5 {Senses} for Friday!

This week was fantastic!  Our theme was the 5 senses.  We tasted, smelled, listened, touched, and looked to complete our activities.  Of course, we used shaving cream and scented playdough to help awaken our senses.

 Mr. Potato Head helped us label what body parts we use to discover the world around us.

To learn about our sense of smell we soaked cotton balls with different oils/extracts/flavorings/powdered kool-aid and placed them in baby food jars.  We had corresponding pictures for our little ones to choose from.  Once the scent was identified, the little learners bingo dotted the square next to that picture.

In the afternoon {our older pre-k learners} we also played a matching game with different scents.  We paired up two of the same smells by placing scented soaked cotton balls in snack size baggies.  One group of learners had to compare the different smells and find the partner with the matching scent.  It was great fun!

If you would like your own copy of  'What's That Smell?' Click HERE or on the picture.

You can find the patterns to make your own 5 senses potato peep HERE.

We also taste tested lots of different kinds of food, which isn't always easy for little ones!  We were so proud of how brave they were!

I found this idea on Pinterest and thought it was a great way to reinforce what we learned this week.

We added textured wallpaper and/or sandpaper hands to show the sense of touch, bells for ears to show  hearing, wiggle eyes, licorice mouth, and a scented cotton ball for smell.  

Boy howdy, did we learn a lot this week!

Link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to show what you did this week.

Thanks for reading!  Have a great day.  :)

Monday, Monday!

Last week, we did a Laundry Theme and had a blast!  There was so much to do with this theme.  Along with all the art projects {you can check them out here}, we did lots of sorting......sorting socks by size, color, patterns.  We even sorted by more than one attribute (which is big stuff for beginning pre-k!)  We also sorted clean and dirty clothes!  We practiced our names by gluing items of clothing with letters in our names on matching letter clothespins.

We practiced counting objects to 4 by gluing the correct number of socks on the clotheslines.

I also made a color page to help us with identifying colors and recognizing color words.  You can get both pages by clicking on the pictures below.  :)

The adorable graphics are from 

Be sure to check out Lucky to be in First for some other fabulous freebies!

This week, we will be exploring our five senses.  We have some very fun things planned!  Check back at the end of the week to see all our activities!

Thanks for reading!  Have a great day.  :)

Laundry Day!

It's time for another Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching.

This week's theme was one I had never done before. It ended up being so fun!  My good friend, Miss Beth {Laughter and Learning in Room 139} had done this one a few years back.  When I saw all the great things that could be done with it, I knew I wanted in.  Beth had made these little machines out of cardboard boxes.  Her little ones love playing with them in the 'house center' of her room.

 

Some of our activites included using bubble paint to show 'clean' shirts.

We painted with mud, brown paint, and wood chips to show 'dirty'.

 

 

And, then we ended the week outside washing clothes in our water tables and hanging them up to dry.

Other random things from this week include:

 

We painted initials of our first names by using masking tape and liquid watercolors.

I initiated something new with our centers. My sweeties in the afternoon tended to all want to play together in the same area.  To alleviate the congestion and encourage playing appropriately with friends, I developed this center rotation.  I kept the same friends together all week, but changed the center each day.  Knock on wood, but it worked like a charm all week!

I had one little sweetheart bring me roses all week long!  I am one lucky teacher.  :)

I hope you had a great week, as well!  

Thanks for reading.  Have a great day.  :)

The Day the Crayons Quit!

I am linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for her Monday Made It to share a few things I have made recently to use in my classroom.

Have you read this book?  It is a must! After we read 'The Day the Crayons Quit', we made our own crayon people {pattern provided by Cara Carroll}.  Each little one chose his/her favorite color and then added a face.  The yellow one is unhappy because he was used too much {cracks me up!} Originally this was going to be an art project to be displayed, but then I decided to laminate them and turn them into a class book.  It is a favorite read, plus helps reinforce color identification and color word recognition.

I made this PowerPoint Presentation of Essential Questions to use after reading the story.  It is free at my TpT store.

I read the book and then play the PowerPoint on my Teamboard.  We take turns answering the questions by touching the correct picture on the interactive whiteboard.  My little ones love it and it helps me keep track of who is comprehending our stories and who needs a little extra help.

If you can use this, I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for reading!  Have a great day.  :)

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share my Five for Friday.

This week was FUN {with a capital F.U.N.}!  We read this book

And then, we did paint some more.......and more.........and more!  My sweeties loved that book, and of course the painting that followed.  We painted while swinging on our tummies!

We painted on easels outside.

We painted on tables covered with butcher paper.

We painted the sidewalk.

Heck, we even painted inside!  Each little one had a specific color to paint.  They had toothbrushes, legos, bristle blocks, scrapers, and brushes to add texture.  We will laminate and bind the pages to make a class color book.

We also did a little color mixing after reading 'White Rabbit's Color Book'

We cut little rabbits from coffee filters.  

Using liquid watercolors and eye droppers the little scientists experimented with colors just like the white rabbit in the book.

We filled out this little paper after to see what we remembered.  If you would like a copy click HERE or on the picture.

Graphics for the worksheet are provided by Krista Walden.  Krista has some fabulous clipart!

Link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share your week!

Thanks for reading!  Have a great day.  :)

Super Math Linky Freebie!

Yara from Sea of Knowledge is hosting a Super Math Linky Party that is full of lots of free math games.  I am linking up to share one of my freebies on my Teachers pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook stores.  This freebie has numbers, number words, 10 frames, and tally marks from 1 through 20.  Use these in pocket charts, as matching games, as memory games or sorting by numbers.  A student recording sheets is also included.

Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!  Have a great day.  :)

Currently!

I am linking up with Farley for September's 'Currently'.

September snuck up on me so fast that I just realized it's here!  Long weekends tend to make me lose track of time.  

LISTENING:  This afternoon has been peaceful.  No TV or other distractions in the background.  Just the sound of the laundry being done and the dogs and my man breathing deeply as they relax.

LOVING:  That I was able to go to the MU football game with some of my favorite people. The next day I spent time with them at the lake.  But, my favorite thing was going to happy hour and listening to live jazz with my guy.  Our favorite restaurant has a very cool Sunday night gig.  Unfortunately, because of work on Monday we don't get to take advantage of it very often.  It was heaven!

THINKING:  I am really excited about this week's lesson plans.  We are going to be doing lots of painting and color mixing.  Be sure to check back later in the week to see the action!

WANTING:  Some carbonation!  I love me some Sonic beverages!

NEEDING:  I think sometimes it is easy to get complacent and not let the people who are closest to you know just how very important they are.  I need to do a better job of telling my peeps just how much they mean to me and how much I love them.

WHAT I PLAN TO ACCOMPLISH THIS MONTH:  Along the same note as 'needing' I have some very good friends I want to reconnect with.  I would love to see them, but at the very least I need to contact them.  Work has been rather stressful.  It always is at the beginning of the school year.  I need to keep this in mind and not stress out so much.  It will all come together!  And, that leads me to taking one day at a time!  AMEN!

Thanks for reading!  Have a great day.  :)