A for Acorn

I read a story called "Dot and Jabber and the Great Acorn Mystery" to the kids today~ It's a very funny book! It talks about how acorns travel from one place to another, and then get planted to become an oak tree. After reading and discussing the story, we sang this song together. They really loved it when we had to "swish our bushy tail"~ =P

Grey Squirrel

Grey squirrel, grey squirrel, swish your bushy tail!
Grey squirrel, grey squirrel, swish your bushy tail!
Wrinkle up your funny nose, put a nut between your toes~
Grey squirrel, grey squirrel, swish your bushy tail!

I prepared a couple of activities to do with the kids today -- an acorn art & craft, letter "A" tracing page, and "count the acorns" number tracing page. I started with the art. I asked them what colours are acorns, and they said brown and orangey. So I said that they may use those 2 colours to colour the page. Some of them started grabbing other colours, and I told them that I know they love to be colourful, and there are times when we can do that. But this time, I really want them to colour the acorn in the colour that it is in real life.

When a student was done, I'd send him/her to another table to do the letter tracing. And then when they were finished with that, they had to do the number tracing for 1-5~ They were very productive today, and I'm so proud of them! =)

Sophie's acorn:


Jonah's:


Phillip's:

The Ants Go Marching

After reviewing that A is for Apple, I showed the students the book that I was going to read them and asked them what's on the cover -- Ants. We made the "A" sound together, and then I told them that the word "Ant", like "Apple", also begins with the letter "A". Then we sang this song together~ Some visitors came while we were having a lesson, so the kids were a little bit distracted. So when we sang the song, I didn't ask them to do the movements. Instead, we just clapped our hands and sang. When we sing the song again tomorrow, we'll move with the music!

The Ants Go Marching

The ants go marching 1 by 1, Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching 1 by 1, Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching 1 by 1, the little one stopped to suck his thumb,
And they all go marching down, around, and underground!

The ants go marching 2 by 2, Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching 2 by 2, Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching 2 by 2, the little one stopped to tie his shoes,
And they all go marching down, around, and underground!

The ants go marching 3 by 3, Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching 3 by 3, Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching 3 by 3, the little one stopped to climb the tree,
And they all go marching down, around, and underground!

The ants go marching 4 by 4, Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching 4 by 4, Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching 4 by 4, the little one stopped to shut the door,
And they all go marching down, around, and underground!

The ants go marching 5 by 5, Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching 5 by 5, Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching 5 by 5, the little one stopped to jump and dive,
And they all go marching down, around, and underground!

After singing, I read them a book about ants, telling them information like ants are very tiny but strong, they have 3 body parts, 6 legs and 2 antennae, etc. After reading and discussing, I showed them the craft that I prepared for today -- fingerpaint ants marching by the hill of "A"~ Before I asked them to go to the table to do their work, I let each of them come up to the board to write the upper case A, so that I know who knows how to write it and who still needs more help.

When they sat at the table, I held their fingers to show them how to make the 3 body parts with 3 fingerprints, and I helped them draw the 6 little legs afterwards. When we were waiting for the paint to dry, I gave them a tracing page to work on. I think they're really getting familiar with the letter "A" now~~

Giada's ants:


Sophie's ants:


Shriyans' ants:

A for Apple

I just started our "letter A" theme today~ I asked the kids what's the first letter of the alphabet and what does it sound like. They're all familiar with it. Some of them already know that apple starts with A! I taught them this little song about an apple seed~

A Little Apple Seed

Once a little apple seed was planted in the ground
Down came the raindrops, falling all around.
Out came the big sun, bright as bright could be
And that little apple seed grew to be an apple tree!

After singing it once, I asked them what do seeds need to grow, and what an apple seed would grow to be. After talking about it and doing the song movements, I found it easier for them to remember the words.

Then I did guided reading with them, reading the story of "Johnny Appleseed". I showed them the sample apple tree art, with apples on the tree. Then I showed them colouring page that I printed out, and told them that they need to colour the tree, the dog, the basket, and "Johnny"~ Riley asked me where are the apples, so I asked them to guess what I used to put the apples on the tree. Some of them said "red" haha~ So I guided them by asking if it's crayons or paint, and they said paint. I asked them if they think I used a paintbrush, and some said yes. So I told them that I didn't, and asked them to tell me what other ways can I put paint on the page. Then they got it~ Yes, I used my fingers!

Learning from the messiness of fingerpainting from the last couple of times, I didn't leave the plate of paint on the table this time. Instead, I went around to let the students dip their thumbs in the paint, and then asked them to put their thumb on the page together. I told them to do it gently and then lift up the thumb. During today's lesson, nobody put paint on their whole palm or had paint on their face! =)

After fingerpainting, I gave each of the kids a tracing page with the letter A in both upper case and lower case. I told them to trace the letters, and I helped the ones who had trouble using the pencil. Before I gave them crayons to colour, I emphasized that we're only colouring the big letters and the apple, but NOT the letter tracing. Because some of them coloured on top of the letters, their work was all covered up. I made sure that everybody understood by asking each student individually before letting them colour. It's good to make things clear to avoid problems!

Reya's apple tree:


Reya's letter A tracing:


Sophie's apple tree:


Cooper's apple tree:

Our 5 Senses -- Touching

I Have Skin

On my body I have skin,
Feeling cold and heat.
It stretches from atop my head
Way down to my feet.
With a touch, touch here,
And a touch, touch there,
Here a touch, there a touch,
Everywhere a touch, touch.
On my body I have skin,
Feeling cold and heat!

We talked about touching and texture today~ I asked them to describe what different things feel like (e.g. hair, cheek, table, etc.)~ I emphasized on hardness and softness, because they seem to be the most easily differentiated textures. I showed the students cloth, pompoms, tongue depressor, etc., that I found in school. I gave each of them a small sheet of construction paper, and then asked them to glue all the soft things on it. After they were done, I gave them another sheet of paper to glue all the hard things. I helped them put the white glue on the papers this time to avoid messiness, so we could focus on our main learning~ It worked out very well!

Sophie's:


Reya's:


Phillip's:

Our 5 Senses -- Smelling & Tasting

After reviewing seeing and hearing, I taught both smelling and tasting today. I really like the 5 senses lyrics that I found, because they're all sung to the tune of "Old Macdonald had a Farm", so it's easy for kids to pick up.

I Have a Nose

On my face I have a nose,
Use it all the time.
When I sniff it I can tell
Vinegar from lime.
With a sniff, sniff here,
And a sniff, sniff there,
Here a sniff, there a sniff,
Everywhere a sniff, sniff.
On my face I have a nose;
Use it all the time!

I Have a Tongue

In my mouth I have a tongue,
Use it when I eat.
Tasting with it I can tell
Sour from the sweet.
With a lick, lick here,
And a lick, lick there,
Here a lick, there a lick,
Everywhere a lick, lick.
In my mouth I have a tongue;
Use it when I eat!

After reading to them about smelling and tasting, I asked them to squeeze their little nose with their fingers and try to smell. Then I asked them to let go and sniff~ When I asked, "What do you smell?" They said "diapers!" and "poo!" hahaha, because I have to watch the babies in the room today, and one of them poopoo-ed! I felt so bad for making all the kids sniff! I brought in shampoo, strawberry scent perfume, and ketchup. I let each of them smell the different smells and describe them. They all said the shampoo smells like "powder", and they mean baby powder haha~ Then we talked about the smells that we smell on the way to school. A lot of them were bothered by the smell of trucks and garbage!

I wish to talk more about tasting, but the babies started to cry and it got a bit too noisy for discussion. So I told the kids that they're going to make a bowl of alphabet soup today~ I gave each of them a bowl, and wrote their name inside the bowl. I put the alphabet stickers on the table, and asked them to find the letters of their name. Some of them did great, but some were a bit confused. It would be easier if I picked out the letters in their name and just let them stick them on the bowl to match. I was going to let them glue pasta in their bowl as well, but we didn't have enough time. I think it would be cute though! =P

Reya's:


Sophie's:


Jonah's actually look like alphabet soup because it's all over the place~

Our 5 Senses -- Hearing

I'm very happy that today, I was able to do the "sight" read-aloud and discussion that I planned for yesterday!

I taught the students this song to introduce our "hearing" lesson~

I Have 2 Ears

On my head I have two ears,
Listening all day long.
And if I didn't have them there,
I couldn't hear this song!
With a listen here,
And a listen there,
Here a listen, there a listen,
Everywhere a listen.
On my head I have two ears;
Listening all day long!

After singing, I read to them about how we use our ears and brain to hear, and tried covering our ears to compare the difference between the sounds that we hear with our ears covered and uncovered. Then we used our bodies to make different sounds~ After that, I showed them the plate shaker that I made, let each of them shake it, and asked them to guess what's inside~ They all said "balls" haha, so I showed them the redbeans that I put inside. I gave each of them a plate, and then gave them markers to decorate. I gave them syrofoam plates because that's what we have in school, but I think paper plates would work better, at least the markers won't smudge! Next time, if I use syrofoam plates again, it would be less messy to give them stickers to decorate~

I helped them staple the plates together after they finished decorating. Then I handed out worksheets for word tracing. One is "E for Eyes" and the other one is "E for Ears". I showed them how to write both the upper case "E" and lower case "e" before they start tracing. Some of them were done quickly, so I gave them a #1-5 tracing sheet for them to work on. I'm really proud of their work, and very glad that they sat and paid attention for so long, having so much done!

My sample:


Jonah's:


Sophie's:

Our 5 Senses -- Sight

Today's lesson wasn't carried out as planned, but I'm going to write it all out anyway! I didn't get to do everything as planned because one of the other teachers is on vacation, so I need to watch 3 toddlers during my preschoolers lesson today (and all lessons this week).

I didn't get to do calendar with the kids, so I went straight to read-aloud. I borrowed a book from the library called "You Can't Taste a Pickle with Your Ear", and it has an interesting chapter about each of the 5 senses, and a poem that goes with each chapter. But it ended up that the toddlers were playing too loudly in the room, so I couldn't even teach the lesson properly. I didn't really explain the 5 senses, I just told the students what they are. And we didn't have a discussion on what we see with our eyes, and didn't play the game of "I spy something that is..." I'm thinking of extending this theme for 2 weeks, so we could do the singing and arts and craft this week, and the more informational content next week. I taught them this song today, and they love it!! =)

I Have 2 Eyes

On my face I have two eyes;
Use them every day.
They are used to help me see
When I work and play.
With a look, look here,
And a look, look there,
Here a look, there a look,
Everywhere a look, look.
On my face I have two eyes;
Use them every day!

After singing, I showed them the binocular that I made with toilet paper rolls~


I gave two pieces of patterned papers to each student and asked them to colour with crayons. I printed out this pattern because even though the kids are colouring all over the place, it'd still look good! =P After they coloured the papers, I went around to help them tape it on the toilet paper rolls. I'm using tape because they're too messy with glue, so I want to avoid that if I can. After taping, I hole punched the sides and tied a string there. Then ta-dah, it's done! The kids really love their binoculars!

Reya's:


Sophie's: