DeSeRt FuN!

Tuesday Feb. 24, 2009

We started off the day sorting out our color bears and lacing around our shapes.

Our learning box question was "What kind of things can you find in the desert?" We wrote down their answers and after calendar time the kids took turns drawing out someones answer and acting it out. We weren't sure how it would go, but the children did really well coming up with ideas!

After charades we re-read Cactus Hotel by Brenda Z. Guiberson. Did you know that a saguaro cactus can grow to be 50 feet tall?! (after 150 years!) We went outside with a 50 foot piece of yarn to show them just how long that is. We also laid our first class down to see if they could be as tall as a cactus, but we didn't quite make it!

Next we painted a paper plate with brown, black and yellow, which will later be made into a snake!

After snack we reviewed the colors pink and purple. The children took turns choosing items from a bag and putting it in the pink pile or the purple pile.

Then we reviewed our February letters, Kk, Vv, and Zz. We reviewed the sound and with each letter I said three words, ie. for Kk I said, kite, kitten, and zebra and they would smile when it began with /k/ and frown if it did not. Then they took turns choosing a picture and placing it under the correct letter.

Then we played. :)


rabbit...
snake...
cactus
scorpion...


snake...
cactus...
owl...

Desert Creatures!!

February 19, 2009

After our welcome activity of blocks, we had our learning box question. What is your favorite desert creature? This was a great way to review the desert that we had started to talk about and read about from Tuesday. We had a coyote and a snake as our number one and two answers. They were all so excited to howl and hiss, this might be why they were the top answers!

After pledge/weather/calendar, we reviewed some pictures of desert creatures and introduced a few more to learn about. A few fun filled fact cards introduced a scorpion, Gila monster, and also a few species of cacti.

After the desert review we read a wonderful book called Cactus Hotel by Brenda Z. Guiberson. This is a great book and one to have on your shelf, especially since we live here in the beautiful Arizona desert!!! After looking at the pictures and talking about what we saw, we read the book. This is always so fun to see how excited they are when what they guessed about a page was right. A fun way to get kids to think more about the book is to ask what their favorite part was and why.

Next we cut and decorated our very own saguaro cactus. They all are getting so much better at cutting. This is great for all of us!!!!They glued their cactus on a white background paper and then cut out flowers to go on the cactus. Then they could add any desert features they wanted to their picture.

We also reviewed the letter Zz and the number 7. We played Is It 7? This is a fun for all and a great way to involve all in counting the objects on the card. We always end this game by having all of the children do their own worksheet. This is another great practice for cutting and counting. We all count together to figure out if we counted 7.

Last we had playtime! Boy are they so excited when they hear those words!!!

We love you Arizona!

Today after welcoming with some puzzles and calendar time, we introduced our Desert/AZ theme. We read Way Out West Lives a Coyote Named Frank by Jillian Lund. The kids had fun seeing Frank and his friends and their adventures with other desert creatures. They even howled at the moon a little. :)

After the book we did a writing activity. "_________ and _________" are my friends. We always ask the children to write down any sounds they hear first then we help them finish the words. Some of them are able to write down a few sounds. Some are able to tell me a sound and we're still working on knowing what the letter looks like that goes with the sound.

We also learned how to make a heart! The kids folded a piece of pink paper in half and traced half of a heart and cut it out. They opened it and found a heart. They did really well with this activity.

During circle time we played mailbox math. The kids took turns choosing a number and counting out hearts to put in a mailbox. We reviewed our ABC's, then introduced Zz and colored our Zz coloring page.

The Letter Zz

to the tune of Frere Jacques

The letter Z. The letter Z. (make ASL sign for letter, showing one hand then the other)

Has a sound. Has a sound. (bring 1 hand to ear and then the other hand to the other ear)

What sound do you make? What sound do you make? (palms facing up, shrug shoulders)

/z/ /z/ /z/! /z/ /z/ /z/! (Make ASL sign for letter, move hand forward and backward for each sound)

We also reviewed our shapes.

I put my hands together, this is how I start.

I curve my hands right around and I can make a heart!