Oceans

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!

Our Community

The 2 obvious highlights of this week, were our 2 field trips. What better way to learn about our community, than actually get out of the school?
Petco was so fun, and they were so crazy excited about the fish! They seriously would have been thrilled, had that been the whole field trip! We also saw lizards, frogs, turtles, and tarantulas, and even got to pet the bearded dragon lizard. We also got to pet a ferret, and they loved how wiggly and cute he was, and he enjoyed sniffing all of us! We then watched the birds, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, rats, and mice before looking at the cats before we left. They were all so well-behaved and we had so much fun!
The fire station was awesome too. The guys at South Davis Metro Fire here in Bountiful did such a good job with the kids. We watched a cartoon about fire safety and getting out of your house, then got our tour. We got to watch a fireman slide down the pole too. We got to check out the big truck and they let us touch everything, which we did! Everyone who wanted got a turn to "drive" the truck, and we got a group pic in the front. We even saw a fireman coming back from a job, still all dressed up in his gear. It was a little scary, but he was so nice. We each got a hat and a badge and it was so great!

We had such a short time after snack for free play before large group, and here's a few things we did:

Fire Station dramatic play

I got all the pictures from a training on dramatic play years ago and they were great. The kids loved the pictures of the real fires. I helped the kids the first day with the different roles like home owner, fire fighter/chief, and dispatcher. They were so cute as they'd call each other to tell the dispatcher their house was on fire, tell them which house, then the fire fighter kids would come spray it out. A simple thing like pictures of houses with house numbers, and the papers that matched them for the dispatcher were so great for their play and for extended math and literacy in the center. I helped them read the numbers, and fine the house and circle it on the paper so the fire fighters knew where to go. They have great imaginations and it was a great time for me to talk to them about calling 911, knowing your house number, and knowing that fire fighters will keep you safe and help you. Since at 3 years old, kids rarely know their phone numbers and addresses (and as many pointed out, don't know the passwords to unlock their parents' phones) we talked about how grown ups would help us get out of the house and call 911 because we always have someone older watching and taking care of us. This was a fun center and they loved it and spent most of their time playing here, especially right after being at the fire station. We even had a few fires in the igloo that they had to run over and put out.

Puzzles
We had 2 different fire truck floor puzzles and several community helper puzzles. They are getting better and better at figuring out how to put them together, and we always get a group helping, so we are learning to cooperate too.

Playdough
Just a favorite that's always asked for and played with almost daily.

Large Group
We read about heroes in our community and how "every day" people, like our neighbors, can be heroes. We talked about different jobs that people have and what they do to help us.
We read about a girl who wants to be a fire fighter like her dad.
We made patterns with community helpers' hats.
We practiced fire safety by learning to not play with anything that lights on fire, and to crawl low on the ground to get out of a fire. We practiced crawling to the door to get out of school if there were ever a fire, and I reassured them (over and over) I would always take care of them and we would be safe if something like that happened, as long as they listened and obeyed.

They had so many questions and concerns about getting out of their houses in a fire, like they saw in the video at the fire station, and I just reassured them their parents would always take care of them. It made me realize how important it is to have a plan in place and let them know what you'd do to get out of your house if you had a fire. It took me back to my own elementary school days and learning to have a family plan and being so scared! I encourage you all to talk to your kids about it and develop a family plan. We're going to be doing that here. It's about time I listen to the great advice from those fire fighters!

Pet Store

Here's the fun Pet Store we had for dramatic play the week we learned about pets:

There's just something about that cardboard box and cash register that is like a magnet to these kiddos! They just love it.
I think the highlight for me was the literacy and math I was able to pull in. All the animals had a sign for where they belonged, and then the signs for pricing were on the inside and outside of the "store" sign. They had a great time buying animals from each other and they would even check the sign to tell the customer how many dollars it cost. They don't all know all of their numbers yet, so I was able to help them. The best way to enhance number recognition is repetition, so I'm trying to incorporate a lot of numbers and counting into all the things we do to give them as many exposures as I can!
But the real highlight was watching the kids ring up the customers. The cash register's belt really moves and so the kids would put the smaller animals on the conveyor belt (like the frogs, and even the fish taken out of the bowls) and they'd push the button to move the animal along the conveyor belt until it beeped. It was so funny and cute to watch! Luckily, none of them work at a pet store yet.


The kids' highlight of the week was definitely one of our great moms bringing in their pet kitten. They are still walking about it, weeks later! What a cutie!