| Welcome to KG |
Routines
& Safety |
All
About Me |
Friendship |
Nursery
Rhymes |
| Five
Senses |
Fall |
Apples |
Leaves |
Scarecrows |
| Squirrels |
Pumpkins |
Bats |
Halloween |
Foods |
| Thanksgiving |
Grandparent's
Day |
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of the page, simply click on any theme heading throughout the page. |
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Welcome to Kindergarten The Kissing Hand (Amazon.com)  A must for the first day of school! This story is about a little raccoon named Chester. He was afraid to go to school on the first day, but his mom had a special secret to share that made little Chester feel much better! The children love this story and can't wait to share the special secret with their moms. Poems for follow-up activities: Kissing Hand Poem (author unknown) A piece of me I give to you, this special heart because "I love you." The heart is you, the hand is me, it shows that we are a family. Kissing Hand Here's a special thing to do when I am scared of leaving you. Hold my hand and kiss it here. The kiss will help to keep you near. It will help me through my day so I can work and learn and play. from: Mrs. Stewart's Kindergarten For activities based on the book, "The Kissing Hand," visit these great sites: Mrs. Nelson's Class The Virtual Vine Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault (Amazon.com)  A great book and DVD! Make or color coconut trees. Print out the letters of each child's name on the computer in a fairly large fun font. The child can cut out the letters and glue down his/her name climbing up the coconut tree. Great for beginning of the year name recognition and practice! We follow up by watching the video on Friday - which is wonderful. The story comes to life with a catchy tune that delights the children! For some really great ideas to use with this story, check out this link: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Routines & Safety All About Me The
Birthday Child All the day long. Lovely things have happened, Nothing has gone wrong. Nobody has scolded me, Everyone has smiled. Isn't it delicious To be a birthday child? Friendship A Circle of
Friends as the new year begins, A year full of learning while we become friends. We'll share and be kind as we work and we play, And our friendship will grow with each passing day. Nursery Rhymes Five Senses Favorite Book to introduce this theme: My Five Senses by Aliki (Amazon.com)  Activities: For Seeing: Place 5 items on a tray. Have the children watch as you name and hold up each item. Next, ask them to close their eyes as you remove one of the items. Children now try to recall each item to discover which item is missing. For Smelling: Use black plastic film canisters. Fill each bottle with an item for smelling, such as coffee, peanut butter, cinnamon, mustard, pickles, ketchup, etc. Children close their eyes as the teacher passes the bottle under their nose. What is that smell???? For Hearing: Make or purchase a tape of familiar sounds - bell ringing, water running, birds chirping, toilet flushing, etc Guess the sounds. For Tasting: On a paper plate for each child, place: slice of lemon (sour) salt (salty) sugar (sweet) bittersweet chocolate (bitter) milk chocolate (sweet) Predict the taste of each... then give each a try. The children aren't sure, of course, which is the salt and which is the sugar, and are surprised by the bitter chocolate vs the sweet chocolate. After we've tasted all, we try placing the SOUR lemon in the sweet sugar - yum! Lemonade! For Touching: Make a Feely Bag Place various textured items in a cloth or paper bag. Children try to guess without looking - what's that I'm feeling in the bag? Fall Apples The Apple Tree author unknown Way up high in an apple tree, I saw two eyes look at me. I reached for an apple, it started to squirm. Oops! I found a wiggly worm. Bake a Pie! author unknown Bake a pie, bake a pie, apple pie! Roll out the dough in the wink of an eye. Apples and sugar and cinnamon too. Put it in the oven for me and you! Leaves Autumn Leaves Are All Around author unknown Autumn leaves are all around , All around, all around. Autumn leaves are all around, What colors do you see? Red and yellow, orange and brown, orange and brown, orange and brown. Red and yellow, orange and brown, Falling gracefully. Leaves author unknown I rake the leaves into a pile, And then I smile a great big smile! I jump right in and roll around; I just love leaves piled on the ground! The Leaves of the Trees Irmgard Guertges The leaves of the trees turn orange and red, The leaves of the trees come tumbling down, The leaves on the ground go swish, swish,
swish, author unknown In autumn when the trees are brown The little leaves come tumbling down They do not make the slightest sound But lie so quietly on the ground Until the wind comes puffing by And blows them off towards the sky. Scarecrows Scarecrow I'm a
little scarecrow Squirrels Pumpkins Pumpkin Seeds author unknown One day I found two pumpkin seeds. I planted one and pulled the weeds. It sprouted roots and a big, long vine. A pumpkin grew; I called it mine. The pumpkin was quite round and fat. (I really am quite proud of that.) But there is something I'll admit, that has me worried just a bit. I ate the other seed, you see. Now will it grow inside of me? (I'm so relieved since I have found, that pumpkins only grow in the ground!) poem and poster/coloring pg @ DLTK Pumpkin Pumpkin author unknown Pumpkin, pumpkin, round and fat, turned into a jack-o-lantern just like that! You'll want to visit: http://stepbystepcc.com/pumpkins.html Bats Bats by Shel Silverstein The baby bat screamed out in fright, “Turn on the dark, I’m afraid of the light!” Halloween Foods Thanksgiving Five Fat Turkeys author unknown Five fat turkeys are we. We slept all night in a tree. When the cook came around, We couldn't be found. So that's why were here you see! Gobble, Gobble, Gobble! Turkey Talk author unknown Gobble, gobble. Who is that? Turkey gobbler. Big and fat! Gobble, gobble. What does he say? Meet you on Thanksgiving Day! Grandparent's Day Just Grandpa and Me by Mercer Meyer (Amazon.com)  We're Very Good Friends My Grandma and I by P.K. Hallinan (Amazon.com)  We do this fingerplay and sing this song for our Grandparent's Day celebration. Then, the Grandparent's help their grandchild (and any child close by who does not have a visiting grandparent) complete a picture showing something they enjoy doing together... going to the park, or fishing, or reading a story, etc. I'm not sure who enjoys this more, the children
or the grandparents! Finally, the Grandparents go down
to our school cafeteria for refreshments and a chance to meet other grandparents. Grandma's Glasses (in soft voice) (in deep "grandpa" voice) (tune: Take Me Out to the Ballgame) Let's go see our grandparents (motions - driving a car) take us there for a while. Mommy and Daddy both need a break! (quickly cross arms in front, then snap back to sides for "break") We'll play games and we'll stay up real late. (point to pretend watch on wrist) Oh we want to thank our grandparents for all the things that they do. For it's time, to say you're the best (thumbs up!) and that we love you! (hug self for love, then point to grandparents) |
