The Circus!

The circus is such a fun place to visit. There are new and interesting animals to see like elephants, monkeys, camels and bears. There are special performers like clowns, trapeze artists, tight rope walkers and lion tamers. You can eat fun treats like cotton candy and sausage on a stick. You can even play fun games and ride on special rides at many circuses. What a fun place to spend the day!

CIRCLE TIME

Begin by asking if any of the children have been to a circus. Have those that have talk about their favorite parts. Talk about may of the things that you can see at the circus. Find out from the kids who haven't been to a circus what they would want to see most of all.

ACTIVITY: Pin the nose on the clown!

Print the clown face from supercoloring.com. The best way to do this is to place some sticky-backed Velcro to the space where where the nose is. Put a bunch of craft poms in a bowl. Have each child close their eyes (or use a blindfold if they are not scared) and try to place the pom in the right place on the Clown's face.
Clown Face





LETTER:  S s for Super!

The Circus is full of Super things! Print the worksheet HERE from homeschoolhelperonline.com. The worksheet has S words like Sun, Submarine, Seal, and Star! Trace the letter S with your finger, then with a crayon. Talk about the words that begin with S and the sound S makes. Then color the worksheet!

READING

Long E practice!

On Starfall: review the lesson #7 http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/load.htm?f
Also, on the right hand side there is a column called "Skills". Play the Alphabet movie and the Left To Right movie.

On Readingbear: Do the Long E lesson "Week to Street". http://www.readingbear.org/Presentation.aspx?PresentationID=23&Part=5


Print out the short story from Superteacherworksheets.com! Staple the book together for the kids. Read the book together, being sure to focus on those long E words. See if you can get them to read some of the words. Go slow and sound everything out. This is great practice and they can keep the books to practice later!
http://superteacherworksheets.com/minibooks/long-e-mini-book_WFTTW.pdf

SCIENCE

The Power of Air

Air and wind can be very powerful! When air blows, it can move leaves, water, and even some bigger things when it blows really hard. Sometimes we will use wind to do jobs for us. Wind farms can make electricity. The wind blows on the blades and they spin around and around really fast like a propeller on a boat. The spinning makes electricity.

Wind can also be used to grind grain. The wind blows the blades on the Windmill and that causes grinders inside to turn and grind up grain. Windmills can also be used to pump water and air. Wind is very powerful and can be used to help us in many ways.

We can see the power of air by doing this experiment. Drop some confetti on the table. Blow up a balloon but don't tie it closed. You can see the power of air when the balloon gets bigger! Now place the open end of the balloon next to the confetti on the table. Ask the kids what they think will happen if you let the air out of the balloon? See if they are right! Let the air out and find out what happens to the confetti.



GROSS MOTOR

Tight Rope Walking

Talk about the Tight Rope Walkers in the Circus. They are people who walk on a very thin and very high rope. It is very difficult and takes a lot of balance and practice to be able to do it. We can pretend to be Tight Rope Walkers!

Use Painter's Blue Tape for best results. It is easy to see, the right width, and comes off most surfaces easily. Place the tape in a straight line on an even floor. Show the children what to do. Walk, foot over foot, using your arms for balance. Allow the kiddos to try to make it all the way across without falling off the "rope". Anyone who makes it could get a Circus sticker!



MATH

Clown Shape Count

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.makinglearningfun.com/Activities/Clown/ClownShapeCount.gif

Print out the clown above. Have the children count how many of each shape their are on the clown. You can also have them color each shape a certain color.




Pom Pom Math

You will need a 3 compartment plate and some craft poms for this lesson. Place 2 poms in one of the small compartments on the plate and 2 in the other. Say "2 pom poms plus 2 pom poms equal?" Instruct the kids to count the poms and as they do, place them in the large compartment. Say again "2 pom poms plus 2 pom poms equal?" Their answer will be 4. By seeing the steps it takes to add 2 numbers together and then seeing the result it will help them understand the concept of addition.

FINE MOTOR

Scissor Practice

http://www.dltk-kids.com
Print the worksheet above. The children will cut the balloon strings to practice straight line cutting.

 

ART & CRAFT

Craft - Paper Bag Lion Puppet

Materials:

• printer
• paper
• paper bag
• glue or tape
• scissors
• yellow paint or yellow construction paper

http://www.dltk-teach.com/p.asp?b=m&p=http://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/ppaper_bag_lion_puppet.asp

Follow the link for very detailed instructions. Once you have these made, you can play Lion Tamer with your lions!


Art - Clown Costumes!

Materials Needed:
Loose fitting white t-shirts
Construction paper
Glue
Craft Poms
Markers

You can make clown costumes with the t-shirts and markers. Clowns usually wear crazy, bright colors, so let them go crazy!

The construction paper, glue, and craft poms are for the hat. Cut out semi circles from the paper. Allow the kids to decorate them with markers. Once done, wrap the paper into a cone and glue together. Glue the pom to the point and Voila! One clown hat!

Put the shirts and hats on and continue to the next activity...



ACTIVITY

Act Like Clowns!

Put on some sassy circus music and dance around acting like silly clowns!

BOOKS

On Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Harolds-Circus-Purple-Crayon-Books/dp/0064430243/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370484586&sr=1-1&keywords=harolds+circus

As with the other Harold books, a super cute story!


On Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/If-Ran-Circus-Classic-Seuss/dp/039480080X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370484692&sr=1-2&keywords=circus+mcgurkus
A Seuss classic! Very imaginative and engaging.




MUSIC

Circus Show

Elephants walking, elephants walking
See the clowns, funny clowns
Ponies with their riders
Poodles doing tri-icks
See the show, circus show

COOKING

Toddler Trail Mix

Ingredients:
2 cups Multi-Grain "O's"
1 cup raisins
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup nuts (if no allergies)
1 cup sunflower seeds or pretzels
1 cup dark chocolate chips or m&m's

Place each ingredient in a separate bowl. Allow the kids to scoop a spoonful of each item into their own bowl and then mix together. Enjoy this healthy and slightly sweet full of energy snack!