S is for Silly Sally!

I love Silly Sally by Audrey Wood.  I still remember the first time I read it...to a group of Kindergartners!  That was a long time ago! 

A "new" vocabulary word we used today after our story is the word "character".  This week I'm introducing characters and settings, mainly for K.'s sake.  She's ready to advance into higher thinking regarding a storyline.    

So with "characters" in mind, I tried to incorporate an activity that used each of the activities.  Silly Sally had a white bow, did you know that?  So good to help them notice detail!  So for a little fine motor activity, we curly q'd orange hair to represent Sally's hair, hard to see the orange in the picture but these cards are done that way.  And then they matched color bow, pencil and word.  Pattern was from www.pressomatic.com/ittybittybookworm/upload/Web.pdf .

 

Silly Sally first met a dog, who played leapfrog.

I wanted to reinforce all the "magic C" motion letters we've learned (C, O, Q, G, and S) so pulled out the HWT dough and mats.  Then when they were finished with those letters they were welcome to play with the playdough.  I added a dog that when they put playdough inside and pressed down onto the tool, he "grows hair".  They always love this cause/effect activity...though it's not all that easy for them...really makes them use their hand and arm muscles!  Today H. was cutting the dog's hair and telling me "He's not like Silly Sally anymore!  He's going to be bald!"  :-D

  

Started out like this           ...               Ended like this!

Silly Sally met a pig, they danced a jig.

This morning I grabbed a bucket and large spoon as we were heading to the school.  Of course, my kiddos wanted to know what what it was for.  K. rides along with us and was listening to the conversation.  I just mentioned that I was going to stop at the dirt pile and grab some dirt to make mud with the kids today.  So A.-8 yrs says, "Hey, K.?!  What ingredients do you need to make mud?"   :-)  So, she had a head start and wanted to do this activity first.  

Started out like this             ...                  Ended like this!

And she was back at it this afternoon with a fresh tray.

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE trays?  ;-P  They make life so much easier!

 

Silly Sally met a loon, they sang a tune.

This was a free exploration activity.  I wanted to reinforce/introduce the "oo" makes a /oo/ sound and so I used the loons to spell the word during the intro activity (along with creating a pattern).  Lately I've been trying to include materials that require them to think about what they can do with on their own and this was one.  Simply printed a sheet of loons, laminated, and added a magnet.  The things you can do with them are endless!

Silly Sally met a sheep, they fell asleep.

I was going to just do a simple cotton ball transfer activity but decided at the last minute (actually at 3:30A this morning) to just make math mat sheets.  Then I remembered that www.makinglearningfun.com had a pattern for sheep so printed off, added a bit of color, laminated and voila!  A game the children could play together.  Typically they use these mats individually but been trying to do more "together" activities since there are such lovely qualities that can be learned about sportsmanship and taking turns.  They simply rolled the dice, told us what number they rolled, transferred that many pieces of cotton (cut a small cotton ball into quarters...you can use pom poms also, probably will myself next time).  The goal was to see who could fill their mat first.  I do encourage left to right but with toddlers you might allow for them to place them anywhere on their mat.

A little closer up version of the math mat.

Silly Sally met Neddy Buttercup, walking forwardsm right side up.  Actually, I had a block for Neddy Buttercup.  I couldn't really think of anything to do with him in particular.  So we had a little fun with tickling-me tickling them so that it didn't get out of control...some kids just don't know how to tickle and it hurts!  So if you have any ideas for Neddy, please share!

A few other activities we did that were connected to Silly Sally...

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Flower Arranging:  They always do enjoy this and since there were a lot of flowers in the story (buttercups and in the flower boxes in the town) I decided to make it available again.  I have posted about this activity again.  Remember that repetition is a good thing!

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Retelling Map :  Well, K. and I hadn't gotten to the map before I was done with the blog :-)  So I'll post a picture of that when it's completed.  It's very beneficial to provide something that allows for them to retell the story on their own time!  With this little "map" we'll also be talking about settings as well as the characters.

We had a lovely morning...hope you all did as well!