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!

Felt fun!

I am in love with felt food.. there are so many cute ideas out there. I've handmade many items for my pre-k pretend center. My mother in-law has been practicing "amigurumi" which is tiny crochet/knitted items. So I have a mix of soft textures..I am quickly building up a collection of felt and knitted foods.  I thought this week I'd try felting some donuts for my upcoming Little Red Hen/Baking unit.  The pretend center will be The Little Red Hen's kitchen and will serve up some scrumptious cinn. rolls, breads, hot cross buns, cupcakes, and donuts!  The link to the pattern I used is on my other blog glitterandgarnish.blogspot.com  

Here is part of a felt gingerbread house I'm working on.. it took a while and some planning but overall felting gets easier once you know a couple of stitches..  I'm planning on making a couple to put in my blocks center for my winter gingerbread man unit! 

Field Trip!

Well.. the pumpkin patch..petting zoo...and hayride has come and gone.. It is amazing to  experience "first experiences" with my pre-k.  There were so many things during our field trip that we saw that we had been talking about in our farm/fall units...scarecrows, corn, cornstalks, tractors, farmers, sunflowers, hay, hayride, and pumpkins! (and huge varieties of everything!)  It was exciting to hear and watch the children explore... the children were allowed to feel and pick up pumpkins..and climb all over huge pumpkins..they had a blast!! 

Harvest Time!

So my new route home from work just happens go right by my favorite thrift store.. I raided the seasonal section  one day after school last week... I was excited with glee as I entered the store and saw racks with all cute-sy fall-y things.. I picked up these scarecrows for a dollar!! ..and pumpkins/mini wooden crates (pictured below). 

We are beginning are harvest unit and visiting a pumpkin patch at the end of October. The pretend center is a fall farmer's market.  Students can pretend to shop for harvest foods and seed packets  in the Apple Market and have pies and apple juice in the Apple Cafe. The pretend foods are plastic, felt, and crochet. Since we are also learning about textures this week I thought it would be fun to reinforce those texture words (soft, bumpy, hard, etc. ) with the foods. 

In college, one of our projects was to make a prop box.  My prop box was a grocery store..I knew one day these items would come in handy! 

The vocabulary is from:  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Vegetable-Picture-Cards-for-Vocabulary-ESL and  http://candokinders.blogspot.com/2011_10_02_archive.htm

This activity is in our math center for next week.  Students draw out an apple and color in the corresponding number on the paper. I have activity similar to this in ABC center and students have done so well at it. The free download for the activity is from http://mrsalbanesesclass.blogspot.com/2011/09/apple-fun.html?m=1

This game is also in our math center for next week.  Students count and match the pom poms "apples" to the dots on the apple tree. 

Another math game... this can be a one or two person game. A student rolls the dice...counts the dots..places the corresponding number of acorns on the mat.  I bought some plastic acorns at hobby lobby this weekend.. btw hobby lobby is having 40% off all fall decor/craft items! The game board is free from  http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/search/label/hands-on%20activity?updated-max=2010-10-30T06%3A29%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=20  There are also many other cute gameboards on her blog.

I love these mini pocket charts from Target..it's too bad they are out of them..I should have bought three more. I made this matching fall math game on photoshop. 

These vocab cards pictured in our ABC center are available for free from  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fall-Word-Wall-Words

I was putting the vocab for our next unit into the pocket charts during our last center rotation Friday...One of my students started copying the new words in our writing center and drawing the pictures.. I was so excited for her I took a photo! I love having the vocab in every center..I am also trying to incorporate paper and pencils in many centers...an idea my fellow pre-k teachers/co-workers introduced me to.  

This is an activity in our ABC center. Students draw out a popsicle stick with letter stickers on it...they can say the letter and find the letter on the sheet..then color it in.. I'd really like dot markers for this game. 

Wikki Sticks are so awesome!!  Wikki Sticks alphabet cards cost a fortune..so I made some on construction paper and laminated them. The students can bend, curve, and form the letters. The students found out that wikki sticks are "sticky" ..another one of our texture words!! 

I finally found a use for picnic scrapbook paper that i've been hoarding for  ten years!  I made these cards with the same vocab and pictures from the math center. This is a harvest "matching game" and I picked up the apple basket from a garage sale..

Science center - Pumpkin basket for books (Goodwill find!) and baskets for vocab cards/pencils/notecards

My first day of fall project!  I made these life cycle posters (for science center) this weekend with free printable cards from  http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/Cultural-Materials_ep_61-1.html (click under Botany)

I love fall!!

Textures

This week we've started our unit on textures...with the overall theme still being "farm."  We read the book "Stuck in the Mud" and other mud themed books and felt slimy textures (soap, gak slime) ..then students finger painted a muddy pig. As they were painting, I tried to capture the words they used to describe what they felt..we then discussed reviewed our describing and texture words.  

Science center this week -  We have been collecting nature items and talking about other texture words such as bumpy, smooth, hard, soft..etc.  I had one student bring in some snake skin..that kids thought that was pretty cool..then that led into a discussion about animal textures..scales, fur..feathers..rough, soft.."  I made some texture cards out of scrap cardboard for students to feel  (crumpled tinfoil - bumpy, tinfoil - smooth, cotton - soft, corrugated cardboard - bumpy, lace - rough, felt/fleece - soft, sand - rough).  

Science center activity -  At the beginning of our texture unit students learned the words hard and soft. They felt the textures, said the words, and placed items in sorting rings in our share square group time.  I then replaced the sorting rings with bowls and a tray and it is now in our science center as an activity.  It has been a very popular tray so far! 

The bowls were 2 for $1 in the Target dollar aisle.. they are a new item so they should still be available.. I also bought some cute scarecrow bowls!