Friendship and Valentines

Dramatic Play

We had a Post Office for sending valentines and letters to our friends. The kids loved this dramatic play center! I had to explain a lot about what a Post Office is, since many haven't been or don't remember it, and they caught on quickly. They loved working there and could use the phone, computer, or cash register, plus they got to stamp the letters coming through. They also had to collect the mail from the big mailbox and deliver it to mailboxes around the room.
They loved stuffing envelopes and adding stamps and sending them in the mail. They really enjoyed this center!

I added Valentines to the shelf on week 2:






  



Blocks

Puppet theater




Dinosaurs with the book, Mine-o-saur

Valentine beanbag toss game


Art

Paint with colored sweetened condensed milk



Foamie ABCs and glue


Valentines boxes

Rolling and stamping out sugar cookies for snack, then playing with pink play dough.

Small Manipulatives

Bears and pattern cards


People floor puzzle and lacing beads


Valentines flat marble pages


Small 12-piece puzzles

Magnet board:

Pattern block puzzles


Valentine 1-10 puzzle


Reading


Writing

Colored pencils

Valentine stickers

Valentines

Large Group

We learned the word cooperate this week. They caught on quickly and used it constantly throughout the day to point out whenever they were or weren't cooperating.
We learned a song from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, "Before you take something away, stop and ask if it's ok." We watched a clip the first day, then listened to and sang the song the other 3 days. We also sang Daniel Tiger's song about taking turns "you can take a turn, and then I'll get it back."

Here are some great topical friendship episodes or clips. The one we watched isn't on YouTube yet, but we watched it off the PBS Kids app.

This was a snowy week so we had to get fully dressed in snow clothes to head outside. They were totally bummed about only watching short clips of Daniel Tiger, so I actually used it to help us get ready to go. I turned it on, then would help 2 kids at a time get their snow clothes on while the others watched. We were able to get all 8 dressed and ready to go without chaos, in a 13 minute video clip! I rarely have any screen time at school, but was relieved to find episodes about friendship that tied into the theme, and helped us to get ready to go outside with less chaos than usual.

Day 1, we watched a Sesame Street clip to learn about cooperation. Then we read I Can Cooperate. We made patterns with little people. Then I put them with partners, and they had to cooperate to make a pattern together.

Day 2, We read the Mine-o-saur, which is about a dinosaur who takes all the toys, and then has no one left to play with. We role-played sharing. We practiced asking for something we want instead of just taking it away, as well as answering "yes, I'm done" or "I'm not done yet. I'll give it to you when I'm done." We also role played taking turns.

Day 3, we read a book about friendship by Mr. Rogers and they had so many comments and questions about it! Then we played Valentines Bingo.

Day 4, we split into 2 groups. My group sorted and graphed Sweethearts candies. I had a mom volunteer and she helped her group gather valentines that the kids mailed to you. After playing post office all week, they were pretty excited to add a real stamp and have it go to their houses. They all wanted to see what kind of stamp the post office would put on it.


Small Group

Week 1, my group worked on a beginning sounds puzzle, and we practiced taking turns getting pieces to match.
The other group worked on lacing cards.

Week 2, my group extended and made patterns with conversation hearts.
The other group drew their friends in their journals.


Happy Valentines Day! Love, Miss Lisa!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We just celebrated 1 day this year. We played house in dramatic play, played with ABC foam puzzles at the block center, and valentine-themed flat marble pages for small manipulatives. We decorated our sacks for art, and used the extra stickers and things to make pictures. There were also valentine stamps at the writing table.








For large group, we played Valentine-themed Bingo with conversation hearts, then had a heart-stacking contest. Afterwards, we did small group activities of number matching, and a valentine puzzle while I called kids to pass out their valentines, then it was already time to go home! We had a fun day!

Valentine's Day

Dramatic Play

Post Office! What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day, than sending mail! They were the cutest little mail carriers. They loved working at the cash register the most, and stamping all the mail. We took turns being customers to buy paper, valentines, envelopes, post cards, stamps and boxes. They also had a great time delivering them with their hats and bags to the mailboxes around the room. Like I said, they were so cute.






Blocks

I had out a play castle my son has been begging to have out for a few weeks. They liked it so much, they were sad to clean it up, so I kept it out another day.

Art

We played with chocolate scented play dough, and heart candy boxes. It was a big sacrifice over the weekend for my kids to have to help me eat all the chocolates :)
The kids really enjoyed it, and were making valentine presents for each other and they got delivered to their friends through the post office.

The second day, we played with the play dough again for the first while before we got out ingredients to make oatmeal pancakes. They really love cooking, and all took a turn to add and mix ingredients. They then ran off to play some more while I cooked them.

Small Manipulatives


Valentine number sequencing puzzle on the magnet board














Valentine dot cards with flat marbles. This was the first time we'd done this, and they were excited to play with these marbles. They made patterns and counted as they played too.

Writing

Valentine stamps

Outside
We stayed inside out of the mud one day, and danced with ribbons and played with the parachute. The next day, we enjoyed the sunshine and got out and played after snack! It is so nice not having to get all the kids in full snow gear again! We've got spring fever!

Large Group
We learned the song, Skidamarink.
We read a valentines book, then handed out valentines to each other

The second day, we played with Sweetheart candies. First, they glued hearts onto the letters of their names to spell them. Then, they each got a box of their own candies and we sorted them, graphed them, and made patterns with them. They were amazing at the sorting and graphing, and were all able to do it on their own. With the patterns, they did great at extending mine, and a few could make them on their own. They're doing great!

Valentine's Day

I am so glad I decided to dedicate whole weeks to the holidays this year. It's too hard to try to fit them into another theme, and it's fun to celebrate with fun learning activities. I just somehow forgot to take any pictures...

Dramatic Play/Blocks
It has nothing to do with Valentine's. I couldn't really think of anything that did. I had requests from some kids to have out stick horses, so I got them out, along with cowboy hats and vests. To go along with that, I also put the barns and farm animals in the block area. And again, due to popular demand, I had out the doll house and people.

Art
We made TP tube hearts. I also had paint brushes out so they could just paint with the red and pink paint too.
I'd had requests for glue and glitter the week before too, to make valentines, so when things slowed up with the painting, I pulled out the glue and glitter and the art table was busy the rest of the day. It was a messy, but fun day of art!
Thursday, we made our bags to collect our valentines in. There were die cuts, stickers, and stamps. There was also paper for them to make valentines once their bags were done.

Small Manips
We did a valentine puzzle, ordering numbers 1-10 to make a picture. I found it here.
We also made valentine and heart pictures with beads. Found here.

Writing
We had valentine stamps, die cuts, and colored paper to make valentines.

Snack
The first day we got our sugar fix by decorating and eating heart sugar cookies.
The next day we tried to be healthier (mainly since they'd be getting their valentines today), so we made healthy pink smoothies with berries, bananas, and mangoes. We also added heart shaped ice cubes.

We only had 1 outside day with bad weather, but snow is melting, and we're already getting spring fever over here!

Large Group
We learned the song Skidamarink.
Day 1, we read a book called The Best Thing About Valentines, and learned that the nest thing is having friends to exchange valentines with. We then sorted and graphed conversation hearts. I introduced graphing by looking at our weather graph we do daily, then we graphed some hearts as a large group. We reviewed the instructions several times (sort, graph, show teacher, then eat) and I was SO impressed at how well they followed them. Every single one of the, sorted and graphed their hearts with NO HELP! I was very proud of them!
 

 
 

Day 2, we read Franklin's Valentine, then passed out our valentines. I attempted this last year one at a time, while they waited. Not great. So this year, I put my mom skills to use, and did what I often do when I need to get something done, I turned on a show. It was educational, though! I tried to find a good valentines movie and couldn't, so instead we watched an episode of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood about friendship. It worked like a charm, and I was able to help each child pass out their valentines, then we went home (we did small group first today).

Small Group
We made tissue paper hearts. It helped with small motor skills (scrunching the tissue paper), and also reviewed their number recognition. I got the idea here.

We did a phonics activity, focusing on beginning sounds. I got it here.