Cutting & Counting Colors

Theme:  Letter C
We had a lot of fun Cutting this week.  Please give your children some scissors and some paper and let them practice.  Make sure they hold the scissors correctly--with the thumb up.  This is an essential fine motor skill that will aid them in writing.

Choosing Time:  Cars, Foam Cubes, Trio Cubes, Cans, Caterpillar Puzzle....

Birthday:  Have a Wonderful Birthday Jackson!  Thank you for the yummy treats and the special Play-doh Gifts!  We love you!

Outside Play:

Snacks:

• Popcorn & Apple Slices
• Brownies
• Cheese slices, Grapes, & Circus Animal Cookies

Games:

• Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?   
• Pulling "C" things out of a "magic" Can
• Choosing one of Pete the Cat's Colorful Shoes

Science:  We studied a butterfly and discussed its life cycle.

Math:  Caterpillar Counting Game

Writing:

• Practiced Letter B/b
• Pre-writing skill--practiced cutting on Curvy lines

Music & Movement:

• If You're Wearing "red" Today
• Clap
• "C" is for Cookie
• Bazooka Bubblegum
• Alice the Camel
• I Love My White Shoes
• Scat the Cat

Art:

• Cutting Colorful Collages
• Clay Caterpillars

Books:
    (thanks to Jude who brought it for show & tell)


I retold this story using a "magic" puppet I made.

Buttons, Boats, & Bottle caps

Theme:  Letter B
As you read Books to your kiddos this week end see if they can point out some B/b's.  Hide their "buttons" and have them look for them.  Let them cut up some old magazines---trying to cut out some blue, brown, or black things.  Make some banana bread together.  Show them "B", reminding them that when you "erase" the "big head" you are left with "little b's big belly."

Choosing Time:  "Brick" Blocks, Angry Birds, Wooden Blocks, Babies, Balls, Button Sorting,....

Show & Tell:

shells from the BEACH :)

Birthday:  Thank you for the yummy birthday treats you shared with the class!

Art:

• Wooden Block Boats--My biggest failure of the week!  We painted with washable paint and then I forgot to spray some acrylic coating on them to protect them!!!  UGH!  However, we enjoyed the experience and they would love to take them out to give them a good soak in the BYU waters.
• Blueberries & Bears--We mashed up some blueberries and painted with them.

Music & Movement:  We had a fun time with choosing either Pete the Cat's Buttons or Bumblebees to tell us what activity we'd do

• Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee
• Bazooka Bubble Gum
• Teddy Bear
• Up, Up in the Sky
•  Row, Row, Row Your Boat
• My Buttons

Science:

• What color are Blueberries?  What happens when we smash them?  What color are they now?  Does the color stay the same when it dries on paper?  (Blue outside and a reddish center makes the juice a purple color that dries brownish) 
• Why didn't our boats work well?  Why did bottle caps work better? Which side of the bottle cap worked the best?

Games:

• Button, Button, Who has the Button?
• 4 Groovy Button Treasure Hunt

Backyard Fun:

Math: 

• We played a "Pete the Cat" Button Subtraction Game 

Snacks:

• Apple Slices & Lorna Doone Cookies
• Popcorn & Grapes
• Watermelon, Cucumber Slices, & Grapes
  

Books:
  I LOVE this book!  I love the song!  I Love the meaning!  There is a great video production of it on youtube:

http://youtu.be/V7YMN2ia8z4

Apes, Apples, & Art

Theme:  Letter "A"
This weekend practice the 2 A sounds with your kiddos.  Go for a walk and hunt for some acorns, ants, or apples.  Point out the letter A on signs, cereal boxes, in books.

Choosing Time:  Animals, Animal Puppets, ABC Puzzles, Apple Tree Game...

Show & Tell:  Some of our "A" show & tell includes pictures of Aunts, an ape, & an acorn :)

Snacks:

• Apple Mini Muffins & Mandarin Oranges
• Pretzels & Blueberries
• Fruit Snacks & Goldfish

Music & Movement: (We had fun choosing activities out of an APRON & picking Apples off of our Apple Tree)

• The Ants Go Marching
• 9 Little Apes
• 2 Little Apples
• Apples, Apples
• ABC's
• Animal Dancing
• Criss-Cross Applesauce 
• A Dot of Glue Will Due
• The Lord is Good To Me

Science & Pre-Reading:

• Life Cycle of an Apple Tree
• Colors & Variations of Apples:  Also studied the insides of an apple (including worms)

Writing:  Practiced writing A/a

Math Game:  "Apple Picking"--We rolled a dice.  We determined what number it was and then each child took a turn to "pick" that number of apples off of a "tree".

Art:

1. Glue DOT Apples
2. Apples Up on Top
3. Apple Stamping

Game: How Many "Apples" Can you Keep on your Head?

Books: