J is for Jellyfish

Did you know that a group of jellyfish is called a smack? We learned that in the book we read during letter j week. I don't know why, but that makes me smile. A smack of jellyfish. :) It just sounds silly. 

We had a lot of fun singing a jellyfish song during letter J week.  I apologize to the parents if they had to listen to the jellyfish song constantly because I sure heard it a lot during class, even when it wasn't singing time. :) Have you ever sung the camp song A Tooty Ta?

It has become quite a favorite in our classroom with one slight change. Instead of singing "a tooty ta", we sing "a jellyfish" while making our fingers undulate like a jellyfish. Can I just interject for a second how much I love Dr. Jean? This is her preschool version of "A Tooty Ta". She makes a lot of fun preschool cds that are definitely worth a listen. We sing with her a lot in our class. 

Anyway, jellyfish . . .

We made these jellyfish like the ones we made here. This year, I spray painted them ahead of time instead of trying to paint on plastic with non-washable paints with preschoolers. Last time, I was so paranoid that the kids were going to get paint on their clothes, it took some of the fun out of the project. 

  

Each of the kids started with 3 different colors of ribbons and we worked on making an A, B, C pattern on our pieces of tape for the jellyfish tentacles. I was so excited and impressed with how well the kids made their patterns with very little help. It is so exciting to see their progress throughout the year. For a detailed instruction of how to make a jellyfish, please go here.