Hills...

On Monday we ended our Mother Goose theme "Alphabet House."  This day was more book work than anything else.  The kids did a great job finishing their workbooks, and completing their scrapbook for the month.

The kids started their morning working on the letters Y and Z in their workbook...

They also completed a matching alphabet review cut and paste activity in their literacy workbook.

The kids cut apart these matching cards from their math workbooks and played Memory...

  During circle time we added the letters Y and Z to our alphabet house.  The kids were so excited to complete the house!!!!

On this day we talked a lot about animal homes that are hills or mounds.  One famous song that has the word "hill" in it is "Jack and Jill."

"Jack and Jill went up the hill,

to fetch a pail of water.

(Both march in place.)

Jack fell down and broke his crown,

(Jack sits and rubs his head.)

and Jill came tumbling after."

(Jill rolls arm over arm and sits.)

*We recited this familiar rhyme together and I encouraged the boys to follow the Jack movements and the girls to follow the Jill movements.

Mother Goose provided us with this review movement cube...

The kids took turns rolling the cube and we acted out the directions on each side.  This is always a fun activity that reviews what we learned and also gets us moving!

For our next activity we discussed why we think ants make anthills.  The kids explored building hills with blocks.  I explained that ants make hills when they dig out underground tunnels.  Worker ants also carry dirt and pebbles in their mouths and put them near the hill.  The kids built an ant hill and then knocked it over as they imagined a person was walking on it.

The kids rebuilt their anthill in another spot in the room.  They carried the blocks over to the other area under their chin (they imagined they were ants carrying the dirt in their mouths.)  We discussed how hard an ant must work, and how great it is that they never give up!

The kids completed their monthly scrapbook activity.  They colored the letter flowers according to a key they were given.

These were our books for the day!

I also put together a review book that held all of our daily topic posters for the month.  The kids love looking at these and remembering all that they learned about!

Mother Goose always provides one of these "Congratulations" cards at the bottom of every curriculum box.  It is so rewarding to read all that we have completed in just one month!!!

Nests...

On Friday our Mother Goose lesson was all about nests!

 

The kids started out their morning working on the letters W and X in their literacy workbook...

 They also completed a basic addition and subtraction worksheet in their math workbook with birds in a nest...

 The kids completed their monthly journals by drawing a self-portrait on the back page...

During circle time we added the letters W and X to our alphabet house.

We sang "The Birds in the Nest" to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus."

"The birds in the nest go tweet, tweet, tweet.

Tweet, tweet, tweet.

Tweet, tweet, tweet.

The birds in the nest go tweet, tweet, tweet,

all day long!"

Before our next activity we discussed whether or not we would want to live in a nest and why.  Then I set out a new set of "What Goes Together?" cards that Mother Goose provided for us.  We took turns flipping over one green card, and one blue card.  If the animal we chose lives in the home we chose, then it was a match!

A bee lives in a hive!

A king lives in a castle!

Before our next activity, I asked the kids if they think baby birds learn to do anything in their nest.  We discussed that a baby bird does not have feathers when it is first born, so it cannot fly.  After a bird grows for a bit, it will learn to fly and eventually leaves the nest.  For our next activity, the kids pretended to be birds in the nest (kids in the classroom) learning.  I asked the kids to look at the following concept review sheet and asked them, "Can you find the _____?"  The kids used their listening skills as they listened and looked for the thing I stated.  We focused on our color words, and shapes.  I left the numbers and letters for the kids to do at home with their mom and dad (I felt those deserved a little more one-on-one attention.)

Next we headed outside to make a paper bag bird's nest.  I set out large plastic clothespins for the kids to go around the yard and collect things that they believed would be good for a nest (our clothespins resembled a birds beak, so the kids pretended they were birds as they did this).  I also set out our yarn bucket and scissors.  They cut pieces of yarn to put in their nests as well. 

The kids and I are hoping that a bird might make its nest in the bag, or take things from the bag to use to make their own nest!

For our next activity, I asked the kids who makes food for them in their home.  I explained that baby birds don't leave the nest when they are very young.  The adult birds search for and bring back food like bugs, worms, or seeds.  I set out two laundry baskets that we pretended were nests.  A couple of kids at a time sat in each laundry basket.  Then we spread our letter, number, and shape mats all around the yard.  I asked the kids that were sitting in the nest to pretend to be baby birds, and the other kids to be their parents.  The babies asked for "food" (a letter, number, or shape).  The parent birds flew to find the matching letter, number, or shape and brought it back.  The kids loved doing this, and it was such a fun way to get the kids to review the concepts we have been learning about so far this year.

I filled our sensory table with bird seed, plastic eggs, birds, etc.

We ordered pizza to celebrate G's birthday (ordering pizza is our tradition on birthdays)!

This was our book for the day.  It was a lift-the-flap book about all sorts of different animals that make nests for their homes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY G!  He brought us a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cookie cake!  The kids were so thankful and excited!

 This made me laugh....S took over and blew out his candles for him!  Ha!

 I lit them a second time for him!

 G wanted to eat the eye!

 In the afternoon I took out our Lakeshore color bird puzzle.  This is one of the kid's favorites!  Each body shape is different, so it is self-correcting.  The kids have to try to match the color of the bird up to the color word on the branch.