Today, of course, is Friday, which means it’s cooking day! The cooking activity is pretty straightforward….just make a batch of sugar cookies with your students. You can make them from scratch, use a mix, or just make them from a roll…your kids won’t care! I would be willing to bet that they won’t care if you use cookie cutters to cut them into holiday shapes or if you just make simple, round cookies. They will just be happy to be able to handle the ingredients and the dough (with clean hands, of course!), smell it, and taste it once it has baked! After baking the cookies, let your students ice them with colorful icing and sprinkle them with green, red, and white sprinkles. Yum!
Since the art activity is 2-steps….you could actually carry the decorating into your fine motor activity. Once your students have finished decorating and eating their cookies, you can hand out the lacing cards and have your students lace them.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Winter Holidays, Day Fourteen
Today’s art activity is a torn paper Christmas tree. Give your students a simple pattern of a Christmas tree on green construction paper (I would probably just make it a large triangle…) and have them cut it out. After they have cut the tree, give them a single hole punch and have them punch holes all in the tree. They may need to fold it to get to the center. Once they have punched the holes in their tree, have them tear or cut tissue paper in a variety of colors (I like to use a choice board to let them choose their colors), then have them glue the tissue paper flat to the back of the tree. Once the Christmas trees have dried, you can hang them in the window (you could laminate them for durability) and the light will shine through the tissue. These look great with the light shining through them.
You will need to do a little prep ahead of time for your fine motor activity. You will need a large pinecone for each child. Prepare a batch of plaster of Paris and put a smallish mound on a piece of waxed paper; press a pinecone into the plaster of Paris. Do this for each pinecone. Once the plaster has dried, you can write the students’ names on the bottoms. Have your students “paint” their pinecones with glue that has been thinned with a little bit of water. Have them sprinkle green glitter on their pinecone and shake off the excess, then sprinkle a little glitter in other colors. Once they have dried, they will look like adorable Christmas trees!
You will need to do a little prep ahead of time for your fine motor activity. You will need a large pinecone for each child. Prepare a batch of plaster of Paris and put a smallish mound on a piece of waxed paper; press a pinecone into the plaster of Paris. Do this for each pinecone. Once the plaster has dried, you can write the students’ names on the bottoms. Have your students “paint” their pinecones with glue that has been thinned with a little bit of water. Have them sprinkle green glitter on their pinecone and shake off the excess, then sprinkle a little glitter in other colors. Once they have dried, they will look like adorable Christmas trees!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Winter Holidays, Day Thirteen
Today’s art is a silver bell. For this activity, each child will need a medium to large paper or Styrofoam cup, a pipe cleaner, a small jingle bell, and a large piece of aluminum foil. The children will need to wrap the aluminum foil around their cup, starting with the bottom of the cup, and completely cover the outside of the cup, wrapping the edges of the paper around to the inside of the cup. Once they have finished, they will poke both ends of their pipe cleaner through the bottom of the cup, making a loop to use as a handle. For this next part, the students will need adult assistance. Push the loop all the way up against the cup so that the ends of the pipe cleaner come out the top of the cup. Slide a jingle bell up a couple of inches on one of the ends, then wrap the ends together to secure and pull the loop back up. You can use masking tape to put each child’s name on his or her cup.
I like to send the Christmas crafts that we have made home in a shoebox wrapped up as a gift, so I have the children make wrapping paper. For fine motor, give each child a large sheet of butcher paper. Put out plates of red and green paint and Christmas-y cookie cutters, and let the students use the cookie cutters to “stamp” their paper. Once they have dried, these cookie cutter paintings make great wrapping paper!
I like to send the Christmas crafts that we have made home in a shoebox wrapped up as a gift, so I have the children make wrapping paper. For fine motor, give each child a large sheet of butcher paper. Put out plates of red and green paint and Christmas-y cookie cutters, and let the students use the cookie cutters to “stamp” their paper. Once they have dried, these cookie cutter paintings make great wrapping paper!
Helpful Links
This is a great website that supplies premade Boardmaker materials and lots of ideas:
http://www.speakingofspeech.com/Home_Page.html
Here's a great, very thorough website of preschool ideas:
http://www.preschoolexpress.com/
http://www.speakingofspeech.com/Home_Page.html
Here's a great, very thorough website of preschool ideas:
http://www.preschoolexpress.com/
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Changes to come
Just letting you know....I am going to be making some changes to the way that I present the information in this blog.
Rather than going day by day, I will post a suggested lesson plan format weekly. Each day I will post all of the activities for a specific component (e.g. on Monday, I will post books and songs for circle time, on Tuesday all art activities, on Wednesday all cooking activities, etc.). This will allow me to include more activities that may not necessarily be included in the suggested lesson plan. I also think that I will be able to suggest more modifications this way.
Rather than going day by day, I will post a suggested lesson plan format weekly. Each day I will post all of the activities for a specific component (e.g. on Monday, I will post books and songs for circle time, on Tuesday all art activities, on Wednesday all cooking activities, etc.). This will allow me to include more activities that may not necessarily be included in the suggested lesson plan. I also think that I will be able to suggest more modifications this way.
Winter Holidays, Day Twelve
Today you will make a cute reindeer to hang in the hall. I like to make a little "reindeer team" and put yarn on them to look like reins, then hang a picture of Santa in his sleigh to look like he is driving.
The reindeer head is what you will do for art today. This is one of those rare art activities where it is very adult-directed. You will need brown paint for the head and light brown (I usually mix brown and white) for the antlers. Paint the bottom of each child's foot with brown paint and press it onto white paper. Paint their hands with the light brown paint and press it onto either side of the head to make antlers. I recommend painting their hands and feet, not dipping them into the paint. This will make the hand and footprints drier and it will be MUCH less messy, plus you can go ahead and add the nose and the eyes. Have the children dip their fingertip into red paint and make a nose, then into black paint to make the eyes.
For fine motor, cut out a reindeer body pattern (I will post one later) for each child. Have the children paint the reindeer body with the same brown paint that was used for the head. Once the body has dried, cut out the head and tape it to the body.
The reindeer head is what you will do for art today. This is one of those rare art activities where it is very adult-directed. You will need brown paint for the head and light brown (I usually mix brown and white) for the antlers. Paint the bottom of each child's foot with brown paint and press it onto white paper. Paint their hands with the light brown paint and press it onto either side of the head to make antlers. I recommend painting their hands and feet, not dipping them into the paint. This will make the hand and footprints drier and it will be MUCH less messy, plus you can go ahead and add the nose and the eyes. Have the children dip their fingertip into red paint and make a nose, then into black paint to make the eyes.
For fine motor, cut out a reindeer body pattern (I will post one later) for each child. Have the children paint the reindeer body with the same brown paint that was used for the head. Once the body has dried, cut out the head and tape it to the body.
Winter Holidays, Day Eleven
I guess today is "candy cane day." For art, give your students a piece of cardstock with a candy cane pattern printed on it (I will try to remember to post a PDF for a pattern later in the week). Have the students cut the pattern out (or precut if you need to for students with physical disabilities), then have them cut or tear red paper (or you could let them use whatever color they would like) and glue it to their candy cane.
For fine motor, you will make candy cane suncatchers. You will need to prep the materials for this activity ahead of time. Cut candy cane shapes out of construction paper, leaving the outline completely intact. You could either cut it so that you have the whole sheet of paper with just the candy cane missing, or you could cut around it so you just have the candy cane outline. Whatever you choose, glue it to a piece of waxed paper, then have your students cut or tear red tissue and glue it inside of the candy cane outline. For students with more fine motor limitations, you could also use Con-tact paper, although this can get rather expensive and sticky! I usually just help them squeeze their glue on. Once the suncatchers have dried, run them through the laminator and cut them out. These really do look great in the window!
For fine motor, you will make candy cane suncatchers. You will need to prep the materials for this activity ahead of time. Cut candy cane shapes out of construction paper, leaving the outline completely intact. You could either cut it so that you have the whole sheet of paper with just the candy cane missing, or you could cut around it so you just have the candy cane outline. Whatever you choose, glue it to a piece of waxed paper, then have your students cut or tear red tissue and glue it inside of the candy cane outline. For students with more fine motor limitations, you could also use Con-tact paper, although this can get rather expensive and sticky! I usually just help them squeeze their glue on. Once the suncatchers have dried, run them through the laminator and cut them out. These really do look great in the window!
Winter Holidays, Week Three Lesson Plan
I am having some issues with embedding the document this week for some reason, so instead I am going to give you the link you to the PDF. If you click on File then Download you will be able to save and print.
https://acrobat.com/#d=5N286iBGxzE-PFDoMcXCjQ
https://acrobat.com/#d=5N286iBGxzE-PFDoMcXCjQ
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Winter Holidays, Day Ten
Today, it’s back to Christmas. We’ll be making paper plate wreaths today. First, either cut the center out of a paper plate for each child or have your students cut their own paper plate. Next, have them request green and red construction paper and glue verbally or using their Boardmaker symbols, a communication device, or a switch. Depending on their ability and/or their (or your) preference, students can cut or tear their paper into small bits. Have them squeeze glue all over the paper plate and cover it as completely as possible with the red and green paper (I give each student ¼ of a sheet of green construction paper and 1/8 of a sheet of red construction paper).
For fine motor, use your Christmas card lacing cards! For math, leave out a supply of construction paper strips. You can use Christmas colors or just leave out all sorts of colors so that students can choose their own colors. Encourage students to make paper chains while patterning or matching colors. They can use glue (glue sticks work best here) or tape to hold the strips of paper together.
For fine motor, use your Christmas card lacing cards! For math, leave out a supply of construction paper strips. You can use Christmas colors or just leave out all sorts of colors so that students can choose their own colors. Encourage students to make paper chains while patterning or matching colors. They can use glue (glue sticks work best here) or tape to hold the strips of paper together.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Winter Holidays, Day Nine
Today is your Kwanzaa cooking activity! Kwanzaa kabobs are the order today. Give your students a variety of fruits-bananas, strawberries, orange sections, apple chunks, pineapple chunks, etc. (be aware of choking hazards, of course). You could put the fruits out in a bowl and let the students pick from the bowls themselves, or give each student a few of each type of fruit on a plate. At any rate, give your students red and green straws or toothpicks to thread their fruit onto.
For fine motor, make a “kufi” or hat. Make a headband for each student to fit their head. I would use black construction paper, posterboards, or sentence strips to do this. Give each student a couple of short strips of red, green, and black paper and have them glue them together in the center into a criss-cross or star shape, then glue it to the sentence strip.
For fine motor, make a “kufi” or hat. Make a headband for each student to fit their head. I would use black construction paper, posterboards, or sentence strips to do this. Give each student a couple of short strips of red, green, and black paper and have them glue them together in the center into a criss-cross or star shape, then glue it to the sentence strip.
Winter Holidays, Day eight
It’s been a few days, huh? Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I am going to be playing catch-up for a few days, I guess.
Today we will be making a Kwanzaa candelabra, also known as a kinara. You will need seven toilet paper tubes for each child (or your could cut paper towel tubes in half). Have your students tape (with adult assistance) their tubes to a piece of flat cardboard. Paint the middle tube black, then paint the tubes on one side red and the tubes on the other side green. Finally, have your students stuff yellow and orange tissue paper into the tubes with a little bit of glue to look like flames.
For fine motor today you will have your students make a Kwanzaa mat, or mkeka. Give each student a sheet of black construction paper. Have them tear or cut red and green squares of paper and glue them to the construction paper. If your students have the fine motor skills to do so, you could give them black paper with small slits cut into it and have them weave red and green strips of paper into the black paper. Whatever you have your students do, laminate their handiwork once it is finished (and dry, if you use glue) and send it home for them to use as a placemat.
Today we will be making a Kwanzaa candelabra, also known as a kinara. You will need seven toilet paper tubes for each child (or your could cut paper towel tubes in half). Have your students tape (with adult assistance) their tubes to a piece of flat cardboard. Paint the middle tube black, then paint the tubes on one side red and the tubes on the other side green. Finally, have your students stuff yellow and orange tissue paper into the tubes with a little bit of glue to look like flames.
For fine motor today you will have your students make a Kwanzaa mat, or mkeka. Give each student a sheet of black construction paper. Have them tear or cut red and green squares of paper and glue them to the construction paper. If your students have the fine motor skills to do so, you could give them black paper with small slits cut into it and have them weave red and green strips of paper into the black paper. Whatever you have your students do, laminate their handiwork once it is finished (and dry, if you use glue) and send it home for them to use as a placemat.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Winter Holidays, Day Seven
Hooray! Today is latke day! I always loved making latkes with my class….probably because I puffy heart love latkes!
I’m going to be really honest with you. I don’t have an authentic latke recipe. I just make them in the way that, um, makes sense to me. If you have a problem with this, or if you have an authentic recipe, then by all means use an authentic recipe. If not…..here’s MY recipe:
Peel and shred some potatoes….maybe 4 or 5 medium potatoes. I use my food processor fitted with the shredder blade to do this. Your students will love to drop the potatoes in the processor, and you can use the Powerlink to let a student control it with a switch. Put the shredded potatoes in a towel and squeeze out the excess water. Work quickly, because if the potatoes sit out too long they will turn grey or pink….yuck!
Now, put the potatoes in a bowl. Crack in a couple of eggs and add a couple of large spoonfuls of flour. Stir it up, then drop spoonfuls of the potato mixture into hot oil (an electric skillet is the best way to do this). This is the only step that your students can’t help you with! Make sure that your latkes are nice and flat so that the potatoes cook all the way through. Once they are “golden-brown and delicious”, drain them on paper towels. Let them cool for a few minutes then serve with sour cream and applesauce.
For fine motor today, give your students a batch of blue baking dough or some blue playdough and help your students roll and shape Star of David sculptures. If you use playdough, put the creations on a piece of waxed paper with their names and let them dry in the window. If you use baking dough, of course, you will want to put them on waxed paper and bake them! The fact that the Star of David is open will make it easy to hang on the tree or make a door hanger.
I’m going to be really honest with you. I don’t have an authentic latke recipe. I just make them in the way that, um, makes sense to me. If you have a problem with this, or if you have an authentic recipe, then by all means use an authentic recipe. If not…..here’s MY recipe:
Peel and shred some potatoes….maybe 4 or 5 medium potatoes. I use my food processor fitted with the shredder blade to do this. Your students will love to drop the potatoes in the processor, and you can use the Powerlink to let a student control it with a switch. Put the shredded potatoes in a towel and squeeze out the excess water. Work quickly, because if the potatoes sit out too long they will turn grey or pink….yuck!
Now, put the potatoes in a bowl. Crack in a couple of eggs and add a couple of large spoonfuls of flour. Stir it up, then drop spoonfuls of the potato mixture into hot oil (an electric skillet is the best way to do this). This is the only step that your students can’t help you with! Make sure that your latkes are nice and flat so that the potatoes cook all the way through. Once they are “golden-brown and delicious”, drain them on paper towels. Let them cool for a few minutes then serve with sour cream and applesauce.
For fine motor today, give your students a batch of blue baking dough or some blue playdough and help your students roll and shape Star of David sculptures. If you use playdough, put the creations on a piece of waxed paper with their names and let them dry in the window. If you use baking dough, of course, you will want to put them on waxed paper and bake them! The fact that the Star of David is open will make it easy to hang on the tree or make a door hanger.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Winter Holidays, Day Six
This week we will focus on non-Christmas holidays. I would recommend, again, that you base the length of time that you spend focusing on these holidays on the preferences of your children and families. I have never had students that celebrated any holiday other than Christmas during this time of year, so I viewed this time as an opportunity to expose them to something that they are not familiar with, but still spent more time talking about what they were familiar with, Christmas. If you have families that do celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, then spend more time researching and finding activities for your students to do-or better yet, ask for help from your families!
For the first couple of days, we will talk about Hanukkah. For storytime, continue reading If You Take a Mouse to the Movies, but try to find an age-appropriate book about Hanukkah and Kwanzaa that you could either read at morning meeting or in addition to your main storytime book. You could sing “Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel;” the Kwanzaa song that I used to sing with my class went like this (tune: Bingo): There is a holiday I know, and Kwanzaa is its name-oh! Candlelight and food so good, all around my neighborhood. Love and thanks for all that’s good-and Kwanzaa is its name-oh!
Today’s art activity will be a Hanukkah suncatcher. You will need to prep this ahead of time. Cut out a large (the size of a sheet of paper) Star of David and glue it to a piece of waxed paper for each child. Have your students either cut or tear blue and white paper and glue it to their waxed paper. Once the glue has dried, you can either run it through the laminator (my personal favorite) or cover it with another sheet of waxed paper or with Con-tact paper. These really do look great hanging in the window!
For fine motor, have your students cut out a large Star of David themselves and glue bits of blue and white construction paper or other blue and white collage items to it.
For the first couple of days, we will talk about Hanukkah. For storytime, continue reading If You Take a Mouse to the Movies, but try to find an age-appropriate book about Hanukkah and Kwanzaa that you could either read at morning meeting or in addition to your main storytime book. You could sing “Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel;” the Kwanzaa song that I used to sing with my class went like this (tune: Bingo): There is a holiday I know, and Kwanzaa is its name-oh! Candlelight and food so good, all around my neighborhood. Love and thanks for all that’s good-and Kwanzaa is its name-oh!
Today’s art activity will be a Hanukkah suncatcher. You will need to prep this ahead of time. Cut out a large (the size of a sheet of paper) Star of David and glue it to a piece of waxed paper for each child. Have your students either cut or tear blue and white paper and glue it to their waxed paper. Once the glue has dried, you can either run it through the laminator (my personal favorite) or cover it with another sheet of waxed paper or with Con-tact paper. These really do look great hanging in the window!
For fine motor, have your students cut out a large Star of David themselves and glue bits of blue and white construction paper or other blue and white collage items to it.
Winter Holidays, Week Two-Lesson Plan Form
width="365" height="400"
codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/swflash.cab">
width="365" height="400" align="middle"
play="true"
loop="false"
quality="high"
wmode="transparent"
allowScriptAccess="sameDomain"
allowFullScreen="true"
type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
flashvars="d=*QLHreDobefPCpujPbxBxg"
pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer">
codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/swflash.cab">
width="365" height="400" align="middle"
play="true"
loop="false"
quality="high"
wmode="transparent"
allowScriptAccess="sameDomain"
allowFullScreen="true"
type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
flashvars="d=*QLHreDobefPCpujPbxBxg"
pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer">
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Winter Holidays, Day Five
Today you will make some strings for your tree! This is, of course, a time during which you will need to know your childcare licensing rules. If licensing allows, make pasta garlands with red and green colored rigatoni or wagon wheel (color it with food coloring and a little rubbing alcohol-just throw it in a zipper bag, shake it up, and spread it on newspaper to dry overnight). Let your students string it on yarn. If you can’t use pasta, try to find some chubby red and green beads, or make beads out of toilet paper or paper towel tubes cut to short lengths (you could let your students paint these). These will look great on your tree!
Your fine motor today is a great way to use old Christmas greeting cards. Cut off the fronts of the cards, laminate them, and punch holes all the way around the edge. If you don’t have any Christmas card fronts, you can buy Christmas-themed note pads from Carson-Dellosa….and remember to save your Christmas cards this year! This is one of the most inexpensive and easy ways to make Christmas-themed lacing cards!
Your fine motor today is a great way to use old Christmas greeting cards. Cut off the fronts of the cards, laminate them, and punch holes all the way around the edge. If you don’t have any Christmas card fronts, you can buy Christmas-themed note pads from Carson-Dellosa….and remember to save your Christmas cards this year! This is one of the most inexpensive and easy ways to make Christmas-themed lacing cards!
Winter Holidays, Day Four
Today is stocking day. I have tried making felt stockings with my students and having them glue two sides together, but without much success. The glue just soaks into the felt and they fall apart….so I just cut them out of paper now. So….you will need a stocking pattern for each student. I would recommend having each student choose his/her stocking color before you make the patterns so that you are sure that you have enough of each color. If you are feeling adventurous, you can provide two patterns per child and have them glue them together (or if you have very dexterous students…..you can punch small holes and have them “sew” the stocking sides together using embroidery thread….but I have never been that brave!). Anyway…..
Have your students cut their stockings out and decorate. I love the idea of each student having a stocking with his/her name on it, so let each child put their name on the stocking however they can, whether they can actually write their name, if they can trace it with a writing utensil or glittery or colored glue, or whether they need to use paper or foam letters to make their name….what matters is that everyone gets his or her name on a stocking! Other than that, the sky’s the limit! Provide lots of paper in different colors and textures, yarn, buttons, jewels, colored or glitter glue, cloth scraps-WHATEVER. Let everyone decorate their stocking however they want! Once they have dried, you could hang them around your door or make a cute mock fireplace to hang them around.
For fine motor, make baking dough. Use your favorite recipe, or if you don’t have one, you could use this one. Let each child knead and roll out a ball of dough and cut it into a Christmas-y shape with a cookie cutter. Then, of course, you will want to put each child’s creation on a square of waxed paper with his/her name or initials on it and bake it! You will paint them tomorrow.
Since this time of year is one that we so often associate with different types of scents, this is a great time to use things with a nice scent in your sensory table. You could simply put bags of cinnamon potpourri, or you could buy cinnamon-scented pinecones and bury them in red and green shredded paper.
Have your students cut their stockings out and decorate. I love the idea of each student having a stocking with his/her name on it, so let each child put their name on the stocking however they can, whether they can actually write their name, if they can trace it with a writing utensil or glittery or colored glue, or whether they need to use paper or foam letters to make their name….what matters is that everyone gets his or her name on a stocking! Other than that, the sky’s the limit! Provide lots of paper in different colors and textures, yarn, buttons, jewels, colored or glitter glue, cloth scraps-WHATEVER. Let everyone decorate their stocking however they want! Once they have dried, you could hang them around your door or make a cute mock fireplace to hang them around.
For fine motor, make baking dough. Use your favorite recipe, or if you don’t have one, you could use this one. Let each child knead and roll out a ball of dough and cut it into a Christmas-y shape with a cookie cutter. Then, of course, you will want to put each child’s creation on a square of waxed paper with his/her name or initials on it and bake it! You will paint them tomorrow.
Since this time of year is one that we so often associate with different types of scents, this is a great time to use things with a nice scent in your sensory table. You could simply put bags of cinnamon potpourri, or you could buy cinnamon-scented pinecones and bury them in red and green shredded paper.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Winter Holidays, Day Three
Okay, we’re out of order this week! We will do our cooking activity today instead of Friday. Can you guess what we’re making? That’s right-gingerbread men!
I make my gingerbread men from a mix, for two reasons: (1) I am not brave enough to make them from scratch with preschoolers; and (2) my classroom budget does not allow for the 500,000 different ingredients necessary to make gingerbread cookies from scratch! If you are brave and rich, go for it! If not, buy the bag and be done with it! Have your students help you mix and roll the cookies, then let each child cut out a cookie (put it on a small square of waxed paper with their name on it). You can have everyone cut out the same shape or let them choose between a gingerbread man or woman….or, doggone-it, let them cut out whatever shape they please! It’s up to you.
Once your cookies have baked, you can let your students decorate them for fine motor. Mix up several colors of icing and put it into piping bags or Ziploc bags, cut the corners, and let them go to town. If you use canned icing, you may want to mix some powdered sugar into it to thicken it a bit, as canned icing can get pretty then when you try to pipe it. Please don’t get bent out of shape if their cookies don’t look perfect-piping is fun and all your kids probably want to do is get as much icing on their cookie as possible! Of course, once they have decorated, it’s time to eat! Have fun!
I make my gingerbread men from a mix, for two reasons: (1) I am not brave enough to make them from scratch with preschoolers; and (2) my classroom budget does not allow for the 500,000 different ingredients necessary to make gingerbread cookies from scratch! If you are brave and rich, go for it! If not, buy the bag and be done with it! Have your students help you mix and roll the cookies, then let each child cut out a cookie (put it on a small square of waxed paper with their name on it). You can have everyone cut out the same shape or let them choose between a gingerbread man or woman….or, doggone-it, let them cut out whatever shape they please! It’s up to you.
Once your cookies have baked, you can let your students decorate them for fine motor. Mix up several colors of icing and put it into piping bags or Ziploc bags, cut the corners, and let them go to town. If you use canned icing, you may want to mix some powdered sugar into it to thicken it a bit, as canned icing can get pretty then when you try to pipe it. Please don’t get bent out of shape if their cookies don’t look perfect-piping is fun and all your kids probably want to do is get as much icing on their cookie as possible! Of course, once they have decorated, it’s time to eat! Have fun!
Winter Holidays, Day Two
Day two=more gingerbread people! Today you will make sandpaper gingerbread people. You will need a large sheet of sandpaper (whatever grit-it doesn’t matter. I usually buy it in multi-packs that contain several different grits) for each child. You will need to trace a pattern of a gingerbread man onto each sheet of sandpaper. I like to trace on the back of the paper to save my markers!
Give each child their gingerbread man and have them cut it out. As always, this is a great opportunity for children who have limited motor skills to operate the scissors using a switch while someone else holds the switch-powered scissors. This is an awesome cutting activity because the sandpaper gives a little more resistance than regular paper, which helps to build hand strength. Try to think about the different ways that you can provide a little resistance in cutting!
Once all the gingerbread people have been cut out, you can do one of three things: (1) have the students decorate their gingerbread person using paint/brushes; (2) have them decorate using buttons, rick rack, pieces of cloth, etc.; (3) fill Ziploc bags with different colors of puff paint (equal parts glue and shaving cream with paint to add color) and have them “pipe” the decorations on their people-just like they would pipe icing on a cookie!
Today, have your students glue their popsicle sticks from yesterday’s fine motor activity into a Christmas tree shape-the three green form a triangle “tree” while the brown is the trunk. Add a laminated yellow paper or craft foam star. Once the glue has dried, tie a piece of red yarn to make a hanger. I always write the year on the star as well. Take a nice holiday picture of your students (I have mine pose in front of the Christmas tree) and cut it to fit your ornaments, and then glue into place.
Give each child their gingerbread man and have them cut it out. As always, this is a great opportunity for children who have limited motor skills to operate the scissors using a switch while someone else holds the switch-powered scissors. This is an awesome cutting activity because the sandpaper gives a little more resistance than regular paper, which helps to build hand strength. Try to think about the different ways that you can provide a little resistance in cutting!
Once all the gingerbread people have been cut out, you can do one of three things: (1) have the students decorate their gingerbread person using paint/brushes; (2) have them decorate using buttons, rick rack, pieces of cloth, etc.; (3) fill Ziploc bags with different colors of puff paint (equal parts glue and shaving cream with paint to add color) and have them “pipe” the decorations on their people-just like they would pipe icing on a cookie!
Today, have your students glue their popsicle sticks from yesterday’s fine motor activity into a Christmas tree shape-the three green form a triangle “tree” while the brown is the trunk. Add a laminated yellow paper or craft foam star. Once the glue has dried, tie a piece of red yarn to make a hanger. I always write the year on the star as well. Take a nice holiday picture of your students (I have mine pose in front of the Christmas tree) and cut it to fit your ornaments, and then glue into place.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Winter Holidays, Day One
Winter holidays are sure to be a big hit in your classroom! Be careful that you are sensitive to all belief systems in your classroom. Because the schools at which I have taught are publicly funded, we do not discuss religious beliefs but rather traditions that people observe during the holiday season. The majority of my students celebrate Christmas, but I want to at least expose them to other holidays, such as Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. I will allow three weeks for this theme.
Your book for this theme is If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff-another of her fantastic circular books. The book does not talk so much about holiday traditions as it uses visuals to show holiday traditions. Of course, there are SO many Christmas songs, so you can choose whatever songs you like and your students know. We always sing “Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel,” and the students love it.
For the first few days, we will be focusing on gingerbread men (women, etc.). Day one, you will be making puffy gingerbread people. Give your students a gingerbread person to cut out (use construction paper, because the puff paint will make copy paper soggy). Have the students cut their gingerbread person out then paint with puff paint, which is one part glue, one part shaving cream, and enough paint to turn it the color you want. DO NOT mix this ahead of time, as the shaving cream will deflate and your paint will not be puffy! Encourage your students to dab rather than spread the paint; it will really dry puffy! Once they have painted their gingerbread people, they can stick on pieces of paper or foam, rick-rack or buttons to make faces, clothing, etc.
For fine motor, give each student 3 craft/popsicle sticks. Have them paint three of the sticks green and one brown. Set these aside to dry-you will use them tomorrow to make a Christmas tree picture frame ornament.
An easy, inexpensive, and fun sensory table activity is to shred several sheets of red and green construction paper (wrapping paper works well, too) and put it in the sensory table along with pine cones, small gift boxes, mini stockings-whatever you like.
Your book for this theme is If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff-another of her fantastic circular books. The book does not talk so much about holiday traditions as it uses visuals to show holiday traditions. Of course, there are SO many Christmas songs, so you can choose whatever songs you like and your students know. We always sing “Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel,” and the students love it.
For the first few days, we will be focusing on gingerbread men (women, etc.). Day one, you will be making puffy gingerbread people. Give your students a gingerbread person to cut out (use construction paper, because the puff paint will make copy paper soggy). Have the students cut their gingerbread person out then paint with puff paint, which is one part glue, one part shaving cream, and enough paint to turn it the color you want. DO NOT mix this ahead of time, as the shaving cream will deflate and your paint will not be puffy! Encourage your students to dab rather than spread the paint; it will really dry puffy! Once they have painted their gingerbread people, they can stick on pieces of paper or foam, rick-rack or buttons to make faces, clothing, etc.
For fine motor, give each student 3 craft/popsicle sticks. Have them paint three of the sticks green and one brown. Set these aside to dry-you will use them tomorrow to make a Christmas tree picture frame ornament.
An easy, inexpensive, and fun sensory table activity is to shred several sheets of red and green construction paper (wrapping paper works well, too) and put it in the sensory table along with pine cones, small gift boxes, mini stockings-whatever you like.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Thanksgiving Curriculum, Day Three
Well, today is Wednesday…but technically, it’s like Friday-which means it’s cooking day! Today’s cooking activity is pumpkin pie pudding-mmmmmm! For this activity, you will need enough vanilla pudding mix for all of your students, plus a can of pumpkin pie filling-NOT plain canned pumpkin. Oh, and milk to make the pudding, of course!
First of all, have your students help you make the pudding according to the recipe on the box. You can mix it in a bowl, or you can pour the ingredients into a zipper bag and have the students shake it and knead it. Help each student scoop a serving of pudding into a cup, then mix in a spoonful of the pumpkin pie mix. If you want, you can top the pudding with whipped cream (or whipped topping) and graham cracker crumbs.
For fine motor, have your students make a turkey….give them a turkey body cut-out (or let them cut the body out themselves). To make the body, just draw a bowling pin shape on brown paper. Have them cut out circles for eyes, two orange triangles for feet and one for a beak, and multicolored ovals for feathers, and glue them to the turkey body cut-out.
For math, have your students vote on their favorite Thanksgiving food-turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, or pumpkin pie (or whatever foods you would like to include). Graph these on your classroom graph.
First of all, have your students help you make the pudding according to the recipe on the box. You can mix it in a bowl, or you can pour the ingredients into a zipper bag and have the students shake it and knead it. Help each student scoop a serving of pudding into a cup, then mix in a spoonful of the pumpkin pie mix. If you want, you can top the pudding with whipped cream (or whipped topping) and graham cracker crumbs.
For fine motor, have your students make a turkey….give them a turkey body cut-out (or let them cut the body out themselves). To make the body, just draw a bowling pin shape on brown paper. Have them cut out circles for eyes, two orange triangles for feet and one for a beak, and multicolored ovals for feathers, and glue them to the turkey body cut-out.
For math, have your students vote on their favorite Thanksgiving food-turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, or pumpkin pie (or whatever foods you would like to include). Graph these on your classroom graph.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Thanksgiving Curriculum, Day Two
So, can you tell that Thanksgiving is not my favorite curriculum? Sorry that you have to suffer for it! I can only take so much of the turkeys and the cornucopias and the Indian corn and the pies…..oh well. That’s okay. I’ll make up for it later!
Speaking of cornucopias…..that’s today’s art activity-a cornucopia collage. Give each student a cornucopia pattern to cut out, or a pre-cut cornucopia. Look through magazines to find pictures of fruits and vegetables; cut them out and glue them to your cornucopias.
Alternately, you could do a “thankful collage.” This is a family project and you will need to ask your parents to send in pictures of family members, pets, friends, favorite toys, etc. You could have each child glue these to a giant cornucopia or just make a poster saying, “Sally is thankful for….” You can go back later and label the pictures. At circle time, look at each student’s collage and talk about who/what they are thankful for and why.
For math, you can do patterns with feathers, Thanksgiving stickers or foam cut-outs, leaves, or candy corn/crème pumpkins (if licensing allows this). Your graphing activity will be tomorrow. For science, you could bring in a real turkey feather (if you can find one). For fine motor, you can use your pumpkin playdough again, or you could make “Indian Corn”-have the students cut out a corn cob shape from white construction paper then glue colored popcorn (lots of grocery stores sell it) to their cob. You could also use blue corn popcorn, which I have found in one of the natural food stores here.
Speaking of cornucopias…..that’s today’s art activity-a cornucopia collage. Give each student a cornucopia pattern to cut out, or a pre-cut cornucopia. Look through magazines to find pictures of fruits and vegetables; cut them out and glue them to your cornucopias.
Alternately, you could do a “thankful collage.” This is a family project and you will need to ask your parents to send in pictures of family members, pets, friends, favorite toys, etc. You could have each child glue these to a giant cornucopia or just make a poster saying, “Sally is thankful for….” You can go back later and label the pictures. At circle time, look at each student’s collage and talk about who/what they are thankful for and why.
For math, you can do patterns with feathers, Thanksgiving stickers or foam cut-outs, leaves, or candy corn/crème pumpkins (if licensing allows this). Your graphing activity will be tomorrow. For science, you could bring in a real turkey feather (if you can find one). For fine motor, you can use your pumpkin playdough again, or you could make “Indian Corn”-have the students cut out a corn cob shape from white construction paper then glue colored popcorn (lots of grocery stores sell it) to their cob. You could also use blue corn popcorn, which I have found in one of the natural food stores here.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Thanksgiving, Day One
It's Thanksgiving week! I have provided a fun book-5 Little Turkeys-for you to use in your classroom this week. I have written 3 days worth of lesson plans-our district only goes 2 days Thanksgiving week.
Today, your students will make turkeys. Give each student a turkey pattern to cut out, then give them colorful feathers to glue to the turkey. You can use your Boardmaker symbols to give your students a way to make their requests. Students who can't cut their own turkeys out can either have a precut turkey or use switch-operated scissors to cut their turkeys out.
Make turkey lacing cards out of a turkey notepad (I use these notepads).
Today, your students will make turkeys. Give each student a turkey pattern to cut out, then give them colorful feathers to glue to the turkey. You can use your Boardmaker symbols to give your students a way to make their requests. Students who can't cut their own turkeys out can either have a precut turkey or use switch-operated scissors to cut their turkeys out.
Make turkey lacing cards out of a turkey notepad (I use these notepads).
Thanksgiving Lesson Plans
Please note that I have only given one week for Thanksgiving. I consider my food curriculum part of my Thanksgiving curriculum, and I never had much luck finding good Thanksgiving books. In our district we go to school for 2 days the week of Thanksgiving, but I have written the lesson plans for three days.
Book: 5 Little Turkeys
This is a book that I illustrated several years ago for use in my classroom. The author of the poem is unknown, as far as I am aware. At the preschool where I taught, the Assistive Technology Center staff scanned the book into the computer and created a book in Intellitools Classroom Suite that my students could "read" on the computer-something I copied with many, many books during my time there. It's a great way to expose children to the books with a level of independence that they can't usually have when viewing books. Of course, if you don't have one, another great way to help students read to themselves is the Bookworm.
Please forgive me that some of the letters were lost. I made this book on construction paper and it's a bit large for my scanner!
Please forgive me that some of the letters were lost. I made this book on construction paper and it's a bit large for my scanner!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Food Curriculum Books
....this is no means an exhaustive list, but a good starting point!
If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond
Delbert Ate a Muffin by Shirley D. Holt
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond
The Best Mouse Cookie by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond
Let’s Make Cookies by Mary Hill
Mr. Cookie Baker by Monica Wellington
If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond
Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle
Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie DePaola
Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert
Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert
Hi, Pizza Man! by Virginia Walter and Ponder Goembel
The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza) by Philemon Sturges and Amy Walrod
The Princess and the Pizza by Mary Jane Auch and Herm Auch
Pizza Counting by Christina Dobson and Matthew Holmes
If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond
Delbert Ate a Muffin by Shirley D. Holt
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond
The Best Mouse Cookie by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond
Let’s Make Cookies by Mary Hill
Mr. Cookie Baker by Monica Wellington
If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond
Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle
Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie DePaola
Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert
Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert
Hi, Pizza Man! by Virginia Walter and Ponder Goembel
The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza) by Philemon Sturges and Amy Walrod
The Princess and the Pizza by Mary Jane Auch and Herm Auch
Pizza Counting by Christina Dobson and Matthew Holmes
Food Curriculum, Day Ten
All right! Sadly, today is the last day of my food unit….it’s time to move on to Thanksgiving (of course, there’s a fair amount of cooking involved in the food theme)! Today is likely to be your students’ favorite day of the theme-pizza day! Naturally, you will set your theme at story time by reading Hi, Pizza Man! and singing “Do You Know the Pizza Man” and “I am a Pizza” (if you have it-and believe me-you SHOULD have it!).
Of course, your cooking activity is going to be to make pizza! You could make a large pizza for your whole class to share, but I feel like it’s more of a crowd-pleaser to let everyone make their own pizza. I like English muffins, but if you are feeling especially daring, your could buy some pizza dough at the grocery store, or even make it from scratch (a bread machine is great for doing this without a lot of fuss). Whatever you choose, let the students help you put out the ingredients in paper bowls, then let them build their own pizzas. I find that the most popular toppings are pretty obvious-cheese and pepperoni-but there are always some students that surprise you by eating olives, peppers, or mushrooms. At any rate, provide them so that your students have that option! Also, provide Boardmaker pictures so that they can request whatever they want for their pizza. The best way that I have found to identify each child’s cooking is to cut out a square of waxed or parchment paper in the size of whatever they are making, write each child’s name on a square, and then make sure they put their treat on their square. Perfect!
You could also order a pizza to be delivered-so your students can practice saying, “Hi, pizza man!” of course-but the one year that I tried to do this I spent $10.00 on Pizza Hut pizza only to have my students stare blankly at the pizza man and then have only one student eat the pizza. I mean, I know kids with autism tend to be picky eaters, but I thought everyone liked Pizza Hut pizza!!!! My point is, I wouldn’t spend my money on this unless I was certain the children were going to eat it!
For math today, of course you are going to vote on which food your students have liked best-muffins, chocolate chip cookies, pancakes, vegetable soup, or pizza! I hope that you have enjoyed my favorite EVER theme. I hate that it’s over! I’ll have to think of some more ideas to add to it!
Of course, your cooking activity is going to be to make pizza! You could make a large pizza for your whole class to share, but I feel like it’s more of a crowd-pleaser to let everyone make their own pizza. I like English muffins, but if you are feeling especially daring, your could buy some pizza dough at the grocery store, or even make it from scratch (a bread machine is great for doing this without a lot of fuss). Whatever you choose, let the students help you put out the ingredients in paper bowls, then let them build their own pizzas. I find that the most popular toppings are pretty obvious-cheese and pepperoni-but there are always some students that surprise you by eating olives, peppers, or mushrooms. At any rate, provide them so that your students have that option! Also, provide Boardmaker pictures so that they can request whatever they want for their pizza. The best way that I have found to identify each child’s cooking is to cut out a square of waxed or parchment paper in the size of whatever they are making, write each child’s name on a square, and then make sure they put their treat on their square. Perfect!
You could also order a pizza to be delivered-so your students can practice saying, “Hi, pizza man!” of course-but the one year that I tried to do this I spent $10.00 on Pizza Hut pizza only to have my students stare blankly at the pizza man and then have only one student eat the pizza. I mean, I know kids with autism tend to be picky eaters, but I thought everyone liked Pizza Hut pizza!!!! My point is, I wouldn’t spend my money on this unless I was certain the children were going to eat it!
For math today, of course you are going to vote on which food your students have liked best-muffins, chocolate chip cookies, pancakes, vegetable soup, or pizza! I hope that you have enjoyed my favorite EVER theme. I hate that it’s over! I’ll have to think of some more ideas to add to it!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Food Curriculum, Day Nine
Today-like Tuesday-is so much fun that I can hardly contain myself! This is likely to be your students’ favorite theme in your food unit-PIZZA! The book for this theme is Hi, Pizza Man by Virginia Walter and Ponder Goembel. Your students will have a great time imitating the sounds that all of the different animals in the book make! Of course, you will sing “Do You Know the Pizza Man?”-but another song that I always sing with my class (not just during pizza theme!) is “I am a Pizza” from the CD 10 Carrot Diamond by Charlotte Diamond. This song has a corresponding book that your students will also love….it is sure to be the biggest hit in your classroom. You can find this CD at www.N-E-N.com.
The art activity is another VERY cute, fun project. We’ll be making pizzas today! Give your students the thin cardboard circles that they cut out during fine motor time yesterday. Have them request paint using verbalizations, switches, or Boardmaker symbols, then have them paint almost to the edges of their circle using a very thin layer or the red paint. Next, have them glue yellow shredded paper to the circle. They will need quite a bit of glue and not too much shredded paper, or the paper won’t stick! Finally, they get to add their “toppings.” You can provide Boardmaker symbols of all of the “toppings” that you have provided (like I said yesterday, I do white and green slivers of paper for onions and peppers, red circles for pepperonis, and mushroom cutouts). Have the students request their toppings either verbally, using a communication device, or using a picture, them have them glue their toppings onto their pizza! Once dry, you can hang these up and they are sure to attract lots of attention!
A fun fine motor activity to do for the two days that you are talking about pizza is to have a “playdough pizza party.” Provide playdough in lots of colors-red, yellow, green, white, brown-plus rolling pins and round cookie cutters. Have your students use the playdough to make pizza.
For math, have your students vote on which pizza toppings are their favorite! Graph their votes on your classroom graph and talk about which is the most and which is the least popular.
The art activity is another VERY cute, fun project. We’ll be making pizzas today! Give your students the thin cardboard circles that they cut out during fine motor time yesterday. Have them request paint using verbalizations, switches, or Boardmaker symbols, then have them paint almost to the edges of their circle using a very thin layer or the red paint. Next, have them glue yellow shredded paper to the circle. They will need quite a bit of glue and not too much shredded paper, or the paper won’t stick! Finally, they get to add their “toppings.” You can provide Boardmaker symbols of all of the “toppings” that you have provided (like I said yesterday, I do white and green slivers of paper for onions and peppers, red circles for pepperonis, and mushroom cutouts). Have the students request their toppings either verbally, using a communication device, or using a picture, them have them glue their toppings onto their pizza! Once dry, you can hang these up and they are sure to attract lots of attention!
A fun fine motor activity to do for the two days that you are talking about pizza is to have a “playdough pizza party.” Provide playdough in lots of colors-red, yellow, green, white, brown-plus rolling pins and round cookie cutters. Have your students use the playdough to make pizza.
For math, have your students vote on which pizza toppings are their favorite! Graph their votes on your classroom graph and talk about which is the most and which is the least popular.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Food Curriculum, Day Eight
Can you guess what today is? That’s right! It’s vegetable soup day! Of course, you will read Growing Vegetable Soup and sing “Do You Know the Veggie Soup Man?” For your cooking activity, pass around whole vegetables-a potato, a carrot, a celery stalk, an onion, a tomato…talk about how they look, feel, etc., have your students name them and describe them. To actually make your soup, you could either chop the veggies in front of the students and have them help you put them in the pot, or you could use bags of frozen vegetables or use canned veggies. I prefer using frozen or canned veggies so that the students do not have a lot of time to just sit and watch you! I think that a Crock-Pot is best for this….put your veggies and water or broth in the pot in the morning, set it on high, and let it cook all morning. You could have it for lunch or for a snack.
For fine motor today, give your students a large circle traced on a sheet of thin cardboard to cut. You will want to use something really sturdy for this….construction paper won’t work for tomorrow’s art activity-pizzas! You will also want to prepare several things ahead of time: shredded yellow paper (cheese), slivers of white and green paper (onions and peppers), mushroom shapes cut from light brown paper, and small red circles (pepperoni). You could have your students use a handheld circle punch (like you would use for scrapbooking) to cut their own pepperonis.
For fine motor today, give your students a large circle traced on a sheet of thin cardboard to cut. You will want to use something really sturdy for this….construction paper won’t work for tomorrow’s art activity-pizzas! You will also want to prepare several things ahead of time: shredded yellow paper (cheese), slivers of white and green paper (onions and peppers), mushroom shapes cut from light brown paper, and small red circles (pepperoni). You could have your students use a handheld circle punch (like you would use for scrapbooking) to cut their own pepperonis.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Food Curriculum, Day Seven (with patterns!)
Oh my goodness. Today’s activity is so cute I can hardly stand it! The next two days are “vegetable soup” days. Your book for today and Wednesday is Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert. I always use this book during my food unit and then again in the spring when we talk about gardening and things that grow. Of course, your song is going to be “Do You Know the Vegetable Soup Man” (or Veggie Soup Man, if you would prefer to abbreviate).
For art….if you had your students chop their “veggies” on Monday, hand out the bags of “chopped veggies.” If not, have them cut up the veggies first. Each student will need a soup pot with the inside cut out of it that has been run through the laminator or glued to wax paper to make a clear center. Have the students glue their “chopped veggies” onto the clear center. Once the glue has dried, run the pot through the laminator again. This is a very important step; if you do not do this the veggies will have a tendency to fall off.
For tactile today, make a huge pot of “vegetable soup.” Put water and red food color or bath dye into a clear sensory table to look like a big pot of tomato-ey broth. Put lots of vegetables and some spoons, bowls, and ladles into the table, and encourage the students to pretend that they are making vegetable soup just like in your book!
For fine motor, give each student a sheet of paper with their name written in large letters. Have the students use fruit and veggie stickers to “trace” or cover the outline of their name (Carson-Dellosa makes lots of cute stickers that are widely available at office and school supply stores).
I have provided patterns for the veggies and the soup pot below….
For art….if you had your students chop their “veggies” on Monday, hand out the bags of “chopped veggies.” If not, have them cut up the veggies first. Each student will need a soup pot with the inside cut out of it that has been run through the laminator or glued to wax paper to make a clear center. Have the students glue their “chopped veggies” onto the clear center. Once the glue has dried, run the pot through the laminator again. This is a very important step; if you do not do this the veggies will have a tendency to fall off.
For tactile today, make a huge pot of “vegetable soup.” Put water and red food color or bath dye into a clear sensory table to look like a big pot of tomato-ey broth. Put lots of vegetables and some spoons, bowls, and ladles into the table, and encourage the students to pretend that they are making vegetable soup just like in your book!
For fine motor, give each student a sheet of paper with their name written in large letters. Have the students use fruit and veggie stickers to “trace” or cover the outline of their name (Carson-Dellosa makes lots of cute stickers that are widely available at office and school supply stores).
I have provided patterns for the veggies and the soup pot below….
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Food Curriculum, Day Six
Today will conclude “pancakes” as your theme. Of course, you will read Laura Numeroff’s If You Give a Pig a Pancake as your story time book. Sing “Do You Know the Pancake Man.” (I know the “Do You Know” song is getting old….but kids like routine and repetition, and it is especially beneficial for students with cognitive and language delays).
Naturally, today is pancake cooking day! You can use a mix if you prefer, but I like to make the pancakes from scratch so that the students can see the process from start to finish….how eggs, flour, milk, sugar, and a few other ingredients turn into the flat, pancakey goodness! The best way to cook them is on an electric griddle or in an electric skillet. Whenever I cooked in an electric appliance in my preschool classroom, I always set up a little table in front of the students so that they could see me cooking but they were not close enough to reach out and touch the appliance. Have the students read the recipe off of your recipe poster and mix/measure the ingredients. As long as they are VERY closely supervised, you could let the students come up and help pour the batter onto the griddle-but I would ONLY do this if an adult was available to stand right with the students as they poured. Provide several toppings for students to try…syrup, fruit, jam, whipped cream….the sky’s the limit!
For fine motor today, you will be getting ready for tomorrow’s art activity. This will take a good deal of preparation by you ahead of time. You will be making “soup pots” tomorrow, so your students will be “chopping vegetables.” For each student, you will need to cut a potato, celery stalk, carrot, and tomato out of construction paper. The students will “chop” the veggies with their scissors. Once they have finished, put the chopped veggies in a plastic bag with the student’s name on it to save for tomorrow.
Naturally, today is pancake cooking day! You can use a mix if you prefer, but I like to make the pancakes from scratch so that the students can see the process from start to finish….how eggs, flour, milk, sugar, and a few other ingredients turn into the flat, pancakey goodness! The best way to cook them is on an electric griddle or in an electric skillet. Whenever I cooked in an electric appliance in my preschool classroom, I always set up a little table in front of the students so that they could see me cooking but they were not close enough to reach out and touch the appliance. Have the students read the recipe off of your recipe poster and mix/measure the ingredients. As long as they are VERY closely supervised, you could let the students come up and help pour the batter onto the griddle-but I would ONLY do this if an adult was available to stand right with the students as they poured. Provide several toppings for students to try…syrup, fruit, jam, whipped cream….the sky’s the limit!
For fine motor today, you will be getting ready for tomorrow’s art activity. This will take a good deal of preparation by you ahead of time. You will be making “soup pots” tomorrow, so your students will be “chopping vegetables.” For each student, you will need to cut a potato, celery stalk, carrot, and tomato out of construction paper. The students will “chop” the veggies with their scissors. Once they have finished, put the chopped veggies in a plastic bag with the student’s name on it to save for tomorrow.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Food Curriculum, Day Five
Today is Friday! Today, read If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff to your class and change your song to "Do You Know the Pancake Man?"....then make “pancakes” as your art activity.
Use the tan circles and yellow square that you had your students cut out yesterday in fine motor. The students will glue the circles to the paper plate, then glue the yellow square on top to look like butter. Once they have completed this portion, they will pour “syrup” on top of their “pancakes”. To make the syrup, mix brown paint and white glue, then funnel it into squeeze bottles, like the ones you use for ketchup and mustard at a picnic. Have your students squeeze the syrup all over the top of the pancakes. The syrup will dry shiny and look like real syrup!
For fine motor, make a batch of pumpkin playdough. Make a batch of pumpkin playdough, adding pumpkin pie spice to the dry ingredients and orange food coloring to the wet ingredients. Your playdough will, of course, be orange, and it will smell like pumpkin pie. You could also make a batch and add cocoa powder to it to make chocolate playdough. Let your students pound, roll, and cut the playdough (they can even use scissors to cut the playdough) and give them cookie cutters to use as well.
Use the tan circles and yellow square that you had your students cut out yesterday in fine motor. The students will glue the circles to the paper plate, then glue the yellow square on top to look like butter. Once they have completed this portion, they will pour “syrup” on top of their “pancakes”. To make the syrup, mix brown paint and white glue, then funnel it into squeeze bottles, like the ones you use for ketchup and mustard at a picnic. Have your students squeeze the syrup all over the top of the pancakes. The syrup will dry shiny and look like real syrup!
For fine motor, make a batch of pumpkin playdough. Make a batch of pumpkin playdough, adding pumpkin pie spice to the dry ingredients and orange food coloring to the wet ingredients. Your playdough will, of course, be orange, and it will smell like pumpkin pie. You could also make a batch and add cocoa powder to it to make chocolate playdough. Let your students pound, roll, and cut the playdough (they can even use scissors to cut the playdough) and give them cookie cutters to use as well.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Food Curriculum, Day Four
Today is chocolate chip cookie day! Of course, you are going to read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and sing “Do You Know the Cookie Man” during your story time. At art time, you will make chocolate chip cookies! I love to make them from scratch so that the children can see the process from start to finish, and they come together rather quickly. Cooking activities are not only a science activity, but also a math activity, since students get to measure all of the ingredients. Make a poster showing the ingredients, measurements, and steps to the recipe. Let your students request a turn using verbalizations or vocalizations, signs, or PECS. Let them do all of the measuring, mixing, and scooping! One of my favorite adapted classroom tools is a device that holds a measuring cup that can be turned using a switch so that students with physical disabilities can help to measure and pour the ingredients. If you have access to a stand mixer, you could plug this into a PowerLink. A PowerLink allows you to adapt any electronic device so that it can be powered by a switch, and cordless switches are available to allow students to access devices from a distance. You can switch-adapt your stand mixer!
Make a set of “counting cookies” to put into your math center. Cut a large set of small-to-medium circles from tan construction paper or cardstock. Make two sets of “cookies” with “chocolate chips” on them-drawn on or made with brown dot stickers or chocolate chip stickers. Put a specific number on each cookie, from 0-10, and make 2 sets with no chips on them but with the numeral 0-10 on them. Students can match the cookies with the same number of chips, with the same numerals, or match numerals to the cookies with the same number of chips on them.
Today, for fine motor, have your students cut our 2 medium (pancake) sized circles from tan cardstock or construction paper and a small square from yellow cardstock or construction paper. These will be used for pancakes and butter in tomorrow’s art activity.
Make a set of “counting cookies” to put into your math center. Cut a large set of small-to-medium circles from tan construction paper or cardstock. Make two sets of “cookies” with “chocolate chips” on them-drawn on or made with brown dot stickers or chocolate chip stickers. Put a specific number on each cookie, from 0-10, and make 2 sets with no chips on them but with the numeral 0-10 on them. Students can match the cookies with the same number of chips, with the same numerals, or match numerals to the cookies with the same number of chips on them.
Today, for fine motor, have your students cut our 2 medium (pancake) sized circles from tan cardstock or construction paper and a small square from yellow cardstock or construction paper. These will be used for pancakes and butter in tomorrow’s art activity.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Food Curriculum, Day Three
Day three starts a new book: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, also by Laura Numeroff. Her books are so much fun! Read the book at story time, but continue reading Today is Monday by Eric Carle for morning meeting. I was never able to find a great song about cookies, and I always liked to sing songs that were familiar to the students, so I like to change the words of “The Muffin Man” to ask “Do you know the cookie man?”
For today’s art activity, you will make chocolate chip cookies using the paper circles cut out during yesterday’s fine motor activity. You have 2 choices for how to do this activity: (1) use white price dot stickers colored brown….students will peel the stickers off and stick them on their “cookie”; (2) use torn brown paper-glue to the “cookies”. You can have them color the dots or tear the paper today while they are doing art, or you can have them do it the day before as part of their fine motor activity.
For math today, count the “chocolate chips” on each student’s cookie. Write the numbers on the board or on a piece of chart paper and talk about who has the most and who has the least. Line the cookies up in order from greatest to least or vice versa. If you are feeling especially adventurous, you can graph the number of chocolate chips that each student has on his/her cookie.
For today’s art activity, you will make chocolate chip cookies using the paper circles cut out during yesterday’s fine motor activity. You have 2 choices for how to do this activity: (1) use white price dot stickers colored brown….students will peel the stickers off and stick them on their “cookie”; (2) use torn brown paper-glue to the “cookies”. You can have them color the dots or tear the paper today while they are doing art, or you can have them do it the day before as part of their fine motor activity.
For math today, count the “chocolate chips” on each student’s cookie. Write the numbers on the board or on a piece of chart paper and talk about who has the most and who has the least. Line the cookies up in order from greatest to least or vice versa. If you are feeling especially adventurous, you can graph the number of chocolate chips that each student has on his/her cookie.
Food Curriculum, Day Two
Today is your first cooking activity for this theme! Of course, you will still be reading the book If You Give a Moose a Muffin. Make blueberry and strawberry muffins from a mix (you could make more if you want; I just usually do these two). I love to make a poster when I am doing cooking activities showing all of the steps of my recipe in writing as well as in a picture. Boardmaker is great for doing this! Have the students help you read the recipe, dump the muffin mix in the bowl, add the milk, stir, put in the muffin cups, and scoop the batter into the cups. Once the muffins have baked, let each student sample half of each variety of muffin. After the students have sampled their muffins, get out your classroom graph-programmed with the different flavors of muffins, of course-and let each student come up and stick a muffin pattern or a Post-it with his/her name on it in the column of the variety of muffin that he/she liked best.
Just a word about science and cooking activities: don’t forget that cooking is science! There are many different types of changes that take place in food when you mix ingredients together, stir, cut, crack, heat, etc. Have your students predict what they think will happen. Write their predictions on the board or on a sheet of chart paper. After the recipe has been prepared, compare their predictions with the actual result of your cooking activity, then determine if their prediction was correct or not.
For today’s fine motor activity, give each student a large circle drawn on a sheet of tan paper and have them cut it out. Students with physical disabilities can use adapted scissors if needed. These will be used for tomorrow’s art activity. Depending on how you decide to do tomorrow’s art, you could also have your students tear some brown paper or color some white price dots with a brown marker.
Just a word about science and cooking activities: don’t forget that cooking is science! There are many different types of changes that take place in food when you mix ingredients together, stir, cut, crack, heat, etc. Have your students predict what they think will happen. Write their predictions on the board or on a sheet of chart paper. After the recipe has been prepared, compare their predictions with the actual result of your cooking activity, then determine if their prediction was correct or not.
For today’s fine motor activity, give each student a large circle drawn on a sheet of tan paper and have them cut it out. Students with physical disabilities can use adapted scissors if needed. These will be used for tomorrow’s art activity. Depending on how you decide to do tomorrow’s art, you could also have your students tear some brown paper or color some white price dots with a brown marker.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Food Curriculum, Day One
Okay, this theme is absolutely my favorite of all time! You will read lots of books and do lots of fun things during this theme. There are so many cute art activities that go along with my food curriculum, and you and your students will also get to cook lots of yummy things!
For your morning meeting theme set, you will read Today is Monday by Eric Carle for the duration of the theme. Your books for storytime will change every couple of days. We will start the theme off with the If You Give a ______ a _______ books by Laura Numeroff. On Monday and Tuesday, you will read If You Give a Moose a Muffin. For art, provide each student with either a precut muffin shape (if they are not able to cut it themselves) or with a muffin pattern on white cardstock to cut out. Once all of the muffins are cut, give the students a choice between strawberry and blueberry (red or blue paper) using your Boardmaker symbols. Have the students paint their muffin pattern with tan paint (if you do not have any or can’t find any, mix brown and white paint together). Have your students tear the red or blue paper and stick it into the wet tan paint to make “strawberries” or “blueberries.”
For your science activity today, pass around scent jars. Soak cottonballs in something strawberry-scented and blueberry-scented (e.g. strawberry extract, blueberry potpourri oil, etc. ) and put the cotton balls in baby food jars, film canisters, or tiny plastic storage bowls. Talk about which sense you use to smell. You could also talk about how the sense of smell and the sense of taste are connected. Pass around the scent jars and have your students choose which scent they like best (you may need to have them choose as the jar comes around to them). On your board or a sheet of chart paper, make a t-chart with one side showing who likes blueberry and the other side showing who likes strawberry, then list the students on the side of the scent they choose. At the end, have the students help you count how many chose each scent, then talk about which number is larger/smaller.
For your morning meeting theme set, you will read Today is Monday by Eric Carle for the duration of the theme. Your books for storytime will change every couple of days. We will start the theme off with the If You Give a ______ a _______ books by Laura Numeroff. On Monday and Tuesday, you will read If You Give a Moose a Muffin. For art, provide each student with either a precut muffin shape (if they are not able to cut it themselves) or with a muffin pattern on white cardstock to cut out. Once all of the muffins are cut, give the students a choice between strawberry and blueberry (red or blue paper) using your Boardmaker symbols. Have the students paint their muffin pattern with tan paint (if you do not have any or can’t find any, mix brown and white paint together). Have your students tear the red or blue paper and stick it into the wet tan paint to make “strawberries” or “blueberries.”
For your science activity today, pass around scent jars. Soak cottonballs in something strawberry-scented and blueberry-scented (e.g. strawberry extract, blueberry potpourri oil, etc. ) and put the cotton balls in baby food jars, film canisters, or tiny plastic storage bowls. Talk about which sense you use to smell. You could also talk about how the sense of smell and the sense of taste are connected. Pass around the scent jars and have your students choose which scent they like best (you may need to have them choose as the jar comes around to them). On your board or a sheet of chart paper, make a t-chart with one side showing who likes blueberry and the other side showing who likes strawberry, then list the students on the side of the scent they choose. At the end, have the students help you count how many chose each scent, then talk about which number is larger/smaller.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins, Day Fifteen
Friday=cooking day! Today’s activity is a simple one: pumpkin pudding. Start by having your class make a batch of vanilla pudding. You can do this the traditional way-with a bowl and whisk/electric mixer-or you can pour the ingredients into a zipper bag and pass it around and have the students shake it. You will need a few boxes of pudding-one regular-sized box serves 4, so you will need a box for every four students. Give each student a cup/bowl of pudding. Allow each child to scoop out a spoonful of pumpkin pie filling into their bowl, stir, and eat!
Today is a great day because you get to do a second cooking activity! Hopefully, when you cut the pumpkins earlier in the week, you saved some seeds. You will want to thoroughly wash the seeds and let them dry, then make roasted pumpkin seeds. Give each student a sandwich bag and let them get a large spoonful of pumpkin seeds to put into their bag. Help each student measure about ½ teaspoon of vegetable oil into their bag, then a slight shake of salt. Seal up the bags and give them a good shake, then dump them onto a cookie sheet. Bake them at 350 for about 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so. These are a great, healthy, crunchy snack!
For science, pass around an orange pumpkin and a white pumpkin. Have the students predict what the inside of the white pumpkin will look like. Cut both pumpkins open and compare them (if you have never seen the inside of a white pumpkin, the flesh is a light orange color, and they smell like cucumber-melon!). If you’d like, fill out a Venn diagram to write the similarities and differences between the two.
Today is a great day because you get to do a second cooking activity! Hopefully, when you cut the pumpkins earlier in the week, you saved some seeds. You will want to thoroughly wash the seeds and let them dry, then make roasted pumpkin seeds. Give each student a sandwich bag and let them get a large spoonful of pumpkin seeds to put into their bag. Help each student measure about ½ teaspoon of vegetable oil into their bag, then a slight shake of salt. Seal up the bags and give them a good shake, then dump them onto a cookie sheet. Bake them at 350 for about 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so. These are a great, healthy, crunchy snack!
For science, pass around an orange pumpkin and a white pumpkin. Have the students predict what the inside of the white pumpkin will look like. Cut both pumpkins open and compare them (if you have never seen the inside of a white pumpkin, the flesh is a light orange color, and they smell like cucumber-melon!). If you’d like, fill out a Venn diagram to write the similarities and differences between the two.
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins, Day Fourteen
3-D art today! You will need to plan ahead for this one….so hopefully you have a supply of “trash treasures” or you are planning ahead. You will need a milk jug-half-gallon or gallon, it doesn’t matter-for each student. Make sure that they are thoroughly rinsed and dried before you use them! You will also need either a set of cut-out Jack-o-lantern facial features or a set for each student to cut out.
Put plates/dishes of orange paint on the table and let the students paint their milk jugs orange, them have them paint the cap green. At this point, you can either let the students stick the Jack-o-lantern facial features into the wet paint, or you can let the paint dry and then let them glue the features on.
For math today, measure a small, medium, and large pumpkin. To do this, you will need a ball of yarn. Pass the pumpkins around again and have the students compare the sizes and weights. Wrap yarn around the pumpkins and cut it off to the length of the circumference of the pumpkins, then compare the lengths of the string and talk about the concepts of long, short, etc.
Put plates/dishes of orange paint on the table and let the students paint their milk jugs orange, them have them paint the cap green. At this point, you can either let the students stick the Jack-o-lantern facial features into the wet paint, or you can let the paint dry and then let them glue the features on.
For math today, measure a small, medium, and large pumpkin. To do this, you will need a ball of yarn. Pass the pumpkins around again and have the students compare the sizes and weights. Wrap yarn around the pumpkins and cut it off to the length of the circumference of the pumpkins, then compare the lengths of the string and talk about the concepts of long, short, etc.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins, Day Thirteen
Today is a great day to make thank-you notes or special pictures for parents. There is a little less control for the students today, but this makes a really cute picture for keeping. You will be making pictures of “pumpkin patches.” Give each student a sheet of green (preferably light green so the orange paint will show up) paper and a dish of orange paint. Have the students dip their fists into the orange paint and press them onto the paper so that the lines of their fingers show up-they will look like pumpkins. You can use green raffia or string to make vines, and if you would like you can have the students go back and glue or draw on faces for Jack-o-lanterns.
For science, today review the words that your students listed describing the pumpkins that they passed around yesterday. Ask the students what they think the inside of the pumpkin will be like. Make a T-chart (line across the top, line down the middle) with one side showing predictions and one side showing what the pumpkin was actually like. List the words that the students give you to describe the inside of the pumpkin. You can lead them by asking them questions or give them pictures to choose from (cold/hot, wet/dry, etc.). Cut open a pumpkin and let the students touch the inside and describe it. Put the insides into your sensory table for students to touch. Tell them to pay special attention to the seeds-you will make roasted pumpkin seeds later in the week!
For science, today review the words that your students listed describing the pumpkins that they passed around yesterday. Ask the students what they think the inside of the pumpkin will be like. Make a T-chart (line across the top, line down the middle) with one side showing predictions and one side showing what the pumpkin was actually like. List the words that the students give you to describe the inside of the pumpkin. You can lead them by asking them questions or give them pictures to choose from (cold/hot, wet/dry, etc.). Cut open a pumpkin and let the students touch the inside and describe it. Put the insides into your sensory table for students to touch. Tell them to pay special attention to the seeds-you will make roasted pumpkin seeds later in the week!
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins, Day Twelve
For art today, you will be using a pumpkin to paint. Give each child a baby pumpkin (they can be bought for a very low price at a produce stand or grocery store this time of year). Let the students use Boardmaker symbols to choose the color of paint that they would like to use. Put a sheet of construction paper into a shirt box then put a small amount of paint onto the paper. Let the students roll their pumpkins around in the box to make a “rolled pumpkin painting.”
For a math activity today, let the students vote on whether they like big, medium, or small pumpkins the best. Of course, you will use your classroom graph for this activity. Provide at least one pumpkin in each size for the students to use as a visual. Color in the squares on the graph or have your students stick a Post-it note in the column of their choice. Alternately, you could let your students vote on whether they prefer an orange pumpkin, a white pumpkin, or a gourd.
Science this week is so simple! Today, let the students just feel the outside of the pumpkins. Talk to them about the shape, size, weight, color, texture, and temperature of the pumpkins; list words that your students use to describe the pumpkins. Tell them that tomorrow they will get to learn more about the pumpkins!
For a math activity today, let the students vote on whether they like big, medium, or small pumpkins the best. Of course, you will use your classroom graph for this activity. Provide at least one pumpkin in each size for the students to use as a visual. Color in the squares on the graph or have your students stick a Post-it note in the column of their choice. Alternately, you could let your students vote on whether they prefer an orange pumpkin, a white pumpkin, or a gourd.
Science this week is so simple! Today, let the students just feel the outside of the pumpkins. Talk to them about the shape, size, weight, color, texture, and temperature of the pumpkins; list words that your students use to describe the pumpkins. Tell them that tomorrow they will get to learn more about the pumpkins!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins, Day Eleven
This is one of my favorite weeks of the year-pumpkin week! If you haven’t already, pick up some pumpkin buckets for your classroom. These are great to put in your sensory table, homeliving and block center, as well as to hold things for your circle time. You can put different objects in them and have the students put their hands in and try to guess what’s in the bucket, or you can give each student a small pumpkin to hold. Real baby pumpkins are also great to have around.
Day one, have your students make their own Jack-o-lantern. Give each student a pumpkin outline and have them cut it out, either independently, with assistance, or using switch-operated scissors. Provide a variety of shapes cut out of black paper and have the students glue them onto the pumpkin to make a Jack-o-lantern. Add a green stem as well.
For fine motor, cut out a pumpkin outline for each student and glue it to a sheet of waxed paper. Have the students cut or tear pieces of orange tissue and glue them to the center of the cut-out. Students who have less dexterity can use Con-tact paper rather than glue/waxed paper. Once the art work has dried, run it through the laminator or stick Con-tact paper to the top of if.
Make a variety of patterns on strips of cardstock and put them in your math center-I used clip art from the internet to make patterns in Word of pumpkins and candy corn. Laminate them for durability and let your students use cream pumpkins and candy corn to complete the patterns. It will help to discourage your students from eating the candy if you give them a few in a cup to eat while they work.
Day one, have your students make their own Jack-o-lantern. Give each student a pumpkin outline and have them cut it out, either independently, with assistance, or using switch-operated scissors. Provide a variety of shapes cut out of black paper and have the students glue them onto the pumpkin to make a Jack-o-lantern. Add a green stem as well.
For fine motor, cut out a pumpkin outline for each student and glue it to a sheet of waxed paper. Have the students cut or tear pieces of orange tissue and glue them to the center of the cut-out. Students who have less dexterity can use Con-tact paper rather than glue/waxed paper. Once the art work has dried, run it through the laminator or stick Con-tact paper to the top of if.
Make a variety of patterns on strips of cardstock and put them in your math center-I used clip art from the internet to make patterns in Word of pumpkins and candy corn. Laminate them for durability and let your students use cream pumpkins and candy corn to complete the patterns. It will help to discourage your students from eating the candy if you give them a few in a cup to eat while they work.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins, Day Ten
It’s Cooking Friday! Today, make “bat salad.” Many bats are herbivores and eat mostly fruit. Read a book that discusses this fact, then have your students make a fruit salad. Provide soft fruits, such as bananas, kiwi, orange sections, and strawberries. Have your students use plastic knives to cut the fruit into chunks. You can either assemble the fruit into one large salad, or you can put each fruit into its own bowl and allow the students to choose the fruit that they want to put in their own salad.
For fine motor, make a Halloween necklace or bracelet. If your licensing allows, you could use Oreo Os and the orange pieces from Apple Jacks cereal; if not, use medium-to-small orange, white, and black beads. Thread them onto pipe cleaners or stiff lacing material. You can use visuals to let your students choose whether they prefer to make a bracelet of a necklace. Everyone gets to wear their jewelry home!
For fine motor, make a Halloween necklace or bracelet. If your licensing allows, you could use Oreo Os and the orange pieces from Apple Jacks cereal; if not, use medium-to-small orange, white, and black beads. Thread them onto pipe cleaners or stiff lacing material. You can use visuals to let your students choose whether they prefer to make a bracelet of a necklace. Everyone gets to wear their jewelry home!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins, Day Nine
Today’s art is pretty straightforward. Just paint the 3-D art from yesterday! Let your students choose the color of paint that they want to use, either verbally or using Boardmaker symbols. Remember to have them use their Boardmaker symbols to request the items that they will need for painting, too! Provide a variety of paint colors-don’t limit your students’ choices based on what is “normal” or “real.” Remember that this is preschool land, and kids don’t see everything through our eyes!
For math center today, provide your students with strips of paper showing patterns of pumpkins, spiders, bats, candy corn, etc. You can use stickers or clip art to make the patterns. You can have the students extend the patterns using laminated cards, concrete objects (spider rings, cream pumpkins, etc.) or you can have them create a work sample by using stickers to extend the pattern.
For math center today, provide your students with strips of paper showing patterns of pumpkins, spiders, bats, candy corn, etc. You can use stickers or clip art to make the patterns. You can have the students extend the patterns using laminated cards, concrete objects (spider rings, cream pumpkins, etc.) or you can have them create a work sample by using stickers to extend the pattern.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins, Day Eight
Today’s art activity is a fun 3-D art activity. It is so easy to get stuck on the things that you can do on paper, and there are so many cool 3-D activities that you can do!
The day before or morning of, mix up a batch of baking playdough. If you have a favorite recipe, by all means, use it. If not, just mix together 2 cups of salt, 2 cups of warm water, and 5 cups of flour. When ready to bake, just bake at 300 for an hour.
Provide materials for your students to make bat or Halloween-themed creations (such as Halloween cookie cutters)….but don’t make them use them. Let this be their creation! If they want to make a puppy….let them make a puppy. If they want to make a blob, let them make a blob! After everyone has made their sculpture, bake them. I like to put a square of waxed paper with each child’s name or initials on the cookie sheet for them to put their sculpture on. You will paint the sculptures tomorrow!
For a fine motor activity today, have the students cut out a large pattern of a bat (or pre-cut the pattern for students who are not able to do it themselves). Give them a variety of collage materials in brown and black to paste onto the bat. Some ideas are paper, felt, beads, bits of cloth, and Oreo Os cereal (check child care licensing rules).
The day before or morning of, mix up a batch of baking playdough. If you have a favorite recipe, by all means, use it. If not, just mix together 2 cups of salt, 2 cups of warm water, and 5 cups of flour. When ready to bake, just bake at 300 for an hour.
Provide materials for your students to make bat or Halloween-themed creations (such as Halloween cookie cutters)….but don’t make them use them. Let this be their creation! If they want to make a puppy….let them make a puppy. If they want to make a blob, let them make a blob! After everyone has made their sculpture, bake them. I like to put a square of waxed paper with each child’s name or initials on the cookie sheet for them to put their sculpture on. You will paint the sculptures tomorrow!
For a fine motor activity today, have the students cut out a large pattern of a bat (or pre-cut the pattern for students who are not able to do it themselves). Give them a variety of collage materials in brown and black to paste onto the bat. Some ideas are paper, felt, beads, bits of cloth, and Oreo Os cereal (check child care licensing rules).
Monday, October 12, 2009
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins, Day Seven
Today’s art activity will be less structured than yesterday. I think that children should be given structured art activities so that they learn to follow directions, but opportunities for less structured activities for more artistic expression. However, I think that even the structured activities should be a child’s own artwork. I never provide models for my students to follow, and I never direct a student as to how to complete his or her art. Let your students put the “pieces” of his or her artwork wherever they want to!
Today, provide a variety of Halloween-themed cookie cutters and plates of paint in Halloween colors, such as black, orange, and yellow. Provide large sheets of construction paper in Halloween colors as well, and let the students dip their cookie cutters in paint and stamp away! For students with fine motor delays, the large stamps with thick handles may work better, providing a thicker handle. Don’t forget to use Boardmaker symbols to help your students make requests for their art materials!
For science/math, put an assortment of toy bats in a variety of sizes on the table. Have your students sort the bats by size and verbalize whether they are big/small, bigger/smaller, heavier/lighter. Have the students line them up from largest to smallest, smallest to largest, etc. Have them create patterns of big/small bats.
Today, provide a variety of Halloween-themed cookie cutters and plates of paint in Halloween colors, such as black, orange, and yellow. Provide large sheets of construction paper in Halloween colors as well, and let the students dip their cookie cutters in paint and stamp away! For students with fine motor delays, the large stamps with thick handles may work better, providing a thicker handle. Don’t forget to use Boardmaker symbols to help your students make requests for their art materials!
For science/math, put an assortment of toy bats in a variety of sizes on the table. Have your students sort the bats by size and verbalize whether they are big/small, bigger/smaller, heavier/lighter. Have the students line them up from largest to smallest, smallest to largest, etc. Have them create patterns of big/small bats.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins, Day Six
It’s Bat Week! Start the week off making a “colony” of bats (yes, I looked it up, and a group of bats is called a colony!). Each student, of course, will make his or her own bat.
On the Friday before beginning Bat Week, take a picture of each student’s face. Print the photos out in a fairly large size-large enough to fit on the bat’s head. Cut out the face but not the hair, ears, etc. Give each child a pair of wings, a head, and a pair of feet cut out of black or brown paper (let them, of course, choose their color)-have the students who are able cut out their own, and students who are not able can either have theirs pre-cut or a peer or adult can help them cut using switch powered scissors. Also, don’t forget that for students who are not yet independently proficient using regular scissors, there are hand-over-hand, loop, and other types of adaptive scissors.
Trace each child’s foot and cut it out (or, of course, have them cut it!). Turn it upside down and have the students glue on the head, wings, and feet. Glue each student’s face to the head of his or her bat. Once they have dried, hang them (upside down, of course). If you want to get really cute with this, you could make a large tree and hang the bats from the tree. You could also attach the wings with brads instead of gluing them so that they fold up.
Today, put shredded paper in your sensory table along with pumpkin buckets and rubber bats.
For science, read a nonfiction book about bats. Show the students some pictures of bats and talk about the bats’ body parts. Provide some magazine pictures of bats and have the students make collages out of them.
On the Friday before beginning Bat Week, take a picture of each student’s face. Print the photos out in a fairly large size-large enough to fit on the bat’s head. Cut out the face but not the hair, ears, etc. Give each child a pair of wings, a head, and a pair of feet cut out of black or brown paper (let them, of course, choose their color)-have the students who are able cut out their own, and students who are not able can either have theirs pre-cut or a peer or adult can help them cut using switch powered scissors. Also, don’t forget that for students who are not yet independently proficient using regular scissors, there are hand-over-hand, loop, and other types of adaptive scissors.
Trace each child’s foot and cut it out (or, of course, have them cut it!). Turn it upside down and have the students glue on the head, wings, and feet. Glue each student’s face to the head of his or her bat. Once they have dried, hang them (upside down, of course). If you want to get really cute with this, you could make a large tree and hang the bats from the tree. You could also attach the wings with brads instead of gluing them so that they fold up.
Today, put shredded paper in your sensory table along with pumpkin buckets and rubber bats.
For science, read a nonfiction book about bats. Show the students some pictures of bats and talk about the bats’ body parts. Provide some magazine pictures of bats and have the students make collages out of them.
Bats Lesson Plan Form
Printable Lesson Plan for the week. Pull down menu and choose "download or share."
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins, Day Five
Today is Friday! That means it’s COOKING DAY! Today’s cooking activity is not quite as healthy as the last couple of weeks, but that’s okay. You can’t be sugar-free 100% of the time! Today you will make “haystack spiders”. All you need is a bag of chocolate chips and a bag or can of chow mein noodles. Have your students pour the chocolate chips into a microwaveable bowl and microwave them for 30 seconds at a time at 50% power to keep them from burning. Alternately, you can use a double boiler on a hot plate/electric burner, but be very cautious to keep your students away from the heat! Melt the chocolate chips, stirring occasionally. Have the students stir in the chow mein noodles carefully, then let each student scoop out a spoonful or 2 of the mixture onto a piece of wax paper. Once they cool, they are ready to eat!
For fine motor, make paper-plate webs. You can use black paper/foam plates or even Halloween-themed plates. Ahead of time, punch holes all the way around the edges, spaced about 1 ½ to 2 inches apart. Tie a piece of yarn into one of the holes then have the students lace the yarn across the paper plate to make a web. Lace a spider ring into the yarn; tie off the end when the students have finished lacing.
For fine motor, make paper-plate webs. You can use black paper/foam plates or even Halloween-themed plates. Ahead of time, punch holes all the way around the edges, spaced about 1 ½ to 2 inches apart. Tie a piece of yarn into one of the holes then have the students lace the yarn across the paper plate to make a web. Lace a spider ring into the yarn; tie off the end when the students have finished lacing.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins-Day Four
Today is more of a “free art” day. Provide a supply of plastic spiders and let the students use their Boardmaker symbols to choose a color of paint and a color of paper. They can then dip their spiders in paint and use them to paint their paper, whether by walking or rolling their spiders across the paper or using them to splatter paint across the paper.
A great fine motor activity for this theme is to make spider lacing cards. Simply print a large spider pattern on a piece of cardstock, cut it out, and laminate it. Punch several holes around the edge of the pattern. Have the students use laces, yarn, or plastic beading thread to lace the spider. This activity can easily be adapted to fit any theme.
A fun literacy extension is to make your own classroom “very busy spider” book. Put the characters from the book onto the All-Turn-It (see the picture above), available from AbleNet, and have each child spin the wheel to see which character they will be. Paste a picture of the child’s head onto the body of the type of animal that they land on, and assemble your pages into a binder or folder to make a book, substituting the child’s name for the animal. You could even have a separate version of the board book that you can tape the children’s faces to. The students will love to look at themselves in the book!
Spiders-Lesson Plan Form
Here is an entire's week worth of lesson plans. More details will be given in the blog. To better view the document, click "menu" then "download or share." You will be able to view, print, etc.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins, Day Three
Today, you will make a paint “spider web.” There are two ways to do this.
(1) Put a piece of black paper into a shirt box, or cut it into a circle and place it inside a cake pan. Put a small dab of white paint into the center of the paper and have the students roll a marble around in the paint.
(2) Use a switch-operated paint spinner, available from Ablenet (or you can buy one at a discount store and have it switch-adapted if you have access to this service). Cut squares of black paper to the correct size to fit into the spinner. Position them in the spinner and put white paint on them, then have the students hit the switch to spin the paint. This allows students with physical disabilities to more fully participate in the art activities.
Once the paint has dried, the students can place a spider sticker “into” their spider web.
Put a giant spider web-a bag of cotton fiberfill-into your sensory table. Put plastic spiders or spider rings into it. Have the students pull the “web” apart to try to find the spiders. Count how many spiders they find; sort them by size, color, etc.
For math, have your students create, copy, and/or extend patterns with spiders. They could even string the spider rings onto a piece of string or yarn to make a necklace.
(1) Put a piece of black paper into a shirt box, or cut it into a circle and place it inside a cake pan. Put a small dab of white paint into the center of the paper and have the students roll a marble around in the paint.
(2) Use a switch-operated paint spinner, available from Ablenet (or you can buy one at a discount store and have it switch-adapted if you have access to this service). Cut squares of black paper to the correct size to fit into the spinner. Position them in the spinner and put white paint on them, then have the students hit the switch to spin the paint. This allows students with physical disabilities to more fully participate in the art activities.
Once the paint has dried, the students can place a spider sticker “into” their spider web.
Put a giant spider web-a bag of cotton fiberfill-into your sensory table. Put plastic spiders or spider rings into it. Have the students pull the “web” apart to try to find the spiders. Count how many spiders they find; sort them by size, color, etc.
For math, have your students create, copy, and/or extend patterns with spiders. They could even string the spider rings onto a piece of string or yarn to make a necklace.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins, Day Two
Today, make paper plates spiders. Let the students make their spiders as “wild and wooly” as they would like by choosing different colors of paint. You can precut black legs by cutting strips of construction paper…a paper cutter (guillotine) is the best way to do a large supply of these. Give each child eight legs, of course, plus a paper plate and cutout eyes and mouth (the object here is to look cute and silly, not realistic!). Let them use their Boardmaker symbols to request the color of paint that they would like to use, as well as using their PECS to request the tools that they need to complete their project. Have them paint their paper plate and glue on the legs and facial features. It sounds simple, but you will truly get some unique renditions of a spider! Remember; don’t direct the students to put their spider body parts in certain places. It’s important that each child’s art is his or her own, not yours! For students who have physical disabilities, this is a little more difficult as they usually do require hand-over-hand assistance, but my motto in doing art with my students has always been “let the chips fall where they may.” You will be amused by all the adorable, if slightly wonky, results that you will get!
For science today, bring in a large toy spider, as realistic as you can find. If you can get more than one, that’s even better. Pass the spiders around in a shoe box with a hole cut in the top that is large enough for a child’s hand to fit through; have the students reach into the box and try to guess what’s inside. Once they have all had a chance, take off the top to reveal your creepy-crawly friend. Have the students count the legs and examine the spider. Talk about his different body parts and the way that he looks. If you can obtain a hanging web, you could put a spider in the web for students to look at throughout the day. Show pictures of some of the things that spiders eat (you can read a book about them if you would like). Have the students cut out pictures of spiders and make a spider collage; this also addresses fine motor skills.
For science today, bring in a large toy spider, as realistic as you can find. If you can get more than one, that’s even better. Pass the spiders around in a shoe box with a hole cut in the top that is large enough for a child’s hand to fit through; have the students reach into the box and try to guess what’s inside. Once they have all had a chance, take off the top to reveal your creepy-crawly friend. Have the students count the legs and examine the spider. Talk about his different body parts and the way that he looks. If you can obtain a hanging web, you could put a spider in the web for students to look at throughout the day. Show pictures of some of the things that spiders eat (you can read a book about them if you would like). Have the students cut out pictures of spiders and make a spider collage; this also addresses fine motor skills.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins, Day One
October is one of my favorite months in preschool land! There are so many fun things that you can do this time of year. I always start with bats and spiders, then finish off with pumpkins, since pumpkins go along with Halloween and Thanksgiving…I usually teach the pumpkin theme the last week of October and extend it into the first week of November.
For day one, read a book telling facts about spiders. Of course, you have to sing “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” this week! Use your classroom graph* to have your students vote about whether they like spiders or not. You could print a spider pattern onto a small piece of paper for each student, write their names on their paper, and have them stick it to the graph with tape, or just write each student’s name on a Post-it.
For fine motor today, you will make a 3-D spider. Obtain a paper egg carton ahead of time (foam will not work, because the paint won’t stick). Cut a cup out for each student and punch 4 wholes into opposite sides of the cups. Have the students paint the cups black, thread black pipe cleaners through the holes (to make eight legs), and glue on googly eyes. When they have dried, you can hang them from the ceiling or stick them onto a classroom web.
For art, have the students dip white yarn into glue and lay it on black construction paper in crazy patterns. When they are done, they can stick a black pompon onto the “web.” When it is dry, it will look like a spider in a web!
For day one, read a book telling facts about spiders. Of course, you have to sing “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” this week! Use your classroom graph* to have your students vote about whether they like spiders or not. You could print a spider pattern onto a small piece of paper for each student, write their names on their paper, and have them stick it to the graph with tape, or just write each student’s name on a Post-it.
For fine motor today, you will make a 3-D spider. Obtain a paper egg carton ahead of time (foam will not work, because the paint won’t stick). Cut a cup out for each student and punch 4 wholes into opposite sides of the cups. Have the students paint the cups black, thread black pipe cleaners through the holes (to make eight legs), and glue on googly eyes. When they have dried, you can hang them from the ceiling or stick them onto a classroom web.
For art, have the students dip white yarn into glue and lay it on black construction paper in crazy patterns. When they are done, they can stick a black pompon onto the “web.” When it is dry, it will look like a spider in a web!
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins Overview
Please exercise caution with this theme. I have not named it “Halloween” because many families are sensitive about the topic of Halloween. I have, however, included Halloween topics. Please be aware of any concerns families may have about this topic and plan accordingly.
Books about Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins (this is not an exhaustive list….there are so many great books about all of these topics!)
From Seed to Pumpkin (Lets-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 1) by Wendy Pfeffer (illustrated by James Graham Hale)
Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz
Five Little Pumpkins by Iris Van Rynbach
Aaaarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks
Spinning Spiders (Lets-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) by Melvin Berger (illustrated by S.D. Schindler)
The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats by Ann Earle and Henry Cole
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat by Lucille Colandro and Jared D. Lee
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins Songs
“The Itsy-Bitsy (or Eensy-Weency) Spider”
I am not going to insult your intelligence by typing the words here!
Finger Play for “Five Little Pumpkins” (I always do this while reading the book)
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate (hold up 5 fingers)
The first one said, “Oh my, it’s getting late!” (look at watch)
The second one said, “There are witches in the air!” (look up in sky)
The third one said, “But we don’t care!” (shake head)
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run!” (pretend to run)
The fifth one said, “We’re ready for some fun!”
Then Ooooooo went the wind (swirl arms around)
And OUT! went the lights! (clap hands, have someone turn out the lights)
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight! (roll hands around)
“Looking for Dracula” from 10 Carrot Diamond by Charlotte Diamond
This is an awesome CD all around. “Looking for Dracula” is a fun, “Going on a Bear Hunt” type song that your kids will love…and it mentions bats! They will also love “I am a Pizza,” “Octopus,” and “10 Crunchy Carrots.” Trust me, I know! You can also buy books to correspond with the songs.
"Little Bats"
1 little bat was trying to behave.
He hung upside down from his feet in a cave.
Another bat flew in, and said, "How do you do?"
The second joined the first, and then there were 2!
2 little bats were trying to behave.
They hung upside down from their feet in a cave.
To help pass the time, they sang "Do re me"
Another bat joined the song, and then there were 3.
3 little bats were trying to behave
They hung upside down from their feet in a cave
From their cave perch, they looked down at the floor,
A new bat joined the game, and then there were 4.
4 little bats were trying to behave.
They hung upside down from their feet in a cave.
One little bat zoomed inside and did a dive.
He stayed to take a rest, and with him there were 5.
Center Modifications
Tactile/sand/water table:
*Mini pumpkin buckets (the kind you buy as party favors) with colored water
*Spider rings
*Mallow crème pumpkins (check childcare licensing rules)
*Yellow, orange, and black shredded paper
*Rubber bats and pumpkins
*Colored sand (orange)
Homeliving/Dramatic Play Center:
*Halloween costumes
*Pretend candy
*Toy apples
*Fake pumpkins
*Pumpkin buckets
Block Center
*Large and small pumpkin buckets
*Buckets of shredded paper
*Unit blocks
*Toy bats and spiders
Art Center
*Orange, black, and yellow paint
*October edition of children’s or parenting magazines
*Playdough in a variety of fall colors with “fall” scents, such as pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, vanilla
*Stencils, sponges, and cookie cutters shaped like pumpkins, bats, and spiders
*Black, yellow, and orange construction paper and shredded paper
Boardmaker* Symbols to Print (or pictures to search on Internet if you don’t have Boardmaker) and Sign Language to Learn*
*pumpkin
*bat
*spider
*candy
*trick-or-treat (I always used “candy please” as the sign for this)
*Costume
*Colors: Yellow, black, orange
*cat
*If you do not have the Boardmaker-Dynamically Speaking Pro software by Mayer-Johnson available at your school, I recommend that you speak with your principal/school director about obtaining it. It is not terribly expensive and is absolutely irreplaceable for making visual symbols, picture schedules, and social stories-both for children with disabilities and without.
*For simple preschool signs, I recommend the book Sign With Your Baby by Joseph Garcia
Books about Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins (this is not an exhaustive list….there are so many great books about all of these topics!)
From Seed to Pumpkin (Lets-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 1) by Wendy Pfeffer (illustrated by James Graham Hale)
Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz
Five Little Pumpkins by Iris Van Rynbach
Aaaarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks
Spinning Spiders (Lets-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) by Melvin Berger (illustrated by S.D. Schindler)
The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats by Ann Earle and Henry Cole
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat by Lucille Colandro and Jared D. Lee
Spiders, Bats, and Pumpkins Songs
“The Itsy-Bitsy (or Eensy-Weency) Spider”
I am not going to insult your intelligence by typing the words here!
Finger Play for “Five Little Pumpkins” (I always do this while reading the book)
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate (hold up 5 fingers)
The first one said, “Oh my, it’s getting late!” (look at watch)
The second one said, “There are witches in the air!” (look up in sky)
The third one said, “But we don’t care!” (shake head)
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run!” (pretend to run)
The fifth one said, “We’re ready for some fun!”
Then Ooooooo went the wind (swirl arms around)
And OUT! went the lights! (clap hands, have someone turn out the lights)
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight! (roll hands around)
“Looking for Dracula” from 10 Carrot Diamond by Charlotte Diamond
This is an awesome CD all around. “Looking for Dracula” is a fun, “Going on a Bear Hunt” type song that your kids will love…and it mentions bats! They will also love “I am a Pizza,” “Octopus,” and “10 Crunchy Carrots.” Trust me, I know! You can also buy books to correspond with the songs.
"Little Bats"
1 little bat was trying to behave.
He hung upside down from his feet in a cave.
Another bat flew in, and said, "How do you do?"
The second joined the first, and then there were 2!
2 little bats were trying to behave.
They hung upside down from their feet in a cave.
To help pass the time, they sang "Do re me"
Another bat joined the song, and then there were 3.
3 little bats were trying to behave
They hung upside down from their feet in a cave
From their cave perch, they looked down at the floor,
A new bat joined the game, and then there were 4.
4 little bats were trying to behave.
They hung upside down from their feet in a cave.
One little bat zoomed inside and did a dive.
He stayed to take a rest, and with him there were 5.
Center Modifications
Tactile/sand/water table:
*Mini pumpkin buckets (the kind you buy as party favors) with colored water
*Spider rings
*Mallow crème pumpkins (check childcare licensing rules)
*Yellow, orange, and black shredded paper
*Rubber bats and pumpkins
*Colored sand (orange)
Homeliving/Dramatic Play Center:
*Halloween costumes
*Pretend candy
*Toy apples
*Fake pumpkins
*Pumpkin buckets
Block Center
*Large and small pumpkin buckets
*Buckets of shredded paper
*Unit blocks
*Toy bats and spiders
Art Center
*Orange, black, and yellow paint
*October edition of children’s or parenting magazines
*Playdough in a variety of fall colors with “fall” scents, such as pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, vanilla
*Stencils, sponges, and cookie cutters shaped like pumpkins, bats, and spiders
*Black, yellow, and orange construction paper and shredded paper
Boardmaker* Symbols to Print (or pictures to search on Internet if you don’t have Boardmaker) and Sign Language to Learn*
*pumpkin
*bat
*spider
*candy
*trick-or-treat (I always used “candy please” as the sign for this)
*Costume
*Colors: Yellow, black, orange
*cat
*If you do not have the Boardmaker-Dynamically Speaking Pro software by Mayer-Johnson available at your school, I recommend that you speak with your principal/school director about obtaining it. It is not terribly expensive and is absolutely irreplaceable for making visual symbols, picture schedules, and social stories-both for children with disabilities and without.
*For simple preschool signs, I recommend the book Sign With Your Baby by Joseph Garcia
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Fall Curriculum, Day Ten
Today is a sensory extravaganza! First, you can do a cool fine motor and sensory activity with your students. Trace different leaf shapes onto sandpaper. Have the students feel the sandpaper and talk about the texture. The students can choose which shape of leaf they would like to have, then cut out the leaves. I haven’t talked about this yet, but did you know that you can get switch-operated scissors? Ablenet sells them! They are battery-operated scissors that you hook up to a single-hit switch (such as a Big Red or Jellybean). Students with physical disabilities can hit the switch to power the scissors while an adult or another student holds the scissors and the paper. This allows the student to be involved with the cutting of their own art project! I digress…..once the students have cut out their leaves, give them a cinnamon stick. Talk about the smell of the cinnamon stick, then have them rub the stick all over their sandpaper leaf. The cinnamon stick will leave a light coating of brown color on the sandpaper, as well as a wonderful smell!
For a cooking activity today, you will extend your cinnamon smell theme. Make oatmeal from scratch (it doesn’t really matter if you use old-fashioned, quick-cooking, or instant oatmeal). Work together to pour and mix the ingredients and talk to the students as you cook the oats (if you have a hot plate or access to a stovetop-if you don’t, you’ll have to settle for a microwave!). When the oatmeal is cooked, let the students look at it and stir it and discuss how it has changed from before it was cook. After it has had time to cool a bit, put some in a bowl for each student then let them top it as they would like-with brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins or fruit (check your child care licensure guidelines-there are some restrictions about raisins, etc. due to a risk of choking), canned pumpkin, butter, maple syrup….the sky’s the limit! Talk about the smells and tastes of the oatmeal.
Connect your sensory table to your activities by filling it with cinnamon or apple pie scented potpourri. You can also make sensory jars with film canisters (does anyone still have any of those?), baby food containers, or tiny food containers. Put a little bit of cinnamon oil or cinnamon potpourri oil or spray on a cotton ball and place it in the jar. You can also use vanilla, lemon, orange, strawberry, peppermint, and other extracts, scented home oils, and even “stinky” things like garlic and onion powder. Store them in a baby wipes container or a small box. Pass the jars around and let the students decide which ones they like the best!
For a cooking activity today, you will extend your cinnamon smell theme. Make oatmeal from scratch (it doesn’t really matter if you use old-fashioned, quick-cooking, or instant oatmeal). Work together to pour and mix the ingredients and talk to the students as you cook the oats (if you have a hot plate or access to a stovetop-if you don’t, you’ll have to settle for a microwave!). When the oatmeal is cooked, let the students look at it and stir it and discuss how it has changed from before it was cook. After it has had time to cool a bit, put some in a bowl for each student then let them top it as they would like-with brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins or fruit (check your child care licensure guidelines-there are some restrictions about raisins, etc. due to a risk of choking), canned pumpkin, butter, maple syrup….the sky’s the limit! Talk about the smells and tastes of the oatmeal.
Connect your sensory table to your activities by filling it with cinnamon or apple pie scented potpourri. You can also make sensory jars with film canisters (does anyone still have any of those?), baby food containers, or tiny food containers. Put a little bit of cinnamon oil or cinnamon potpourri oil or spray on a cotton ball and place it in the jar. You can also use vanilla, lemon, orange, strawberry, peppermint, and other extracts, scented home oils, and even “stinky” things like garlic and onion powder. Store them in a baby wipes container or a small box. Pass the jars around and let the students decide which ones they like the best!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Fall Curriulum, Day Nine
Today you will again actually use fall materials as your art “utensils.” Have you ever realized that leaves make great stamps? Put out paper plates with paint poured in them and have your students press their leaves in the paint then press them onto paper. You can let the students use Boardmaker symbols to choose the color of paper that they would like; let them use multiple colors of paint placed in the center of the table. Many of your students will choose to use their leaves as “paintbrushes,” and that’s okay too.
Today’s math activity is leaf graphing. Use your classroom graph; put four different types of leaves in a bag and put one of each kind across the bottom of your graph. Have each student pull a leaf out of the bag and tape it to the correct column on the graph. Discuss which leaf there was the most of and least of. Have the students vote on their favorite type of leaf.
For science today, compare dry leaves and healthy leaves. Let the students feel the leaves and look at the leaves. Let them crunch up the dry leaves and pull the healthy leaves apart. If you want, you can write down the students’ observations as they talk about the leaves.
Today’s math activity is leaf graphing. Use your classroom graph; put four different types of leaves in a bag and put one of each kind across the bottom of your graph. Have each student pull a leaf out of the bag and tape it to the correct column on the graph. Discuss which leaf there was the most of and least of. Have the students vote on their favorite type of leaf.
For science today, compare dry leaves and healthy leaves. Let the students feel the leaves and look at the leaves. Let them crunch up the dry leaves and pull the healthy leaves apart. If you want, you can write down the students’ observations as they talk about the leaves.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Fall Curriculum, Day Eight
For art today, you will use a “fall material” to create your art rather than creating a fall-themed piece. Use acorns gathered on the playground or from someone’s yard. Tape a sheet of paper to a tray or one-half of a shirt box for each student. Use Boardmaker symbols to have each student choose a paint color, then put a little bit of paint in the center of the paper. Put a few acorns in the box and have the students roll the box around to paint with the acorns. If you want to add another element to the activity, you can have the students cut the paper into an acorn shape either before or after painting.
For fine motor, give each student a toilet paper or paper towel tube. Have them cut strips a couple of inches down from the top to make tree branches. Students will tear or cut pieces of tissue paper or construction paper in fall colors and dip them in glue, then stick them to the toilet paper tube.
For science today, put water in your sensory table. Talk to your students about leaves and acorns and ask whether they think that the leaves or acorns will float. If you want to make this activity a little more “formal”, you can make a t-chart (2 column chart) and list students who vote “yes” and “no”. After everyone has had a chance to vote, test their theories by putting leaves and acorns in the water before opening the sensory table for free play.
For fine motor, give each student a toilet paper or paper towel tube. Have them cut strips a couple of inches down from the top to make tree branches. Students will tear or cut pieces of tissue paper or construction paper in fall colors and dip them in glue, then stick them to the toilet paper tube.
For science today, put water in your sensory table. Talk to your students about leaves and acorns and ask whether they think that the leaves or acorns will float. If you want to make this activity a little more “formal”, you can make a t-chart (2 column chart) and list students who vote “yes” and “no”. After everyone has had a chance to vote, test their theories by putting leaves and acorns in the water before opening the sensory table for free play.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Fall Curriculum, Day Seven
Today, take your students on a nature walk and have them gather leaves, twigs, acorns, small branches, and anything else that says “fall.” You can either give each student his or her own bag to gather items, or put everything in one bag and then put large bowls or boxes out on the table and fill them with the items.
Give each student a large sheet of construction paper in the color of the student’s choice (use Boardmaker color symbols to choose, of course). Have the students squeeze or paint glue all over the paper, then arrange the items on the paper however they wish. After the glue has dried, cover the paper with Con-tact paper.
For science today, have the students make predictions about what the inside of an acorn will look like. Use hammers or rocks to break open acorns (one per student) and examine the inside. Put acorns in your sensory table as well.
For math, have the students sort a variety of leaves by size. Higher-functioning students can put the leaves in order from biggest to smallest (or vice-versa), while lower-functioning students can sort the leaves into “big and small” piles.
Give each student a large sheet of construction paper in the color of the student’s choice (use Boardmaker color symbols to choose, of course). Have the students squeeze or paint glue all over the paper, then arrange the items on the paper however they wish. After the glue has dried, cover the paper with Con-tact paper.
For science today, have the students make predictions about what the inside of an acorn will look like. Use hammers or rocks to break open acorns (one per student) and examine the inside. Put acorns in your sensory table as well.
For math, have the students sort a variety of leaves by size. Higher-functioning students can put the leaves in order from biggest to smallest (or vice-versa), while lower-functioning students can sort the leaves into “big and small” piles.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Fall Curriculum, Day Six
Well, now we are foraying into week two of our “Fall Curriculum.” This week we will focus a little more on some of the things that we associate with fall besides leaves and color changes. Today, we are talking about squirrels. If you can find a book about squirrels, great! I found one called The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri that looks both informational and entertaining….I haven’t read it yet, but it looks promising. Talk to your students about how squirrel hide food away for the winter and make a list of some of the foods that squirrels eat.
For art, have your students make a squirrel mask by painting a paper plate with holes cut out of it brown and gluing on ears, paws, a nose, and maybe even fur. Have them cut out an acorn shape and glue it into the paws. The Boardmaker symbols that you will need today are: paint, paintbrush, glue, paper, and scissors, as well as colors if you are providing different shades of paint for your activity.
For math, cut out the shapes of several different types of nuts as well as acorns. Give each student several in a bag. Count the number of each nut that each student has and color your classroom graph accordingly. If you don’t have any nut allergies in your classrooms, you could use real nuts, but I very strongly caution you here; nuts are an issue not only because of allergies but also because of the choking hazard. I would stick with paper nuts! You can also use your cutouts for patterning. I would recommend cutting them out of construction paper or cardstock and laminating them before use for durability.
For art, have your students make a squirrel mask by painting a paper plate with holes cut out of it brown and gluing on ears, paws, a nose, and maybe even fur. Have them cut out an acorn shape and glue it into the paws. The Boardmaker symbols that you will need today are: paint, paintbrush, glue, paper, and scissors, as well as colors if you are providing different shades of paint for your activity.
For math, cut out the shapes of several different types of nuts as well as acorns. Give each student several in a bag. Count the number of each nut that each student has and color your classroom graph accordingly. If you don’t have any nut allergies in your classrooms, you could use real nuts, but I very strongly caution you here; nuts are an issue not only because of allergies but also because of the choking hazard. I would stick with paper nuts! You can also use your cutouts for patterning. I would recommend cutting them out of construction paper or cardstock and laminating them before use for durability.