Gratitude/Thanksgiving at Preschool

Today at preschool we learned all about gratitude and Thanksgiving.   We reviewed the story of the Pilgrims and how the first Thanksgiving came to be.  They seemed to remember it perfectly!

Then we read the very cute book,  Celebrating Thanksgiving: Giving Thanks, that tied the gratitude of the Pilgrims and the Indians of the first Thanksgiving to the gratitude for our blessings today.  It is an excellent book for this age of kids and I highly recommend it for preschool lessons on gratitude and Thanksgiving. 

We also read this cute book:  What Is Thanksgiving?

 Then we went outside and gathered our own bountiful harvest---these carrots from our garden.  At first, they were a little hesitant about sticking their hands in the dirt, but once they caught on to what the prize was, they were loving every second of it.  I think this activity really helped them to capture what a harvest was really all about. 

oops! 

Then we came inside where they became completely enraptured by these cute Thanksgiving sticker scenes from OTC and spent a good 20-25 minutes laboring over them.  I actually ended up having to pry them away so we could get on to our next activity.  

Then we made this harvest blessing mix where each child contributed their own part and helped to stir.  Not suprisingly the kids loved having a  yummy snack and loved doing their own part. 

Then we made these little gratitude trees (from OTC).  In advance, I had written some of the basic things they were grateful for on the leaves (family, toys, friends, etc).  Then I gave each child a little "kit" with the tree and a set of the pre-labeled leaves.  We went through each leaf one by one as a group and talked about how to show gratitude (saying thank you, praying, not complaining, etc).  It turned out to be a good recognition exercise for the kids as they searched for the right leaf and a good discussion time as we talked the entire time.  I would give them hints like it's this color, it starts with this sound, then I would go around the room and staple that leaf onto the tree wherever they picked.   The kids were so cute and loved talking about what gratitude was and what they were grateful for.  I sent everyone home with extra leaves so you can continue the activity at home. 

We missed you Matthew! 

Thanksgiving Preschool: Learning about Pilgrims

Today at preschool we learned all about Pilgrims.  See here for another Thanksgiving lesson.

We got the lesson started with the counting box activity when our little turkey lost all his feathers. 
The kids had to count the feathers, then reattach them in order.  I was surprised at how good they already were at their number recognition skills.  

 Then we read a couple of cute books. One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims is a great simple story about the pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving.  10 Fat Turkeys is just fun and good for counting down from ten, which a couple of the kids really caught onto and a couple did not.   We also learned to sing "One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims"  to the tune of Ten Little Indians.

 

Then I told  them a little flannel board story about the Pilgrims which completely captured their attention.  They were so interested that I spent 5-10 minutes telling them far more detail than I had ever intended and was totally surprised when later on during preschool they could easily retell the story back to me.  

We went for a ride on the "Mayflower" and went searching for a land where we could worship God they way we wanted. 

We painted little turkeys starting with their own footprints

 

 

and later made little turkeys out of apples. 

Then we made these cute little wooden Pilgrim puppets out of wooden spatulas.  I attached the felt hats and pipe cleaner arms with hot glue and had the kids make their own faces.  It was pretty simple, but they really like the end product. 

After that we did these little Thanksgiving books together (from Enchanted Learning).  I wrote the main word in the blank and the kids either copied or traced it.  Afterward they colored whatever they could.  They seem to really enjoy the fun writing practice. 

It was one of those days that reminds me why I love doing co-op preschool so much!

Rhythm and Drums

Today we had a rhythm and drum day for our preschool activity day.  I collected a bunch of coffee cans from Freecycle and first helped the kids to make their own drums. 

  The kids had a fun time repeating rhythms and discovering all the different sounds their drums could make (marshmallows make cool sounds AND taste good afterward).

Then we made little Indian vests since they had just learned about Native Americans the day before.  They were cute as whooped and hollered and beat on their drums. 

It's fun days like today that remind me why I like doing home preschool so much!

Autumn and Pumpkins

The kids had a great time learning about Autumn and Pumpkins. We read lots of books about fall, harvest time, pumpkins and apples. Here are some pictures from our fall walk, where we collected leaves for our fall wreathes, our pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin masks. The kids figured out how to play the music on the piano, and there was also an impromptu dance.

Mammals & Reptiles

We had lots of fun this week talking about mammals and reptiles and how they differ.

On Thursday, we talked about the characteristics of mammals: warm-blooded (which I think was a bit over their heads), have hair, feed young with milk, give birth to live babies.

We had cheese sticks for a snack and discussed how some of the food we get comes from mammals (particularly the cow variety!)

The kids made lion masks (which I chose because it incorporated both triangles and fringing which were a couple of the things we're working on this month).

We also sang the Repeat-After-Me song, "We're Going on a Lion Hunt" which I think the kids really got a kick out of, especially when it was time to run away from the lion.

On Friday, we talked about Reptiles and a few of their characteristics: cold-blooded (again, I think a bit over the kids' heads), scales, don't feed their young milk, lay eggs.

We had turtle snacks. They're supposed to be Ritz crackers with a smear of peanut butter. The kids then use pretzels to make legs and a tail. Of course, if you're like me and forget to pick up the Ritz crackers and tiny pretzels at the grocery store, then you use another kind of round cracker, chow mein noodles, and throw in craisins so they can make a head for the little guy. Here are some of their creations:

We also sang the Tiny Tim Turtle Song:

I had a little turtle. (Make a turtle by laying one hand flat on top of the other.)

His name was Tiny Tim.

I put him in the bathtub,

To see if he could swim. (Wiggle thumbs to make your "turtle" swim.)

He drank up all the bubbles. (Make drinking gesture.)

He ate up all the soap. (Make eating gesture.)

And then a little bubble

Got stuck up in his throat. (Point to throat.)

Bubble, bubble, bubble,

Bubble, bubble, bubble,

Bubble, bubble, bubble,

Bubble, bubble, POP! (Start with hands close together like you're holding a small ball, and each time you say "bubble" move your hands further apart until they're stretched out on either side. When the bubble pops, clap your hands together.)

We also made a paper plate snake and discussed how mammals and reptiles are different.

I also was going to have the kids do a sorting game on the computer but we never got around to it. Go here if you want to try it on your own.