Fishing Boats...

On Tuesday we learned about fishing boats!

 Right away in the morning I filled our sensory table with water, our Lakeshore boats, and plastic fish.  The boats are three different sizes.  The kids can estimate how many fish they can fit in the boat before it sinks to the bottom.  I also set out a bucket with other toys for them to play in the water.  Throughout the day the kids had fun playing in the water and experimenting with different items to see if they would float or sink

 I am in LOVE with our new water smocks from Lakeshore Learning!

 I also set out a graphing sea star center...

 The kids could choose a color and then graph their sea stars.  They had to identify which sea star they had the most and least of, and how many were in each group...

During circle time Mother Goose provided us with these numbered fish...

 I put a paper clip on each fish and placed them all face down on the floor.  Each child took turns fishing for a number with our magnetic fishing rod...

 Each child showed the group what number they caught!

 Next, we placed the number fish in order and sang:

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Once I caught a fish alive!

6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Then I let it go again.

Why did you let it go?  

Because it bit my finger so!

Which finger did he bite?

The little finger on my right."

I asked the kids how big they think a fish can be.  They replied with big numbers, but they forgot to add "inches or feet" at the end of their number.  When I asked "(60) what?"  They still didn't know what I meant, so they kept repeated their number back to me.  Lol!  I reminded them that we typically measure things in inches or feet.  I also taught them that the largest fish ever measured what a 40 foot long whale shark!  Mother Goose Time provided us with three different sizes of fish, fishing poles, and string...

 I asked the kids to take one of the pictures or string and search around the room for objects similar in size...

 Then I asked a few volunteers to place the fish and fishing poles in order from smallest to largest...

  I left out these items during free-play time.  Later on, I snapped this photo of K imagining she was fishing.  I loved that she built herself a boat out of the long blocks!

 For our next activity we first discussed what we would do with a fish if we caught one.  Next I encouraged the kids to follow two step direcitons with the fish and fishing pole props.  For example:

- Carry a fish on your head, and then set it on the chair.

- Carry a fish under your chin, and then place it under the Lego bucket.

- Pick up the fish with your feet, and then place it on the table.

- Balance a fish on your nose, and then place it between two friends.

The kids had fun exploring how to carry the fish without using their hands!

For our next activity, I gave each child a photo strip, and a bilingual book (pages were stapled together into a book).  The kids chose the matching photo for each page and glued them on.  We read the book together in English and Spanish. 

 We worked on new word puzzles with our hands-on letters we have been learning about.  We first worked on this as a group with a few volunteers and then I left these items out during free-play time.

 I took down part of our circle time display.  I placed all of our hands-on letters in a green container just under our peek-a-book letters.  I encouraged the kids to "go fishing" for letters!  I let them explore freely with this station.  I wanted to see where they would take it...

 It quickly got crowded around the letters!  The kids were so excited!  They LOVE our peek-a-boo letters!  The letters are attached to our circle time display with Velcro. They are folded shut, and stay shut by even smaller Velcro dots.  T

 The kids got a BIG LAUGH out of mixing up our alphabet!  They were able to do a "MIX and FIX" though.  (They mixed up the letters, and then fixed them again.)

A bit later the kids worked on the last page in their journals for this month.  They used the ink pads to make 18 fingerprints on their number 18 page.  They turned their fingerprints into fish and completed the sentence, "I caught a ______."

 "I caught a green fish."

 Just after lunch time we did a couple of science experiments!  The kids experimented with making waves in water with their breath!  They learned wind can make waves!

 We also learned that eggs float in salt water, and sink in regular tap water!

 I set out a fishing spool and yo-yo's!  The kids unraveled the string and practiced winding them up again!  Great for fine motor skills, and a hands-on approach to understanding how a fishing pole works!

 These were our books for today!  They were all excellent!

 Later in the day the kids played a game from their math workbooks.  They rolled a numbered die, and moved the same number of spaces on their board game.  They read the spot they land on (+1, +2, +3, -1, -2, -3).  They took the same amount of Goldfish as the number on the spot they landed on stated.  The person with the most amount of Goldfish at the end of the game won!

The kids went fishing with their snack!  They dipped a pretzel stick in the peanut butter and then stuck a fish to it.  This is always a fun snack for kids!

At the end of the day, the kids worked on a "What Happens Next?" story completion page in their literacy workbook.  I wrote each child's response for this activity.  I recently read the benefits of dictation with preschoolers.  I am going to try to balance dictation with independent writing more in the future.  The kids love seeing me write what they have to say, and they LOVE when I read their story's to the whole class!