Skip to main content

Apple Theme

 Another theme we cover in the fall is Apples. In our Math Center, we make Apple Stew using apple erasers, bowls, ladles, and recipe cards.
 We also use apple manipulatives to count and sort.

 In the Science Center, I place apple slices, apple seeds, whole apples and magnifying lenses. The students are able to investigate the apples.
 We practice gluing by placing just a dot of glue inside each dot on an apple. This strengthens their hands and we use glitter glue in red, yellow and green to make it more interesting.
 At the Writing Center I have the students draw apples and add details. Words related to apples can be posted in the Writing Center for children who are ready and interested in copying words onto their paper. Apple shaped papers can also be placed at the Writing Center to make it more engaging.
In the Fine Motor/Sensory Center, children try stacking apples and counting to see how high they can go. Some books about apples that we read include:
*"Ten Apples Up on Top"
*"The Apple Pie Tree"
*"Ten Red Apples"
*"The Biggest Apple Ever"
*"Apple Trouble"
The Dramatic Play Center can be an apple orchard or a Farmer's Market. Apple slices can be used at the Art Center to play or stamp with.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Body and Senses Theme

I usually spend a day for each of the basic five senses and then further the theme by spending a few more days covering the basic parts and functions of the body such as heart, lungs, skin, and brain. For the sense of taste, I give each child something sour (lemon drop), something salty (pretzel), and something sweet (a piece of chocolate) to eat. We discuss the tastes and which they like the best. Then we discuss our tongues. Each student can be given a mirror to look into to see their tongue and the taste buds on it. We read "Jamberry" and try some different flavors of jam. For the sense of smell, I place items in film canisters and allow each child to smell each item and guess what it is. Then we graph which smells we like and do not like. A follow up activity is to ask students to determine which items will have a smell and then walk the items around and have students smell them and determine if their guesses were correct. I use things like mustard, a comb, or...
Post a Comment
Read more

Friends

Social-Emotional Skills are such a large part of the Preschool curriculum. Most of our activities are group based and we spend a lot of time and instruction learning about how to be a good friend and how to treat the people around us. In February, I send home a handful of cutout hearts with each child. I ask parents to document each time they catch their child doing something kind and send it back to school. We then read them aloud to the class and hang them on our wall. The goal is to cover the entire wall with hearts. We also focus on one character trait each week. We discuss the trait and give examples of that trait and then watch for students exhibiting that character trait throughout the week. Some books that I use to reinforce our lessons are: *"Stick and Stone" *"A Sick Day for Amos McGee" *"How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends?" *"Llama Llama and the Bully Goat" *"Rainbow Fish" *"Should I Share my Ice Cream?" ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nutrition Theme

 When we have our nutrition theme, there are many fun activities that I tie in. We create food with playdough in our Fine Motor/Sensory Center.  I write numerals on paper plates and give each student a handful of pom poms. When I call a number, they cover it with a pom pom on their plate. We play until every plate is covered ith "berries."  The students find and cut out pictures of food in magazines and then we sort the pictures. They can be sorted healthy vs. unhealthy or they can be sorted by color, by likes vs. dislikes, or by food group.  In the Art Center , I lay out blue paint and clothespins attached to a cotton ball. Students dab "blueberries" around their paper. In the Science Center, students take a basket of play or felt food and sort it onto an oversized food group plate. The Dramatic Play Center and Block Center can both be used to create restaurants or grocery stores. The Math Center has a sorting pie where the students sort frui...
Post a Comment
Read more