Apples Theme, Letter A
This week we started slow, since it was our first week of preschool! We talked a lot about our rules and what was expected of the kiddos. Circle time consists of calendar, season, holidays. This is when I introduced them to the "Days of the Week" song! They love this song. And it helps them to understand the flow of the week.
Sung to the Addams family tune
Days of the Week (clap clap)
Days of the Week (clap clap)
Days of the Week, Days of the Week, Days of the Week (clap clap)
There's Sunday then there's Monday
There's Tuesday then there's Wednesday
There's Thursday then there's Friday
And then there's Saturday
Days of the Week (clap clap)
Next we discuss the weather for the day. We talk about how many days we have been in school.
Then the fun stuff. We introduce the Letter of the Week! This week is A. I have an alphabet train above the circle time display and each week the letter of the week gets hitched to the train. This way they have a visual while we talk about the letter and the sound it makes and also we can review the past letters we have done.
There are 2 schools of thought about the order to teach the letters. I prefer to teach them in order at the preschool stage. When they get to pre-k and we are beginning to learn to read I teach them differently. I really focus on those letters that are more difficult to grasp within words. But for now, I go in alphabetical order. Others believe in a different order. You can look it up and do whatever feels best to you.
We discuss the letter and what sound it makes. With the vowels, I focus mainly on the "soft" sound of the letter for now. I go around the room and point out things that begin with the letter and have them say them back to me.
This week we did:
A is for Ants - I printed out an A coloring page and they make black fingerprints on it. These are the ants. Ah - ah Ants.
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| I borrowed this from kidsmatter blog |
Next we talked about APPLES! Apple also begins with A and is our theme this week. Apples are a fall fruit which is another reason we talk about them now.
Today we did an apple lacing card. I found a good one on pre-k fun.com!
http://www.prekfun.com/THEMES/PREKthemes/A-F/Apples/Apples_Printables.htm
Next we did A is for Apples!
I read "10 Apples Up On Top" for them. This is great because it works with the theme and it involves counting and rhyme.
https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Apples-Top-Theo-LeSieg/dp/0394800192/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1508789430&sr=1-1&keywords=10+apples+up+on+top
Then we did an activity which involved our Apple theme and we got to count too!
I LOVE the website totschooling.net! They have awesome free resources for what we do. I printed their worksheet http://www.totschooling.net/2016/08/ten-apples-up-on-top-counting-printable.html
and used green dot stickers for the apples. You could use real apple stickers, do a dot markers, apple erasers, or whatever works best for you. My 3 year old really enjoyed this activity!
For our APPLE SCIENCE this week, I made an Apple Volcano! I totally forgot to take pictures, unfortunately. It was really fun and they loved it.
I cored out 2 apples. Then I scooped about 2 tablespoons of baking soda inside each cored apple. I put about 2 cups of vinegar in a cup and brought a couple eyedroppers and some paper towels with me.
I put the whole tray of fun in front of them at the table. We began by discussing the rules when doing science activities. Keep your hands to yourself! Only touch if the teacher tells you to.
We talked about the fruit in front of us. What was inside? I told them it was baking soda, an ingredient we use when baking. I let them all look inside and smell it.
Then I showed them the vinegar. What is it? Is it water? I let them smell it. NOPE! Not water. Does anyone know what it is? Vinegar. Another ingredient we use when cooking. What do you think will happen if we put some vinegar into the apple with the baking soda? Let them make guesses or predictions. Then allow one of them to squeeze a little out of the eyedropper into the apple. Watch their reactions! For those who have never seen this before it will amaze them. Allow each child to drop a little vinegar into the apples and listen to their ideas about what is happening.
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| I borrowed this pic from growingajeweledrose.com |
We did a fun A is for Alligator craft and played with Apple playdough the next day, but I didn't get any pictures of that either. Boo.
I used the template from http://missmarensmonkeys.blogspot.com/2012/09/alligator-template.html
to do the alligator craft. They turned out great!
I used this recipe for the apple playdough: https://theimaginationtree.com/no-cook-apple-play-dough-recipe/
It was easy to make and made really soft and great smelling playdough!
The next day we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! We are talking all about the Alphabet, which begins with A! Plus we were able to do an Alphabet activity which incorporated Apples. Win - win!
This is a great book for discussing the alphabet! The rhythmic verse and crashes and boo boos all keep young children captivated!
After we read the book, we did a great alphabet activity! I printed this alphabet tree https://mominspiredlife.com/letter-matching-apple-tree-activity-printable/ from mominspiredlife.com. I used the red dots that I had left over from the green apple dots we used for the 10 apples up on top activity. I wrote each letter of the alphabet on the dots. Then the kiddos were to match the letters on the "apples" to the letters on the tree. It is a great exercise! And the kids really enjoyed it after that story.
For our final day this week, we talked about A - Airplanes! We made paper airplanes and flew them around the room.
I am not that great at making paper airplanes, I will admit. But I found a website that showed how step by step. The planes flew wonderfully! Give these a try: https://snapguide.com/guides/make-a-simple-paper-airplane-that-flies-great/
Then for our math we counted Apple cheerios.
I drew circles on construction paper and wrote a number in each circle (you can use these for math for lots of different items, so laminate it and use it over and over!) . The kids should count the Cheerios that corresponds to each number.
Join us again for the next week of fun preschool lessons! Next week we will be doing the Letter B and the theme will be All About Me!
