President's week

We talked about the Presidents of the United States this week in honor of Presidents Day. We thank them for letting us have a day off to sleep in......ok, and for many other things too! I learn so much from your kids as I teach them each week, but its funny how the simplest/silliest things just click sometimes. This week I just realized the name behind Lincoln Logs. I know, I shouldn't even admit it should I? But, I'd always just played with them and never thought much about their name. Until while planning my lessons I decided it would be fun for the kids to build log cabins just like Abe Lincoln used to live in......what a minute, Lincoln Logs!! ha ha, ingenious! We had a great time building with them!

We also read a book about Abraham Lincoln and talked about how he was an honest man. He worked very hard for his education and money. Check our our art project that we made. I think they are SO adorable, and wish that I could take the credit, but these came from littlegiraffes.com. 

On one side, we have "honest Abe" in his top hat.

And then we flipped it around and upside-down, and we have George Washington.

For a math center, we talked about the different coins and dollar bills, and who was on each one. The kids enjoyed seeing the details on our currency with these huge look-a-likes.

We also tried to grasp the concept of buying items with our money and cash registers. Each item had a price on it and each cash register had a coin on it, and they were instructed to put the amount shown on their item into the correct cash register.

For another money recognition center, we had some money and crayons for money rubbings, and we also had some money stamps that they could stamp and color the correct color. Also at this station were magnifying glasses for them to take a closer look. They were so excited to discover Lincoln in his chair on the back of the penny.

Our reading center was filled with books about the White House and pictures of our Presidents, including our current one, Mr. Barrack Obama.

The President dresses in a suit and tie quite often, so for a shape and color review, we used our fine motor skills to lace buttons onto button-up shirts.

We talked about George Washington and the legend of the cherry tree. We played Hi Ho Cherry-O and practiced our counting with cherry and apple trees.

We enjoyed learning more about our country this week including the Presidents, money, and the flag. 

Our star this week was our one and only Miss Pretty Princess Paige! 

Valentine's

During Valentine's week, we definately had a some cupids in the house! That's right, your little munchkins had great aim at our heart target. And it worked! Love has struck, I LOVE these little people!

One cupid toss was not enough, we also practiced our aim with this q-tip arrow game that I found on pinterest. Stick a q-tip in a straw, and give it a puff. The goal is to get them in a heart shaped bowl on the floor. This game is a lot harder than it looks!

We also played a Disney match-up game. We tried to match up different Disney couples such as Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Daisy, and Belle and the Beast.

And, of course, we passed out valentines to our friends. They sure were cute and creative this year! So many thoughtful homemade valentines. I don't think I will be able to keep up with all you crafty moms. Thanks for all your hard work. They were adorable! And, a BIG thank you to the moms who came in to help with the party. I couldn't do them without you!

We had fun all week, but it wasn't all play. We had to do some work too :)

For this math center, we practiced recognition of numbers 1-20. Each number was written on a heart, and that many holes were punched into the heart. Then we used our math links to count each hole. This helps with counting, and recognition of the number by sight. If they didn't know it by sight from the start, they put in the links and counted how many they had.

With our playdough and heart cookie cutters, we practiced patterning big to small.

For a literacy center, we used conversation hearts to match like words. 

And, for a writing center, we were happy to write on the walls this week. The kids would find their name when they came to this center and project it onto the wall and then trace it with markers.

And, We practiced tying our shoes!

Book of the week:Alvin & the Chipmunks: A Chipmunk Valentine 

Song of the week: We are learning a song to help us remember one of our sight words....THE.

(To the tune of The Farmer and the Dell)

T-H-E spells the

Yes, T-H-E spells the 

It starts with T, and ends with E

And H is in the middle

Word of the week: Since we are done going through the alphabet, each week we will work on spelling a 3-letter word to start helping the children recognize the concept of blending letters to make words. This still reviews the letters and sounds, and starts the reading process. This weeks word was 

H-U-G

And, we started our star of the week this week. Our first bright star pictured below is the beautiful Azure! Our other star not pictured was our studly buddy Vince. Thanks for bringing in your posters and sharing them with us!

Groundhogs and Shadows

Unfortunately, this guy told us that there is going to be six more weeks of winter. Fortunately, if the weather that we have been having is called "winter", we don't mind. (BTW, these cute groundhogs were not inspired by me, but by the creative Rachel at iheartcraftythings.blogspot.com)

We had fun painting our Groundhogs and talking about Groundhog Day. Yes, we did this the week AFTER Groundhogs day. This time we wanted to talk about what he had decided, not predict what was going to happen :)

And, what better week could there possibly be to discuss shadows, light, and reflections than one with groundhogs involved! For this discovery center, we used flashlights, color paddles, mini x-rays, colored glass pieces, and other manipulatives to explore color and shadows. 

Tigers, dinosaurs, and duckies oh my!

For a writing center, we used our uppercase alphabet letters and wax bendy sticks (bendaroos) to practice "shadowing" our letters correctly. The wax on the sticks helps them to stick to the letters so that they stayed in place until we pulled them off.

We also each got to have a turn at the computer this week. We played a shadow game where we matched the dinosaurs to their shadows. Click here for the link if you'd like to play at home.

For a math center we matched up our numbers with our match and connect counting boards.

We discussed how groundhogs dig burrows to hibernate. We talked about what other animals hibernate, and dug our cute groundhog puppets some burrows of their own.

We also briefly discussed mirror images and reflections. We made these mirror image rubbings of our names.

The kids had fun spelling their names on our overhead projector and seeing the shadow reflected onto the wall. We also put other objects on without our friends seeing and had them guess what the object was.

We also worked on our problem solving skills by putting together puzzles!

And, we practiced putting our alphabet in order with our grids and alphabet letter stamps.

Books of the week:

Guess Whose Shadow by Stephen R. Swinburne

and 

Groundhog Gets a Say by Pamela Curtis Swallow

Poem of the week:

Groundhog, groundhog, don't be shy! 

Won't you come outside and spy? 

If your shadow you should see, 

Winter weather there will be. 

If your shadow isn't there, 

Spring is surely in the air.

Happy Birthday to our sweet Sarah this past week!!