Ff is for Frankenstein

 This week, our pre-k kiddos studied the letter Ff.  And since it's October and Halloween is right around the corner, we decided to tie in Frankenstein!

 

I found this cute cereal box Frankenstein idea on Pinterest, but made mine look a little friendlier, and left the top open.  The kid-version of Frankenstein, so to speak.  :)

 

After brainstorming for what seemed like forever, I came up with a fun game for the kids to play, reinforcing not only Ff, but reviewing the other letters we've learned so far (Aa-Ee).

 

Fishies for Frankenstein!

We already had a fishing game, so I just placed post-it letters on each fish.  I put the fish in a bucket, and the kids had to use their fishing pole to catch a fish.  Once they caught one, they had to say the letter, and if it was F or f, they got to feed our friendly Frankenstein!  If they caught a different letter (not Ff), they still had to say the letter name, then place it on the table.  Frankenstein only likes fishies with the letter Ff!

 

We also practiced Ff in sign language, sounded out Ff, traced it with our fingers, and practiced skywriting Ff.  Ask your kiddo to tell you all about our Fishies for Frankenstein game!



Falling for Leaves

This is the view of our school backyard.  Isn't it absolutely gorgeous?  I love the beauty that fall brings - the colorful leaves, the harvest of fall fruits and vegetables, and the crisp autumn air.  It's my favorite time of year!

 

 

Since it was a short week, we packed in a lot of fall leaf fun in just two days. We read the books I Am a Leaf and Ruby's Falling Leaves.  We learned that leaves help make food for trees and that there are many different kinds of trees and leaves.  We went outside into our beautiful backyard, and each kiddo collected a bag of colorful leaves.  They paid special attention to the color of the leaves, and they noticed that leaves come in different shapes and sizes.

 

 

Again this week, we had the spider web shape sorting activity out, since only a few kids got to do it last week.  They are doing great sorting and using the tongs to pick up the small objects from the basket!

 

 

In writing, we practiced tracing straight and zig-zag lines, which will help with letter formation.

 

For math, we played a scarecrow roll & cover game.  (Roll the die and cover the number.)  This game reinforces numbers 1-9, and is a fun learning tool to practice number recognition. 

 

 

We made hand/arm print fall trees with ink fingerprint leaves that turned out simply beautiful!  There is an adorably sweet poem attached, so that your child's tree can be a keepsake.

 

 

Have a wonderful Fall Break!

 



Silly Spiders

Friday's class was all about spiders, and boy were we busy!

We read the books The Very Busy Spider and Boo Who? (a lift-the-flap trivia story), and had several spider activities for the kids to do.  I'm thinking that in the future, I may need to devote an entire week to spiders!

During centers/playtime, one of the activities the kids could choose was this spider counting game.  The spiders started out in a bowl, and the kids had to put one spider at a time at the end of each webline.  Then they had to count them, using one-to-one correspondence.

 

We also had a free play spider table, with a web, several colorful spiders, and lots of realistic-looking spiders.  I think they creeped-out a few of the kids, but I did notice most of them playing and making up their own silly spider stories!

I wish I had gotten pictures of the other things we did.  We were just sooooo busy!

For writing, each child traced his/her name on a spider web.  If you'd like your child to practice name writing at home, I recommend first writing their name in highlighter.  Then have them trace over the letters with a pencil, marker or crayon.  Highlighter is a lot easier than dashes or dots!

In literacy, we played a spider web letter game, using letters we've covered so far - Aa through Ee. 

In math, we sorted a basket of small blocks shaped like triangles, squares and circles onto spider webs that were shaped like triangles, squares and circles.  The kids used tongs to pick up each block, so they also got a fine motor muscle workout as well.

  Ask your kiddo how many legs a spider has, and how a spider catches its food.  What was your kiddo's favorite part about our spider mini unit?

 

We had an absolutely spiderific day!

Bats Fly at Night

On Wednesday, our theme was bats.  We read the books Bats at the Library and  Bats (a Scholastic Science Reader), and talked about many bat facts.  The children made the connection that bats are awake at night and asleep during the day, just like owls.  These kiddos are thinkers!

We also learned that most bats eat bugs or fruit, and that vampire bats bite cows and birds...not people!  Bats sleep upside down and use echoes to find their way around.

 

We had a bat play table with lots of toy bats, and we made bats to hang up on our curtains.  Take a peek in our classroom, and check them out!

 

The pre-k'ers also learned the song "Five Little Bats", and used geoblocks to form bats on a mat.

In math, we used a 10 frame to practice counting 1-10, and then we placed the corresponding number of dots in each box.
 

It was a batty good day!



Ee is for Easter Eggs

Ee is for Easter eggs!

 

I made up a simple game for the children to end our week of letter Ee.  I placed a strip of paper inside 12 eggs. Some had an uppercase E, some had a lowercase e, and others had random upper or lowercase letters that we've already studied.

 

 

The kiddos worked in pairs, opening each egg, and deciding if the letter on the paper was E, e, or some other letter.  They really enjoyed this activity!  I think breaking apart the eggs was probably their favorite part.  :)

 

We then made the sign for Ee, sounded out short /e/, long /e/, and tried to give a word beginning with Ee.  Most kids said elephant or eggs.  Don't forget eels and erasers!  Earlier in the week, we practiced skywriting Ee as well.

 

Next week's letter is Ff...maybe for Frankenstein!

Dd is for Dots

Dd is for dots on a Dalmation dog!

 

Have you seen the do-a-dot markers?  They're similar to bingo markers, except washable and in every color of the rainbow.  We love them!  They're perfect for projects like this:

 

 

The kiddos sounded out Dd, traced it with their finger, and used the black dot marker to place dots on D and the dog.  Some kids even counted the dots - so they got a literacy and math lesson.  Score!

 

At this point, your child knows the American Sign Language symbols for letters Aa through Dd.  If you'd like to reinforce this with your child, you can find a chart here.  When we make a specific letter sign, we also say its sound at the same time.

 

Next up...Ee!



Cc is for Carrots and Cream

If there's one sensory activity that kids cannot get enough of, it's definitely shaving cream.  Enter our letter Cc activity - carrots and (shaving) cream!

 

The kids formed lots of Cc's in the cream with the use of a plastic carrot as their writing utensil.  They made the two Cc sounds - soft /c/ (like cereal) and hard /c/ (like cocoa).

 

 

Then came the fun part - "erasing" and running their little fingers all through the cream!  They squished, smoothed, drew and even ran Matchbox cars in the cream.  It was a delightful experience for the kiddos, and I think the teachers enjoyed watching their excitement just as much!  We even had a few who ended up with shaving cream in their hair and on their clothes.  They definitely had a blast!

 

Next up...letter Dd!