Some of the worksheets include same and different and pattern recognition...
and a whole lot of counting, coloring, and numbers . . .
We are about halfway through the packet now.
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Activity 1 begins with our next body part, our ears and so I take a long time trying to figure out something to do for a listening activity. I finally decide on Hey Diddle Diddle to test my students listening and comprehension skills. I have the rhyme on CD so while listening to it, we color cut-out scenes from the poem that I have printed off the web. Some of the scenes I help them glue into their very own book, and we also do one tracing page of the cow jumping.
While we continue to listen and recite the poem, we talk about how funny the story is, and how listening to the words make us laugh. I laugh to the poem, and Amy is quite hysterical with me. I mimic the little dog laughing to see such sport, and Amy is shaking her head as if she just can't get over it either. She has got Alex and me laughing just watching her.
While we continue to listen and recite the poem, we talk about how funny the story is, and how listening to the words make us laugh. I laugh to the poem, and Amy is quite hysterical with me. I mimic the little dog laughing to see such sport, and Amy is shaking her head as if she just can't get over it either. She has got Alex and me laughing just watching her.Once our coloring scenes our done, I shut off the music, and we move to circle to answer questions like "Who jumped over the moon? Who laughed? What was the little dog laughing at? What did the cat play? Who did the dish run away with?". We use our little homemade books to help us. Even Amy is answering, she is quite taken by Hey Diddle Diddle, I see.
With our colored scenes spread on the floor, I ask Alex to put the story in order by what happened first,s second, third, and last.
Amy is off running around laughing with the dog still, you can hear her screaming the words to the poem in the living room. Alex always lets me know when she likes something, and I get a "Teacher, this is really fun." out of her when we act out the poem next, with a homemade fiddle and a plasic dish and spoon
. They both take turns, one playing the cat strumming on the fiddle, and the other making the dish run away with a spoon. 
The fiddle is a kleenex box with rubber bands wrapped around it, and a wooden paint stick handle. I find this easy music craft online, and outside of class the girls play with it over and over, as it does make a really good fiddle sound, even teacher has a turn strummin'.
Amy is off running around laughing with the dog still, you can hear her screaming the words to the poem in the living room. Alex always lets me know when she likes something, and I get a "Teacher, this is really fun." out of her when we act out the poem next, with a homemade fiddle and a plasic dish and spoon. They both take turns, one playing the cat strumming on the fiddle, and the other making the dish run away with a spoon. The fiddle is a kleenex box with rubber bands wrapped around it, and a wooden paint stick handle. I find this easy music craft online, and outside of class the girls play with it over and over, as it does make a really good fiddle sound, even teacher has a turn strummin'. All of these fun activities and repetition are leading up to my real test for them. I ask each student to read the story out loud to the class. They must take a seat at teacher's chair to do it. Alex has a very quiet voice as she holds her little book trying to remember the words. I realize she is very nervous doing this. Each page that she does, I compliment her on remembering to ease her little worried mind. When she finishes, I clap and congratulate her. Allen joins me as we both point out to her that she has just read her very first book. She is so stunned and happy with this thought that she runs over and gives me a body slam hug, and I pat her on the back over and over. Allen snapped this shot as she leaped from the chair, and I will remember that little "I did it!" face forever. 
Later, when class is over she spends a lot of time reading it to herself. Amy remembers almost every page as well, and her deep little voice gets deeper on the parts she likes the most. I help her start the words to each page and she finishes each sentence.
Later, when class is over she spends a lot of time reading it to herself. Amy remembers almost every page as well, and her deep little voice gets deeper on the parts she likes the most. I help her start the words to each page and she finishes each sentence. It is hard to tear them away from their little Hey Diddle Diddle books, and I am happy that I chose this poem for our lesson on ears and listening. 
But we do end it, and after a final talk on our ears and how they allow us to hear such fun stories, we end with a grand finale as we dance and sing with motions to Do Your Ears Hang Low.
We sing the alphabet and begin our letter O writing next. How convenient that are alphabet poster shows an Octupus picture next to O, and that one of the Halloween coloring books show an octupus dressed in costume that is perfect for a workbook page.
We count the octupus tentacles after writing our Os. Next we discuss an octupus body. What do we have that an octupus doesn't, Alex? She needs a little hint as I point to the bottom of the tentacles. Feet are our next body part so we do a couple more workbook pages on them, followed by a great song. (Notice Alex's adorned orange spider ring that she has picked out to wear just for class.) 
But we do end it, and after a final talk on our ears and how they allow us to hear such fun stories, we end with a grand finale as we dance and sing with motions to Do Your Ears Hang Low. We sing the alphabet and begin our letter O writing next. How convenient that are alphabet poster shows an Octupus picture next to O, and that one of the Halloween coloring books show an octupus dressed in costume that is perfect for a workbook page. We count the octupus tentacles after writing our Os. Next we discuss an octupus body. What do we have that an octupus doesn't, Alex? She needs a little hint as I point to the bottom of the tentacles. Feet are our next body part so we do a couple more workbook pages on them, followed by a great song. (Notice Alex's adorned orange spider ring that she has picked out to wear just for class.) Alex is quite clever with the Barney page that has a footprint trail to follow. She doesn't just trace the path, instead she weaves her crayon between his feet, staying on the correct trail to the end:
We do the Hokey Pokey to a music CD right after. This is our Exercise for the day as we shake it all around. We concentrate on putting our left and right foot in and out for our song lyrics, this is enough for them to handle for the first time as we practice the motions. Amy is really into the hokey pokey part and doesn't stop twirling and shaking those hands in the air. Next week, we will do more body parts to our song , they have a few breakout moments as they begin rocking to the core as the music is addicting to dance to for both of them, and probably anybody who hears it, it takes me back and I remember loving this song as a child.
After reading Dr. Seuss's Wacky Book of Opposites, The Foot Book, we try some fancy footwork with our own feet like the opposite words mentioned in the book.
Here is Alex with her "quick feet".
We move on to make our first craft for the day, our very own footprint
We do the Hokey Pokey to a music CD right after. This is our Exercise for the day as we shake it all around. We concentrate on putting our left and right foot in and out for our song lyrics, this is enough for them to handle for the first time as we practice the motions. Amy is really into the hokey pokey part and doesn't stop twirling and shaking those hands in the air. Next week, we will do more body parts to our song , they have a few breakout moments as they begin rocking to the core as the music is addicting to dance to for both of them, and probably anybody who hears it, it takes me back and I remember loving this song as a child.After reading Dr. Seuss's Wacky Book of Opposites, The Foot Book, we try some fancy footwork with our own feet like the opposite words mentioned in the book. Here is Alex with her "quick feet". We move on to make our first craft for the day, our very own footprintthat we measure ourselves with Fruit by the Foot tape so we can see if we have small or big feet like in the book.
Alex and Amy compare their measurements.
Alex enjoys eating her fruity measurement tape afterwards.
Our snack for the day is a followup to our nighttime learning from the class before. Allen helps me come up with a way to make a nighttime forest scene with brownies. I find some sugar decorations to enhance our trees, and the effect is complete when we set them on some spooky eye plates. We also add a Peeps ghost to each plate, that is perfect since the rest of our lesson today will be all about ghosts.
Alex loves the eyes, and tries to use them as a mask for her own face
.
I add one of my favorite Halloween decorations to the table. It's a Hallmark lightup tree that has owls bouncing up and down saying "who who" (instead of the snapping of fingers like in the show) to the tune of The Adams Family. I also add some full moon window clings to our nighttime treat (I have way too much fun with this stuff).
Leaving one Peeps ghost out, I use it to start Activity 2 Boo! We describe a ghost's color. Since it's white we don't have to color. Instead, we discuss what a ghost likes to say, and write more Os. Elmo teaches us what letters spell "Boo!". 
Alex enjoys eating her fruity measurement tape afterwards.
Our snack for the day is a followup to our nighttime learning from the class before. Allen helps me come up with a way to make a nighttime forest scene with brownies. I find some sugar decorations to enhance our trees, and the effect is complete when we set them on some spooky eye plates. We also add a Peeps ghost to each plate, that is perfect since the rest of our lesson today will be all about ghosts.
Alex loves the eyes, and tries to use them as a mask for her own face.I add one of my favorite Halloween decorations to the table. It's a Hallmark lightup tree that has owls bouncing up and down saying "who who" (instead of the snapping of fingers like in the show) to the tune of The Adams Family. I also add some full moon window clings to our nighttime treat (I have way too much fun with this stuff).
Leaving one Peeps ghost out, I use it to start Activity 2 Boo! We describe a ghost's color. Since it's white we don't have to color. Instead, we discuss what a ghost likes to say, and write more Os. Elmo teaches us what letters spell "Boo!". After learning that "B -O -O" spells "BOO!", I ask Alex to say it a couple times. As she is watching me say it, I ask if she notices what happens to our mouths?... Do you think that's why ghosts always have their mouths shaped like letter O I ask her? Could it be because they are always busy saying "Boo!"? 
So we practice making our own letter O ghost faces, first on a coloring page -
and then I ask her what body part do we have that a ghost doesn't, hinting that we have just learned about it today. How about we give some feet to a ghost? So we give a ghost our own feet by making our footprint into a ghost.
So we practice making our own letter O ghost faces, first on a coloring page -and then I ask her what body part do we have that a ghost doesn't, hinting that we have just learned about it today. How about we give some feet to a ghost? So we give a ghost our own feet by making our footprint into a ghost.
Next, we draw one more ghost face on a balloon for our Boo! game. We are getting good at the faces, not to mention, writing our letter O. 
Our Boo! ghost game is all about keeping our ghost afloat in the air since they do not have feet to help them walk on the ground like we do. Alex loves balloons so I think up this game, and as you can see by her face here, it is pure FUN. I have a hard time tearing her away from this one, as she is all over the place with that ghost trying her hardest to keep it floating in the air. We are both laughing and screaming as we keep it in the air. "Oh No! It's going to hit the ground, hurry! It does not have feet to stand up on! Get it up!" I yell to her. I can tell this simple balloon is going to provide us all with plenty of fun this weekend provided it doesn't pop. 
After doing our counting song with numbers on the board, we read Ten Timid Ghosts by Jennifer O'Connell that I have picked up at Meijer. This book has helped me with the final craft idea in addition to being a really cute counting book. We count 10 ghosts in a haunted house that get scared out one by one by a witch trying to move in. So we count backwards, all of us pointing and counting to ghosts on each page. All ten float back in after they shout a big "BOO!" to scare the witch out. Alex is funny to watch, as I ask her what do you think the ghosts will do to scare the witch out, she gives out a big "Boo!", pointing to that word which is sprawled in large letters across the last page in the book. "Alex, you have just recognized and read your very first word in a book!" I point out to her and she gives me an "I know it." proud smile. 
Back to those ghosts, we make our own "Spooky Scene" as I am calling it. I have color-copied and cut out the moon and house from the book. I direct the students to make their own scene by glueing their haunted house and moon where they want. 
Bug juice...I saw this advertised at a gas station for 75 cents and I had to stop.
Angie buys them all potato head dolls that definitely are keeping my kids busy the rest of the afternoon putting body parts together that they now know all about.
Halloween has sure made for fun lessons and easy crafts this week. Next week we will end our spooky celebration with our last body part lesson on teeth followed by a costume party and games. Here's hoping we all feel better for next week, that icky Bug going around has got all of us under the weather, either that or it's all the bug workbook pages we've been doing.
Back to those ghosts, we make our own "Spooky Scene" as I am calling it. I have color-copied and cut out the moon and house from the book. I direct the students to make their own scene by glueing their haunted house and moon where they want. They make their own spooky trees around the house by first painting a few tree trunks,
followed by some blow painting with a straw to give their trees the spooky branch effect. I dab the globs of paint and help them point the straw up as they use all their lung power to move that paint up the paper.
followed by some blow painting with a straw to give their trees the spooky branch effect. I dab the globs of paint and help them point the straw up as they use all their lung power to move that paint up the paper.We end class here, and later at home when the paint is dry, the girls add their own thumbprint ghosts-
and faces to their spooky trees to create this final spooky scene. Alex's: 
Their spooky scene includes a take-home discussion to do with mom and dad. Some of the questions: "What shape is the moon, what do we call this moon, how many moons do we have, what color is the moon, when can we see it, is it night or day in the picture, how many ghosts are at the house, which ghost is on top of the house, how many ghosts are in the window...on the front porch, how many windows are on the house, where is the roof of the house, what color is the house, and lastly, discuss Halloween safety for your trick-or-treat night out. Amy's:
While we are waiting for the paint to dry on our trees, Alex and Amy zip up their bags to discover another boo-ing. And this time they sure do take home the candy loot in their boo bags, along with fun treats and toys appropriate for all the body parts we have been learning:
In addition to a ghost workbook page where they have to count ghosts and eyes, and write the word BOO, they find fruit by the foot, glow stick bracelets for nighttime, and lots of eyeballs...glasses, chocolate, and gummy. 
Skeleton bone socks...
and faces to their spooky trees to create this final spooky scene. Alex's: Their spooky scene includes a take-home discussion to do with mom and dad. Some of the questions: "What shape is the moon, what do we call this moon, how many moons do we have, what color is the moon, when can we see it, is it night or day in the picture, how many ghosts are at the house, which ghost is on top of the house, how many ghosts are in the window...on the front porch, how many windows are on the house, where is the roof of the house, what color is the house, and lastly, discuss Halloween safety for your trick-or-treat night out. Amy's:While we are waiting for the paint to dry on our trees, Alex and Amy zip up their bags to discover another boo-ing. And this time they sure do take home the candy loot in their boo bags, along with fun treats and toys appropriate for all the body parts we have been learning:
In addition to a ghost workbook page where they have to count ghosts and eyes, and write the word BOO, they find fruit by the foot, glow stick bracelets for nighttime, and lots of eyeballs...glasses, chocolate, and gummy. Skeleton bone socks...
Bug juice...I saw this advertised at a gas station for 75 cents and I had to stop.
Angie buys them all potato head dolls that definitely are keeping my kids busy the rest of the afternoon putting body parts together that they now know all about.
Halloween has sure made for fun lessons and easy crafts this week. Next week we will end our spooky celebration with our last body part lesson on teeth followed by a costume party and games. Here's hoping we all feel better for next week, that icky Bug going around has got all of us under the weather, either that or it's all the bug workbook pages we've been doing.
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