Dramatic Play
We played at the warm and sunny beach! There was a wading pool with balls and ocean animals, towels, picnic supplies, goggles, sunglasses, beach balls, and floaties.
The first day, my small sensory table had ocean animals and water beads to play in. The kids absolutely loved this!
The second day, we added fishing poles and magnetic fish. This led to a lot of fun play. The fish they caught were added to the picnic, then the kids insisted on cooking them, so we got out some cooking supplies, and made "grills" out of baskets. They then took turns fishing and grilling and we all got yummy fish sandwiches.
The third and fourth days, I added molding sand into the sensory table, and seashells. They loved this as well, making prints of the shells in the sand, and filling them with sand. The table was always crowded with kids, these two days.
Blocks
Each day, we had a different ocean puzzle. They were also stored on the shelf so we could try different ones over and over.
Art
Ocean sponge painting
Sensory table filled with ocean animals and water beads. We had them out in the small sensory table before and they loved it, but putting them in the big tub of water was a different sensory experience. It's especially fun to have the clear water beads in there where you can't see them, but can feel them. They had fun searching for them and surprising each other.
Painting with textured rollers
Small Manipulatives
Ocean animal magnets
Ocean lacing cards
Ocean file folder games (thanks to my son's over the top and amazing Sunbeam teacher at church)
Number sequencing puzzle
Writing
Ocean stamps. I'm pleasantly surprised at how well these homemade stamps work. They're just foam stickers on milk lids!
Ocean stickers
Snack
Goldfish crackers
Ocean Jello animals
Outside
More playing in the snow, but we also had to miss a few days due to extreme cold, so we played parachute inside. We played counting games with the fish, where we bounced them on the parachute, then would count how many stayed on, and how many bounced off. They loved this game! We also danced around and sang songs with it, like Shape a loo and Snow is Falling, from previous themes.
Large Group
We learned the song 5 Little Crabs by Dr. Jean. It's on her Totally Math cd. We also learned
Baby Beluga by Raffi. We also danced to Raffi's version of
Octopus' Garden. We used ribbon streamers as we danced and moved. It was especially fun on days we couldn't get outside and needed more movement.
Day 1, we read Hello Ocean, and went over what our 5 senses would see, hear, taste, smell, and hear in the ocean or beach.
Day 2, we read Coral Reef Homes. We also looked through another ocean I Spy book I have to see the different types of ocean habitats (coral reefs, kelp forests, arctic oceans, etc.) and what animals lived in them. We then did an ocean animal sound sort, where we listened for the beginning sound and sorted them into groups with the same sounds. They were great at this. Isolating beginning sounds is a very important pre-reading skill.
Day 3, we read Rainbow Fish and then made our own rainbow fish. We talked a lot about things that were happening in the book, and how we can apply them to making friends at school too. I had a few of the other Rainbow Fish books too, and as they were finishing, we read those as well, at the kids' requests. They were dying to know what happened the rainbow fish and his friends.
Day 4, was our Field Trip to PetSmart! Thank you to those parents who came and helped drive and supervise. The kids had a great time looking at all the different types of fish they had. They also got to see birds, watch the employee feed the guinea pig and a hamster, touch a tortoise and a snake, plus see lizards, turtles, and crickets. They also loved the cats and seeing the dogs in the grooming area. We had a super fun time!
Small Group
Miss Kim played the game, Ocean Treasures, with them, which is a counting game. They had to place numbers 1-10 in order, then count fish to match them with the numeral.
My group observed and classified sea shells. They used magnifying glasses to look, and they got to touch and hold them. We talked about their attributes, (swirly, flat, bumpy, etc) and then sorted them into groups of shells with similar attributes. It wasn't just sorting to them. They loved exploring, then as I'd ask them about their shells. I'd encourage them to find others similar, and pretty soon we had piles of swirly shells and flat shells, then those groups were divided into big and small. They also learned how to properly handle fragile shells, before I put them out in the play area the next week.
Week 2, Miss Kim did the counting ocean puzzles with them, which are put together by placing the numbered pieces in order, 1-10.
My group fished for our number fish, and put them in order 1-10, then counted fish flash cards and matched them to the numeral. Lots of counting and numbers with this theme!
