Wheels on the bus! (freebie)

Well we are getting ready to roll into week 3 of school, so I thought maybe I should share what we did our first week!

This year I am back to teaching K-2 1/2 day and preschool 1/2 day.  That means you may see more preschool posts since I do not have a self contained K-2 class this year.  We started off the year in Preschool talking about the Wheels on the Bus. This turned out to be a great opener because the kids all knew the song and could immediately relate as they rode the bus to school.  We read the book, Pete the Cat: Wheels on the bus.  Huge hit!  The kids are still reading it during "library" time.   To follow up on this book we painted buses.  Before we could paint the bus though, we talked about who rode the bus with Pete and who we ride the bus with.  The kids then drew in the bus driver. Then they drew themselves.  After the drawing was done, we painted.  Oh how they loved to paint!

Later in the week we read, Don't let the pigeon drive the bus.  This was another hit!  We made buses using different shapes.  I modeled, but the kids were able to put the windows, doors, and wheels wherever they though was appropriate.  I feel that kids should be able to express themselves through their art work and that everyone's final product does not have to look the same. I will say, all of the buses were different.  One is even upside down!  I added the kids pictures to the front of each bus as the driver with a sign on the wall that says "Don't let the Preschoolers Drive the bus!".


Once a week we have Talk & Stir with our speech therapist.  She does a "cooking" activity with the kids that goes along with our theme.  This week they did buses made out of graham crackers, Oreos, chex, and icing.  The kids said the buses were delicious!!

To round out our week, I taught the students a special version of Wheels on the Bus.  I am sure you have heard of this before, but if not, I will tell you it is a hit with all primary
 ages.  So here is how it goes (to the tune of the Wheels on the Bus)

The letter on the bus is A, A, A, 

A, A A,

A, A, A

The letter on the bus is A, A, A

All through the town.  

Cute, right?  You can change it up by changing the letter, changing it to shapes, numbers, or anything else you can get to fit in there.  I also do this song with sight words.  That is huge hit with my older kids.  I have a book with the words one to a page and we read the word, then sing the song. 

We have been using this song to review while waiting for the bus.  To make it work, I whipped up these buses that are programmed with letters, shapes,and numbers.  As we introduce each concept, we add it to the ring. Then we can easily grab the ring and review.  You can get your copy by going to my TpT store.  While you are there, be sure to follow me so you never miss another update and leave feedback so I know what you think!

5 little pirates (freebie)

I hope you enjoyed yesterday's freebie!

Today I am going to share another activity I put together.  This one used a song that I found on Strong Start and modified it just a tiny bit.  I put the song on one sheet and laminated it so that it can be looked at for reference, but also so that students can look for words and circle them with a dry erase marker (Mr. Clean erasers work great to get the dry erase marker off!!).   I then took a work glove (I tried to find an example on Amazon, but no luck) and added velcro to the finger tips.  Then cut out the pirate pictures and added velcro to the pictures so they would hook to the glove.  Now the glove can be use with the poem to act it out.  As each pirate leaves, a student can pull it off the glove.

You can get your own copy of 5 Little Pirates by going here!  Please leave a comment on this post if you download.   Also check out my previous pirate freebies and classroom activities and my pinterest board to see some of the other activities I included in the box.

Ocean activities!

 One unit we in in my preschool class at the end of the year was a water unit. We spent some time focusing on the ocean since we live so close to the water. While I was out for a meeting I had the students work with the substitute to make jelly fish. I just love the way they came out. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the process, but I do have a picture of the final product. To make them we simply cut a paper plate in half and colored half. Next the students counted out 10 tentacles from crepe paper. The students then glued the tentacles on. I retrospect I probably would have had the kids cut the plates themselves and use a stapler to add the tentacles. That way we could add some extra fine motor practice in.

 Also as part of our ocean studies we looked at seashells. I put them on a teacher's cafeteria tray (Shhh!! Don't tell!)and the kids used oversized magnifying glasses to explore them. This activity was a HIT! I left it out for a few the remainder of the week so that they could continue to explore during free time.

 Another activity we did that the kids really enjoyed was pretend to be turtles. We did this by crawling around on all fours while having a "shell" balanced on our backs. Our check was a carpet sample that I use to make places to sit in the class room.

Pirate week!

My oldest two boys A & B are at Pirate camp this week so I thought it would be the perfect time to share some activities that we did in my ECSE classroom for our pirate week.  I will say, I think it was my favorite theme and the kids loved it.  I even had feedback from parents that heard all about it at home.

The first thing we did was read the book  How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long and David Shannon (I just loved David Shannon books!!).  At the end of the book we found a mysteriously placed treasure map. (Of course, I forgot to take pictures of this part).  The captain of our crew (AKA, me), led the students on a quest for buried treasure.  Our letter of the week was X, so we were looking for the X.  We found it!! And when we found the X, we found another map.  This continued for a few rounds until the map led us to a city playground next door to our school that has a pirate ship.  There we found the treasure box filled with gold and jewels.

After having some fun playing on the pirate ship.  The crew went back to the classroom and rotated though centers. Some were free play (kitchen, blocks) and others were structured.  In one center the students made their own pirate maps out of paper bags.  First they cut off the bottom and then cut a slit down the side (lots of following directions).  Next they drew their treasure map and added a foam x to mark the spot where their treasure would be buried.  The last thing they did was crumble up their map to make it look old.

Be on the lookout over the next few days for more posts about the fun pirate things we did!

Coffee Filter Butterflies

We are knee deep in our insect unit.  Last week we made coffee filter butterflies and they came out super cute.  The best part is that they are an easy, fun craft that works on fine motor skills,

To make these cute butterflies you will need a coffee filter, washable markers, black pipe cleaners (really any color will work) and a spray bottle and water.  We also had a tray (old cafeteria trays) to put our coffee filters on to contain the water.

First the students colored on the filters with the markers.  I stressed to them just to use different colors and not worry about drawing specific designs.  That was so hard foursome of them!  After they finished decorating I used a permanent marker to write their names on the filter.  Next we put it on the tray and the kids used the spray bottle to wet it download. We then left our butterflies to dry,the next day, I took a black pipecleaners, bundled up the coffee filter in the middle and hooked the pipe cleaner around them.  These butterflies were the perfect addition to our window and hopefully will help spring show up!  

Baking Unit

The past few weeks we have been knee deep in our baking/cooking unit.  We did A LOT of cooking and cute activities.  I only have pictures of some of the activities now, so I thought I would break this up into two posts. 

One day we made dirt.  I love making dirt with kids. (You can find another blog post on dirt here.)  I lead this activity so of course we made a huge mess.  The kids all took turns either opening the pudding packs, pouring the mix in the bowl, or adding the milk to the bowl.  We then all took turn stirring and while waiting their turns the kids sang a song (This is way we stir the pudding, stir the pudding, stir the pudding.  This is the way we stir the pudding, when we make dirt).

 After that we added the whip cream.  Again, each student took a turn adding a scoop.  Next we crushed up the Oreos.  Each student had their own small bag of Oreos in a Ziploc.  They then used a block to crush up the Oreos.  While they were crushing, I was pudding the pudding into cups.  The kids then added their crushed Oreos to the top and  then some gummy worms.  The final verdict was “ MMM, dirt is good.” (The pictures of the cutie where the face is not covered happens to be my own little boy, B.  He will be 5 tomorrow!!  I am lucky mom to be able to teach him on the days that we join the two preschool classes together. )




We also made Pancakes.  We read the book If You Give A Pig  Pancake.  Then for snack we made pancakes.  We also had strawberries and m&ms to make some special pancakes.  You will notice in these pictures that we remembered to have them put on the adorable aprons that one of our paraprofessionals made.  We made these in much the same way, giving each student a chance to do some part of the recipe. These were another hit!!




 

Valentine, Valentine Freebie!

Over the weekend Lindy over at the Considerate Classroom posted (click here to see her post)the cutest book that I just fell I love with, but she can't  find the original file.   I decided to make something very similar (pretty much the same) and share it with everyone.  I am using a diecut heart to put over the item that is hiding on each page but you could also cut your own hearts or find some kind of heart at the dollar store.  You can find the book by going here and downloading it from Google.   Please leave a meaningful comment if you download.  I would love to know what you think!

Thank you Lindy for allowing me to use your idea and post as a freebie!!  Please go show Lindy some love over at her blog or Facebook page!

You can find more Valentine Freebies here!

Harvest Hoedown

A preschool tradition has always been the annual Harvest Hoedown.  My partner in crime (aka the other preschool teacher)  and I decided that we would continue this tradition this year.  We went for the Tuesday before Thanksgiving because we were not starting a new unit due to the short week and we just thought it would be a fun stress free activity for the kids and parents to enjoy,

We had 9 stations set up.  The parents and kids were able to go to each station at their own pace.  We circulated and helped wherever needed.  The paras worked with the kids who did not have parents there.  The kids all started by readings book in my classroom ('Twas the night before Thanksgiving) and then went very the the other room for snack (our rooms are connected by the bathroom).  After snack they started stations.

We had pumpkin seed planting.

Corn Shucking (which was really getting corn off the cob).  This was a favorite as the kernels kept flying all over!

Fall I Spy (There was a poster that had pictures of all the things they needed to find.  This was a great sensory experience for some of my kiddos)

Turkey Cutting (These two handsome men are my husband and 4 year old son)

Fall Noodle Necklaces

T-shirt sponge painting 

Fall Investigate (The kids used magnifying glasses to check out leaves, sticks, etc)

We also had a play dough station and a coloring station.  I really was amazed at how smoothly everything went.  Our next "event" is the Christmas musical.  Do you do anything special in your classroom to invite the parents in?