Three Little Pigs

Last week was a fabulous week of fairy tale fun with The Three Little Pigs.  We started the week with  by creating the 3 pigs' houses.

We made the straw house by gluing on hay that was leftover from our fall pumpkin patch that we made in our dramatic play center.  The stick house was made with the sticks that we gathered outside at recess, and the brick house was made with dipping sponges into red paint and stamping them like bricks.

We also created pig masks out of egg cartons that we cut into pieces.  My little cuties painted them pink and added a snout, eyes, and ears.  How cute is little Christopher?!!!

One of our science lessons this week was about forces and that air is a force.  We each got wolf straws that I made with wolf clip art attached to a straw.  With the straws we experimented to see which building material blows away the easiest.  We huffed and puffed our way into learning about forces.

(Do you see me in my silly wolf mask?)

After we did the experiment, we all got a sheet of paper and huffed and puffed to blow paint.

If you would like the wolf picture and labels for the paint blowing, click the image below.

For math we have bee practicing number 15, so I created this little pig activity.  We created 15 pigs from white sticker dots that I grabbed from Dollar Tree.  After each pig was made it was place in a pen on the paper. 

It's simple, but we are pre-k and this helped with directions, fine motor, and counting.  Click below to grab it.

In our centers we had sensory fun with crinkled straw and pigs, houses, and a wolf.  I loved listening to my cuties say "little pig, little pig, let me in!"  It was so precious to see them acting out the story together.

 In puppets center we had little pigs who kept saying, "not by the hair of my chinny chin chin".

In the painting center there was pink paint, and scrap paper.  My cuties used the materials to paint pigs and add details to their pigs.  (Don't you love the label?!!)

In art center, I added houses and materials to decorate the houses.  Look at what was created!  I don't give them instructions on what to do for free choice centers.  I just add it to the center and see what they create.  I am so proud of their progress this year!  Sprinkles to pre-k!

 

"R" you ready for letter Rr?

We had a roaring great week learning letter Rr.  To start the week we created robot hats to wear as we hunted for letter Rr pictures around the classroom.  When the pictures were discovered, students colored in the picture on their recording sheet.

We also traced letter Rr with robots while singing our letter Rr Heidi Song.

To practice letter sounds, we fed this little Valentine card holder pictures of items that started with /r/.

We ended the week with dressing up as pirates because pirates say /r/.

For added fun, we danced to the Pirate Dance on You Tube.

We also danced to Heidi Songs letter Rr.

 "R" you ready for letter Rr?

Here is my little unit on Teachers Pay Teachers with many hands-on, out of your seat Rr learning fun!  Check it out by clicking on the picture below.  It's FREE until tomorrow evening.

 Grab it fast while it's free or you "R" going to be sorry.

Mind your P's and Q's ~ Learning Letters!

As a Pre-K teacher this year, I get a bit more time to focus on letters and a few sight words.  I started creating alphabet units on TPT to help my cuties learn the letters, sounds, and formation.  I am very proud of our learning this year and we starting to stretch sounds to read CVC words since we have so much letter knowledge under our belts.  These guys are going to be so ready for Kindergarten!  Here is a peek at our learning of letters P and Q.

Hunting for letter Pp pictures with our paws...  In each unit there is a letter hunt and recording sheet, as well as a fun way to hunt for the pictures by wearing or using something that begins with the letter. 

Tracing letter Pp with polar bears... Students place the bear on the picture to know where to begin.  We use Heidi Songs to sing while we trace the letter.  In the unit there are foldable polar bears to use if you don't have small polar bears.  It's also fun to search for small erasers to use for tracing.

We painted letter Pp after practicing the formation.  Heidi Songs letter Pp played over and over while we did this.

We also painted pine cones.

Click below to get this unit on Teachers Pay Teachers.

For letter Qq we hunted for Qq pictures with quills.

We also made queen's crowns.

We practiced tracing Qq with our quills and a spinner game.

Click below to purchase this unit on Teachers Pay Teachers.

These two units will be free until Monday evening, so grab them now.  Penelope wants you to BEE prepared for teaching Pp and Qq!

The Naughty Leprechaun!

It might be February, but we all know time flies when you teach littles!  If you're like me, you're always trying to look ahead to what's coming up so that there is time for preparation and on-line ordering (if needed).  

I am looking into March's plans and wanted to share a fabulous book with y'all:

(Click the book to visit Stephanie's website!)

 

I was contacted by the book's author, Stephanie Hicks, to review this book and it's 100% adorable and perfect for St. Patrick's Day.  It comes in a beautiful case to protect the book.  The case also holds a gold coin of the naughty leprechaun, Leyland, and the nice leprechaun, Liam.  Check out this video:

This book is perfect if you celebrate St. Patrick's day themed activities in your classroom.

In my room, I love to build leprechaun traps with my littles and this book mentions leprechaun traps.  Leyland, the naughty leprechaun causes havoc and must be caught!  It will be an awesome book to read before the trap building.  

Here are some pictures of my kiddos traps over the last two school years:

 

Before building our traps, we made a plan on paper.

If you're interested in learning more about The Naughty Leprechaun book, click below to visit Stephanie's website or facebook page.

 

 

TO grab my FREE leprechaun trap planning page, click here.

Texas Kindergarten Conference!!

I was blessed to attend the Texas Kinder Conference today and get to go back again tomorrow!  Look who I met today!!

 

What a happy Monday!

Oh fish sticks!

We have been learning about animals this month and spent a week on ocean animals.  We have also been reviewing numbers 0-10 before moving on to larger teen numbers here in pre-k land.  I pulled out my Oh Fish Sticks game for a quick counting and number identification review of these numbers.

To play the game, students go fishing for fishies who have ten frames on their bellies with numbers 1-10.  Students count the dots and cover the matching number on their board with a gold fish cracker.  Then the fish is tossed back, face down.  Students continue fishing and covering their board until one player's board is filled.

Click here to grab this game in my shop!