C is for . . .

. . . caterpillar chains. We made paper chains into caterpillars. We used this as a math focused activity and worked on making patterns with the colors on the chains. For more detailed instructions click here. . . . cookies! We sang C is for Cookie with the cookie monster (on youtube). We read the awesome book, "The Doorbell Rang" by Pat Hutchins about some kids who have to share some cookies with their friends in a fair way. Then we learned how to "share" cookies. Each child got 12 cookie cereal pieces (think cookie crisp) and 6 paper people. They practiced sharing cookies with different numbers of people. 

After they shared their cookies equally, they would write on a worksheet how many cookies each person got.  This is one of my favorite lessons, it is a fun way to introduce division to young children using the idea of sharing fairly. It really makes them stretch and grow.

 To get the full instructions and a free printable, click here.

Thanksgiving Puppet and Songs

If you're looking for some fun Thanksgiving songs to sing with your littles, look no further!  A couple of years ago I made these turkey finger puppets to use during singing time. The kids are able to use their fingers as the legs for the turkeys and make the little turkeys run.

Here we are at the carpet getting ready to sing some fun Thanksgiving related songs using our turkey finger puppets. Oh my goodness, look at these cuties! Some of their faces are cracking me up. We're still working on looking at the camera. Hahaha. A friend of mine gave me the puppets to copy. To make your own you could use these finger puppets from dinkycow.com.  (The finger holes should be about 3/4 of an inch wide. Adjust as necessary.) You could also use turkey popsicle stick puppets or turkey finger puppets.  Here are a few songs that are easy to sing to celebrate this fun day. Gobble-gobble Says the Bird (To the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It") Gobble-gobble, gobble-gobble says the bird. Gobble-gobble, gobble-gobble says the bird. Mr. Turkey gobble-gobbles, And his feet go wobble-wobble. Gobble-gobble, gobble-gobble says the bird. Turkey, Turkey (To the tune of "Twinkle Little Star") Turkey, turkey, look at you! Please be careful what you do. Thanksgiving Day is almost here. We eat turkey every year. Go and hide out in the woods,  We'll eat pizza, as we should.

Mr. Turkey (To the tune of "Frere Jacques") Mr. Turkey, Mr. Turkey, Run away! Run away! If you are not careful, You will be a mouthful, Thanksgiving day, Thanksgiving day.

B is for . . .

. . . block towers. The kids picked a numbered card, identified the number and then built a tower that tall. 

. . . balancing. We practiced balancing on a beam while picking up letter Bs.

. . . bee balancer. We made balancing bees. Each bee was made from a file folder with two pennies attached to the wings. The kids added stripes and a face to their bee and then practiced balancing it across the balance beam.

A is for . . .

. . . apple picking

We used our fine motor skills to pick apples off a tree with tongs. The kids rolled a dice and then picked that many apples off the tree and put them in their bucket. For this activity we used a 6 sided dice and practiced counting the pips (dots) on the side of the dice we rolled. Then we picked that many apples off the tree until our tree was bare. This center was meant to work on the one to one principle when counting. i.e. we count one time for each (one) thing we see.  

I love Makaius's concentration face! :)

For the next apple picking activity we used a 12 sided dice. There were numbered apples on the tree. The kids identified which number they rolled then picked the corresponding apple off the tree. For this activity we were working on identifying numbers. 

 
 . . . ants on a log

Celery, peanut butter and raisins. You can't get more classic than this snack!

. . .  ants

We made thumbprint ants on a letter a. Each child made sure the ants had 3 body parts, 6 legs, 2 antenna, and a face. 

 . . . apples (again.) :)

We did an activity with 10 apples up on top. We did the project seen here, but added an element of complexity. I wrote the numbers using dots instead of writing them completely. The kids connected the dots and traced each number from 1 - 10. Then the kids put the apples in numerical order onto their headband and glued them on. We were working again on number recognition. 

Simply Awesome Q-tip Skeleton

Skeletons are inspiring us this season and helping us get into the Halloween spirit. For letter B week we learned about our bones and what they do for our body. We learned that bones give us shape and protect us. Without them we would be a mushy puddle on the floor.  Here's a simple skeleton we made using long and short q-tips. 

Here's What You Need: 5 long q-tips 8 half q-tips black paper paper cut out skull liquid glue Here's What You Do: (for younger kids do steps 1 and 2 for them to help them get started) 1. Glue 1 long q-tip to the middle of your page 2. Glue the skull at the top of that q-tip 3. Use the short q-tips to glue ribs on each side of the back bone. 4. Add legs and arms. Easy peasy lemon squezzy!