Thursday, April 1, 2010

Teachable Moments for Easter

The day before the Easter Holiday weekend, we conducted an Easter egg hunt for the students. There was one bag (full of bubbles and a treat) for each student and 5 plastic eggs.

The students were told to only grab 5 eggs.As they grabbed an egg they counted out loud the number they had placed in their bag.



 These are the bags the students used during the egg hunt. They decorated their bags and were told to line them up along the wall.

Once all the bags were lined up, the teacher asked the students to pick up and move their bag one at a time.

Half way through, the students realized the sequence:
  • Cool Blue
  • Dark Blue
  • Orange
  • 2 Green
  • Pink
  • 2 Red

The students we able to predict the next color in the sequence, count the total amount of each color shown, state the color that was most common, and the least common color as a whole.

During centers, the students worked on a coloring page, played Easter bingo, and danced the Bunny Hop and played an Easter version of musical chairs using hula hoops.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Adventures in Field Basing

Spring 2010 is the semester I started my Field Base experience in teaching. I have been working with Pre-K students and have truly found my passion for teaching! The students and school have a great atmosphere and I wanted to share with you some of the activities we have done with the students as of March!
This followed a lesson on Ocean Life. After reading Commotion in the Ocean, I showed students real pictures of Ocean life animals and we compared them to the fictional characters in the book. As the student identified the animal, I place the written word next to it's picture. We worked with beginning sounds and syllables. Lastly, we asked the students to draw what animal they would be if they live in the Ocean. After they colored their picture, I dictated their story.

This activity was utilized during the Ocean Life Unit & for the Chinese New Year Celebration. The page asks the students to point out parts of the fish. In addition, in a unique twist, the students used colored tissue paper to create their water color fish. The teacher gave each student a small cup of water and a paint brush. Then the students laid a piece of tissue down and glided the water across. Then the students just peeled and repeated the process.
however the tissue paper does stain hands






Great Dragon Puppet for celebrating the Chinese New Year with students!










This was a great lesson for the students ! It begin with a finger play that engaged the students and began to turn the wheels in their thought process by counting down. Then we read Fish Eyes where students counted aloud with myself and on their own with the book. Next, we went fishing. A set of fish with dots were thrown into the fish bowl. each student reached in and pulled one out, counted the dots aloud, and found its matching numeral. Finally each student was given a fish number book that had the numeral printed and asked them to place the correct number of dots.











Great tool for Spring Time!











Insects & Plant Life Unit

Using magnifying glasses, we  observed real life Texas Wildflower Plants and stated their features (stem, leaf, petals). Then we observed seeds, and noted how they are all different in size, shape, and color. With the seeds I had its corresponding picture of what it would look like full grown. Then we read The Tiny Seed. Following the story we sequenced the events and summarized the story. Next each child was given a blank piece of paper where we started by drawing the seed, roots, stem, leaves, and petals. After we completed our flower, we added the elements it needs to grow: water, sun, & soil. Lastly we glued real seeds in the center of the flower.

I have had an amazing experience so far and only look forward to my future as a teacher!

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