Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Tonight we celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday at family night.  I did not want the children who could not make it to miss out on any of the fun.  Therefor, our centers today were all about Dr. Seuss.  At Grandma Sue's center the children taste tested green eggs and ham.  They then graphed whether or not they liked them.  As you can see from our graph they were a big hit!!  At Miss Sue's center the children made Cat in the Hat hats.  To do this the children had to make an AB pattern of red, white, red, white.  At my center the children practiced number recognition while playing a Cat in the Hat roll and color by code game.

Jellyfish

Today our ocean animal of choice was the jellyfish.  We learned that a jellyfish is an invertebrate.  Jellyfish have dangerous stingers.  Some fish swim alongside jellyfish as a way to protect themselves form predators.  Our read alouds were titled Jellyfish and Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea.  Our flannel board story was called "Five Little Jelly Fish."
Five Little Jellyfish
 5 little jellyfish swimming by the shore, the yellow one got lost and that left 4.
4 little jellyfish swimming in the sea, the blue one swam far, far away and that left 3.
3 little jellyfish in the ocean so blue, the red one took a seahorse ride and that left 2.
2 little jellyfish swimming in the sun, the orange one took a dive and that left 1.
1 little green jellyfish swimming all alone, it was time for him to go home and that left none

During centers today the children made a jellyfish.  We have also been discussing that the ocean is made up of salt water.  The children used a mixture of 2 teaspoons starch, 1 teaspoon salt, and a few drops of food coloring(at school we have washable food coloring) to paint an ocean animal picture.  Part of 4K is having time to be creative.  This activity fostered that.  At the third center the children visited the following websites at the computer center http://www.fun4thebrain.com/preschool/bigseacount.html and http://www.abcya.com/kindergarten_computers.htm

Seahorses

Today we learned about seahorses.  Seahorses have gills, so they are categorized as fish.  One of our read alouds today was titled Mister Seahorse.  When Mrs. Seahorse lays her eggs, she does it on Mr. Seahorse's belly! She knows he will take good care of them. While he swims waiting for the eggs to hatch, he meets other underwater fathers caring for their babies.  Good thing Mr. Seahorse has a pouch like a kangaroo to keep the eggs safe.

During centers today the children cut out a seahorse and used doters and their creativity to decorate it.  At my center the children played Seahorse Roll a Letter.  Groups of children were given a die with letters on it.  They rolled the die and traced over the capital and lowercase letter that they landed on.  Some children rolled words from the -op word family.  At the third center the children glued a mustache and eyebrows onto a picture of themselves.  They then decorated it to look like a Lorax.  The Lorax pictures will be hung up in the cafeteria for our family night on Thursday.

Good News

Our Superintendent found this great article on Meeme LEADS.  I have attached it for you.  It is a testament to the great students, families, and teachers at our school.http://www.htrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201302150412/MAN0101/302150131

Ruby Valeninte

Ruby Valentine and her pet cockatoo live in a cottage with heart-shaped trees outside. During the countdown to Valentine's Day, they make glittery cards, bake heart-shaped cookies and cakes, and prepare goody bags tied up with red bows. The day before the celebration, Ruby and Lovebird fill up their red wagon, ready to distribute gifts to all the townspeople. Before turning in, the hopeless romantic makes a huge heart-shaped sign that reads, Love, Ruby Valentine and places it high on the wagon. Everything is ready. Then, after all of their hard work, the child and her pet sleep through the big day. At Lovebird's urging, she pulls her wagon through town, delivering her gifts anyway. In the town square, Ruby stands atop an equestrian statue and apologizes for being late. The townspeople thank and hug her for being so kind and for turning an ordinary day into a celebration. Ruby realizes that you don't have to wait until Valentine's Day to say I love you! During center time today the children wrote a letter to someone they love.  The sentence starter for their letter was "I love you because ___________________."  The children came up with ideas like you are nice, we watch movies together, and you help me.  At the end of the day we mailed our letters.  Just like Ruby, we learned that every day is a good day to be kind, caring, and loving.

There is a sequel to this story titled Ruby Valentine Saves the Day.  We did not read it in class, but it is available through the Manitowoc Library System.  I'm sure your child would love to listen to it as a bedtime story.

At Mrs. Severson's center the children cut out the letter "V."  They then glued it onto a piece of paper so it looked like a vase.  Lastly, they drew a flower arrangement in their vase.  At Miss Sue's center and Mrs. Palmers center the children were given a bag of candy hearts.  They sorted them and graphed them.  They then compared their data.

Queen of Hearts

This month our nursery rhyme is "The Queen of Hearts." 
The Queen of Hearts,
She made some tarts
All on a summer’s day.
The Knave of Hearts,
He stole the tarts
And took them clean away.

To begin the day today we made tarts (cupcakes).  When we came back to the classroom after washing our hands for snack they were gone, and in their place was a letter.  The letter was from the knave stating that he stole our tarts and in order to get them back we needed to go on a scavenger hunt around the school.  Each child was given a map that had hearts programed with letters on them.  In the hallways of the school we found pink hearts hanging up.  Each heart contained three pictures.  We listened to the beginning sound of the pictures and determined what letter they began with.  We then colored the corresponding heart in on our map.  The last heart for the scavenger hunt was on our classroom door.  When we walked into the room it was transformed into a Valentine oasis.  The tables had tablecloths on them, there were Valentine plates and napkins, cups, and our TARTS!!!  The children had lots of fun during this experience.

Hearts

Today during center time the children were surrounded by heart activities.  At an independent center they painted a heart that was traced on wax paper with a glue and water mixture.  They then placed tissuepaper pieces on top of the mixture.  When their heart is dry they will cut it out and I will hang it in our classroom windows.  A few children were done with their projects, and I must say they look beautiful.

At my center the children read a book titled Hearts.  On each page their was an object with hearts on it.  To make the book more interactive the children used heart stamps to add even more hearts on the object.  The story had rhyming words like door and floor in it.  When your child rereads the story to you have them find all of the rhyming words.

At the third center the children decorated white bags to make a Valentine's mailbox.  They used their creativity to make each one look unique. 

Our read aloud for today was titled Valentine Surprise.  It's ’s only a week until Valentine’s Day, and Lily wants to make the perfect heart-shaped valentine for Mommy. But every time she cuts out a heart, it’s either too pointy, too round, or too skinny. As the days go by, Lily tries again and again, and when Valentine’s Day finally arrives, she has a heart for each day of the week! All of them combined make a special surprise for her Mommy.  Our last center is going to be a surprise for you.  You will have to hold tight until Thursday to find out what it is.

Valentine's Week

This week our theme is Valentine's.  I have found some great websites with printables that you may want to use this week make it Valentine's Week at your house too.  The following site has a variety of mazes that your child might want to try http://www.busybeekidsprintables.com/Preschool-and-Kindergarten-Valentine-Math-Worksheets.html.  The next site has printable coloring pages with Disney characters that would make great pictures to give to relatives for Valentine's Day. http://disney.go.com/DisneyVideos/preschool/valentine/funngames.html The last web site has Valentine's day puzzles that you can put together.  You can change the amount of pieces in the puzzles to increase difficulty. http://www.coolmath-games.com/holiday-valentines-day/puzzles/01-valentines-day-puzzle-15.html

Shark Tales

The children loved the stories that we read about sharks.  The first was titled The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark.  We made a text-to-text connection when we compared this story to the story The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf.  Instead of huffing and puffing the houses down, like the wolf, the shark munched and crunched the houses down.  In both stories the characters used three different types of materials to construct their houses.  At the end of both stories the characters were safe from the wolf and shark.

Our second story was titled Sharks.  This book is part of a series of nonfiction books called Pebble Books.  You can find these books in the Meeme Library or the Kiel Public Library.  They are a well written nonfiction series.

For centers the children read the paper book titled Watch Out Fish.  On each page the children tracked the words from left to right with their pointer finger.  They then listened for the number in each sentence.  Lastly, they drew the corresponding number of fish on the page for the illustration.  At closing circle the children reread their story to a friend.  Rereading books helps with memorizing words and fluency.

At one of our independent centers the children took a boat that had a number programed on it.  They then counted the corresponding number of whale counters on the boat.  When they were done practicing one-to-one correspondence they put together ocean animal number puzzles.

Whale Watching

Today was a fact filled day about whales.  We learned that the blue whale is the largest animal in the world.  It is even bigger then the largest dinosaur was.  There are two types of whales; toothed whales and baleen whales.  Baleen whales have teeth similar to the bristles on a toot brush.  The orca whale eats seals, turtles, and other whales.

During center today the children followed multiple step directions to make an orca whale.  The children also visited the sensory table.  In the sensory table they interacted with squirting fish, clams, crabs and shells that have letters on them, and strainers. 

One of the best parts of our day was taking part in the following flannel board story:

Fish With a Deep Sea Smile     

(based on Margaret Wise Brown story)


They fished and they fished
Way down in the sea,
Down in the sea a mile.
They fished among all the fish in the sea,
For the fish with the deep sea smile.

One fish came up from the deep of the sea,
From down in the sea a mile,
It had BLUE-GREEN EYES
AND WHISKERS THREE,
But never a deep sea smile.

One fish came from the deep of the sea,
From down in the sea a mile,
With ELECTRIC LIGHTS up and down his tail
But never a deep sea smile.

They fished and they fished
Way down in the sea.
Down in the sea a mile.
They fished among all the fish in the sea,
For the fish with a deep sea smile.

One fish came up with TERRIBLE TEETH,
One fish with LONG STRONG JAWS,
One fish came up with LONG STALKED EYES,
One fish with TERRIBLE CLAWS.

They fished all through the ocean deep,
For many and many a mile.
And they caught a FISH WITH A LAUGHING EYE,
But none with a deep sea smile.

And then one day they got a pull,
From down in the sea a mile.
And when they pulled the fish into the boat,
HE SMILED A DEEP SEA SMILE.

And as he smiled the hook got free,
And then, what a deep sea smile !
He flipped his tail and swam away,
Down in the sea a mile.

 

Ocean

Today we began our new theme "The Ocean."  Our read alouds included I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean, Octopuses, and Deep Sea Dive .  For our daily message today we charted all of the facts that we already know about the ocean.  The children had a lot of background information already in place.  They knew that jellyfish, sting-rays, octopuses, whales, and sharks all live in the ocean.  We then charted all of the things that we want to learn about the ocean.  As the days go along we will chart what we have learned about the ocean.  In the higher grades this type of chart is called a KWL chart.

Today we did not have center time, instead we all worked on the same project.  The children followed multiple step direction to make an octopus.  They first chose the color octopus they wanted.  Octopuses change color as a way to protect themselves from predators.  The children could make a yellow, peach, blue, green, or light purple octopus.  They drew a face on their octopus then added suckers to its tentacles.  To make the suckers the children patterned Fruit Loop cereal.

Teeth

Today we continued to learn about dental health.  Our read aloud was titled Loose Tooth.  By reading this story we learned that adults have 32 teeth.  This book also taught us what it feels like to have a loose tooth and what we need to do to take care of our teeth.  Over the course of the week we have charted what we have learned about dental health.  Today we added the fact that we should visit the dentist and not eat to much sugar.

For centers today the children played a tooth syllable game.  On their turn the child picked a tooth.  Identified the picture on it then clapped its syllables.  They then placed the tooth next to the corresponding mouth.  The children also colored a toothbrush like the one they use at home.  At the end of the day we graphed the toothbrushes.  The color that the children had the most of was green.  At another center the children were given a tooth(glob of play doh) that had cavities in it(black beans).  They used tweezers to get the cavities out of the tooth.  They then placed the cavities in the compartments of a muffin tin that was labeled with numbers.