our new vocabulary with "construction workers" ...and then THAT led into building materials and tools (and more vocab!) which allowed me to introduce all the new theme related items in the centers!  This unit is broad enough to last for 3-4 weeks and can expand into students learning about community helpers and transportation!  WHEW!  ..Loving this unit and excited for all our learning experiences ahead!  The photo above is of a shelf in our blocks center.  Currently in blocks center we have:  3 pigs felt house, pig puppets, construction vehicles, community workers, cars, construction vehicles, variety of blocks, tp rolls for tunnels, a 3 pigs picture book, and informational construction books.

This is our construction sensory tub.  I used a large scrap piece of felt to cut down on the sound of the rocks.. If I had had green felt it would have even been better..to represent grass...or tan for dirt.   The tub could also be filled with sand..(or colored sand!)  

The tub contains: rocks, foam blocks for stacking and sorting (3 pigs' bricks), number magnets, mini tools, shovels, tp rolls for tunnels, popsicle sticks and driftwood (3 pigs' sticks),  plastic construction worker figures, felt roads and lakes, boats, cars, and construction vehicles.  Color sorting bowls, size sorting bowls, and measuring cups can also be added!

The pretend center has been turned into a hardware or
Lowe's/Home Depot type of store.

The "store" contains:
 pvc pipes and connectors
foam blocks for screwing and nailing in golf tees
pots for stacking
watering cans
paint pails
paint brushes and rollers
tiles
carpet squares
paint chips (color sorting!)
house building magazines and brochures
construction or gardening gloves
real tools (small wrenches, levels, screwdrivers)
pretend power tools
sandpaper
toolboxes
cash register
shopping baskets
canvas apron
khaki button down shirt

The store also will have vocabulary cards posted for building materials and pencils/ note cards for writing.

I mentioned to a worker at Lowe's that I was a teacher trying to setup a hardware store pretend center and he loaded me up with all kinds of free goodies!  The the man who was working in the carpet department overheard us talking and then HE offered me free carpet samples!

The paint roller pan was actually a dollar store pan we used for our pretend bakery. The paint brushes I borrowed from my mom's garage...and the black baskets are from my husband's desk drawer (he doesn't know that yet..shhhh!) Let's hope he doesn't look in there for another three weeks because his drawer is a mess! 

These items can stay in here for our next unit, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." The pretend center will become a farmers market complete with vegetables and flowers!

I purchased a very exciting lesson pack off of teacherspayteachers.com: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/On-the-Road-and-in-the-Air

The pack has word cards, board games, math mats, bingo game, an early reader, and so much more!

Pictured above is one of the board games in our ABC center. I added transportation erasers as game pieces and wrote letters on a counting cube.  EASY! 

My pre-k teacher neighbors next door had given me some Handwriting Without Tears letter blocks.  The teachers renamed them "Letter Builders" for the construction theme in their classroom. Our letter builders are in our ABC center.

Community helpers vocabulary posted in reading and writing centers.  I downloaded it for free from:
http://mrsalbanesesclass.blogspot.com/2012/03/more-writing-centre-postersfreebies.html

A parent donated all kinds of fun stuff that she ordered from oriental trading.  These community helper foam pieces actually will stick to our reading center felt board and can also be turned into an art project..memory game..or sorting activity!

Check out my "TO LEARN: COMMUNITY" board on pinterest for tons of great ideas and freebies I have found:
http://pinterest.com/thepinkido/to-learn-community/

Recent Art Projects

During our nursery rhyme and fairy tales unit we read "Hey Diddle Diddle."  We used the felt board to sing and retell the rhyme and then students created their own dish and spoon! 
(My assistant made the cute little sign :)
We also read "Little Miss Muffet." The kids had a blast as they giggled, sitting on their "tuffets" (pillows), eating pretend curds and whey, and running away from my huge spider! (After Halloween sales have great stuff for insect units...and esp. costumes for fairy tales and acting out stories!)

Students created self portraits at the end of our feelings unit. I drew the body outline and they created the rest! I love how the portraits are all different and unique! We have been talking a lot about adding details to our journal entries and it shows through in their portraits.  

I was out sick last week and came back to find all these googly eyed cute little creatures! My assistant read "Glad Monster, Sad Monster" then the students drew their own feelings monsters. I wish I could post all of the drawings because they are all so adorable!

Dollar Tree!

I randomly picked up a few things for school while I was at Dollar Tree today!  Sentence strips so friends can practice writing valentines this week, Spring pencils for writing station, chicks for a number game, and mini eggs for an ABC match game...I'm in school mode this weekend.. just wish I had bought more Scotch laminating sheets while I was out!

I am very excited for our upcoming units:
-Community/Construction/3 Pigs
-Hungry Caterpillar/Insects/Spiders
-Gardening/Flowers/Vegetables
-Zoo/Ocean/Summer! 

"Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes" unit is going very well!
As a group, our focus was listing characters in the story this week for literacy.  For math, we practiced counting sets with all sorts of valentine candy! Jack and the Beanstalk on Friday was a hit... We read one version, went over characters and vocab cards to the story, listed the characters, then we found another version from our library. We looked at the illustrations and compared it to the version we read.  Students drew what they would buy with the beans on paper leafs (we are making a giant bean stalk in science center!)....and for math we counted sets of jellybeans!  annnd we planted bean seeds! I love it when a whole day just ties together!   Will have to post photos of our Princess and the Pea counting/art activity soon! 

3 Bears, New Toys!, and Fairy tales

For our winter unit in January the theme was The Mitten which transitioned to The Three Bears..and then this week we are starting our Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes unit.  The Mitten was super fun (see prev. post) and tied it quite nicely to The Three Bears..where we focused on size ordering..small, medium, large, big, bigger, biggest, small, smaller, smallest, etc. This is a photo of a corner of our reading area. It has the 3 bears felt board with sm. med. large labels, puppets, The Mitten masks, and vocab from here http://www.pre-kpages.com/goldilocks-mini-word-wall/

Pretend Center: "Three Bears Cottage" ...small, med. large, cookies, bowls, spoons, stuffed animals, can of oats, winter dress up clothes, and The Three Bears storybook. To go along with The Three Bears story we taste tested "porridge" made in my crock pot and watched The Three Bears movie on Friday. Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYP8p-10TGA

The Mitten and The Three Bears led us into winter weather, bears, and hibernations.  This is a photo of our science table  where we have winter vocabulary, weather books, hibernation stories, and a new weather puzzle!

After we did our mitten temperature experiment I left the therm. and mitten in science center as an activity.

Thank you to my wonderful asst. who drank all the water bottles and made our new color sensory bottles! She put in things like pom poms, colored pencils, erasers, beads, tissue paper, etc.  This is a photo from our science center that holds discovery and nature baskets, science tools, and two new games from Lakeshore.

This is a seasons Lakeshore game.  Underneath the winter mat is the spring mat. Students are learning the order and characteristics of the seasons during calendar and weather circle time. I love this game and they have been very occupied by it. It comes with little items that they match and sort to the pictures. I thought I would add in the spring mat and then when it's spring, I'll take out the winter mat and put in the summer mat. 

This new game is also in science, we have been talking about animals that live in snow and then forest animals. The game comes will all the animals needed for different habitats. The mat underneath is forest animals.  

Have I mentioned how awesome my storage shelves are?! The brown totes hold pretend center thing..the totes are from Target.  The teal baskets and other plastic tubs are from the dollar store.  The zebra bins are from Hobby Lobby. I  received my order for new manipulatives and supplies this week.. In the center book shelves we have new Lakeshore counting boxes and 4 tubs of manipulatives!

These are awesome!!!! I have two of these boards that just arrived...one for writing letters in ABC center and one for writing numbers in Math center... they are very popular right now with the students.  The heat from your fingers/hand activates the board and creates a rainbow effect.

New counting boxes/games and manipulatives for morning tubs and math center. 

Current ABC center:  book basket (baskets on sale now at Hobby Lobby! lime green, pink, teal), abc puzzles, letter punches and twist up crayons, wiki sticks and letter cards, ABC lower case and upper case foam letter match

Here is an example of two of the counting boxes I ordered. I set up Friday afternoon for our Fairy Tale unit.  I have the frog game in math center for Princess and the Frog... and the treasure chest/coins I will put in the math center for the following week.  Excited about Fairy Tale and Nursery Rhyme unit...so many options of stories and activities! 

Check out my pocket chart in books center!  Is it strange to be excited about pocket charts? I ordered five and they just came in. I've been using removable stick on hooks to hang them in centers. Actually, the vocab pocket chart in reading is held onto the door with clip magnets.  The frogs and crocodile are for blocks center..the prince frog is at Target currently in the toy section for around $4.

Here are some other little fairy tale friends to join blocks center! 

Getting ready for Valentine's day with some vday vocab!

Winter in Pre-K

Just a couple photos to share from some of our winter pre-k activities... Students counted the letters in their name, counted snowballs, wrote their letters, and created these cute snowmen! 

We filled up the Grinch with hearts by performing extra acts of kindness! 

We read the book "The Mitten" which I have come to love.. there are SO many ideas, lessons, activities that can tie into the mitten on all subjects!
-We measured ourselves with mittens and compared our heights when we discussed small, tall, and small, medium, large!
-We used a thermometer in and outside of a mitten and discussed how mittens and clothing keep us warm!
-Students acted out The Mitten characters by wearing animal masks
(from http://www.janbrett.com/mitten_masks_main.htm) and squeezing into a mitten (masking tape on carpet)!
-Discussed winter animals and hibernation!
-Compared mittens and gloves!
-Designed our own mittens!
-Talked about the color white, camouflage, and snow!

Snow sensory tub:  snow plows, dump trucks, snowman beanie babies, mitten christmas ornaments, forest animals, berries, pinecones, mini trees, clear glass gems for ice, fake snow, cotton batting,
pipe cleaners and beads, and diff. size pom poms.

Snow globe art! We used a pencil eraser for snowflakes...

Torn paper wreaths... used a circle punch for the ornaments, scrap ribbon, construct. paper, and paper plates!

Why didn't I think of this before?!

I must say..I use this little glass jar about six times a day! It is perfect for calling names for bathroom breaks and choosing students to answer questions during read alouds and math whole group!  

Little Red Hen

I just found the photos from our Little Red Hen on one of my many camera cards... We did this unit after Fall/Pumpkins/Apples.. leading up to Thanksgiving..and right before our Gingerbread Man unit.  Our student "I Can" statements were about answering questions/asking questions about the story, counting sets, and identifying shapes. 

We had many cooking/baking projects including mixing homemade bread! The kids measured and mixed and I took the bread home and baked it.  I found a really easy recipe from Steamy Kitchen http://steamykitchen.com/168-no-knead-bread-revisited.html  The post says "so easy a 4 year old can do it!"and  it was THAT easy! It is no fail, really tasty bread that I have made several times now for family since our unit. 

For counting sets, students counted baked snacks like crackers and even mini chocolate cookies (cookie crisp cereal!).  We read many different versions of the little red hen, including "Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza." Students created paper plate pizzas with paper shapes..they turned out really cute..have to find the photo I took..it's somewhere on one of those camera cards : )

Sign for our pretend bakery that I made last year.  I used images of real life bakers, breads, and pastries. I found these great stickers at Michaels. 

My mother in law made this really cool pie.. she has been making all kinds of "amigurumi" foods and characters for our classroom! 

Small, medium and large amigurumi cookies, fortune cookies, felt cinn. rolls, and cookies... varied textures and sizes!

I picked up some baking tins and trays from the dollar store for our pretend bakery : )

Here are some of our read aloud stories.. I highly recommend "Cook-a-Doodle-Doo!"  For next year I plan to have the class make mini strawberry shortcakes.. wouldn't that be fun?! I put some of our stories in our pretend center along with some cookbooks/recipe cards I took from my kitchen.

We read "The Best Mouse Cookie" before we counted sets with cookie crisp cereal...it's so much fun to incorporate literacy with other subjects!

For the sensory tub, students sifted, poured, measured, and drew letters in flour.

We opened up our play dough center for molding and baking cupcakes and cookies.  I also added in some fall cookie cutters. I found the plastic table cloth for cheap at Big Lots. They had a ton of cute table cloths, including yellow and teal with white polka dots! (Which I also just had to pick up) : )

Cherry pie was the theme for our math center.. After the read aloud I kept the book in the center..students played hi ho cherrio (which I found at a garage sale for a buck over the summer!). I had some mini pie tins and created a little play dough counting game. 

And TADAAAA!!! my new blocks center curtains!  The fabric is from Hobby Lobby. LOVE!