On Thursday we learned about the ocean floor! I asked the kids what they think is on the ocean floor. They replied with, "Seaweed," "Sea plants," and "Sand." They were surprised to learn that the ocean floor has hills, mountains, caves, and volcanoes!
I introduced the kids to our new letter O friend!
We sat in a circle and passed around our hands-on letter O (upper and lowercase). We traced the letters with our finger...
One volunteer opened the peek-a-book letter O on our alphabet strip. O is for octopus! An octopus lives in the ocean!
We recited the finger-play...
"1 crab, 2 crabs, 3 crabs, 4..."
..."5 crabs crawling on the ocean floor!"
I tape a large oval shaped letter O on the floor. The kids instantly starting running around the tape path. One girl pretended to be a shark in the center and pretended to get them.
I showed the kids our letter O cards provided through Mother Goose Time...
If I held up the owl card the kids pretended to fly like an owl on the O tape path...
If I held up the octopus card, the kids joined together with a partner and pretended to be an octopus with 8 wiggling tentacles (4 + 4 = 8)!
We had fun building the ocean floor out of blocks and discussing how the ocean floor is similar and different to the ground outside.
We made an oyster shell and a pearl bracelet for our craft!
I showed the kids a photo of a real oyster shell on my phone. They were so disgusted when I told them some people love to eat oysters!
We needed to dived the "pearls" evenly, so we counted them one by one into 10 different groups. Each child ended up with 8 pearls...the number we are learning about this month!
The kids strung their "pearls" on a white pipe cleaner to make a bracelet...
We used paint dobbers to decorate our oyster shell...
The kids folded their paper plate shell in half and put their pearl bracelet inside. They tempted a friend to try and grab the bracelet away, but then snapped their fingers with the shell when they did!
We counted shells in our math workbook...
We played Memory in our literacy workbook. We cut apart letters that were on sea shells. The kids had to match up the lowercase letters with the uppercase letters.
To remind the kids that the ocean water is salty, I set out a clear glass pan on our light table and filled it with salt. The kids traced letters and designs in the salt with their fingers!
I read The Rainbow Fish, and Rainbow Fish ABC for story time. The kids could retell the story with the matching puppet or put together a Rainbow Fish puzzle!
First we did a mini science experiment. We spun a cooked egg and an uncooked egg on the table. The uncooked egg was wobbly and did not spin as fast as the cooked egg!
This is the reaction I got when I encouraged the kids to smell the vinegar we used to dye the eggs! Ha!
Oooh, look at that face...she was not at all amused! Hee hee!
Dying eggs is so much fun!
This kit was not an easy one for kids! I had to use a hot glue gun to attach the very teeny tiny pieces! The kids enjoyed watching me make the eggs, but unfortunately they did not have much interaction with the creating process...
After decorating, I let the kids play with the eggs for a little while before putting them back in the fridge. They LOVED playing with the eggs!
I also gave the kids their own Easter egg filled with jelly beans. They could sort their colors, practice making or completing patterns, and graph their beans! Of course, they had to eat a few too!
Love this! Even my youngest knows how to graph independently!!!!
For snack time we ate our Easter eggs and bunny shaped crackers!
I gave the kids the opportunity to peel their own egg. They needed a lot of my help, but it was still worth the effort trying...
Our science experiment egg was complete! A few days ago we placed an uncooked egg in vinegar. The shell completely dissolved and left the membrane around the egg! We compared it side-by-side another uncooked egg. We could see the egg without the shell looked larger!
This egg experiment is often called the "bouncing egg" because the egg can actually bounce if played with gently!
