coundown

My children have been having a harder time this year learning their numbers and counting.  So I’ve used the space unit we’re in to count as much as possible.  One of the activities we did was to order numbers to create a countdown.  I used this sheet to have them practice writing their numbers and I used this paper to help the with their cutting skills and number recognition.  For the first paper I had a number line for them to copy the numbers.  This made it much easier for them to do – I also only had 2 or 3 kids at a time so I could help the ones who needed more guidance.

The second paper we did I let the children cut out their rockets and then once again I helped those that needed more assistance.  I was completely surprised by the number of students who could do this activity almost completely independently!  I was also impressed with how well all my kids could cut!   I didn’t expect them to cut on the lines – but the majority did!

To go along with these countdown activities we learned this:

It’s A Blast

Put on your spacesuit. We’re going to the Moon.
(pretend to step into pants and buckle boots)
Climb aboard your rocket ship.  (pretend to climb inside and shut door)
We’re going to blast off soon.
Put on your helmet.
Strap yourself in tight. (pretend putting on helmets and buckling your safety belt)
Check your controls and instruments.
Get ready for the flight. (pretend to turn on switches)
Time for your journey.
The countdown has begun. (wave and salute)
Here we go, Get ready, Get set!
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
(slowly rise from seated position)
Blast off!
(jump up)

After we jumped up we would pretend to fly around space and land on the moon.  Then we’d slowly walk on the moon, get back in our ship, and land on earth (which basically meant we “landed” on our spots on the carpet to prepare for a story or other sitting activity).  This was also a favorite of the children and they’ve requested it everyday since I introduced it to them!  🙂

abc’s and 123’s

I’m finally getting to write a post!  I meant to Monday – but I got busy with errands.  Then yesterday, I had a meeting!  A teachers job is never done!  🙂  So here I am.

A new activity to my class this year is Wikki Stix Alphabet and Number cards.  So far this seems to be something we do as a small group – with me sitting right there with them.  This is the first time any of them have ever used Wikki Stix and so they seem somewhat unsure of themselves.  At the same time, they really enjoyed learning how to make them stick and forming the letters and numbers!  We’ve gotten this activity out everyday this week so far – it really seems to keep their interest – which surprised me!  🙂

The only problem I’m really having is how to store the Wikki Stix so they don’t ball up or get too stuck together.  That part is frustrating me quite a bit.  Any ideas would be helpful.  Also, if any of your have Wikki Stix in your class, I’d be interested to hear how you use them.  This is the first time I’ve ever had them, but I was thinking there must be other uses for them, right?  Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

learning with dinosaurs

Yesterday and today we worked on making dinosaur snouts.  We learned Wednesday that dinosaurs had scales on their skin and so we used starch to glue our “scales” (read:  colored tissue paper squares) onto our snouts.  We used white paper cups to make our snout.  The opening of the cup is large enough to fit over the children’s nose and mouth.  We cut out the botton of each cup then on each side we cut a triangle shape out so it essentially looks like an open mouth.  The children were super excited when I said I’d punch a hole on each side and use yarn to tie them around each child’s head so that they could wear them to pretend to be dinosaurs!  They actually squealed with joy!  So we might be pretending to be dinosaurs either tomorrow or Monday!  Good times.

I’m also planning on using a die cut of a Stegosaurus I have at work to make counting mats to use with my dinosaur counters.  I’ll write a number between 1 and 20 on each dinosaur then let the children pick one and count out that many manipulative’s.  Some of my children are still having a hard time recognizing numbers while others have a hard time with the concept that they should only pick up one dinosaur counter for each number when they count.  So, this will be a good way to work on that.  They can also sort and/or pattern the counters if the choose.

So we continue to have fun while learning with dinosaurs!

sound the alarm – they broke in!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  Today I tried to get to work early today – but it didn’t work out in the end!  Which made me very stressed!  But somehow – everything got done.  When I got to class I put a little pot of gold filled with plastic gold coins in the Jungle (read:  the playhouse) with a note from the leprechaun.  I had found glittery plastic shamrocks (1 for each child) on sale and I sprinkled them around on the floor.  Then, using double stick tape, I taped down little leprechaun footprints.  One set leading to the pot of gold and another leading to our circle time area rug where I had laid some things out.  If I’d had more time, I would have put footprints leading all over the room.

Ms. Bennet showed up at this point and together we rearranged the toys on each shelf, spilled some toys out of their containers,  took out all the green toys and laid them around the room to make it look like they had been played with, and got out some paper and green crayons to make it look like someone was making green drawings.  To top it all off I took our foam shamrocks (which we have been using to pattern and sort by color and size) and sprinkled them all over the tables and floor!  It looked great!  Then I had 2 mini leprechaun hats that I put in strategic areas around the room.

The scene was set.  When I led our class into the room – they immediately noticed the changes!  We asked them who could have done this to our room – and they knew – it was those pesky leprechauns!  So I told them to see what they found as they looked around the room!  They were running looking for things – seeing what the leprechauns had gotten out – they loved the pot of gold!  They loved the glittery shamrocks!  They cleaned up the room – all the while complaining about “Why couldn’t the leprechauns clean up?”  They had a great time!

Later that morning we played a shamrock number game.  I had 20 paper shamrocks (numbered 1 – 20) laid out on the floor in a circle (number side down).  I played some Irish music and they walked around the shamrocks.  When the music stopped they had to pick up the shamrock closest to them and we went around the circle with each child saying their number.  Then we placed them back on the floor (number down) and played again.  When we had done this quite a few times, we helped the children make a number line with all the numbers, counted them, and then called on children to go point to certain numbers.  All in all, a great day!  And each child got to take home 2 gold coins and 1 glittery green shamrock!  And a sparkly shamrock headband we all made today!  Good times!