I Love Science!

Science and exploration is one of my favorite parts of the preschool curriculum.   It is easy to create science activities and the students tend to gravitate towards the area.  Here is something that I just made to put in the science center.  I love how is can be used in different ways by different leveled students.  In the beginning of the year they will have fun playing with the rocks.  They might compare sizes, colors and shapes.  By the end of the year they might be able to line up the rocks in alphabetical order.

I choose 26 flat rocks that were different shapes and sizes.  I bleached the rocks and let them dry for a few weeks.  Then I bought a variety of paint markers from Walmart and wrote the letters on the rocks and outlined with black.

Fine Motor Friday: Just a Dot

I like to make fine motor activities fun and messy!  This fine motor activity not only helps students build those tiny muscles, but also helps them practice and important preschool skill...using glue!

 Materials needed:  

A variety of glues 

Avery label stickers

googly eyes or other small decorations 

 This would also be a great activity to use for nocturnal animals or night/day.  Use black paper instead of white.  

This is an activity that I would demonstrate first.  Encouraging them to use a "bunny hop" or "dot" of glue.  This is a fun beginning of the year activity!

Why Won't You Take a Nap?

My big 4 year-old turned 5 this year and with that he feels he no longer needs a nap.  Which I would totally disagree with him!  So he has been busy helping me prepare activities.  We love anything sensory.  Here is a picture of some rainbow rice that we made for the sensory table

We also had a fun time making the "What's Inside the Pumpkin?" activity.  After observing a pumpkin for a few weeks during the month of October, I like to open the pumpkin and have the students help pull out the seeds.  We dry the seeds and make a snack.  I save some of the seeds for the boys and girls to complete the project below.  It is a fun way to use observation in preschool.

Fall Fun
I can't believe that it is almost August!  For me, that means it is time to start planning and preparing for the new school year.  However, this year I am not sure if I am teaching 4k or Kindergarten.  So what do I do?  Prepare for both!  Luckily for me I have a son that will be in 4k this year, so we are having a lot of fun with our 4k products!

In the fall one of my favorite books to read is Owl Babies by Martin Waddell.  This may be a fun alternative to the Kissing Hand, that is so popular in the beginning of the year.

After reading the story and discussing how the baby owls felt and how their mother made them feel better.  The boys and girls will create an owl crown:

This crown is a part of our Fall into Preschool unit.  I usually have several of the pieces cut out ahead of time (by a classroom volunteer).  The boys and girls follow the directions to put the crown together.  When it is competed I take each child's picture and place it on a bulletin board labeled "Whoo Who's in 4K (label included in packet).  I then give each child three white pom poms or cotton balls and have them pretend that these are their "Owl Babies," and it is there job to take care of them:)  They love this!

Summer Fun!

I can' t believe that our year is winding up!  My students are having fun with our summer fun printables.  The printables have been great for morning work, centers and send home fun!  It has helped keep them on task!

 

I am so excited about our ocean unit.  The boys and girls have been super engaged (which is hard to do this time of the year).  To introduce the unit, I started gathering information from the students.  We first discussed all of the bodies of water and then how they were different then the ocean.  The boys and girls told me everything that they knew about the ocean (and what they thought they knew), and we wrote them on a large tablet.  As we learn new information we will clear up the misconceptions and write our new learning.

My favorite book is A House for Hermit Crab, by Eric Carle.  This activity grabs their attention immediately and sets the tone for the entire unit.  

Here are a few activities that we did in our classroom!

 After reading the story the boys and girls created this hermit crab using a paper plate and reproducibles from the Ocean Literacy Unit.  First they water painted the plate and wrote the title of the story and their name on the inside.  Then I asked them to place the animals on his shell as they appeared in the story.  

We reviewed the story using role playing cards and the real creatures below.  They loved having something to hold in their hands while we read the book.

Going Buggy in Kindergarten!
I am so excited about our insect unit!  The boys and girls have been going crazy over the fun centers!

In this center the boys and girls choose a jar, read the word, build the word and then write the word.  This activity helps them focus on each letter in the word.

In this center the boys and girls look for word families in simple sentences.  The boys and girls have loved using the expo markers to circle the word family word.  After they have found all of the words, they record them next to the matching word family.  I like to add a magnifying glass to help them feel like they are true investigators!

Leapin' Lily Pads is a great center for students that are still struggling with learning sight words.  There are 8 lily pads with 8 sight words.  The boys and girls work together to sort the words as they read them.  Next, they color the frogs to match the sight word and write the sight word.  I also have the boys and girls write the number of words per lily pad.

The boys and girls LOVE this activity.  After discussing that most bugs hatch from eggs and that many bugs start out as larva or grubs, I place the grubs in plastic eggs with grass.  First, the boys and girls choose an insect.  Then they search the grass for an egg.  They open the egg to see if they find the matching word.  If they find it they write the word under the word under the matching insect on their recording sheet.

I love sensory table activities.  I usually run four centers (Word Work, Sight Word Work, Writing and Reading).  After they finish using quality work they are able to go to a play center (with an academic or social-based goal).  The centers vary each year depending on student levels and maturity.  This year I have found that the play-based centers have been motivating for struggling students.  Students that used to not finish their work will finish their work with higher quality in order to play at one of the centers.  If you click on the pictures below it will take you to my TPT site to download the activity for free.

 Tried this activity out in our bathtub over spring break and my son loved it as well!  To prep this activity I bought foal squares (dollar store) and cut them out to look like lily pads.  I choose 7 of our heart words and wrote the words on the lily pads using glitter glue pens.  

 Then place the frogs on the lily pads (I also purchased the frogs from the dollar store-in the party section)

 Next the boys and girls will read the "Froggy Menu" and place the insects on the matching word-by the matching frog.  It is great to hear them talk about the sight words.

 I purchased the insects at the dollar store as well (in the toy section).  Even my infant liked this one!