Halloween mask

Trick or Treaters

I am a trick or treater set to go,
Here is my flashlight I'll walk slow.
I always say thank you for my treats,
And I never run across the street!

After singing, I read the kids a story about the first Jack O Lantern~ It's a pretty interesting story! It's about Jack, a mean person whose soul decided to leave him, and how his soul ended up on Earth because neither the heaven nor hell opened the gate for him. He put burning coal inside a turnip, and then poke holes on the flower to let the light shine through, so he could find his way from hell back to Earth. I asked them questions as I read along, and they seemed to be understanding quite well!

Then we discussed what they're going to dress up as for Halloween. They're gonna be so cute on Friday, when we have our party! After that, I gave each of them a worksheet, where they had to find the matching Jack o Lanterns and draw a line to connect them.



After they were done, they designed a mask~

The Pumpkins are Here!!

When I was preparing for today's lesson, I painted a paperbag pumpkin for Cooper because he wasn't here yesterday. We had to put eyes, nose, mouth and leaves on the Jack o'lanterns, which is an extension of yesterday's activity. Cooper wouldn't have enough time to finish the whole craft today, so I did the painting for him. He was a little bit upset 'cause he wanted to paint, but I explained that to him, and said that we can paint something else again next time.

Song of the day:

The Pumpkins are Here

The pumpkins are here, the pumpkins are there.
The pumpkins, the pumpkins are everywhere.

The pumpkins are up, the pumpkins are down.
The pumpkins, the pumpkins are all around.

The pumpkins are in, the pumpkins are out.
The pumpkins, the pumpkins are all about.

The pumpkins are low, the pumpkins are high.
The pumpkins, the pumpkins all say, "Good-bye!"

Jonah was so excited about finishing the pumpkins today, he kept asking me about it all morning! =)

I pre-cut the eyes, nose, mouth and leaves to hand out to the kids, so they could glue them on. The Jack o'lanterns look so good, sitting together on the shelf!

After the students finished their work, I gave each of them a small pumpkin picture to colour. I explained to them that I want them to give it to one of their friends. An easy way would be to give it to the person sitting next to them, so everybody would have one. After they finished colouring, I helped them glue the pumpkin onto a tongue depressor, so that they could use it as a bookmark! Most of them were happy about the idea of giving it to a friend, but some wanted to give it to someone else, and one of them wanted to give it to his mommy. So I told them that they had a choice to give it to anyone they want, but just make sure that everyone has one in the end. And it worked out~ =)

Paperbag Pumpkin

After singing and reading, I taught the students the "Days of the Week" song. Most of the kids still haven't grasped the concept of days of the week, so they don't really know what day it is today, what comes after Monday, etc. I hope that by teaching this song and having them sing along everyday, they would eventually remember the order.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin

Pumpkin, Pumpkin,
Sitting on the wall.
Pumpkin, Pumpkin,
Tip and fall.
Pumpkin, Pumpkin,
Rolling down the street.
Pumpkin, Pumpkin,
Good to eat!!

We started to make a paperbag pumpkin today! I gave each student a brown paperbag, asked them to crumple up pages from old magazines, and fill the paperbag until it's about half way through. Then I helped them to tie an elastic band to close the bag. I told the kids that we're not going to use orange paint to paint the bags, because I want to show them how to mix two colours to get orange. I put some red on the palette, and then added yellow, and mixed them together in front of the kids. They were so surprised and went "wow...!!"

Because we need to wait for the paint to dry, we're going to add the eyes, nose, mouth, and the leaves tomorrow. =)

Unfinished pumpkins + my sample on the right~

5 Little Pumpkins

Today we had sharing time again, where each student thanked someone else for being nice to them. I think they're getting used to this routine now, and it's amazing to watch the smiles on their face when they say and hear the words "thank you". ^^

New song of the day:

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
The first one said, "Oh my, it's getting late."
The second one said, "There are witches in the air."
The third one said, "But I don't care."
The fourth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"
The fifth one said, "Let's run and run and run."

"Wooooooo" went the wind,
And out went the lights.
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

I read the book "Too Many Pumpkins" to them, but I didn't read it word to word. I like the story, it's about a woman who loves to plant, but never planted any pumpkins. The reason is that she used to be very poor when she was little, and they'd eat food made of pumpkin everyday for every meal. So after she grew up, she hates pumpkins! But something happened and there were LOTS of pumpkins growing all over her garden, so she had to do something with it. She wanted to give them all away, but it would be difficult to knock door by door. So she made food out of the pumpkin, and decorated the rest of the pumpkins, carved them and put a candle inside each of them, and laid them outside of her house, to attract people's attention. Soon, people came by and went into her house, and she gave them the pumpkin treats. So in the end, she gave away everything, except for a bag of pumpkin seeds, because the feeling of giving the pumpkins and pumpkin treats away was so warm, she decided to do it again next year! =) I didn't read it word to word because it's a bit long, and the kids couldn't focus. So I showd the pictures and paraphrased the story~

After reading, we did a little group activity. Each group got some pictures of the pumpkin (the ones that we used for size ordering yesterday), and their task was to count how many they had. After each group shared the number of pumpkins that they had, I asked them which group had the most and which had the least. And they got it~ =)

Then I gave them the instructions of how to make a paperplate pumpkin. Initially, I wanted them to tear orange papers and glue them on the paperplate, and then glue on the face and stem, and that's it. But then I thought it'd be nice to punch a hole on the stem and tie a ribbon there, so they could hang on doorknobs or somewhere else as a decoration. After I told them my idea, Jonah said, "Yeah, I think it's a good idea!" =P I asked them to share the glue again today, and nobody grabbed~ Yay!!

I'm a Little Pumpkin

Before we did anything today, we had community circle time, where I asked all the students to share with the class what they did on the weekend. I passed the rainstick to the person who's sharing, and reminded the rest of them that they had to listen to the person holding the rainstick. I found that they're more attentive when they know that they have to do the same thing, because they're anticipating it~

This week's theme is pumpkin! I introduced today's lesson by asking the students what letter does the word pumpkin start with, and most of them got it -- P!! Then we started a discussion on what pumpkins need to grow -- soil, water and sunlight. We talked about pumpkins as food, giving us vitamin A and potassium, and some food that we can make out of pumpkins -- pumpkin pie, cakes, soup, etc. Then we sang this song with movements, and they loved it~

I'm a Little Pumpkin

I'm a little pumpkin
Orange and round.
Here is my stem,
There is the ground.

When I get all cut up,
Don't you shout!
Just open me up,
And scoop me out!

After that, I divided them into groups of 3 and 4, and then gave each group a set of 5 pumpkins, which they had to order from the smallest to largest. They seemed to be confused by the concept of a group of people sharing the same set of pumpkins, and also the concept of smallest to biggest. So I guided them by asking them to show me the smallest one, and then compared all the other ones to line them up. They had no problems with comparing two at a time, so I believe that the skill of ordering by size will develop soon by practicing.



After this group activity, I asked each of the kids to tell me who was nice to them today, and to say thank you to that person. To my surprise, they started hugging each other! It was an amazing feeling, because I felt that they're really beginning to appreciate each other, and beginning to understand what giving out "warm fuzzies" mean. I'm very proud of them. =) I'm under no illusion that they'll always be caring and loving to each other from this moment on, I know that arguments and conflicts will arise by just the tiniest incident, but the awareness of something called appreciation is a good start for these 3-to-4-year-olds!

The art that we did today is using construction papers to make a pumpkin, with the letter P in the middle of the pumpkin. I let two students share a glue, and was pleasantly surprised that nobody complained about grabbing! It was a great lesson today! In the end, I put a "warm fuzzy" in each of the kids' warm fuzzy bag. Today's warm fuzzy is an origami heart that I made. =)

Reya's pumpkin:


Jonah's pumpkin:


Cooper's pumpkin:

Warm fuzzies

I read a story called "Fuzzyland" to the children today. It's about a place called Fuzzyland, and the people there love to give other people "warm fuzzies" to make them feel warm and happy inside~ Warm fuzzies are free, and people are generous to give them freely to people that they love and care about. The problem came when the bad witch came to Fuzzyland and cast a spell to make people believe that warm fuzzies are running out, so they're not willing to give them out freely anymore. The bad witch began to give them "cold pricklies", which made them feel sad and angry. Fortunately, a good witch came, and she gave out lots of warm fuzzies to remind people that there will never be a shortage for them. So they began to believe again, and Fuzzyland returned to the way it was before. =)

Before I read the story, I introduced Ms. Warm Fuzzy, the little "warm fuzzy" that I made. =P I held it as I read the story.

Ms. Warm Fuzzy~:


After reading, we discussed what a warm fuzzy is. It could be a hug, a word of encouragement or appreciation, thoughtful gifts, etc. It means anything that make people feel warm and happy. Giving out warm fuzzies mean being nice to others.

I told them that we're going to make a warm fuzzy bag today. I'll give each of them a ziplock bag, and then they'll decorate and personalize it~ When they're good in class, I'll put something in their bags -- it could be anything, like stickers or a note of appreciation. I also told them that if they think that their friends are nice to them, they can also make something and put it inside their friends' warm fuzzy bags. =)

To send them to the table to decorate their bags, we sat in a circle and sang, while passing Ms. Warm Fuzzy, like the game of "hot potato". When the song ends, the person who's holding Ms. Warm Fuzzy will go to the table to wait for the rest of us. We sang different songs each time, until everybody was sent to the table~ They love Ms. Warm Fuzzy! =)


Sophie's warm fuzzy bag:


Reya's warm fuzzy bag:


Cooper's warm fuzzy bag:

Two on a crayon

We started today's lesson with the rainmaking exercise, where I used the rainstick to make raining sound, and the students rubbed their palms, patted their thighs, and stomped their feet to imitate the raining sound. It calmed them down and soon everybody was sitting nicely and quietly, ready for lesson~

We sang the song "If You're Happy and You Know It", replacing the word "happy" with "thankful". After a few rounds, I asked them to think about who were nice to them today. I gave them examples, like who helped them tie their shoelaces, or who played nicely with them. We went around the circle so everybody had a chance to share with us. Shriyans said that Reya was nice to him because she played with him, so I said, "That's very nice, so you should be thankful to her. Let's say thank you to Reya~" We did that with every kid, and they were all smiling as they thanked each other. It was really sweet! I believe that being thankful and appreciative is a matter of habit, and it's developed by learning to notice the daily, small things that make us happy or make our life easier, and appreciating the people for making us feel this way. =)

Then we sang some more songs, and I read them the book "Thank you, Amelia Bedelia". I didn't finish the story, because the kids didn't seem too interested. Book choices really make a difference in engaging students, and I think choosing books come with experience and our knowledge of the kids. I hope that next week, I'll be able to pick some books that interest my kids more~

I showed them the 3 colouring pages that I printed out. One is a girl helping another girl to get up after she fell down, the other is two friends riding bicycle, and the last one shows two friends playing happily together. We discussed the pictures, and then I told them the instructions for our following activity. Each Tribe got 1 colouring page, and their task was to complete the colouring as a group. I picked one person from each group to be the first person to colour. So when I said "1, 2, 3, start!" only one person from each group would have a crayon/marker in his/her hand. Then, when they heard the rainstick, they had to pass the crayon/marker to the next person, and the next person would start colouring. At first they were a bit confused, and each of them wanted their own colouring page, but after a while they got it and they were willing to pass the page~ This is an exercise that would foster cooperation as well as sharing. When they were done, we shared some of our feelings of this activity. Reya said that she likes it because Shriyans was sharing with her~ Jonah wanted to bring it home, but I said since he worked on it with Phillip, Phillip would want to bring it home too. So maybe on the weekend, I could make a copy of it and both of them could bring it home. He thought it's a good idea. =P

I noticed that Daniel was a little bit too quiet today, and when I asked everybody to go to the table, he still sat on the carpet, unwilling to move. I asked him what happened, but he wouldn't answer. So I told him that I would leave him alone, and when he's ready, he could join us. After a while, he was still sitting at the carpet, so I tried to talk to him again. I asked him is it because he didn't like his group, or did I say something that made him upset, but he shook his head. I told him that I wanted to know why he's sad because I wanted to help him solve his problems, and he could tell me when he's ready. After a few moments, when I went to him again, he was willing to stand up. I asked if he wanted to join the rest of the kids, and he said no. So I gave him something else to colour on the other table. As he was colouring, I asked him, "Are you missing mommy?" and he nodded. By the time he finished colouring, he showed it to me proudly, finally smiling. I was so glad. =)After school, I told his mom, and she said he probably missed his daddy, because he went away. Maybe all of a sudden he thought of it, and that's why he was sad. I hope he'll be feeling better tomorrow!


Sophie & Giada's:


Shriyans and Reya's:

Jonah & Phillip's:

Our tribes~

I decided to introduce Tribes to my preschoolers~ Since it was Thanksgiving yesterday, I'm beginning with Appreciation. I asked them questions like "If someone helped you tie your shoelaces, what would you say to him?", to remind them that there are lots of times when we have to show our appreciation, to say thank you to others. We did the calendar and counted together, and then reviewed the songs that we sang last week. Then I taught them this song:

Let’s Be Thankful

Let's be thankful for today,
For our friends and our play.
Let's be thankful let's be glad,
For our food and the things we have!
Let's give thanks for you and me,
And our home and family~

Then I read them the book "Thanksgiving Day in Canada" to explain to them what Thanksgiving is and how people celebrate on this occasion. After that, I explained to them that I'm going to divide them into groups of 2 or 3, called Tribes, and they'll be doing activities together from now on. I told them that I'm not going to tell them who's in their group, because they need to find out themselves. I showed them the cards that I prepared -- cat, dog, and cow. We used movements and sounds to pretend to be each of those animals. Then I gave each of them one of the pictures, and asked them to not tell anyone what they had. Then, they had to pretend to be that animal, to find their group members, who are the same animal~ I assigned Daniel to be with Sophie and Giada, but both girls weren't here today, so I pretended to be a cow to let Daniel find me. ^^ They had a lot of fun pretending to be the animals and making noisy sounds~~

I gave each of them a card with their name and their Tribe animal. Tribes is a community buidling process, where students are placed in small groups to work and learn together, to create a safe learning environment. The 4 agreements of Tribes are: 1) Attentive Listening, 2) Right to Participate/Right to Pass, 3) Appreciation (no put downs), 4) Mutual Respect.

I gave them paint and paintbrushes, but it didn't work out because the paint was too dark and thick, it covered all the pictures and names! So I made another photocopy for the students and gave them markers instead. I asked them why our painting didn't work, and discussed with them how I solved the problem~ As they were working, I told them again that this week we're going to focus on the theme of appreciation, and there's a lot of thanks that I had to say to them. For example, I thanked Cooper for colouring a picture for me, thanked Reya for putting on her shoes when I asked her to, and thanked Shriyans for sitting nicely during lesson today. Tomorrow, I'm going to ask them to say an appreciation for at least one person. =)

Phillip's nametag (brown doggie Tribe)

Reya's nametag (cutie kitty Tribe)


Daniel's nametag (mooing cow Tribe)

Row, Row, Row Your Boat~

By today, the kids are familiarized that the letter B makes the "ba" sound~ After singing the songs, they were a little bit unsettled, so I asked one of them to name another student who's sitting nicely. I went around the circle until everybody's name got mentioned, and by that time, everyone was sitting nicely and paying attention. =P

I read the book "Floating", which talks about what kind of things float and what kind of things sink. I should've brought a tank of water to do some experiments with them so they could make sense of it better. Yes, next time. =)

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream~
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream!

Today, even Daniel tried to use the scissors! But it ended up into too many pieces. =P It's a good start though! I'm very happy with Cooper because he used to dislike colouring, but he's now willing to try and getting better at it. It's interesting that kids do grow up very quickly, and they learn very quickly too! Look, no more big mess with glue!

Daniel's boat:


Shriyans' boat:


Reya's boat:

B for Bees~

It was difficult to get the kids' attention this afternoon, when the older kids were still lining up to go into the classroom, and the babies were crying. So instead of yelling over all the noise, I decided to start singing the "Stand Up and Turn Around" song, calling each kid to stand and move. That got their attention, and they all sat nicely afterwards~

Then we reviewed all the songs that we learned this week, and played the balloon game from yesterday~ After everybody was "popped", I taught them this rhyme. I sang it with some of the kids before, but it's new to the rest of them~

Where are the Bees?

Here is the beehive, where are the bees?
Hidden away where nobody sees!
Watch and you'll see them
come out of the hive,

One, two, three, four, five! Bzzzzzzzzz~~

After singing, I read them the book "Honeybees". It's a picture book that explains a honeybee's work. I told the kids that when we see bees, it's important not to run or flap our hands, because the bees would be scared that we're attacking them. I remember that adults used to tell me that when I was little, but I'd still run away 'cause bees are too scary. =P

I printed out hexagons for the beehive craft, and I intentionally made 2 sets of 4 cells, so that the kids could cut out two big pieces, and then put them together. I showed them how to follow the lines to cut. I also showed them how to draw a bee, so they could try to draw bees on their papers if they finish early. What surprised me was that they started cutting out the individual cells! I told them that I wanted them to cut out the big pieces only, because it'd be easier. Then Jonah and Cooper told me that they could do it~ So I said that if they feel that they could cut out the cells, they should go ahead and do it, and that I'm very proud of them! I'm very proud of Reya because she always says that she doesn't know how to use the scissors and she can't do it, but she tried sooo hard today and she did such a good job! =)

Sample beehive:


Sophie's beehive:


Reya's beehive:


Jonah's beehive:

I'm a Balloon~

I taught the students this balloon song today, and then we played a little game that made us all sweaty and tired!

I'm a Balloon

I am a balloon can't you see,
Can't you see, can't you see,
I am a balloon can't you see,
So please do not pop me.

I can fly and dance around,
Dance around, dance around,
I can fly and dance around,
OH NO! YOU POPPED ME!

We pretended to be balloons -- hands up above our heads, kind of like doing ballet. Then I told the kids to move around inside the red circle carpet, squatting down and standing up, squatting down and standing up, to make floating movements. We sang the song together, and when we reached the last phrase "Oh no! You popped me!", I replaced the "me" with a child's name. When they hear their name, they have to pretend that they're popped, and then sit down on the carpet. The kids had a lot of fun, but it's very tiring! =P

After singing and moving around, I read them the story "Balloon on the Moon". It's a story about a little boy who decides to go to the moon to help his little brother find his lost balloon~ I think it's a very touching story. ^^ Towards the end of the story, I found that some of them were losing attention. So I asked them to vote -- if they wanted me to continue the story now, or finish reading it later. More kids voted for now, so I let them know that that's how I decided to read on. We had a nice discussion throughout the story, and I think today's lesson went really well! I'm happy. =)

I gave them worksheets to practice tracing the letter Bb, then set up another table for them to make the balloons picture. I drew the strings for them beforehand, to avoid them dipping the markers into the glue. I reminded them to use little glue, and this time, everybody were using the glue properly!! I'm sooooo impressed!

Cooper finished very quickly, so I asked him to help Reya and Phillip to cut the circles, because they needed help. He agreed, and I thanked him for being so helpful, and he's so proud of himself~ I'm proud of him too. =)


Sophie's balloons:


Phillip's balloons:


Cooper's balloons:

B for Banana~

I finished reading "Little Polar Bear" with the kids this afternoon, and then I read a story called "The Boy Who Loved Bananas"~ It's a very funny story, I like it! We sang the polar bear song, but I forgot to teach them the banana song that I found to fit our theme! I'll sing it with them tomorrow~

Banana Song

Smell, smell, smell a banana.
Sweet, sweet, sweet is banana.
See, see, see my banana.
My yellow banana is there~

See, see, see it is yellow.
Long, long, yellow banana.
Smell, smell, smell a banana.
Sweet, sweet, sweet is banana.

Today's lesson was pretty simple, and I'm happy that they had enough patience to sit through one and a half story. =) We did two pages of letter B tracing! Only Giada needed me to hold her hand to trace, the rest of them are pretty good at it, even if they were using pencil crayons! After they were done with the tracing, I gave each of them a colouring page with a banana on it, and gave them yellow paint and a paintbrush. After they painted the yellow banana, I gave them blue paint for the background. They were better painters than I expected! They all coloured in the line, and I have to say that they really did a pretty good job! Shriyans coloured blue over his yellow banana, but it was a good teaching moment, because when I said, "Look Shriyans, now your banana is blue...!", he said, "No, it's green!" So I said, "Yes you're right, when we mix yellow and blue together, we actually make green! But...bananas are supposed to be yellow!" Now that I think about it, bananas CAN be green! Just not this kind of green. =P

Cooper's banana:


Reya's banana:


Shriyans' banana:

B for Bear~

I'm starting the letter "B" with the kids today, and the first word is "Bear"~ I decided to teach them about polar bears.

Polar Bear

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, turn around,
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, touch the ground.
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, growl real loud,
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, sit on the ground.

I brought two books with me, one is about all sorts of different polar animals, and it has a few pages of facts about polar bears. Did you know that their fur is actually not white, but clear? The sun reflects it and makes it white! Also, each piece of fur is hollow, and that makes it light, so when polar bears swim, the water won't add too much weight on them. It's also very easy to shake off the water. I never knew that before I read this book! Learning is life-long. =) The second book that I brought with me is a story book called "Little Polar Bear". It's a pretty long picture book, so I wasn't sure if the kids would be up for it after reading the first book, but I brought it just in case. I started reading it, and they were pretty engaged in the story! They felt sad for the little polar bear when he got lost and was all alone. They know how it feels to miss their daddy and mommy, so they really sympathize with the character. ^^ I stopped half way through before they lose attention, and I'll continue the story for tomorrow~

After that, I showed them my sample plastic bag polar bear! It's actually not a plastic bag, but a plastic tablecloth, because I couldn't find so many white plastic bags! I showed them how to lay the piece of tablecloth on the floor or on the table (I let them decide where they wanted to work today), crumple up old magazine pages and put them in the middle of the cloth. Then I'd go around to help them tie it close. After that, I gave each of them two eyes and a nose, and they had to glue them on the polar bear's head. When they were done, I gave them pompoms with tape, so they just had to stick the ears on, and then they're done! It went better than I expected, because I did anticipate some kind of chaos. =P But it's fun, and I thought it'd be worth it even though it might get messy. I'm very happy about their use of white glue, because nobody ended up with a handful of glue! Goodjob! =)

Shriyans' polar bear:


Daniel's polar bear:


Cooper's polar bear:

A for Astronaut

We reviewed all the songs that we learned this week, and I told the students that I've printed out the lyrics and put them in their folders. I told them that they could sing it with their parents at home, so if they forget some of the words, their parents can help them out~ Reya's happy that the apple tree song is in there. =P

This is the new song of the day:

Four Little Astronauts

Four little astronauts winking at me,
One blasts off, now there are three.
Three little astronauts with nothing to do,
One blasts off, now there are two.
Two little astronauts afraid of the Sun,
One blasts off, now there is one.
One little astronaut alone is no fun,
He blasts off, now there are none.

It's a fingerplay rhyme, so we started off with holding up 4 fingers, then 3, and so on. Shriyans had trouble making the 3 with his little fingers, so I told him that he has to put his thumb and pinky together and hold the other fingers up. After a bit of struggling, he said, "Look! I made the 3!" Things as simple as holding up a certain number of fingers, things that we take for granted, can be so rewarding for a kid. ^^

For read-aloud, I chose the book "Floating in Space", because our theme is A for Astronaut. I didn't read the book word to word, because it's too long and too descriptive for the kids to understand. Instead, I showed them all the pictures and briefly told them that gravity is a force that pulls us down so we walk instead of float, but this is what astronauts in space do -- FLOAT!

Afterwards, I asked them to finish up the A for Alligator tracing page from yesterday, before making our "night sky" picture~ I asked them when it's at night, and they look up the sky, what do they see. Then we sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars. I gave each of them a black construction paper for the night sky, and gave them glitter, stars stickers and foam to decorate their sky with shiny stars~ I emphasized on not making a mess with the glue, and only one of them used it extensively haha~ It's an improvement!

Sophie's night sky~:


Shriyans'~:


Jonah's~:


Cooper's~:

A for Alligator

We had a fun day today! First, we sang our "Stand up and turn around" song and each kid had a turn to move around before sitting down nicely, including our new student Daniel~ Then we sang "A Little Apple Seed", "The Ants Go Marching By", and "Grey Squirrel". Today, when we sang "The Ants Go Marching By", I asked them to stand in a line after me, holding to each other's shoulders like a choo-choo train~ Then we marched around the circle together. As we sang to the line "The ants go marching one by one, the little one stopped to suck his thumb", I told everybody to stop and freeze, then pretend that we were sucking our thumb~ Then we continued the song. We did this for all 5 verses, and they had so much fun! =)

Then I taught them a new rhyme:

Mr. Alligator

Five little monkeys swinging in a tree,
Teasing Mr. Alligator, "Hey, you can't catch me."
Aong came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be
He snapped a monkey right out of that tree!
(Next verses: 4 little monkeys, 3 little.......,2, 1...)

At first they weren't chanting along, so I'd skip some words and let them fill in the blank~ By the end of the last verse, they were all chanting!

After singing, I read them the story "Very Boring Alligator", and all of them were quiet and paying attention today. I was very impressed, and I let them know that. After read-aloud, I wrote the lower case "a" on the board, and asked each student to come up and write an "a" for me. Then, I showed them how to do our "A for alligator" craft~ I asked them what colours are alligators, and they said green. I asked them, "So...do we have purple alligators?" in which they answer, "Nooooooo~~" "Do we have...PINK alligators?" "Nooooooo~~" But...I still find a purple arm in their work hahaha~

We didn't have time to do our letter tracing today, but we'll do that tomorrow~

Phillip's alligator:


Shriyans' alligator: