On Wednesday we welcomed April with a new curriculum theme: Ocean Commotion!
I set out the March calendar for the kids to play with. They like matching up the numbers and completing the pattern all on their own...
Every month Mother Goose provides us with a newsletter for the parents. I am so thankful for this! Parent/Teacher communication is so important, and this saves me a ton of work every month!
Our library is all stocked with books all about the deep blue sea!
The first five days of curriculum are all about ocean scape: ocean water, ocean floor, ocean caves & crevices, ocean plants, and coral reef. On Wednesday we learned about ocean water!
During circle time I introduced the kiddos to our new color blue bird...
I asked the kids to fly the blue bird to something blue on our world map. This prompted a lot of discussion about the differences between lakes, rivers, ponds, and oceans. I also read the name of each ocean to the kids.
The kids pretended to swim in the ocean and move to the lyrics of the following song:
"Swim, swim, swim with me,
In the deep blue sea.
Plug your nose,
close your mouth,
The water tastes salty!
Eeeeew!
(Sung to the tune of "Row Your Boat.")
L is pretending to be a shark during the song...
For our first activity the kids practiced writing their name on new nametags. I always write each child's name first and then have them write it. I challenge them to pay close attention to the top, middle, and bottoms lines. I also challenge them to write their last name on the back.
I took out a big blue sheet and placed the nametags under the sheet. Each child held on to the sheet and made waves! I explained that strong winds create waves in the ocean. These same waves can be felt deep down near the ocean floor.
I called one child at a time to go "fishing" under the sheet and find their nametag...
For our next activity, I showed the kids new paper magnifying glasses that go along with our new monthly theme poster.
Each magnifying glass has questions and activities to go along with each object found on the poster...
First I ask the kids to give me a "thumbs-up" when they find the object on the magnifying glass. They have to describe where the object is without pointing. I pay close attention to their description and help them with positional words if need be (between, above, beside, under, on top of, etc.). This is usually a challenging one for the kids. They always want to point! :)
"Spread your legs out far like an octopus!"
Next, I set out the big blue sheet again. I called one child at a time to act out a sea animal. I gave postional words with my directions.
"Wiggle your tail, and jump over the water like a dolphin..."
"Swim around the water like an octopus..."
"Slither like an eel across the water..."
How do you think ocean water tastes? I set out a bowl of salt and a bowl of sugar. We noticed right away how similar they both look. I poured water in three cups for each child. They added 1/2 teaspoon of salt to one cup, a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to another cup, and left the third cup plain.
We tasted each concoction and shared our likes and dislikes. Surprisingly, some of the kids actually like salt water!
We learned all about thermometers! I showed the kids how a thermometer works with this demonstration thermometer. I first asked them if they knew what it was...they replied with, "A monitor," and "A tape measure!" They knew it was used to measure, but they didn't know it is used to measure temperature!
I set out one bucket of ice, and one bucket of hot water. We took the temperature of each...
I asked the kids how we could change the temperature of the hot water. We added the ice to the bucket of warm water. They knew the hot water would make the ice melt, but they did not know that the ice would change the water temperature like it did.
The kids drew a picture of themselves in their literacy workbooks...
They also worked on the number 8 in their math workbooks...
Our books for the day. Ocean IQ was a pop-up book! We had story time outside!!!
Wednesday was April Fool's Day, so I had to have a little fun with the kids! I told them all day that we would be having cupcakes for lunch. They were SO EXCITED!
Well, we didn't really have cupcakes...
We had meatloaf cupcakes!!! Not ONE child laughed! I guess they don't really get my good humor! Ha!
Look at his slumped shoulders...he is not very happy, but willing to smile for a picture at least...
At least I let them eat it with their hands!
Don't worry though! I made it up to them! I made carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for snack! We love carrot cake around Easter time!
"FINALLY, REAL CAKE!" :)
