Monday, August 18, 2014

Ocean Theme Week

We have graduated from letters of the week to preschool themes!  (Check out these posts for our learning goals and how our school work will be organized.  I'm hoping to make our themes fun and hands on).  Our first theme was oceans, and I would consider it a successful first theme!  I tried to break them down into categories for you, but some of them fall under more than one.

Writing/Fine Motor
We got some biggie beads and the fish template (from Michaels with a coupon).  I was a little worried that it would be too challenging and tedious for him, but he surprised me!  I showed him how to do one row at a time (the left most column, since he's right handed and he knocked the over less that way) and I got out the appropriate beads. Then he put them all on.  It took two sessions but he was incredibly proud of himself when he finished!
World Oceans Cutting and Gluing
This was an activity in my Oceans and Beaches Printable Pack
Coloring
The kid sure does love his Slick Stix.
Tracing
I made this beach tracing page for him and encouraged him to decorate the rest however he'd like. (In the printable pack)
He made this little ocean tote bag at daycare.  He also brought home this adorable little "aquarium" made with paper plates, cereal, and tissue paper. 
Literacy
We read The Shark Who Was Afraid of Everything and then we did the rhyming oysters activity from my oceans and beaches printable pack.  The words for the pearls and oysters all came from the book (although you could still do the activity without reading the book).
Alphabetizing
Working on a seashell worksheet.  This was tough for him since he had to make his own letters.  He enjoyed it, though.
Ocean Life 3 Part Cards
Xander had fun matching up the names, pictures, and animals from the Oceans Toob.  You can print the cards free here.
Spelling
Still doing All About Spelling  (see our post on how we adapted it here). We're back to using the letter tiles instead of the 3D letters we had been using. 
Books
As always, the biggest part of our literacy development is simply reading a lot of books!  We read about dolphins, sharks, whales, walruses, etc.  We have way too many ocean related books to list them all, so I'll just include some of our favorites. Xander particularly likes the National Geographic Kids books because they have silly jokes in them.

Geography Game
I made these dice to play a geography game (in the printable pack).  One has the oceans on it and the other has actions.  He would roll the dice and then do the action to get to the correct play on his big map (from the World Treasure Hunt Game).  Here he is tip-toeing to the Indian Ocean.
Sensory Play
Ocean sensory bin made out of Toob Animals and aquarium rocks.
Play dough with ocean animal cookie cutters.
Visual Spatial
Following Directions Building Set.  There's an anchor and a boat.
Dollar store puzzle
Some printed puzzles
Math
We didn't really do a lot of math this time around (even though we're supposed to be working on Right Start Math).  The Oceans and Beaches Printable Pack has a measuring page and these days of the week cards.  Xander did both the worksheet and sorted the days into the correct order.
Science
Although we've made it through all the letters for our Alphabet in Simple Science, I decided that I will still add letters now and then.  This week we did D for Density. We watched some Magic School Bus and did some experiments. Check back for the full Density post!
This Week's Work



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