Pumpkin Soup!

We made pumpkin soup!  I saw the idea at the wonderful Teach Preschool blog, and had to try it!  My students LOVED it!! I cut the top off our pumpkin, gave them the other two ingredients (orange water and pumpkin spice) and let them go.  The pumpkin was cleaned out slowly as each student took turns at the station.  They did a great job mixing, stirring, pouring and serving their soup to their friends!

  Our classroom smelled wonderful too!

 Here is some more of our pumpkin fun! 

 This is a great way to strengthen fine motor skills as well as encourage creativity.

They created super hero pumpkins, silly pumpkins, witch pumpkins and crazy pumpkins!

Have a great day!

Echolocation and a Slinky!!

We had so much fun learning about "echolocation" today.

  I began by explaining how echolocation works and why bats use it to find nocturnal prey. 

 Then we had some fun.....

We acted it out.  I was the bat while the students took turns choosing which nocturnal prey they would be.  I pretended to use my echolocation to find my little lightening bugs, mosquitoes, moths, and mice!

Then we watched the perfect video about echolocation!

After watching this super cute video we tried it out.

1. I took a metal slinky and tied two pieces of yarn on one end.

2. Take each piece of yarn and wrap around your index fingers.

3. Insert your finger tips into your ears.

As the slinky bounces sound waves travel up through the yarn.  

The sound it makes is very interesting!  

Going Batty and a FREEBIE!

All you need are two ladders, a broom handle, and some tape!

  We had some gross motor fun today by hanging upside down like bats!  

The kids loved it!!

We had some fine motor fun too while working on number recognition and counting!

Here's a little FREEBIE for everyone! 

Enjoy!

This Week in Pre-K...."Bats"

This week we will be learning about bats!  

The kids are naturally interested in these spooky creatures this time of year.  By the end of the week, they will have learned just how useful these little creatures are to us. I created a new product to add to my science and math centers this week. It focuses on teaching the differences between bats and birds, bat themed counting and number recognition, and other nocturnal animals. Look for it in my TpT store. 

I am linking up with Deedee from Mrs. Wills Kindergarten.  Great ideas to be shared!

Thanks Deedee!

Here is some of the fun we had today...

Christopher Columbus Art!

Bat vs. Bird
We had a great discussion while playing this as a class about the differences between bats and birds.  Tomorrow this will be open as an independent center.

Have a great week!

Roly Polies

I can't believe I have never seen this before!  One of my former students caught a roly poly and brought it to my class to show me.  At first I thought, oh a roly poly......nothing too exciting. 

 Then I saw it!!!! 

 Teeny tiny roly poly babies!  Apparently roly poly mommies carry their eggs in a pouch.  After the babies hatch, they stay in the pouch for several days before leaving to explore their new world. 

  I love unexpected moments!!!

Going underground! 

 The kids loved playing with our tub of plastic insects underground.  They built tunnels and houses with the blocks for the insects as well as pretending to be insects themselves!

This is the beginning of the insect mural the kids are creating.  I am out today and tomorrow for meetings. 

 I can't wait to see how it turned out when I get back Friday!

Check out these patterns!  We have only practiced AB patterns.

  They came up with AABB and ABB on their own!

They had fun counting and matching numbers this week.  

Bugs are awesome!

This Week in Pre-K..."Insects and Spiders"

With all the creepy crawlies moving about, this is the perfect time of year to teach the kids about insects and spiders.  The weather here has finally started getting cooler.  This makes it easy to find spiders and other insects to catch in jars for the kids to observe for a day or two.  I just finished a fun product for this week to add to my math, literacy and science centers.  I  can't wait to see what kind of critters we can find this week!

My Lesson Plans : "Insects and Spiders"

Have a great week!

Toes, Fingers, and Goop!

So, this week we have been learning about our 5 senses.  Today was all about the sense of touch.  My plan was to have them finger paint during center time.  But after discussing the fact that you can feel and touch things with different parts of your body (not just your hands) we were inspired  to try TOE PAINTING! 

Finger painting was fun too! 

These two young ladies were  very dainty painters.

We couldn't forget the goop!!!

If you have never made goop for your students or children, it's not too late!

Super easy, just corn starch and water.  One of the kids in this picture has some sensory issues.  I really thought I would have to coax him to try things today. 

 He had a great time playing in the goop AND toe painting!!

I had to add this picture! 

 We are having a spirit week for homecoming at our school.

 Today was "twin day". 

 Me and my awesome aide!!!