January Week 3

I'm so late in getting this up! However, this unit, doesn't take much prep. Tihs unit is built around the folk tale, Stone Soup. We did this unit last week, and will be doing The Mitten unit this week.

First things first, plan a playdate. Invite some friends and make your own Stone Soup following the outline in the story. We did this (and I totally forgot to take pictures.) Each child brought something to add to the soup, and they REALLY enjoyed the process. As I read the story, they came up and added the indredient they had brought. The kids were not fans of the soup, so as an add-on I'm going to have Three create a recipe for a soup that he thinks he actually WILL like.

We put up our map of the world, and identified where we are on the map in relation to where France is (the story originates in France.) We talked about the ocean between us. As a result, Three became super interested in the names of places on the map and can now identify 3 of the continents.

We talked about folk tales, and what that means. That the story did originate in truth, but the details have changed over years of it being retold.

Create a recipe: We'll look at recipes in cookbooks, and then talk about what kinds of things he'd like in our soup. Then we'll make a trip to the store and buy the items, and see if that soup is yummier. :)

Discuss where the vegetables in the story come from. Potatoes and Carrots come from the garden and they grow UNDER the ground. Cabbage also comes from the garden, but it grows in a head ON the ground. Barley grows in large fields (we actually sustituted orzo for barley.) Beef and milk both come from cows. Etc.

Print out pictures of different vegetables/fruits and have the child sort them based on where they grow (under ground, on the ground, on a tree, etc.)

This leads to a discussion about healthy eating...how many vegetables we need each day, and why.

Crafts:

Paint a stone! This was a hit at the playdate.

Cut out a large "iron pot" from paper. Cut out different food items from a grocery store circular. Have the child add ingredients to their soup pot.

We revisited the letter S, but didn't do any new crafts related to it. :(

January Week 2

Read “The Mitten”

Play “mitten match” with all the mittens in your home. There are 6 of us, so we have LOTS. If you don’t have many (or any) mittens you could always create them from paper—plain construction paper or patterned scrapbook type paper.

Discuss what a “pair” is.

Arrange the mittens by size (Four’s mittens are smallest, Daddy’s mittens are the biggest. Etc.)

Look at pictures of the animals in the book. Discuss whether or not those animals could really fit in a mitten.

Sequencing: print/cut out pictures of the animals from the story; cut out a large mitten shape from poster board. Add the animals to the mitten in the order of the story. This would be a great felt board activity as well. Also, good for a discussion of ordinal numbers: The mouse is FIRST, the fox is SECOND, etc.

Place a small object into an adult sized mitten. Have child feel it from the outside and try to guess what it is.

Fingerpaint with mitten on! Luckily, we have a few mismatched mittens around that we will use for this, but if you aren’t that lucky…use washable paint and you’ll be fine!

This rhyme, with matching colored mitten cut-outs is mostly for Four (since Three has known his colors for what seems like forever) but knowing Three, after Four does it he’ll want to do it as well.

My poor little kitten lost her mitten
And started to cry, boo-hoo.
So I helped my kitten to look for her mitten.
Her beautiful mitten of BLUE.

I found a mitten just right for a kitten
Under my mother’s bed.
But, alas, the mitten was not the right mitten,
For it was colored RED.

I found a mitten just right for a kitten
Under my father’s pillow.
But, alas, the mitten was not the right mitten,
For it was colored YELLOW.

I found a mitten just right for a kitten
On the hand of my brother’s toy clown.
But, alas, the mitten was not the right mitten,
For it was colored BROWN.

I found a mitten just right for a kitten
Under the laundry so clean.
But, alas, the mitten was not the right mitten,
For it was colored GREEN.

I found a mitten just right for a kitten
Inside a grocery bag.
But, alas, the mitten was not the right mitten,
For it was colored BLACK.

I found a mitten just right for a kitten
Under the kitchen sink.
But, alas, the mitten was not the right mitten,
For it was colored PINK.

I found a mitten just right for a kitten
Inside my favorite shoe.
And this time the mitten was just the right mitten,
For it was colored BLUE!

Read “The Three Little Kittens”

Discuss Rhyming words (kitten, mitten) and make a self correcting game.

Pictures of rhyming words, different colors on the back so that the child can check it themselves.

Discuss animals in winter (check out books from the library on this subject) and some of the modifications these animals have to help them when it’s cold. Discuss hibernation, and build an indoor “bear cave” to hibernate in.

Read “Bear Stays Up.”

Play in “snow” with polar animals (Arctic Animals Toob). The snow will be shaving cream, that I may add glitter into. Three LOVES to play with shaving cream, so I’m 100% sure this will be a HUGE hit.

Practice drawing the letters of Three’s name in the “snow” as well.

Make play dough snowmen. I’m going to use homemade play dough, since it’s seems to be softer. Three is still really working on building up those muscles.

Giving credit where credit is due, a lot of these SUPER ideas came from a unit prepared by someone else--I've only highlighted here the ideas I think MY kids will like, you should check ou the source: http://momofmonkeys.wordpress.com/kindergarten-curriculum/unit-on-the-mitten-by-jan-brett/