B is for Body-Lungs

This was a really cool science demonstration to help kids understand how the lungs work.   There is a little tab on the top of the balloon and when you pull  it demonstrates how the lungs fill and release air.  The kids were in awe and each loved taking a turn trying it out!

B is for Body

Miss Amy, my nurse friend came in and taught us all about our major organs, body parts, and about the importance of not spreading germs.  The silly string sneeze demonstration was especially popular with the kids.  She also showed them her stethoscope.  

My Body is Important

We learned all about bodies this week for our Letter B unit.  For art we made body aprons, and practiced cutting by finding foods in magazines to put in our "stomach".  These kids are killing me with their cuteness! 

Blue Bird, Blue Bird on my shoulder

To go along with our  color theme this month I taught the kids how to draw a blue bird using a step by step instruction sheet.  I teach the kids to draw one picture a month using this method.  I love to show them how pictures are made up of shapes and details and that even when we all make the same picture they all have their own individuality and that they don' t have to be identical or perfect to be beautiful.  I also think it is a great lesson on following directions and the kids generally tend to be very surprised how cute their pictures turn out which helps boost their confidence. Here are how our first pictures of the year turned out.  I think our budding artists did pretty darn great!

Field trip to the Bakery

For our field trip we went to one of my favorite stores around Harmon's Bakery and got a little tour.  I was mesmerized by how many different kinds of cheeses they have! We got to sample some cheese that had fancy names I can't remember that started with the letter B.  They were so great to accommodate us and to go along with the requested B theme.  They also let us all sample some gelato and then we went and learned a bit about the bakery from a real french baker.  He gave us all bread and the kids a cookie, then we learned a little about the produce department and they gave the kids some fresh blueberries.  Lots of tasting fun for the senses! 

Letter B Obstacle course

So I am realizing we were so busy having fun learning about the letter B that I guess we didn't get a lot of pictures of our blue bubble art, blowing bubbles, bear graphing etc.   But, I do have these fun action shots of the kids doing our B obstacle course which included balancing on a beam to the letter b, bouncing a ball, making a basket, carrying a bean bag on their head (hilarious for all), and bouncing on a ball around the cones (They did SO good at this!)  It was a fun active way to get out some wiggles, focus on gross motor development,  and reenforce the letter B.  Win-win if you ask me! 

10 Bears in a Bed

This is a fun game that helps reinforce color recognition.  I found the flannel board template and words to the song HERE. 

Brown Bear Sorting & Counting Game

For this game the kids each got a container (I recycled some baby food containers) with M & M's inside to sort by color on my Brown Bear mats found HERE.  We then counted them and compared which animal had more or less.  

N is for Numbers

 I got the idea for doing number art using Jasper John's Techniques HERE.  Some of theirs were done with oils and were done by older children.  I was pleased with the results!

 Counting noodles on number cards-great for one to one correspondence in a very visual way.

 Adding Unifex cubes. Also, a very visual demonstration for adding two numbers together.

Bears in the cave subtraction game.  Idea found HERE. 

More Number Grid art inspired from art activity found HERE.

We practiced subtraction using magnetic numbers and counting dots.  I found this activity HERE.

Jumping Beans Sight Word Game

For this active learning game I first taught the kids about Mexican Jumping Beans then told them we would get to pretend to be jumping beans.  I then had them take turns picking one bean out of the can.  If the bean had a sight word on it they would get to read it.  If the bean had a smiley face on it the whole class would get to stand up and jump around like a jumping bean.  

I is for Insect Sensory Tub

This one came fully loaded with all kinds of insects, rocks, "grass", tweezers and tongs, and a dirthill. 

I is for Insect Art

For these butterflies we just used coffee filters.  I let the kids color all over them with markers and then spray them with water from a squirt bottle.  They painted clothespins and glued eyes and antennae's on them. 

B verses D

Lowercase b's and d's can be very difficult for young children to differentiate between so we played a couple of games to help learn the difference between the two.  For for the dog game we read CVC words which began with either a 'b' or a 'd' and then sorted them under the letter where they belonged. We used the dogs because this week we were focusing on the letter D.  For the second game we rolled the dice to see which letter it landed on.   If it was a b we would trace the b in the b column of the graph.  If it was a d we would do the same on the d column.  When we were all finished we counted which letter was rolled the most and which letter was rolled the least.  We also counted all the letters in the two columns.  I found this game HERE. Also I used the trick found in the bottom picture in this post to teach the kiddos about the two letters. You can learn a little about it HERE.

B is for Body Aprons

 The cutest way to learn body innards ever!!! We added digestive system, brains, hearts and lungs to create these great little outfits.

B is for Body (In-Class visit)

My friend Emily is a Neuroscientist (I believe that was the correct term)  She gets to help with surgeries and so forth, and so she came to our class to teach us a little about the body.  She was so great and brought in some cute little bodies that each child got to do a "surgery" on.  They had all the body parts to put in the proper places and they "washed their hands" and put on their surgical masks first.  They got to determine the brain, intestines/digestive system, lungs, & heart which were all the parts we have been studying this week.  She also taught them about how long the intestines were and how far food had to travel while digesting.  We used ribbon to demonstrate and we all stretched it out and then she showed us how little it scrunches up to fit in our body. 

Letter B Sensory Tub

B is for Balls, balloons (filled with water for fun sensory experience) bottles, baster, boat, beads, babies, bears, bugs, etc.  Fun in the water. 

B is for Body (Lungs)

This week we talked about lungs and how they work.  We talked about how we can't see our breath, but we can in water.  We talked about how air bubbles up in water and how the air that we blew into the straw came from our lungs.  We also took some deep breaths and watched how our chest rose and fell when we breathed in and out.  We made some lungs using sponges  and paint since our lungs look a lot like sponges. 

S is for Spring Caterpillars

Aren't these just the greatest little caterpillars EVER?  I taught the kids how to do a Light Green/Red/Dark Green pattern and most of them were able to do it. Too fun!

S is for Spring Butterfly

So in case you didn't notice the kids had a wonderful time observing our caterpillars and cocoon, and our one lonely little butterfly that emerged from it's chrysalis.  Two of the three caterpillars didn't ever spin a cocoon.  I think they were too cold downstairs at night when the heater was turned down.  I moved them upstairs, but I think is was too late.  The lower picture is our glorious butterfly after we let him fry free outside.  Looks pretty happy! I know I was happy to let it go, I felt kind of bad for it stuck in a cage.

Here is our beautiful butterfly resting on some happy yellow flowers. 

S is for Spring Critters

Our caterpillars have arrived just in time for some spring sunshine (well mostly sunshine).  They have been eating and eating and eating some more and one of them has already made his little cocoon as you can see above.  We are anxiously awaiting for the other two to start forming theirs too.  This is something preschoolers are so excited to see each morning when they arrive and they look at MANY times throughout the day!  

We also got to take turns placing poor Mr. Catty's letters in the right order to put him back together. The kids were rewarded by getting to sing the ABC song when we were done which I'm pretty sure every kids adores!