After a some unseasonably cold and snowy weather, resulting is hazardous, icy roads, and a round of colds passing through the families, Preschool Co-op is back, hopefully without any cancellations anytime soon!

Theme: Authors

The teaching mother is using her favorite children’s books authors to inspire a month of fun-filled activities.  Each week a new author is introduced to the students, and activities relate to the books read or the actual author.  This post will include two authors, Dr. Seuss and Caralyn Buehner.

Foot and Hand Print Thing 1 and Thing 2 – Students traced their foot prints and hand prints onto construction paper, cut them out, and then built Thing 1 and Thing 2.

Sensory Snowmen – Students made a snowman by gluing on various sensory materials for the face and arms.  Items included peppermint sticks, sandpaper strips, fuzzy fabric, cinnamon, raisins and a bell.

Dr. Seuss and Caralyn Buehner Books

The following is a list of some of our favorite Dr. Seuss and Caralyn Buehner books.

Science

Oobleck – This always seems like an appropriate activity to pair with a Dr. Seuss book.  Oobleck is made of just cornstarch and water and makes for wonderful sensory play.  Check out this link at Science Cafe for more information.

Build a Snowman – Students used Mr. Potato head accessories to build their own snowmen.

Reading

Phonemis Awareness Skill: Initial Phoneme Isolation: Initial Sound – Students practiced listening for the first sound in words.  Say a word, (preferably a one syllable word), emphasizing the first sound.  For example: Red.  /rrr/ed.  what sound do you hear at the beginning of the word red?

Phonics: Letter Ff – Students learned to identify the letter Ff and it’s sound.   The participating mom  used several color photos beginning with the /f/ sound.  Examples: fish, firefly, fountain, friend, farm, etc.  Students practiced saying each picture name, emphasizing the /f/ sound at the beginning.

Snow Letter Hunt – Students searched for magnetic letters hidden in a large sensory bin filled with Insta Snow.  Once the letters were found, the students matched them with words families to form words.

Math

Estimation – Students estimated the number of snowballs (marshmallows) in a baggie.

Snowman Nose Sort and Graph – Students sorted carrots by their height and thickness, then graphed them and wrote up a quick report.

Patterns – Students looked at books filled with patterns and used magnifying glasses to identify specific patterns.

Writing

Balancing Game – Using a variety of items found at home, students tried to balance items on their heads like the Cat and The Cat in the Hat.  Items included: stuffed animals, small toy blocks, plastic toy rake, toy dishes, plates, books, etc.

F if for Flower – Students finger painted a flower in connection to studying the letter Ff.

Beanbag Snowman – The participating mom made a snowman on thick poster display board.  She cut out the bottom two circles and students practiced throwing beanbags through the two holes.

Coming Next Week:

• Phonemic awareness and phonics review
• Author Rob Scotton