Letter W

Short and busy week this week so getting to just one more post about our letter W week.  Weather and watermelon and other misc. W activities.  :-)

W is for Weather

Creating a picture bubble map....

Thinking about what we might see out the window during each specific type of weather and then drawing about it.

Maybe I'll just slip in here for you to notice the expression on the girl's face in this picture.  There is a sad face drawn on.  Please don't encourage your child/students to draw only "happy face" drawings.  We are never "happy" all the time.  I do understand that sometimes parents might get the wrong impression because they weren't there hearing the conversation or story that went along with it.  So I encourage you to just jot down the story and send it along with their work.  :-)  Because a child draws a sad face on their person does not mean they are not happy with being in your program or having you as a parent/aunt/uncle/teacher...whatever the case might be.  What that does tell us is that they are learning to express feelings!  In this picture, the child isn't "sad".  This picture the child is "shy", which is what the child was saying but after listening a bit more I encouraged her to use the word "scared" so that she's labeling the feeling correctly.  The adult word I would have used would have been "leery".  :-)  That hill is big, do you see?  The girl is scared to go down that big hill all by herself on the sled.  Note that she is not on the sled...but behind the sled!

Gluing on strips to make it look like we are looking out a window.

There is another "sad" picture here.  The top picture.  Her brother is now a baby (in reality he's about a year older) and "he's mad because he wants to walk by himself but I have to hold onto him because we need to share the umbrella and he's a baby!"  The middle picture are happy happy people because she was drawing about going to the park with her mom (did that over the weekend).  The bottom picture is obviously a scenery picture.  She's drawing a picture of our trees and my house and the play house.  :-D

Creating "curtains" and writing about the pictures.

Definitely takes more than one session but so worth the process!  See those sight words!  She drew the lines on the paper.  Note that they are getting smaller in between on the left curtain.  :-)  She is becoming to realize that it's a lot easier to write smaller.  This is also a sign of progressing development in writing! 

Science Experiment

A picture similar to what we did was uploaded by a user of Pinterest.  So no site to really take you too.  Was very cool!  Fill the jar partially with water and spray shaving cream on the top.  Use eye droppers top drop the colored water on the shaving cream.  Won't really do it as a "cloud/rain" experiment since there are other experiments that show it a bit better but what a very cool COLOR MIXING experiment!

Water Cycle Song
Tune: Oh My Darling
Evaporation, condensation, precipitation on my mind.
These are part of the water cycle,
and they happen all the time.
 
Top picture you can get at Maggie Lindner Water Cycle Lesson Plan.
The bottom picture is from www.kidssoup.com
Today, we were outside and we were having off and on spring showers.  Yes, we play in the rain when given the opportunity.  :-)  And the kids were in the playscape and pretty soon I hear...Evaporation, condensation, precipitation....  Love it!  We wiggle and raise our fingers with evaporation, clap up high in the air for condensation, and wiggle and lower our fingers for precipitation; we then sign water and rotate our pointer around in a circle for cycle.  Preschoolers LOVE big words!  And it's building a great vocabulary!

I had mentioned with the weather themed math kit that I added the dots to represent touchspots to the numeral on the umbrella mats (where the umbrella are various representation of the number). 

Just before using this activity I decided that really, I want a more hands-on approach to introducing TouchPoints so I simply created number mats with circles.

I really do not plan to do more than allowing the children to become familiar with the concept of touch points as they'll be introduced (depending on the teacher) in most elementary schools.  For our spots I used foam circles, the large size was just under an inch in diameter.  The small foam circles were 1/2 inch in diameter.  Feel free to print your copy of these number mats.  I did include numbers without circles and with circles with the thought in mind that I'll eventually make a set front/back so that those with more experience can add their spots without the guide circle on their numbers.

The TouchPoint image I used as a reference for the children can be found here.

U is for Umbrella
Inspired by Country Fun Lessons.

Obviously this was something we did last week with our letter U.  Well, we started it and...it didn't get finished.  So we finished this week.  


Rainy Day=Muddy Day

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W is for Watermelon

Sewing Watermelon Seeds

Inspired by Chadwicks' Picture Place

 Fine Motor/Scissors

They first cut out their half oval and then used a yarn needed and black yarn to create their seeds.  The middle one was mine that I was exploring with.  I used black embroidery thread vs. yarn.  The yarn makes the seeds "pop" out but the thread makes it easier to sew.  So...explore on your own and see what works best for you. 

Watermelon Slushies

Inspired by JuJuBee Preschool

3 C. Watermelon- chunked

1 C. Raspberry Sherbet

1 C. Crushed Ice

4 tsp. Lime Juice

Blend together in a blender.

I wouldn't say these were a favorite but they were much better than I thought they would be!  The lime juice makes it taste like there is Sprite in it.  My husband says it tasted like Watermelon Jolly Ranchers.  The process of cutting up the watermelon and following a recipe and making something for a meal/snack is ALWAYS beneficial though!

We tried the melon baller today for the older children vs. cutting up strips of watermelon like we normally do.  HA!  It was good practice for rotating their wrist but yes, I did have watermelon catapulting through the kitchen and red juice on my walls and floor...but that all cleans up.  We had a good time!

Watermelon Maracas

A good ol' oldie!  Paper plate maracas.  After we cut the watermelon and half and saw how the watermelon's green rind went around the perimeter of the circle, they also painted the one side of their plate, green around the perimeter and red in the center.  We used tempera cakes so that the paint would dry quicker.  They used black crayons to draw seeds.  Fold in half and staple almost all the way around and put your chosen noise maker material out for them to put inside.  Finish stapling and shake!  They had a grand ol' time.  They even noticed how the sounds were different and so I led them to the conclusion that the more beans in the maraca the deeper the sound.

Watermelon Seed Counting

A very giving teacher has made this beautiful file folder game available to us.  You can get your copy at Kindergarten...Kindergarten.

Often, I don't actually create the file folder game out of a file folder because I don't have access to a large laminator.  So I cut out her pages, glued to colored paper and laminated on my personal laminator.  Kids loved this simple activity!

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W is for Water

Animals That Live In or Like the Water

A great use of scrap paper to reinforce the shades of blue!  Children snipped at least one of each of the colors onto a tray.  

 

Then they used a paste spread to spread glue in a drawn in rectangle.  They placed their snipits in the glued area.  In the above picture, K. is gluing around the perimeter of her collage and is getting ready to fold the W side down.  Then they added stickers of their choice as long as the animal lived in the water or spent quite a bit of their time in water.

Water Bead Sensory Play

Cool!  I've seen these around on different blogs and could never find them in the stores.  Guess I just wasn't looking in the right spot.  So this week I went through the flower area at Meijer again and voila! I found one container.  Well, after today, we definitely need more than container so as soon as they stock up. 

We explored with putting the water gems into colored water...and yes, they do absorb the colors.  Makes it really neat!  So my own boys have tomorrow off of school so I'm going to put the now blue water gems into red or yellow water and we'll see what happens.  :-)  That color changing adds a whole new dimension to these gems!  Some have expressed concerns about choking hazards.  Any small sensory item can be a choking hazard so sensory (and most other activities) should be supervised.  Some mentioned that these can go "flat".  I've found that they smush and break apart easily.  We had "jello" in the bottom of today's container.  So I don't imagine these will hold to much use but so worth it!  We WILL be purchasing more!  I paid $2.99 for 25 oz container of Water Gems.

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W is for Wagon

These beginnings sound pictures came from

Even Mr. T. wanted to be involved in a wagon!

This is impressive!  He normally steers clear of anything with a glue stick since it gets his fingers sticky but he stuck through this activity...not the typical do one thing and say "I'm done."  He glued the wagon together and then wanted every single picture on the page to put inside of his wagon!  Then he told me he wanted me to put it up on the wall.  :-D  He did pitch a crying fit when I got involved with another child and didn't come right away to help wash his hands.  But once he got his hands washed he was fine.  So PROGRESS!  (For those that haven't been following... T. has some sensory issues.  :-P)

And the one of the things that, without a doubt, makes me smile!

My smile was even bigger today though!  It became very clear to me that K. recognizes the difference between a fiction and nonfiction text.  She was very "informational" in her reading today!

W is for Weather

Had fun creating a batch of weather themed mat activities over the weekend.  I'll share them for those interested.  The link is at the end of the blog post.  We won't do these all at once as it's a bit much.  I'll spread them over two or three days.  I do want to apologize for not really being that great of a photographer.  The pictures aren't that best...I haven't figured out what to do yet with the combination of our new choice of lightbulbs and my digital camera.  Can't find any setting that actually works without me fiddling around and it taking so much time and still not getting a decent quality picture.  And so I try to use natural light because the flash always whitens the picture or reflects but then without the flash, ALL pictures are blurry no matter what setting I have it on.  Any suggestions?  I think I might put some photography learning for a summer goal.  :-)

Rainbows- more/less/equal

Use dry erase or washable markers to write the correct sign.  Provide manipulatives and/or a number line as needed.  A simple number line pattern to 30 is available in the file.

Partly Sunny- Number to Word Match

Encourage the child to put the suns in numerical order.  Then have them read the number words on the clouds and place to cover the sun partially.  0-10.

Sun-Patterning

I'll slip this one in now but it's not in the pack as it was easier to just create with a circle cutter and scrap paper vs. in a program on the computer.  But you may wish to use make something similar.  We'll be creating a small booklet that K. can take home.

Snowy-Addition and Subtraction

Extra materials needed: Snowflake manipulatives such as play-doh, white beans, mini pom poms, etc.    I intend to have them separate the addition and subtraction clouds.  K. still gets confused about which is which.  I'll also include a number line so that she can review that subtraction goes backward and addition goes forward.

Stormy- Measurement and Seriation

I created the pictures so they are wholes and halves of an inch...so if you wish to use a more formal route to measurement (my preschoolers have always LOVED rulers...makes them feel important and "smart") then remove the halves and allow them to measure the wholes.   I added magnet to the back of ours this time.

Umbrella Puzzles

This activity is to work with recognizing numerals represented in different ways.  I wanted to include TouchMath so on the numeral I drew the TouchPoints.  The tops of the umbrella are cut into three parts (each with a different cut to allow for self correction), the number represented with dice, tally marks, and ten frame.  The basic pattern for these umbrellas are in the pdf. file.  I chose to just draw in the dots and tally marks as it was just so much simpler.  I strongly recommend you add magnet strips to the back and work at a magnetic surface to help the puzzle pieces stay in place.  It's frusterating to put the pieces together and then accidently bump them.  :-)  Sticky tak would work in a pinch but velcro is not recommended as the pieces are too small and would bend as the children are removing them from the mat (personal experience speaking).

Tornado- Number Order

Sets of three numbers to dump out of their tornado and put in order.  I did explore with stapling the pockets along the side but I went back to Scotch tape. Works a lot better.

This is the perfect time to do a weather theme here in MI.  :-)  We can see every single type of weather in a week (actually, multiple in a day!).  Yesterday was SO SO SO nice!  Kids spent 5 hours straight outside with no coat.  First day in the sandbox, first day with picnic-y foods (grilled hamburgers and potato chips!), first family walk/bike ride, first day with windows wide open (and yep, we turned off the heater and forgot to turn it back on last night.  Oops!  Just a bit chilly in here this morning.)  Today, it's about 40 and quite a downpour going on.  Suppose to rain all day today, sunny tomorrow, and more rain on Wed.  Perhaps it'll turn into snow.  Definitely a possibility!  LOL

Weather Themed Math Kit

Hope you find something helpful for your child or students!  Please remember that these are for personal use only.  Please link back to the blog vs. the actual pdf. file.  If you do download and use any part of these with your students it would be great for you to comment and let us know how you used them.  Thanks!

April Showers Bring May Flowers II

Well, today started a little differently but it all worked out.  :-)  Here are some of the activities we did today.  Maybe there will be something that can be used as a jumping board for your own kiddos!

First off, I had someone ask me whether I did the weather with the children.  I had in the past but this year we mainly talked about it informally.  But as I went through the weather tub I found what we used before and so decided to pop it up with our calendar and see how it went.  There was so much excitement from the children who were here previously.  :-)  We're doing it differently as space/time doesn't allow for us to get into it too much but we'll play it by ear.

Hmmm...it looks like my days of the week pockets are crooked :-) Didn't notice it until I took the picture.  That'll need to change!  LOL  Not that the kids care.  Anyway...it's getting cluttered here.  I won't be able to add too much more. I had a lot larger place for my calendar wall before we remodeled the kitchen and took the wall/cupboards out.  We use to have all this and a weekly nursery rhyme and it never looked too cluttered to me.  Oh well, we do what we can.  Changed the alphabet display to flowers and butterflies.  http://www.childcareland.com/ is where I got this printable. I have it so that we can remove the lower case letters.  The typical progression of themes seems to go rain...flowers...bees/bugs/insects.  So I'll be keeping this display up for a bit instead of changing it out...I think!  Below is a closer up of the weather section.  All laminated for durability and also so we can write and rewrite on the page.

Excuse the smeary look of our weather helper page.  We found out that the dry erase marker we used yesterday does NOT erase easily with even the Expo spray.  I find that the easiest way to get that smear off is to keep writing over top of it with a different brand and eventually it will come clean.  We sing a weather helper song and that child goes to the window and tells us about the weather and clips the clothespin on the weather wheel.  We put the symbol in the "actual" column and the child predicts what tomorrow is going to be like. (Must be a MI boy...he told me he thinks it's going to snow tomorrow!)  We place that symbol in the "prediction" column.  Then they give a weather message.  Since it's the end of the school year I do talk about punctuation briefly with each dictation.  Previously we did a weather graph book where we took the actual pictures and glued them onto a page for the month and then we could compare from month to month.

Rain!

We had a perfect start of our week.  Goes right along with the theme!

Here is a little language activity we also did today.  I like to include these simple activities for each theme.  It makes them think!  And of course they are getting print concept reinforcement.  I use a different color for each child when I'm writing their thought.  Here's what I got to my statement, "Tell me about rain."

* It makes it muddy out.

* Flowers grow!

*  It makes leaves wet.

* It goes to ice.

* Rainbow!

*  It dropped down and get super, super wet!

*  It make plants grow.

* It gets my hair wet!

*  Kenzie had a umbrella and I get dirty on my feet.

Note:  I repeat their thought back exactly how they said it and get confirmation that I understood correctly and then I write it down exactly as they said, saying each word as I write it.

April showers bring May Flowers!

I saw this at the school yesterday.  :-)  Well, something similar.  Their's all looked the same and had no writing on it.  We turned it into a math and fine motor activity.  Children cut out their clouds and wrote the words "April" and "May" (hand over hand for the younger one).  The far left on is actually mine.  I don't normally display my work but this time I did because I wanted the additional math problem. Things we talked about

* primary colors

*  number sentence

* adding/addition

* more/less

* long/short

* couple means 2.

K. is cutting out her 9 piece rainbow puzzle.  www.kidssparkz.com

These make great scissor activities.  All the puzzle printables from this site are so bold and some are realistic pictures, which I like.  This one had a sun in the upper left hand corner and rain in the lower right hand corner with a rainbow in the center.

Hunt and Write

This was a Mailbox idea.  Well, I'll give them credit.  I've been doing things like this for a long time but I was reminded of it in a Mailbox magazine.  :-P  I placed rainbow rice in a tub and hid large magnetic letters, A-Z.  Provided a metal pan for them to put their letters on. The found a letter, put it on the pan, and wrote it on their paper.  At this point, he had already filled one side of the pan and flipped it over (nice thing about metal pans!). Since he's my oldest student I had folded his paper into rectangles to help him make his letters a wee bit smaller and more organized.  He also found all (or almost all) the letters.  The younger children had no folds and they only did it as interest kept them.  They stayed interested for quite a while though!  Consider putting shape and numbers in sensory tubs also.  If you have an older child you can do sight words or CVC words.  I did the CVC words with my own children.  Had small picture of the words in the sensory tub and they wrote the word down on their paper.

Well, that's a few of the things we did.  Enjoy! 

Weather Theme-Misc

Pretty emotional day for me today so we'll keep this short because my brain is a bit "mush".  I see I have a few pics from the day before the snow days I'll share . We didn't get to the rest of our activities- rainbow- due to the snow so perhaps when we get back from Spring Break it'll be a little more appropriate!  Though, we do talk about how Spring brings MANY types of weather.

Here are the children doing the actual sunshine seriation and sort.  

It went over very well.  Even Trent (not quite two) sorted a few rays between the 2 smallest suns and got 90% of them correct!  Goes with his sense of order I'm sure.

Our sunshine salad.

Well, this is lemon jello in whipped topping for the "sunshine" and pineapple tidbits for the rays.  We strive for a corn syrup free menu. Unfortunately, the day we planned to do our sunshine my whipping cream was spoiled.  So we did it the next day with whipped topping.  Tasted good but had cs.  :-9  They all enjoyed this.  In another blog, I'll talk about recipes.  :-)

Windsock

Lot different than the typical way we do windsocks.  Here, it's a storage bag that they cut from the bottom in strips and put stickers on both sides of the top half.  (I had precut a sliver off the bottom already for them.)  Hole punch the top and tie yarn at each hole to make a loop (keeps the bag open to catch the breeze).  They seemed to enjoy these.  I thought the bag would be hard for them to cut but it was really easy-almost too easy!  Stickers add a nice fine motor component.

Well, I thought we'd make a rainbow windchime but it changed a bit.  :-)

We're not done with these yet but this is the process.  The child and I talked about the weather cards and about the weather they like or dislike and why.  Then they chose one to draw and dictate about.  Here K. chose lightening and her sentences were "I was scared of the lightening.  I wanted to be with Mom and Dad."  The other two children wrote about weather they liked.

Then the child went to the next center where I had yarn and beads waiting for them.

This is the part they need to finish.  It's very time consuming for them and better for them to work on it little by little.  They chose what color yarn, how long it was going to be, the color of beads and how many they were going to put on them.  One child even created an ABBABB pattern!

And Mr. Trent didn't want to take a morning nap this particular morning so here was his "task".  :-)

Pipecleaners work best with little ones with minimal lacing experience or control.

That Incredible Foam I was looking for for St. Patty's Day?  Well, I found it!

These turned out nicely. 

We were running out of morning time so I didn't get a dictation sentence on them but they did think they were cool!  Notice the obvious differences in them.  Can you tell that in picture one, the child wasn't here when we focused on clouds?  There is also an interest factor playing in here also.  Picture two, there's a little sun up there in the left hand corner.  He does great for his age with representational drawing.  I don't normally see it at a young 3.  And his clouds are very typical for preschool aged children.  Picture 3...YEAH!  I don't expect them to remember all the cloud names and such but this picture shows me she grasped something.  Typically she'd do clouds like the second picture.  Also a bit more detail in her picture with a couple flowers with her sun.  I heard her tell her daddy one afternoon "I learned about clouds today!"  Not very often can we get preschool OR school-age children to tell us something they learned that day.  :-P