Tell me a Story Tuesday! The Cat in the Hat!

Tell me a Story Tuesday!

The Cat in the Hat!

It is Dr. Seuss week!  Every day this week we will read a different story by Dr. Seuss and do activities to go along with that book.  Today we read The Cat in the Hat and The Cat in the Hat comes back!

For art the first thing we made was Thing one or Thing two.  This was a fun activity because we also were able to create homemade puffy paint!! 

First you add glue to a cup, next you add paint and stir it up good!  Finally you add shaving cream and stir again.  Keep adding shaving cream until the concoction is nice and fluffy!  This was super fun and super easy!

The kids traced their hands and cut them out.  They added their hands to the red bodies.  They drew the faces and wrote thing one or thing two on the belly.  Then they painted the blue puffy paint for hair.  When it dried it was still puffy! 

We had two art stations today they could make one or both.  The other station was a simple cut and paste cat in the hat.  This was a following directions craft. 

For snack we made cat in the hat treats.  We stacked red gummy lifesavers and frosting on ritz crackers to make a cute little hat.

We did a brain storm on what activities we could do on a rainy day.  Tomorrow we will use that brainstorm for writer’s workshop.  Since the book started out as a rainy day, we used that opportunity for a science experiment.  We talked about the water cycle and where rain comes from.  Our experiment was a visual of rain coming from the clouds.  I filled up clear cups about ¾ full.  On top of the water I allowed each child to squirt shaving cream.  This was our cloud.  I went around and dropped blue food coloring on top of the shaving cream and the kids were able to watch it “rain” in their cups.

Here are a few pictures of the other activities we did today! 

Cat in the hat following directions and reading game

Today I will post about Wacky Wednesday and Oobleck!  I am really enjoying reading about all of your Dr. Seuss adventures this week!

 I am linking up with www.livingmontessorinow.com for their Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss Linky party!  I am also linking up with living life intentionally

Rachel /

More Penguin Activities

More Penguin Activities!!

Are you all getting sick of hearing about penguins yet??  Haha, well too bad I have more activities to share.  The Chart above is what we did today with preschool to review the facts we have learned about penguins.  For some of our activities we used Deanna Jump's Penguin unit http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Penguins-Math-and-Literacy-Fun

We fed the penguins gold fish crackers.  After we fed them we counted how many fish we fed them and wrote the number on a piece of paper. 

Penguin dial a sum math with penguin counters.  I found this activity here creative classroom 123

Classifying penguins by type.  They sorted the penguin and placed them by their type.  On the back of every picture was the name of each type of penguin for self checking.

Penguin sorting.  This is a more difficult sorting activity because the penguin manipulatives look very similar so they really have to pay attention to the details.

We discussed how male penguins choose the best pebble to give their mates, just like daddies give mommies a rock to ask her to marry him.  This activity is a fine motor activity placing pebbles on fish suction cups to remind them of this fact. 

Label the penguin.  After they labeled the penguin, they drew their own penguins and cut out strips to label.  This is our Pip puppet form the adventures of Pip.

One of our science activities we did was illustrate how the penguins' waxy feathers do not get too wet in the water.  We drew penguins and pushed really hard with the crayons, then water color painted over them watching the water and paint bead up and roll away. 

Counting penguins book and penguin manipulatives to count along with the book.

That is all I have for tonight.  I have more pictures to post tomorrow!  Thank you for all of your comments and support as I slowly learn all about the world of blogging!!  I am really having a great time sharing all of my ideas with you and learning all of yours!!

 

Our California Adventure 2011 part 1

Disneyland for the holidays!!  What a wonderful surprise for my kids.  We picked them up early from school and just kept driving.  By the time we got to Idaho they were all wondering where we were going but we just said it was a shopping trip.  As the sun rose up over the hills in the early morning we were already in California.  The warm breeze and palm trees gave that away instantly, however they still had no idea where in California we were headed.  Our first "fun stop" was to La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles.  This was an excellent introduction to our homeschooling journey.  We learned A TON!!  I remember visiting the tar pits as a child and always loving it, but forgot just how much you learn. 

As we explored the museum I noticed the kids were quite interested in the teeth of the animals.  It gave me the idea to discuss the difference between herbivores and carnivores.  We did a scavenger hunt through the museum to find and classify the herbivores and carnivores.  Later, on the drive down to San Diego the kids made vacation journals where they drew and labeled all the carnivores and herbivores they found.

After searching for herbivores and carnivores, we discussed predators and their prey.  This led to a hunt for predators and a critical thinking activity of what their prey might be. 

This is a giant ground sloth, prey to a saber tooth tiger.

Finally, we had the opportunity to have a private lesson from a docent in training about tar, the properties of tar and what the native Americans used tar for. We were able to explore ancient artifacts that were found made out of tar.

Next stop, Anaheim!! 

Grinch Activities

"He's a mean one Mr. Grinch!" Why do you think he is so mean??  What makes you feel like a Grinch??  What would make you feel nicer??  This is how our journal discussion started yesterday morning.  We then continued the day with our Grinch Feltman.  Every child started out with a heart that was "2 sizes too small".  Whenever they were "caught" being Kind to another student I gave them a bigger felt heart to go put on the Grinch Feltman.  At the end of the day we measured and graphed the hearts on the Grinch.  The kids really focused on being kind to others and made the connection of what happens to your heart when others are mean to you.  I have never took such a deep meaning from the grinch before but I think it is a great lesson on Character Education and bullying.  We also worked on our 'Gr" beginning sounds and made grinch patterns for math.  For science we talked about the properties of liquid and solid and we made green ice cream for "Grinning, Grinch, Green day" on Friday. 

Grinch "Feltman"

"Grinning Grinches"

Super Science Sublimation Experiment

Today we learned about sublimation in science.  What better way to demonstrate sublimation than with dry ice.  Ever since I made my first "witches brew" a few years ago I have been a little bit obsessed with dry ice.  I have made cakes, punch, and of course experiments.  Today we discussed the properties of solid, liquid and gas.  Then we talked about how sometimes solid goes straight to a gas.  We put dry ice in a cup and poured hot water in the cup.  The kids were amazed at the "gas" billowing out of the cup.  To speed up the process and to make it just plain fun we added soap to the cup.  It made giant bubbles that when popped released clouds of "gas".  The kids squealed with delighted as they popped each gas filled bubble.  This is an experiment I would fully recommend!!!  Remember to be extra careful not to touch the dry ice!