Writing with Trees...

On Tuesday our Mother Goose lesson was all about writing with trees.

During circle time we searched the theme poster for things that are made out of wood.  We learned that our paper and pencils are made from wood, and so are a lot of tools!

  Our secret shape of the day was the hexagon!

Mother Goose provided this tree letter Bingo game for each child.  I had the kids cut apart all of their game pieces and then we played together as a group.

Before playing I cut an orange in half and we passed it around the circle.  The kids took turns smelling the orange.  We imagined the orange Bingo chips were oranges!

The kids covered their tree with oranges.  When I called a letter that they had, they pretended to pick an orange from the tree. 

Here you can see K celebrating, and B is very sad.  Playing games helps so much with the kids social/emotional intelligence, building maturity and understanding, empathy, sportsmanship, etc.  All very valuable lessons we gain from being a part of a group!

Next Mother Goose provided us with this "Draw and Dictate" paper.  I asked the kids to draw a picture of something they would like to do/play in a tree.  They drew their pictures and then I wrote their story on the lines.  I read back all of the kids stories during story time.  The kids LOVE hearing their story being read back to them!  Dictation is very beneficial when teaching kids the early stages of writing!

I placed 5 pieces of bark in our mystery bag (#5) for the day.

We went outside with our Nature Collection books.  The kids worked on the page with the word "bark" on it.  I encouraged them to trace the word bark and then write a short sentence.  Then they placed their paper up against a tree truck and rubbed the bark with a crayon on top of the paper.  We discussed how the trunks of trees can be similar and different.

The kids practiced reading this book titled "This Tree" from their literacy workbook.  They also drew a picture of a tree on the last page.

  The kids were also encouraged to cut apart this tree puzzle from their math workbook.  I made it easier for them by making a black and white copy that they could use as a template for the puzzle.  This puzzle seemed very difficult for them, so I also numbered each piece to give them additional clues as to where each piece belonged.

We drew letter sticks again today.  P got the letter Q for Quiet.  We discussed how nature can be quiet, loud, fast, and slow.

The kids listened to the tempo of an instrumental piece of music from our Nature Detectives CD.  They drew with their markers according to the sounds they heard.  We thought this was kind of like dancing with markers!

These were our books for the day.  I have to say though...Mother Goose continually recommends these Cat in the Hat books, and I feel they are just a bit too lengthy and wordy for preschoolers.  I am not sure I will borrow these types of books from the library again.  Of course, "The Giving Tree" was and has always been a big hit!

In the afternoon I surprised the kids with these new "Nature Blocks" from Lakeshore Learning!  I was so saddened when I found out that Lakeshore was going to discontinue these.  I think they are AMAZING, and OH MY WORD the kid's imagination SOARED with these!  I also provided the kids with the letter sticks that we have selected so far this month.  I encouraged the kids to build the letters with the blocks, but most importantly I encouraged them to just BUILD! 

 N was starting her castle here....

 N made a boat and then used the letter sticks to make a dock and then a road.  He used the letter D stick for the "Dock!" 

 Okay pure GENIUS!!!  I did not teach them this!  They set up a ramp, and then made their own mini bowling game!

 A car!

 Then they worked together to make a really long roller coaster.  After completing this they begged me to take out the cars and road signs!  I was just as excited as them!