Toads...

On Thursday we learned all about toads!

 During circle time the kids took turns pointing to a number of their choice on our number line...

 They hopped like a toad the same number of times as the number they pointed to...

 For our first activity, I showed the kids photos of Japanese gardens on the internet.  We took time to discuss our favorite parts of each garden.

 I asked the kids to work as a team and build a Japanese garden out of blocks.  Since Japanese gardens are so colorful, I took out our colored blocks for the kids to use for this task.

 The kids always amaze me when they play with blocks.  They have such a rich imagination!

 Next, I gave the kids these pattern insects and asked them to hide the critters throughout the garden.

 We sang, "The Bumpy Toad" to the tune of "Do You Know the Muffin Man?"

"(Name), do you know the bumpy toad?

The bumpy toad, the bumpy toad?

Do you know the bumpy toad?

He eats 5 garden pests!"

I called out different numbers as I sang the song.  The person who's name was called, collected that amount of pests at the end of the song.  This was a fun way for the kids to practice their counting and one-to-one correspondence.

 For our next activity, I asked the kids what they think a toad does at night?  I shut off the lights and invited the kids to pretend to be toads waking up.  Then I turned the lights on and they pretended to be sleeping toads.  I explained that toads are mostly nocturnal.

Mother Goose provided us with this "Little Theatre Script:"

 The script is written to be a type of comedy show!  The jokes come from our book Mother Goose Time provided for us this month, "Lettuce Turnip the Beet!"

 I set out our wooden stage/boat, and turned on our microphone from our karaoke machine!  The kids took turns delivering the jokes from the script!  They had A BLAST!!!!  It was so much fun to watch them and hear them make up their own jokes!  The stage and microphone was used for all sorts of things the rest of the day!

 Laughter is so healthy!!!!

 For our next activity, Mother Goose Time provided us with these materials.  The kids were encouraged to make a pet toad!

 I set out green and brown paint.  The kids were given the freedom to paint or not.  A few of the kids wanted to make a frog and not a toad.  We discussed that a toad has dry bumpy skin, and a frog has smooth wet skin. 

 If the kids wanted to, they could glue split peas on their toad for bumpy skin.  Not all the kids wanted to use these though.

 Cutting the arms and legs was a bit challenging, but I was impressed with their perseverance!  These kids are so smart!

 Our completed crafts!

 I think these are SO CUTE!  The kids are so excited to play with them when they are dry!

  Before heading outside, I had the kids label our world map with a "Japan" sticker. 

 We looked closely at Japan's flag and compared it to the other flags we have learned about this year.

 When we went outside, I set out two shallow containers with a few inches of water in each.  I explained that garden design is an art form in Japan.  They use stones, trees, bridges, flowers and water to make beautiful gardens.  I encouraged the kids to use nature items such as twigs, dirt, leaves, and stones from the yard to make their own Japanese garden!

 The kids started collecting items from the yard right away. 

 I was excited to see them so engulfed with nature!  It awakens their senses!

 The kids ran back and forth from the playground area to bring pieces of mulch.  They got a lot of exercise!

 Here is the start of their creation...

 The soil was moist, so they quickly realized they could pull chunks of grass that was growing through the mulch.  They loved that they could pull all of the roots out!  When they added this to the garden, they got excited when they learned the water turned black.  They kept chanting, "GET MORE BLACK!"

 After  the kids had filled both containers, I gave them our bunny counters Mother Goose provided for us this month. 

 It was fun for me to watch them play so peacefully!  They really did get a lot of enjoyment out of this activity!

 For our next activity, Mother Goose provided us with this "Frogs & Toads" poster...

 I placed photos of a frog on one side of the room, and a toad on the other side.  I asked these cuties to stand in the center of the room and get ready to hop.  I read a fact from the "Frog and Toad" poster and invited the kids to choose which feature they would rather have.  For example, "Would you rather have a long tongue like a frog, or a short one like a toad?"

 The kids hopped to the photo of their choice.

 These were our books for the day.  The "Tale of a Tadpole" book was mostly about frogs. The "A Tadpole Grows Up" book compared a lot of facts about frogs and toads.

 Being that a toad has a similar life cycle as a frog, I also showed the kids this life cycle wheel of a frog.  This was provided by Mother Goose Time last year I believe. 

Later while we were outside in the afternoon, the kids also worked on their workbook pages.
They practiced writing the number 10 in their math workbook...

 Then they told me a story that I wrote for them in their literacy workbook.

 Toads have bumpy skin, so the literacy workbook also called for the kids to do crayon rubbings of bumpy things they could find.  The kids were most successful with leaves...