Feed the Bird

Yay! It's Friday! My little class is finally adjusting to our routine and getting over their fear of being away from mommy and daddy.

To continue with apple week, I read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I know it's not really about apples, but the caterpillar does eat one ;) After the book, we did the Apple Roll poem, because the children really liked that one, and went outside to play.

When we came back in we played, Feed the Bird for our second rugtime. It was the first time I used "Flapper," so he went around and asked each child their name. Flapper even got my timid students to talk. After he went around the circle,  he explained the game.

Each child was handed an apple and one by one they came up to feed Flapper. We played using the apples with shapes on them from yesterday. The children loved feeding the puppet! It is so much fun watching them laugh and giggle. You could also do this game using colors or with numbers drawn on them.

Apple Shape and Color Match

Yesterday, to continue our apple theme, we played this shape matching game. I lined up bags with shapes drawn on them (yes I know my shapes are not perfect) and placed them on the floor. Just like the picture below, but on the rug.

Next I gave each child an apple with a shape on it. One by one each child came up and put their apple in the correct bag. They really enjoy rug times where they get to do something, so I try my best to do this as often as possible.

I also played this game on Tuesday, except I taped an apple (one of each color) to the front of the bags and had the children match colors. 

I also used the Apple Tree felt pieces today to do a twist on the famous Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree.

Here's the poem

Five Litte Apples

Five little apples growing on a tree.

Teasing Mr. Worm,

“You can’t catch me, you can’t catch me.”

Then along comes Mr. Worm,

as quiet as can be.

(make sure you whisper this part)

 And CHOMPS! that apple

 right out of the tree.

(Make sure to clap and shout CHOMP!)

Continue counting down

Apple Roll

Hey everyone! I have been so busy this last week I haven't posted anything! The children in my class are so fun and keep me busy all day. I have to remember to take pictures of things before class starts from now on. This week we are talking about everything apples. Today we made swedish apple pie after reading a book called Apple Farmer Annie. 

For the second rug, I used this felt tree and apples

for this cute poem:

Apple Roll

by Unknown

Five little apples in the bowl.

One fell out and started to roll.

(Roll hands around each other really fast! The kids loved this part)

It bumped the table and hit my feet,

(I said a big, "OUCH!!" and touched my feet)

How many apples left to eat?

Countdown to zero

By the third verse I had most of the children yelling, "OUCH!" 

I found the poem off of a website that contained fingerplays for children. I just turned it into a felt story.

The Kissing Hand

Yesterday, for our first rug time we read The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. It's a really cute book about a raccoon who is afraid of going to school. His mom kisses his palm to remind him that she loves him and tells him if he places his palm to his cheek the kiss will be there.

I wanted a felt story to go with this, but didn't want to make a trillion felt pieces so I came up with this.

Here is a poem I made to go with it:

Kissing Hand

by Analisa Carrillo

Chester the Raccoon

really missed his mom.

So she gave him a kiss

in the middle of his palm.

 The kiss helps him,

when they are apart.

Can you help him

find the matching heart?

We placed all the hearts on the board, put a heart in one hand and had each child find the matching heart. When the found it we went over the color and had them place it in the palm of the other hand. For the patterns I traced my hand and cut out different sized hearts.

Where does it belong?

Today was the first day for some of the students so we played a game called, "Where does it belong?" I gathered different items from different parts of the classroom and placed them in a basket. During rug time I handed each child a piece and had them find where the item belonged. Some children needed a little help and everyone pointed them in the right direction. It was awesome teamwork! This is one of my favorite first week of school games. 

Hickety Bickety

Today was the first day of school!  It went great!  The children got along and did really well following directions. For the first circle time I introduced my friend,  Hickety Bickety, the bumble bee. I have no idea who created this one but the children loved it. You basically go around to each child and say the poem. After the children say their name,  I take the bee, make a buzzing sound, fly the bee around the child, and the bee kisses their nose. The children loved it. We had lots of laughs today with this one.

Here are the words:

Hickety Bickety

Teacher: Hickety Bickety bumble bee,

 can you say your name for me?

Then the child says their name.  

If some children are shy I have them whisper it to the bee. There are so many ways to do this activity.  I like to go up to each child individually, but you could do it as a group and have all the children repeat the child's name.  Sharron Krull has a fun way to do it here.

Ten in the Bed

I am back from the most amazing vacation! Definitely the best birthday present ever! Today I have another felt story for you. I am sure you have all heard the original Ten in the Bed song.This one is similar but instead it's with bears and focuses on color recognition.

I got the words and the bed pattern from Making Learning Fun and found the bear outline here.

Here are the words to this felt story. I changed them up just a little.

Ten in the Bed

There were ten in the bed and the red one said, 

"Roll over, roll over."

So they all rolled over and the (color) one fell out.

Last line.....

There was one in the bed and the RED one said.

"Good night!"

Find the Bear

Tune:  The Muffin Man

Can you find the (color) colored bear, the (color) colored bear, the (color) colored bear? 

Can you find the (color) colored bear?  

(Child's name) come and find it.