Bats and Monsters

Today's theme was Bats and Monsters.  We reviewed the letters B and M.  During our morning Language Arts block the kids are split into two groups.  One group works with me at the reading table, and the other group works independently.  We've been working on "reading" independently during this time. 

 J really likes all the Halloween books in our reading box this month.

 At the reading table R and T were practicing cutting on the lines.  Part way through I figured out they weren't holding the scissors correctly, then I realized that they didn't know how to turn the paper so they didn't have to look at it upside down (like R is doing in the picture).  Cutting is a schooled skill.  This H sort comes from the Halloween Theme from 2 Teaching Mommies.

 We also worked on pre writing pages.  They had to get the monsters to the door.  R was so focused on drawing right on the line.  The pre write pages are from the Monsters theme by 2 Teaching Mommies.

 I pulled out the dot art for the boys (all boys today!) for the first time today.  They did a great job with the M is for Monster page from the Monster Theme by, yep you guessed it, 2 Teaching Mommies.  They have such great units that worked very well with our theme for the day.  Happy dance for me because I didn't have to create it.

 We also did "Thumbprint Bats" today.  J, also known as spider-man, loved using his spider-man hands to make the prints.

 T was the first to try adding to his thumbprints with a crayon.  He's starting to get the idea of intentional drawing instead of scribbling.

 I found this idea from another blog, I'm not sure which and as I tried to find it again I failed.  I adapted it to make it work for the supplies I had on hand.  We had a great time rolling the dice and putting the correct number of counting sticks into our monsters.

 We also measured bats today. This bat idea is from Chalk Talk.

 The boys had a great time putting all the money back into the jar, and what a great fine motor activity it turned out to be.

Tuesday the 25th

This is C (2 yrs) yesterday.

 This is C today.  Notice anything similar?  I don't think I'll be able to pry his bob the builder costume off of him.  He loves it!  And the best part?  They are actual clothes that he can wear any time he wants!  Not just some thin jumpsuit that has a printed design on it.  Yay for a great costume!

 A few weeks ago when we were learning the letter B I printed out these cards and didn't have enough time to do the activity with our preschool class.  We finally got around to it today.  I had the boys cut out each letter and then use the bears to build words.  It was a different way to explore how letters have a purpose and was much more fun than rereading our beginning readers.

 Today we also had some fun with some color matching jack-o-lanterns and a pumpkin/jack-o-lantern sort.  They are great printables from 1+1+1=1.

 This is another of my favorite activities, and as soon as I started doing this the boys have been finding letters all over the real world.  I've written a few key sentences that go with our alphabet program (The Amazing Action Alphabet) and then I've had the boys find certain letters throughout all of the sentences and mark them with highlighter tape.

 We've done six letters so far.  C was so happy to pose for the picture after completing all of the S's (see them in blue?).

 Here's a little teaser for all my preschool kids for tomorrow.  Look forward to talking about Bats and Monsters and doing some cute counting!

 We'll be rolling dice and putting the correct number of Halloween sticks into our Frankenstein tubes.  I used the foam sheets cut in half, some tacky glue to make them into a tube and then foam stickers (thanks Oma!) on Popsicle sticks for our counters.  Look forward to these coming home (it'll also be the homework game for Wednesday).