A Little of This, a Little of That

I've decided I like review weeks. At first I was intimidated to plan two mornings full of activities that would keep the kids engaged without a lot of help from the curriculum. But it turns out these are great weeks to do more hands-on stuff than we normally have time for. And the kids seemed to really enjoy it.

We started today with the calendar (they all know it's October, finally!) and we read the story of Moses crossing the red sea again. Then we moved right on to an activity to practice counting. I found this idea on Pinterest, and it proved to be very challenging for our kids...I think this is definitely one to come back to periodically.

I put a bunch of Duplo Blocks in a container in the center of the table, and each student got a paper with a graph of sorts on it.

The kids were instructed to build "towers" to represent each number on the paper.

 

 

Look at that focus!

 

Nice work Jack!

 

 

After some serious coaxing (it was apparently more fun to make one giant tower than to make a bunch of small ones), they all got it.

 

Then we moved on to a science experiment. I put a giant tub of water in the middle of the table, and passed around a container full of random objects. The kids had to choose an object and decide if it would sink or float. As they made their predictions, they dropped the item in the water.

 

Jack picked the apple first. Everyone was surprised that it floated!

 

 

Annabelle tried to sink her pom-pom.

 

 

It was so funny to watch them carefully place their items in the water as if trying to will them to float...especially the spoon and the rock!

 

Next we read "Little Blue Truck Leads the Way" while we had our snack...I thought it kind of went along with Moses leading his people out of Egypt...ok, it's a bit of a stretch!

 

Next we made some handprint trees as part of our secret ongoing project :)

 

 

 

 

Even CJ got in on this one!

 

It's a masterpiece!

 

 

To wrap up the morning, we played a letter review game on the back patio. I drew giant letters (capital and lowercase A-E) in circles with chalk. I gave each kiddo a bean bag, and they had to throw the bean bags into the correct circle as I called out letters. It took them a minute to get warmed up, but they soon got competitive!

 

 

 

Everyone stayed for lunch today (I love days like that!) so the kids and the moms got to hang out and socialize a bit after school was done. What a great morning!

 

 

See you next week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Has It REALLY Been Nine Weeks??

Time is zipping by. It's hard to believe we have been at this preschool thing for nine weeks already. I feel so unbelievbaly blessed to have a group of mommies and kiddos to "do school" with. It has made this journey SO fun. And I think the kids are really getting a lot out of it. The moms stay motivated, and each week the lessons are full of great learning opportunities for the kids. We are LUCKY!

So week 9 is a review week. I offered to plan this week's lessons so I could try out some of the cool ideas I've found on Pinterest!

We started by reviewing the story of Moses crossing the Red Sea. I read the story out of The Jesus Storybook Bible...this is my absolute FAVORITE kids Bible. The three year-olds were riveted. And the stories are longer than the usual kids Bibles I've seen...anyway, I digress. Check it out if you can.

Then I told the story again using the felt board.

 

We also sang our memory verse from last week (Philippians 4:19 to the tune of London Bridge). I think the kids are gonna need some more work on that one :)

 

After Bible time we sat in a circle to play "Pass the Letters". It works kind of like "Hot Potato". I put the capital and lowercase tactile letters we've worked on so far in a bag, and we passed the bag while singing the following song:

 

Pass the Letters

Tune: The Muffin Man

 

Oh, look who has the letter bag,

the letter bag, the letter bag.

Oh, look who has the letter bag,

Now please take a letter!

 

Whoever has the bag when the song stops takes out a letter and tells the group what letter it is, and whether it's capital or lowercase.

 

 

 

They did great once they started to get the concept of actually PASSING the bag! We did discover that lowercase "b's" and "d's" are very tricky :)

 

Next we played a little game using some dominoes. I pulled out all the dominoes in our set that contained numbers 0-5 (I didn't want to confuse them with too many dots). Each child got 4 dominoes in a bag. I asked them to look at their dominoes and listen as I called out a number. If they had a domino with the correct number of dots on it, they were to hold it up in the air. It worked pretty well...they difinitely had to concentrate!

 

 

 

 

I decided to throw in a little science today too. I made up some "experiment bags" for the kids. Each bag contained magnetic, and non-magnetic items. Then I gave each child a magnet and they had to decide which items would stick, and which ones would not. It was a hit!

 

 

 

 

 

We wrapped up the morning with a quick game of Colorama. We love this game! It's great for the 3-year old crowd because they don't get too frustrated. It's fast moving, and it was great for reviewing colors and shapes.

 

 

See you all Thursday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 8 Lesson Plans

Week 8 Lesson Plans begin with Moses crossing the Red Sea. I had high hopes to create my own Red Sea in the backyard.....but reality hit in. Oh well, we will still have some fun. Here is what I have planned for the week.

Week 8 - October 14-19
	DAY 1: Introduce	DAY 2: Recognize	DAY 3: Identify
Bible Story	Crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 14) Place flannel graph items.	Crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 14) Have kids place flannel graph items.	Crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 14) See if the kids can tell you the story.
Verse	Phil. 4:19 My God will supply all my needs.	Phil. 4:19 My God will supply all my needs.	Phil. 4:19 My God will supply all my needs
Song	He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands	He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands	He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands
Poem & Rhyme	Pharaoh Pharaoh, Oh baby Let My People  Go	Pharaoh Pharaoh, Oh Baby Let My People Go	Jack and Jill
Book of the Week	My “E” Book.                                           My Four Book.	The Little Engine That Could	My “E” Book
Craft	Pillar of Cloud and Fire	Crossing on Dry Land and Staff
Number	4 Down and over and down some more, that’s the way we make a four!	4 Monsters -  Straw Activity	Number 4 - Trace and Color
Letter	E - Elephant Hand	Letter E - Trace and Color	Letter E - Trace and Color
Snacks	Crossing the Red Sea - Grahams and Frosting	Say Cheese!!!
Game
Fine Motor Skills	Cutting and Gluing Craft	Straw Activity	Number 4 - Trace and Color
Gross Motor Skills	Memory Obstacle Course	Following the Leader	Number Hop
Other	My Four Book	All By Myself