Pete the Cat--I Love My White Shoes

This week we started our Pete the Cat unit.  We read Pete the Cat:  I Love My White Shoes all week and rocked out to the song that comes with it.  I have some Pete the Cat books and also checked out several from the library.  When the kids saw all of the Pete the Cat books on the bookshelf they came running over to me with books in hand screaming, "Look, look, Ms. Beth...Pete the Cat!"  

Our first activity for the week was making our own Pete the Cat wearing a white, red, blue, and brown shoe.  I found the idea on Pinterest, but I can't find the original source.  Monday they cut out Pete's eyes, nose, and legs.

Tuesday we assembled Pete the Cat.  

I think they are amazing!  They look fantastic hanging in the classroom!

On Wednesday, we dyed shoelaces using watered down liquid watercolors.  They loved using the eye droppers and they were a great way to work on their fine motor skills!  This idea came from Teach Preschool.

We used red, yellow, and blue watercolors, so we were also able to talk about color mixing.  They loved seeing the watercolors absorb into the shoelace. 

Thursday they decorated a large die cut shoe and then laced their shoelace onto it.

Now that Ms. Ryleigh is helping us in the afternoon we've started centers.  We're dividing the kids into three groups and they're rotating between the art activity, a game that we would normally play at circle time, and a more independent activity like journals or puzzles.  Here's a look at our centers for this week.  We started the week writing and drawing in journals.

We also played a memory match game with different colored shoes.  I downloaded this game from PreKinders.

Tuesday we sorted shoes by different properties and then patterned them.

Wednesday we used dot art markers to make patterns with shoes.  They loved this and did a great job creating basic patterns!  I downloaded this sheet from 3Dinosaurs.

Wednesday our third station was puzzles.

Thursday we read Pete the Cat books.

We also played the shoe memory match again.  I was so proud of them for remembering where each color was and for helping their friends get a match.

In our sensory table we keep scraps of paper for the kids to practice cutting.  This little cutie though he needed to practice cutting with both hands!  Best to practice being ambidextrous at a young age.  :)

These sweeties practiced writing letters during free play.  I'm so proud!

 This cutie was super proud of his drawing.  The green and red drawing on the right is a magic portal and he's the green person.  

Next week we'll be reading Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons.  

Have a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Beth

Polar Bears!

This week our theme was polar bears.  We made a super cute polar bear project that required LOTS of cutting and several of the pieces were pretty small.  The kids did an AMAZING job with the cutting!  They didn't complain and most of them were almost completely independent!  An Occupational Therapist was visiting in our classroom while we were working and she was very impressed with their cutting skills...and so was I!  All of our practice is definitely paying off!  

The next day we assembled the polar bear.  For the afternoon class, we showed them a sample of what the finished bear should look like and let them glue it independently.  Then, they used a marker to add eyes, any other details they wanted, and write their name.  

With the morning class, we showed them the sample and then Mary and I went around and placed a few pieces at a time on their paper and gave them some guidance on where each piece went, but let them have final say.  

See, aren't they super cute?!  

The afternoon class also had time to make polar bears out of cotton balls and a paper plate.

I think these turned out pretty cute, too!  They all have such personality!

During circle time, we read Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? and then used Unifix cubes to measure the animals in the story.  They are really starting to understand this concept and loved getting to measure the different animals.

My friend, Ms. Suzanne, had the great idea to put polar bear paw prints on the floor into our classroom that were life-sized.  Each paw print also had a fact about polar bears on them.  The kids loved stomping in on them each day!

On Thursday we walked on each paw print and talked about the fact on each print and then looked at how big a polar bear's foot is compared to our feet.  

We ended the week celebrating this cutie's birthday with some yummy Birthday Cake flavored Oreo's!

We also celebrated our Cadet Teacher's birthday!  

And, this handsome fella got glasses this week, so to celebrate Ms. Mary and I wore our glasses that day, too!  

In other news, our letter for the week was "M" and didn't this cutie do an awesome job writing one independently?!

And, last but not least, a few weeks ago I told you about the penguins that we made, well I finally remembered to take a picture of the finished product!  To see the post about this project, click here. 

Have a great week!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Beth