ZOO Week

What kid isn't fascinated by animals? There is so much to learn about animals, and there are so many different kinds to learn about. Some are big and hairy, some are small and scaley. Some run and jump, some swim and some fly. They each behave in their own way and they all have different eating habits. They are fun to observe because they are always doing something interesting! The Zoo is a fantastic place for children because it houses a number of unique and interesting animals. We will talk about many different kinds of animals this week. If you can, go on a field trip to a local Zoo. A large city Zoo, a petting Zoo, or even a reptile Zoo is a great outing.

CIRCLE TIME:
Talk about animals. Print the flash cards (cut them out on the dotted line and each card will be the same size)and use them to discuss the different animals, their names, what sounds they make, where they live, what they eat, etc. There are lots of animals to choose from! You could split them up and talk about a different group each morning in Circle Time. Start the discussion with the kids and see where it takes you. They often have some very interesting questions and observations!

Zoo Animal Flashcards


LETTER: Z z for Zoo

  Click HERE for coloring page
Trace the Z with a finger and then with a color. Talk about the sound Z makes.



SITE WORDS:

Name Game

This will be the last week to focus on recognizing their own names! By this time they should be able to pick out their name fairly readily.

Print each child's name on 2 index cards using the correct upper and lower case letters. Cut one of the 2 cards into individual letters for each child.

Begin the game by placing the complete name cards on the table and ask the kids to choose their name card. When they have theirs, tape it to the table in front of them. Next, place the individual letter cards for their name on the table in front of them but all out of order. Ask them to put the letters in order by using their name cards as a guide. They should say each letter out loud as they go. Once they have this accomplished, ask the kids to trace the letters in their name with their fingers.




SCIENCE

Animal Characteristic Graphing

Use the animal flashcards from circle time for this activity. Print the graph sheet. Talk about the different characteristics that the animals have. Ask the kids to place all the animals with hair in one pile and all the animals with scales in another. Once complete, place a sticker for each animal on the graph in the appropriate spaces. Continue through the rest of the characteristics. It will be interesting to discover the animals which fit into several categories!

Animal Graph


MATH

Monkey Mats

Print the mats from AtoZ TeacherStuff and cut everything out. Go through each numbered mat with the kids and have them trace and then say each number. Then ask them to place a banana bunch on the mat for the total number listed on the mat. This is a great counting activity, and it has MONKEYS! :)

http://printables.atozteacherstuff.com/760/monkey-number-mats-1-to-10-with-banana-counters/
Print in black & white or color, whichever you prefer!


Animal Addition

Use the divided plate again for a great visual addition helper! It is ok to use any kind of animal for this activity, such as stickers, little figurines, pictures printed from the Internet. My FAVORITE for this is to use animal crackers! Place 1 animal in one of the small sections and 1 animal in the other small section. Ask the children how many 1 and 1 equal. Place each of the animals into the 3rd larger tray to show that 1 plus 1 equals 2! Continue with this activity using different amounts each time.






COMMUNITY

Zoo Keepers

A "zoo" is a place where animals that you would not normally see are kept. People can visit and watch these animals without having to travel to the far away places these animals normally live.

People are necessary to help take care of these animals. In the wild, they can find food shelter themselves. While in a zoo, people help to provide these things for them. These people are called Zoo Keepers.

The Zoo Keepers bring food to the animals each day. This food must be prepared especially for each type of animal and special vitamins must be added to keep the animals healthy. This is a BIG job since some big animals can eat tons of food everyday!

The Zoo Keepers also check the animals to make sure they are not sick or hurt. They clean the spaces they live in to make sure they are comfortable. What fun it must be to play with animals every day!

GAME/GROSS MOTOR

Monkey Obstacle Course

This can be done any way you want! You can set it up inside or outside. Use whatever materials you have on hand. You could even do it at a local park. Be creative and make it fun. Have the kids act like different animals for different parts of the course. Hop like kangaroos, slither like snakes, swim like a seal. Maybe the winner could get a small stuffed animal or zoo coloring book! The possibilities are endless.

ART/CRAFT

ART - Zoo Animal Collage

Find pictures of animals on the internet, in magazines, a zoo brochure, or whatever you can think of. Cut out all the pictures and ask the kids to glue their favorites to a piece of paper. Talk about their animals and why they chose the ones they did.

CRAFT - Paper Plate Elephant

I found this craft on No Time for FlashCards! Follow this link to do this super fun activity! http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2008/04/zoodley-zoo.html

BOOKS

  On AMAZON:  http://www.amazon.com/Brown-Bear-What-You-See/dp/B0073XW096/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364410724&sr=1-4&keywords=brown+bear+brown+bear+what+do+you+see

A great preschool book with different animals in different colors. The rhyming words make it a favorite!



On AMAZON:  http://www.amazon.com/Inside-City-Rebus-Read-Along-Story/dp/0590997157/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364410815&sr=1-1&keywords=inside+a+zoo+in+the+city

A really fun book about some animals living in a big city all coming together to live at a zoo! There are pictures in place of words for the different animals so your preschooler can "read" this one with you!


  On AMAZON:   http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=goodnight+gorilla

A book of few words, this gives you or your preschooler the ability to make up the story yourself, based on what is happening in the pictures.



MUSIC

"Keeper in the Zoo"
(sung to Farmer in the Dell)
The keeper in the zoo,
the keeper in the zoo,
Heigh-ho! The derry-o!
The keeper in the zoo.
The keeper feeds the (bears).
The keeper feeds the (bears).
Heigh-ho. The derry-o!
The keeper feeds the (bears).
continue with monkeys, 'gators, birds, etc.


COOKING

Zoo Cookies

Provide animal crackers and a couple different colors of frosting with some spoons. You could also provide sprinkles and other embellishments. Allow the kids to decorate their animals as they want.

"I Can" Week! Confidence Building (April 1 - 5)

It is important for kids to have self-confidence and realistic, positive perceptions of themselves. Children who lack confidence tend to avoid risks, become socially awkward, and participate less in class and extracurricular activities. Parents and teachers can help instill self-confidence in young children by posing challenges and then stepping back to allow the children to achieve or fail and support and encourage their efforts.

To kick this week off, talk about "I Can" in circle time. Go around the circle and talk about something each child can do. Give them an example yourself first. Try to get them to come up with their own special answer, but offer assistance if needed. They should be very proud of their accomplishments! Just being able to put on their own shirt or brush their own teeth is a big deal at this age. Congratulate each other as you discuss each child's "I Can".


LETTER:  D d for "Do"

Being able to "Do" things on their own is this week's theme!

Trace the letter D and talk about words that begin with D http://bogglesworldesl.com/alphabet_worksheets/BigD.doc



SITE WORDS - NAME

The Name Game

For this activity, you will need alphabet stickers and paper.  I like to use the foam stickers so they are more substantial. Write the child's name on the paper. Place all the alphabet stickers in a big bowl. Make sure you have enough stickers so that each letter of each child's name is available.

Give each child their paper with their name. One by one the kids will search through the bowl and find letters. Each turn lasts until they find 1 letter that belongs in their name. When they find one of their letters, have them stick it on the paper below where you wrote it. Continue this process for each child until everyone has fully spelled their name.

This is all about letter recognition and spelling their name. Be very positive and give good praise when they are able to make correct matches. They CAN do it! As each child finishes their name, they should get a "prize" for completing the game!

SCIENCE

Ice Cube Painting

In keeping with the "I Can" theme, I wanted to pick something they can totally do on their own. Prep for this by making a couple of ice cube trays full of colored water. Just add a few drops of food coloring to the water in the trays. Try to make several different colors.

Give each child a piece of white paper or allow several children to color together on a piece of white butcher paper. This is a bit messy, but really fun! Use the ice to color the paper. You can provide napkins if they are having trouble holding the ice bare handed. If you feel comfortable, you could also freeze a toothpick in each ice cube (or maybe even a Q-tip) so they can use that to hold it.

While they are coloring, discuss what is happening to the ice. When water gets really cold, it turns hard and becomes ice. When it gets warmer it melts and becomes water again!  You can also discuss how the different colors are interacting with each other as they melt and mix together. Are they creating new colors?

"I Can" ACTIVITY

Following Directions



Completed Pyramid

 Following directions is a very important concept for kids. Trying to follow directions and failing can be very frustrating, especially for kids. In order to empower them, we are going to do a special "I Can" activity.

Use blocks, legos, or whatever other building material you wish. Give each child a specific direction to follow in the building of your item. It is best to have a definate end product you are trying to complete, so that they know when they have accomplished it. For example, build a basic building with Legos. Ask the first child to build a square base to start. Assist them, encourage them, but do not do it for them. Remember, they CAN! Then ask each child to take a turn and add to the building. Give them very specific directions. 

Once the building is complete, give great praise and talk about how great they did. Allow them to really feel proud of what they have accomplished. You could take a picture of it, print it out, and write on it that WE BUILT THIS! Post it in the room to remind them that they did it! It is also fun to knock down whatever they just built, so let them have at it.





MATH

Pom Pom Gripping, Sorting, Counting

You can use the same painted egg cartons from a couple of weeks ago. Each child will need a set of tongs. Put a bunch of pom poms in different colors in a bowl. The kids will need to pick up each pom pom with tongs and place it in the corresponding colored egg carton section. (This is also a fine motor activity)

Once all the pom poms have been sorted by color, they should count how many of each colored pom pom there are. Organize them by number. Put the largest pile of pom poms first, then the next largest, and so forth.


Pom Pom Math

Use a divided plate for this activity. The top 2 sections will be what you are adding and the answer will go in the big bottom section. Place 1 pom pom in a top section and 1 pom pom in the other top section. Discuss what you get when you add 1 pom pom to 1 pom pom. Physically take the pom poms from the top trays and place them together in the bottom tray and say "1 pom pom plus 1 pom pom equals 2 pom poms!" Try this with 2 in one section and 1 in the other. This is a great visual way to begin to understand adding items together. Do this with them several times this week and see if they can begin to do it on their own at some point! THEY CAN!



MOTOR SKILLS

Cutting Practice

Print the worksheet HERE and allow the kids to practice cutting straight lines using preschool safety scissors. (you guessed it, they can!)



CRAFT

Beading Bracelets

Provide colorful beads and pipe cleaners and direct them to create a beautiful bracelet!




BOOKS
Get it on Amazon! http://www.amazon.com/Can-Be-Anything-Jerry-Spinelli/dp/0316162264/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363802173&sr=1-1&keywords=i+can+be+anything#

Just like the title suggests, this book talks about how kids can be anything they want to be!!


Get it on Amazon!  http://www.amazon.com/Incredible-Ways-greatness-shine-through/dp/1401907822/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363802321&sr=1-1&keywords=incredible+you

A fantastic way to introduce the concept of being unique and powerful!



ART

Glue Painting

Materials Needed:

White school glue

Food coloring
Small paint brushes
Paper

Squirt some glue into a small bowl and add food coloring until it is the color you want. Create several different colors. Direct the kiddos to paint with this just as they normally would. The glue creates some really cool pictures that have texture! They CAN make cool art. Be sure to hang their masterpieces around the room. (if they have the manual dexterity to squeeze a glue bottle, they could paint that way also)

MUSIC

Create Homemade Instruments

This is a fun project! This way they CAN make their own music!

Castanets: make using poster board and buttons. Cut out rectangles of poster board (or cardboard), fold in half and glue a button to the inside edge of each side. Click them together for some great rhythm. (used bottle caps instead of buttons in the image)

Tambourines:  take 2 foam plates. Lay one down and place some beans, beads, rice, etc  on the plate. Lay the other plate on top with the edges together and tape the edges down. Depending on what you put inside is how the instrument will sound. You could make a couple of different versions of this.

Egg Shakers:  fill Easter eggs will rice and glue or tape shut. Shake, shake, shake!

Guitar:  Take a shoe box, cereal box, or tissue box. If you are using a cereal box or shoe box you will need to cut a hole in the center of one of the big flat sides. A tissue box is fine as-is. Wrap large rubber bands around the box longways to create the strings. Tape a paper towel tube to the top to act as the "neck". Strum away!

COOKING

Fruit Pizzas

They CAN do this all on their own!

Ingredients:

Sugar cookies or graham crackers

Vanilla frosting

Various fruit cut into small pieces

Give each child a cookie or graham cracker. Allow them to spread theirs with the frosting. Then they can add whatever fruit they want. Voila! Yummy fruit pizza they totally made themselves. :)