Music

We had a lot of fun learning new things for our Music week. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, but it was good for us and the kids really enjoyed it!
Dramatic Play
The kids have been begging to have the kitchen back out, since the first week of school. I love making new and elaborate dramatic play centers, but sometimes they just want to play housekeeping. So, we had the kitchen, washer and dyer, plus all the babies back out. Kids all love playing "house" and it's fun for them to be able to act out and play the things they also see and do.
For the second week, I was thinking along the lines of the Arts, since we were learning about Music, and decided to pull in some Theater, with our Puppet Theater. The first day we had it out, I put it in our "Small Manipulatives" area (Large Group area too)so we could keep out the housekeeping things, but it was a big hit, and we didn't have enough room there. So, the second day, I did pull out the kitchen things and put the Puppet Theater over there. We had some great shows, brought chairs over for our audience, and it was a hit the second day too!
 
Blocks
The first week, we had out Mega Blocks again, because I have a Mega Blocks piano that plays music, and they can build with it.
The second week, I moved the instruments over here for more room, and added our dancing ribbons and scarves by the mirror. They loved watching themselves dance!
 
Small Manipulatives
Since the book on cd was such a big hit during Halloween week, I found some more music ones at the library for the kids to listen to and read, that were out at the cd player all week.
 
I also had the instruments in this area the first week. We had a drum for about 30 minutes each day, but it was loud enough, that I could only stand them playing it the first half hour. I was glad I gave them to chance to play on it. Kids love banging drums and being loud!
We also had some number and counting puzzles in this area the second week.
We played with the Nursery Rhyme felt board stories too.

Art
We started the week with bubble wrap painting, where they painted pieces of bubble wrap, then stamped it onto their papers.
The next day they made drums. I helped them attach the construction paper they wanted, then they decorated with markers, stickers, and glue and sequins.
Another day we just enjoyed painting with water colors.
The last day we made kazoos. I used toilet paper rolls with wax paper held on with a rubber band. We learned with the first 2 kids, that if you paint the paper, the wax paper doesn't vibrate and make the same sound anymore. What a great way to learn a lesson, instead of me just telling them. They told the other kids and showed them their first kazoos, and no one else tried painting the paper.
Outside
We had beans and cups in the sensory table.
I also took advantage of the fall weather (and a new table graciously donated by a wonderful preschool Grandma), and took some glue and paper outside for "nature art." They had a blast! We had it out several days and they really liked it. They were surprised I let them glue anything they wanted. Art is all about the process, and creativity, so why not! They glued leaves, sand, dirt, beans from the sensory table, and rocks (which they learned didn't stick).
 
We also enjoyed a new area of our playground, which has been covered up by leaves so they didn't notice it before. They realized we have some fun climbing rocks and were building towers from rocks and playing fun make believe games out here.
 
I took advantage of what could be our last warm weather days this fall, and pulled out our tents and tunnels for a week too. The kids played ants and tag in them, and had lots of fun!
Snack
We had 2 "musical" snacks. Our first was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and we read a book to learn the song, Peanut Butter and Jelly. If you don't know it, here it is:
First you take the peanuts and you smash 'em, you smash 'em. (repeat)
CHORUS: For Peanut, Peanut Butter, and Jelly. (whisper jelly) (repeat)
Then you take the grapes and you mash 'em, you mash 'em. (repeat)
Chorus
Then you take the knife and you spread it, you spread it. (repeat)
Chorus
Then you take your mouth, and you eat it, you eat it (repeat)
Chorus
Our next "musical snack" was Rice Krispies cereal and milk. I told the kids their cereal would "sing" when we added milk. They were silent as I poured, and you could hear it popping all over! They loved it and had seconds to hear it again.
Large Group
First, we learned one of my all-time favorite preschool songs, The Music Cantor by Dr. Jean.
Chorus: I am the Music Cantor, I come from Slavic Lander. Eekon Shpeela, Eekon Shpeela.
I'm the viola. I'm the viola.
Vi-o-vi-o-vi-o-o-la, Vi-o-vi-o-o-la! (while playing viola)
Chorus
I'm the piano. I'm the piano.
Play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play. Play, play, play, play, play play. (while playing piano)
I'm the viola. I'm the viola.
Vi-o-vi-o-vi-o-o-la, Vi-o-vi-o-o-la! (while playing viola)
Chorus
I'm the tuba. I'm the tuba.
Oompa, oompa, oom-pa-pa. Oompa, oo-oo-oompa. (while playing tuba and bending knees up and down)
I'm the piano. I'm the piano.
Play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play. Play, play, play, play, play play. (while playing piano)
I'm the viola. I'm the viola.
Vi-o-vi-o-vi-o-o-la, Vi-o-vi-o-o-la! (while playing viola)
Chorus
I'm the bagpipe. I'm the bagpipe.
Nee-nee-nee-nee-nee-nee-nee-nee. Nee-nee-nee-nee-nee-nee. (Plug nose for nasal sound, wiggle throat with index finger to change voice)
I'm the tuba. I'm the tuba.
Oompa, oompa, oom-pa-pa. Oompa, oo-oo-oompa. (while playing tuba and bending knees up and down)
I'm the piano. I'm the piano.
Play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play. Play, play, play, play, play play. (while playing piano)
I'm the viola. I'm the viola.
Vi-o-vi-o-vi-o-o-la, Vi-o-vi-o-o-la! (while playing viola)
Chorus
I'm the radio. I'm the radio. Click.

They absolutely loved this song, especially the bagpipes!
We learned the word, rhythm, and practiced different rhythms each day, like slap, clap patterns, or moving to slow and fast rhythms.

Day 1, we read about different instruments, then we shook our sillies out with eggs shakers, using Raffi's book and song:
Gotta shake, shake, shake my sillies out. Shake, shake, shake my sillies out. Shake, shake, shake my sillies out, and wiggle my waggles away!
Gotta clap, clap, clap my crazies out. Clap, clap, clap my crazies out. Clap, clap, clap my crazies out, and wiggle my waggles away!
Gotta jump, jump, jump my jiggles out. Jump, jump, jump, my jiggles out! Jump, jump, jump my jiggles out, and wiggle my waggles away!
Gotta yawn, yawn, yawn my sleepies out. Yawn, yawn, yawn my sleepies out. Yawn, yawn, yawn my sleepies out, and wiggle my waggles away!

Day 2, we learned about speed and tempo of music, and also that music expresses feelings. I played some music and we talked about if it sounded fast or slow, and happy or sad. Then we danced with our dancing ribbons (awesome dollar store craft with shower curtain rings and a spool of ribbon) to different types of songs. We moved fast and slow, and I tried to show them how to move with the music and the mood of the music. It was so fun to watch them all move and express themselves.
It was fun to have the ribbons out the next week, and they'd ask for music and dance more.

Day 3, we continued day 2's lesson, but instead of dancing to the music, we painted to it. I had a mural in the hallway (linoleum is easier to clean than carpet) and they painted to the music. I was using a movie's soundtrack this time and one song was so slow and sad, and one child begged me to change it, so we did and found happier music. Some kids just painted, not paying attention to the music at all, while others I watched go slowly with the slower songs, and speed up with the up-tempo ones. We now have a beautiful art piece hanging above dramatic play!

Day 4, we had free choice singing time, to get more time to practice and sing all the songs we've learned so far, and we also had a mom come in and show us her daughter's violin, and let each child try playing that. It was definitely a highlight of our week!
We had another mom visit during snack the first week to show the kids her guitar and let them each play it. Thanks to both of these moms! The kids talked about those 2 things (and playing the loud drum) more than anything else after this theme was over!

Small Groups
We made egg shakers. The volunteers of this group were awesome, filling eggs with cotton balls, or overfilling, to show them how it effects the sound. The kids got to choose from lentils, rice, or beans for their shakers, then decorate them with stickers. The different items didn't effect the sound too much, but just allowed them to have a choice and control, which preschoolers love.
I played Instrument Memory and Bingo with the kids, to learn instrument names. We also learned that instruments come in families, and what those families are. We sorted our pictures from our games into those families. They may not remember them all, but a first exposure to the vocabulary is a start!
We made rubber band instruments. We had wonderful "beautiful junk" donated by all of you, including tissue boxes, shoe boxes, cans, and other containers the kids chose from. They all made different sounds so they enjoyed choosing their favorite, and again decorated with stickers.
I read and discussed Sounds All Around with my group, then we played a game. I had 8 cool whip containers (thanks again to your beautiful junk donations) filled with 4 different objects. Since they couldn't see inside, they had to shake the containers and try to find their match by listening to the sounds.

Happy Halloween!

 I had so much fun dedicating a whole week of learning to Halloween! This is a holiday and theme that the kids are just obsessed with and love, so we couldn't not have fun!

Dramatic Play
How to make something Halloween-ish, but not scary at all? I thought about sticking to the spider web game from last year, but remembered my castle from last year's Fairy Tales unit!

So, I gave the castle some new paint (since we learned too late last year that the cheapest brand IS the cheapest), and added a small Halloween touch. Seriously, 2 signs and a welcome mat. Not scary at all, but still Halloween! I even added a few friendly ghosts and bats from the ceiling.
The castle was a hit, but mainly for what was inside....costumes! All kinds. Almost my whole collection. There were witches, clowns, pumpkins, dragons, knights, princesses, ballerinas, animals, cowboys/girls, safari people, and I think that may be it. Plus random wigs and hats. They had a blast!
 
They changed and changed over and over and become such fun characters. I loved seeing them dress up, head over to the writing or reading center awhile, then back for another costume change. They needed a way to hold swords and one kid suggested a belt, so I made him a yarn belt and pretty soon everyone had one. They used them to carry swords, stick horses, wands, and artwork. Very creative kids.

On actual Halloween, they were all coming in costume, so I had the spider web on the floor with bugs, plus the headbands and hats from There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat (we did it in large group last time), plus the blocks were in there too. They had fun playing again, but not as much fun as they did with the costumes, plus they were all drawn to playdough on day 2.
 

Art
Day 1 we made egg carton bats courtesy of this pin.
I knew it wouldn't take long and wasn't sure how much interest it would hold (all who wanted to try did it first, then moved on. When art isn't open-ended, it doesn't last), so I had a sensory activity to try too. Thanks to a mom's suggestion (and a rainy day so I couldn't put it in the sensory table outside), we did spaghetti and green jello with Halloween bugs and other toys. It was a huge hit. My girl stayed the whole 45 minutes (in costume, of course) and the others came and went, but it was always a busy area. They love slimy sensory experiences!
 
Day 2 we had orange play dough with Halloween and Fall cookie cutters.

Small Manips
We played with fall pattern cards (squirrel, leaves, apples)

Spider web lacing cards
 

Writing
We had Halloween stickers and foamie shapes

and Halloween stamps

Outside
We had 1 rainy day, which gave us extra large group time for pin the tail on the black cat and lots of songs.
 
On Halloween we had pumpkins in the sensory table and a few kids gathered some seeds, but none of them would touch it. It's my 5th year doing this, and the first year the kids wouldn't play in it!

Large Group
So fun. We sang 5 Little Pumpkins and Spider on the Floor from the Raffi cd (they asked to do them over and over, especially the spider one). We did a Halloween poem each day, and they all got to participate in playing a part as it built up.
Day 1, we read There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat, and the kids wore headbands to help tell the story.
 
Day 2 we made these candy corn torn paper pictures off of pinterest, and it was awesome! I didn't expect them to do as well as they did, or to enjoy it and spend as much time on it as they did. I expected something quick that they didn't necessarily love, but they took their time on their art. Tearing paper is such a great fine motor skill, and it should be encouraged! Making art out of it is just a plus. We also squoze in a very quick game of Don't Eat Frank before we headed home.

Small Group
The volunteer moms helped teach the pumpkin life cycle by helping the kids create pumpkin "time lines."
My group played a phonics game, but we tied in Halloween because the cards were on pumpkins. I reviewed some letters and sounds with them and identified which pictures started with which sound. They then got a pile of cards with 3 different sounds, and had to sort them with the 3 letters. I was very very impressed with how well they did!

Snacks.
So fun. Again :) We made this cute mummy dogs from this pin, but ours were a little less cute. They made their own and loved doing it. They loved them and wished and begged for seconds!
 
On Halloween we had healthy snacks of pumpkins and ghosts from this pin.
 

My favorite moment of Halloween week is when a child asked me to play the cd with its book. I don't have a reading center with headphones, so when I have a book on cd, it just gets placed in front of the cd player if they want to listen to it. As soon as it started, they all came over. They probably went through it at least 4 times, but some listened more. It was fun to see them all huddled around the book in their costumes, intently listening!
 
This is a group of readers! I change the books out in the reading center each theme, and they flock to them. I get asked to read a story every day and I love it. Once I sit and start reading, they just flock over, and I usually have at least 7 of the 9, if not all of them, for at least 1 story. Then they all start pulling books and we just read and read until I realize clean up time has passed. It's awesome. I love reading to them, and love that they're hearing lots of these stories I can't fit into small and large group.

Healthy Bodies

Following up our Safety unit with Healthy Bodies was a great transition.  We went from keeping ourselves safe, to keeping our bodies healthy. With only 3 days in this unit, though, I feel we barely scratched the surface!

Dramatic Play
We played in a doctor's office, complete with tools like real (and pretend) stethoscopes, bandages, medicine bottles, medicine dispensers used as shots, and other tools to check ears, eyes, and reflexes.


For some reason, that's my only picture, but you can check out last year's here for an idea.

My favorite part was, like last year, they'd sit and patiently wait in the "waiting room" for their turn. Our doctors were great at diagnosing too (and I recently learned they know the word diagnosis thanks to Doc McStuffins; I hadn't heard of her last year). We wrote our diagnosis in our notebooks for writing practice, and got a lot of good reading done about the human body too.
On Day 3, we changed a little to add dentist items, and the kids played a mixture of both doctor and dentist.

Art
We decorated faces. Some added the hair and eyes in correct spots, but most just explored with the items and made great collages.
 
We also painted with people-shaped sponge stamps. They asked for eyes, so I got the googly eyes back out and they ended up covering their paintings.
 
I loved this project because I watched 2 kids over there (who usually don't do art) playing together for 30 minutes. It's what preschool art is about....the process, not the product. They started with people and added 2 eyes (they were the ones who requested it). I was in the reading center reading to a few kids and watched these 2 transform their pictures into all different creations with the paint, stamps, and eyes. They were laughing and talking as they described the silly things they were making. Another reason I love open-ended art. I provide the supplies, and they put their imaginations and language to work.

Blocks
We built and played with Mega Blocks and cars, just because they're a favorite.

Small Manipulatives
We did a community helpers and a Doc McStuffins puzzle.
We played with the community helpers sorting we game we had done in small group last week.
Played DocMcStuffins memory.

Large Group
Day 1 we read The Amazing Human Body and talked about it. Seriously, that took the whole 15 minutes. It wasn't meant to, but we had great questions and discussion. We talked about our hearts and lungs and exercising. We found and flexed our muscles. We found our bones and skulls and blood vessels. What a fun day of discovery and vocabulary!

Day 2 we learned about germs and how they travel and enter our body. We watched a short clip from Sid the Science Kid that helped them visualize how a germ can travel from one person or thing to another, and then how washing it down the sink got rid of it. One kid sat there with his hands in front of him, totally disgusted, then got up to wash his hands once we were done. All the kids requested some sanitizer too. We then learned our new songs.
tune "Happy and You Know It"
When you go to the bathroom, wash your hands,
When you go to the bathroom, wash your hands,
When you go to the bathroom, then you need to wash your hands,
When you go to the bathroom, wash your hands.

When you need to sneeze or cough, wash your hands,
When you need to sneeze or cough, wash your hands,
When you need to sneeze or cough, then you need to wash your hands,
When you need to sneeze or cough, wash your hands!

We also sang another verse about sneezing or coughing into your elbows to not get the germs on our hands.

Day 3 we learned about keeping our teeth clean. We read a book called Going to the Dentist. We then practiced brushing teeth with our giant teeth and toothbrush. Each kid got a turn to brush, following the directions on our poster. Then I lined them up shoulder to shoulder to be the teeth, and I used a giant piece of floss to floss between them and get all the plaque out.
 
 
We has started an experiment on Tuesday, and checked on it Thursday. We had 2 boiled eggs and put one in Coke and one in water for 2 days. We compared the differences after, and talked about the effects that unhealthy food and drinks can have on our teeth. We were able to brush off some of the brown stains and talked about why it's important to brush.
 
 
We also sang the Raffi song, Brush Your Teeth.
When you wake up in the morning and it's quarter to 1, and you want to have a little fun,
You brush your teeth, ch ch ch ch, ch ch ch ch ch, you brush your teeth, ch ch ch ch, ch ch ch ch ch
...quarter to 2, and you want to find, something to do,
...quarter to 3, and your mind starts humming, tweedle dee dee,
...quarter to 4, and you think you hear a knock on the door,
...quarter to 5, and you just can't wait to come alive!

Small Groups
Week 1 we only had 1 day, so we did 2 10-minute small groups.
In one, our volunteer grandma helped the kids cut straight lines, and it was no easy task! They had 2 lines to cut on a picture with the outside and inside of the body. It was great practice for them, and lots of work.
In my group, we wrote in our journals about ways to stay safe (reviewing last week).

Week 2, we learned about healthy foods and exercise.
Our mom volunteers helped the kids sort (sneaking in some math skills) our play food into healthy and unhealthy foods. Then they drew their favorite healthy foods in their journals.
I talked to the kids about exercising. We read From Head to Toe by Eric Carle to get our bodies moving like the animals. Then I showed them a healthy bodies app on the ipad and we looked at the heart and lungs. We could make the person "run" and watched their heart beat faster and lungs go faster. Then we did some exercising to get our hearts and breathing to go fast. It was a lot of fun!

Snacks
We had to eat healthy all week, so we tried some fun things.
We tasted 4 different types of apples, then picked our favorites to color and add to our fall tree. We learned about apples growing in the fall too.
We made egg salad. They each got to peel their own boiled egg (which was tedious and time-consuming, but a good fine motor skill) then we mixed them with mayo and a little salt and pepper for our salad. They devoured it on crackers.
I don't remember the third snack, but I think it was just crackers and juice that we ate, and then also got the rare treat of watching a video during snack. Dr. Rabbit taught us about sweets and soda causing plaque, and how to fight the plaque with flossing and brushing.
You can go to Colgate's website here for more videos and games to help teach your children about dental hygiene. I know this lesson helped me be better with my own daughter (we weren't flossing and often only brushed at night, but we're doing much better!). I also printed off a chart from here, a smaller version of the classroom one I have, that shows her all the parts of her teeth we need to brush.

Congrats to all your kids who finished their homework and teeth brushing chart. They were thrilled to earn their toothbrush prize! (although 1 did ask what the real prize was :)

We wrapped up the unit with a journal entry on their favorite way to stay healthy. Most said eat strawberries. At least they learned 1 good thing!

Whew! In 3 days we covered body parts and functions, nutrition, exercise, oral health, dr and dentist visits, and germs. Hope they caught onto something here!

Safety

Field Trip
We started out Safety week with a field trip to the fire station. Thanks to all you you who came! The kids had a great time. We started with a video about fire safety that talked about having a plan to get out of your house in case of a fire. The fire fighter also taught us about not playing with fire and matches to stay safe, and we practiced Stop Drop and Roll and calling 911 in an emergency. Then we got to tour the Fire Station! Most kids liked it, and others were nervous. It can be a scary thing, and fires can be scary to kids, but I think it helps to meet the firefighters and see that they're nice and there to help you. Especially when they show the kids what they look like in their full gear, they're showing the kids that if they come to help them dressed that way, they can trust them. Some kids took a turn to drive the truck and hold the hose. We also got fire hats they all thought were cool! We ate snack at the park and played a few minutes on the Fire Station playground too. Back at school, the kids got some free play time before we did small groups.

Dramatic Play
We played Fire Station all week. I had more fire fighter coats this year and that made it a lot of fun! They had lots of fun dressing up and playing firefighters all week, and I think it was great to go to the fire station first so they could see what they do.
 
I even made oxygen tanks by spray painting pop bottles yellow.




The second week, after they had learned and practiced calling 911 and being dispatchers, their play really expanded with them using the phones to call and giving an address to the firefighters. There were pictures of houses on the wall in the block area with numbers, and they were good at giving those numbers as their address. Learning math and life skills in play!


 

Blocks
The block area had a doll house the first week, with dolls and some firefighters. My firefighters were about half the size of the dolls, but they didn't seem to mind! They had some great make believe play!
 

The second week we had out the car mat and cars. Both were a great extension of the fire station, as the kids used them together to put out fires in the doll house and in the buildings on the car mat.

Art
We played play dough.
We made collages with glue and a variety of different things to glue on our papers.
We made fall leaves for our tree. We did marble painting, by rolling marbles in paint, then dropping them in large cans with our papers inside. We shook the cans to spread the paint, then took our papers out when they were ready. Once they dried, I cut out the fall leaf shape and added them to our classroom tree.
 
 



I somehow forgot to get a pic of the finished tree!

We also finger painted. I tried this recipe, but it didn't turn out great. It kinda dried to a gelatin consistency. I added more water and stirred more and it worked, but it was lumpy. The kids still enjoyed it and it was a great sensory experience (like our gelatin molds), but I don't think I'll use it again.

Small Manips
We did 2 different fire fighter floor puzzles.
We played a community helpers game and did a community helpers floor puzzle.

Outside
We had wheat in the sensory table, and added the firefighters to it the second week.
We also had out balls and other toys.
The kids are loving the swing set and spend most of the time swinging and sliding!

Snacks
Besides the regular snack rotations, we made traffic lights for snack one day. The kids spread their frosting on their graham crackers, then added skittles to make it a traffic light.

 
 

Songs
We learned 2 new songs, one about fire trucks one about calling 911.

Hurry, hurry, drive that fire truck,
Hurry, hurry, drive that fire truck,
Hurry, hurry, drive that fire truck,
Other verses:
Hurry, hurry, turn that corner
climb the ladder
squirt the hoses
Slowly, slowly, back to the fire house

911 (tune of Bingo)
There is a number you can call when you need someone's help.
You call 911, you call 911, you call 911 when you need someone's help!

Large Group
Day 1 was the field trip.
Day 2 we had eaten our traffic lights for snack, and learned more about them in large group. We read about traffic safety, then played Red Light Green Light.
Day 3 we read about Playground Safety, and did a safety experiment on our playground. We took 2 apples outside. We made predictions about what would happen if we dropped them on the grass and cement. Then we did it. The one dropped on grass had nothing happen to it. The one that I dropped on the cement broke open and juice came out, which they immediately connected to being blood if it was them that fell. We talked about the safest place to run on our playground, and they knew it was the grass because if they fell, the wouldn't cut their knee open and bleed.
 
Day 4 we read a Sesame Street safety book and wrote in our journals how we can stay safe.

Small Group
I taught the kids about calling 911. We practiced using real phones, and one child got to be the dispatcher while another called to report an emergency. We also talked about what emergencies are that we would need to call 911, and times when we shouldn't. As with most lessons this week, I emphasized with the kids that they are small enough there should always be an adult or baby sitter watching them who would know what to do in an emergency and they could count on them to know if they needed to call 911.

Our mom volunteers read an interactive safety book to the kids that posed different situations, and the kids got to pick the safest answer. They pushed the button to see if their answer was right. I was so glad to have small groups to get to use this book, since they love having turns to push the buttons and that's hard to do in large group!

Week 2, I read the kids a book about strangers and we talked about "stranger danger." Hopefully you read my other blog post about Strangers with links to great articles on how to talk to our kids about this topic. We talked about the situations in the book and what would be safe (like not wandering off from our parents and finding a "safe" stranger like a mom with kids or a cashier or police officer if we did get lost).

Our mom volunteers played a community helpers game with the kids, and also helped them place ambulance cards with numbers 1-10 in order.

Shapes Shapes Shapes!

Here's some of the fun we had during shapes week!

Dramatic Play:
Pizza Restaurant


 
 Added literacy with job charts and signs for ordering. Also great math with this.

 Math and sorting. Pizza toppings made with shapes I cut out from foamie sheets. Each day at clean up, the kids had to sort them back into their right spots. It took time, but it's an important math skill!

 




 
We had a blast making pizza this week in DP! We had play dough and toppings so they could make their own, plus some plastic pizza pieces too. It was a hit all 4 days. They were so cute as workers dressed in their aprons and chef hats, and taking orders (always filling out the order forms and receipts) and serving each other. One day, 2 kids were working like crazy while the others stood in line to order and sat at the table waiting. The "workers" were running around like crazy taking orders and making pizzas and one said, "It's so hard to work at the Pizza Restaurant when it's so busy!" We recruited a few more workers and they got through the busy rush. This play was serious business. Check out these great pizzas:

I tried a new play dough recipe this week with baking soda and cornstarch. It was great the first day, but then got super sticky, so I went back to my go-to recipe I use all the time. I didn't get it here, but it's the same one I had from college and I know it works.
 

Blocks: 

The first week, we set up bowling. The kids loved the pizza restaurant and bowling alley together. One kid even planned his birthday party there and invited the others to come eat pizza and bowl. It was perfect.
 

Day 3, we had masking tape shapes on the ground and a basket of objects to sort by shape like this, and day 4, we had a giant foam number puzzle with shapes for each number.

Small Manipulatives:

We did several shape puzzles (large floor ones and small), played with pattern block and other shapes magnets to make pictures and patterns, and played shape dominoes.
 
We also used pom poms to make shapes. They loved this one!
 
Art:
Shape sponge painting
Q-tip art in small circles (the point was to use their fine motor skills to make dots, but they all just painted all over the pages).
Gluing foamie shapes to make pictures
 
Play dough with shape cookie cutters

Sensory Table:

We had 2 more days of rainbow rice since they loved it so much. Week 2, we had cloud dough, which is flour and baby oil mixed together. It was the perfect consistency for our ABC molds.

Writing:
Shape stamps (made putting stickers on milk carton lids) thanks pinterest
 
Shape tracing


Large Group:

Songs:
Jake the Snake is similar to Mitch the Fish and Scat the Cat, except Jake makes different shapes with his body. I have pictures of Jake wrapped around shapes in a folder, and they switch as we sing the song.

I'm Jake the Snake,
I'm happy and awake.
I'm a magical guy,
I can change my shape.

We also sang 2 songs from Dr. Jean's cd Totally Math, Shape a Loo and I Spy a Shape.
We danced and sang about shapes, and searched for them around the room as we sang.

Shape a Loo
Here we go shape a loo, here we go shape a lay, here we go shape a loo, all on a happy school day.
We put the triangles in, we take the triangles out, we give the triangles a shake shake shake, and turn them all about.
(repeat with other shapes)

I Spy a Shape
Do you spy a rectangle? A rectangle? A rectangle? Do you spy a rectangle, in the room?
Yes I found a rectangle.....
(repeat with other shapes)

We did a shape each day for 4 days (circle, square, rectangle, triangle) and hung pictures on our shape wall, then played I Spy a Shape and found them all over the room.
We read many great shape books too.

Small Group:

Thanks for your help with this one, parents! We made a book based on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, using shapes. With pre-cut shapes, the children made a different animal for each page. I still need to bind them and have a child who was absent finish theirs, then they'll be coming home. They look great and I'm excited for the kids to "read" them to you. They learned so much with this activity, and I was impressed listening to you moms helping and reviewing their shapes with them. The Kindergarten core wants the children to be able to use shapes to make a picture, and that's what we were teaching here.

Some great shape resources to keep teaching your kids at home:
Shape Play
Colors and Shapes
Name the Shapes
Big Bird's Shapes
Different Shapes
Creating with Shapes
Shape o Bots
and so many more once you find these, you'll see the rest!