Once Upon A Book ~ We Are Alike, We Are All Different

 

We Are All Alike . . . We Are All Different
by Cheltenham Elementary Kindergarten Students

Book Summary: With original drawings and their own lyrical words, a class of kindergartners share the ways they look and feel, the games they play, the foods they like, the homes they live in, and the families they live with, concluding that "We are all alike. We are all different. We are a family."

Bible Verse:  Psalm 139:14~I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Social Studies:

In the book, one of the differences mentioned were types of housing. Using a quick search through the internet and clip-art, I pulled up several different types of housing. This was mainly for vocabulary purposes because I realized that he'd never been to an apartment building since we live in the suburbs.

Science:

We went outside and looked at our shadow. We noticed that Mommy's shadow was longer than Jonah's. And then, this very pregnant Mommy decided that it was way too hot to be out in the August sun and changed my "lesson plan". Had it been cooler, I wanted to stand at the same spot and mark our shadows at different times of the day to allow Jonah to see that his shadow changes with the sun's movement/position in the sky. I'll reschedule this for cooler weather, but still wanted to share it with you!

Math:

First, we did Muffin Tin Sorting using small Foam Beads shaped like People (I purchased these from Oriental Trading many years ago and cannot find on their site to link to.) We talked about how when we sort items, we find the things that are alike and put them together. I tried to use the terms "alike" and "same" interchangeably to increase vocabulary skills since "alike" was a term from the book.

Once we were finished sorting, we used the foam beads to make patterns. At first, I started the pattern and asked him to tell me what would be next. Later, I had him make his own. If your child is not quite on this level yet, give them a pattern to copy.

We also used the foam beads to practice counting.

Reading & Art:

At our house, we've been working on the sight word "my". In order to continued practicing that sight word, I made a simple book on the computer and Jonah helped me finish the pages. Since the book is illustrated by a class of Kindergarten students, I think it encouraged Jonah to draw. He loved looking at the drawings in the book. He's been somewhat timid with drawing and saying "He's not good at it" or "I don't know how", but this book really encouraged him to try. He saw that drawing doesn't have to be perfect to be in a book.

He drew a picture for the "My Family" page that made me tear up...

Jonah included his brother, Asher, about to be born (any day now) and the sister we're in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. I love that he already sees her as family and we don't even know who she is yet! (Feel free to read our adoption story that is still unfolding.)

Here are the rest of the pages....

 

 

 

 

 

After we assembled the book, we went on a word hunt to find the word "My". I showed Jonah how to use a highlighter to highlight the word and let him find them throughout the book.

*If you'd like to use the "My" sight word book I made, you can download it here on my blog.

Mommy Made Printables ~ All About Me

We are excited to share some All About Me printables for you to use with your tots as you explore together!

Feelings Tot Pack {from 1+1+1=1}

Ff is for Foot ~ Body Parts Theme {from 1+1+1=1}

All About Me {Body} {from Lawteedah}

We Are Family {from Lawteedah}

My Body {from 2 Teaching Mommies}

My Feelings {from 2 Teaching Mommies}

My Family, My Home {from 2 Teaching Mommies}

Do you have any free All About Me printables YOU have created {and share}? If so, leave a link to your blog post in the comments below!

Once Upon a Book ~ Designed By God So I Must Be Special

Designed by God So I Must Be Special

by Bonnie Sose

Book Summary: This is a great book that shares with a child all of the wonderful things that God gave them and how He designed them to be the special person that they are!

Bible Verse: I praise you because I am fearfully, and wonderfully made! Psalm 139:14

Bible printable from 2 Teaching Mommies

Craft: Using our Education Cubes, the boys made themselves and worked on shape recognition at the same time! We used the Shape Person printable from 2 Teaching Mommies and our shape insert cards along with our cube. The boys “made” themselves by rolling shapes. As they rolled a shape, they identified the shape and if possible, they added the corresponding body part until their body was complete!

Fingerprints: The boys had lots of fun stamping their fingerprint as they used the Fingerprint Activity from Making Learning Fun.

Counting: We practiced a bit of counting and 1-1 correspondence by using our Dot Counting insert cards along with our Education Cubes. The boys rolled the cube, counted the dots and then counted the same number of body parts. Here, one of my boys is in the process of counting out five fingers!

My Body Book: We talked about their different body parts and the boys colored their My Body Book from DLTK.

Body Parts: We talked more about body parts and had a little fun identifying body parts using our Education Cubes along with the Body Parts insert cards. The boys rolled the cube and identified the body part. Then they pointed to the part on their own body and counted the part(s). Another more advanced option would be to use the Spanish Body Parts cards.

Custom Books: I found these adorable Custom Books from DLTK that the boys LOVED! We were able to customize each book and then print it out for the boys to color!

Name Stamping: The boys love stamping! So, of course, the Name Stamping from 1+1+1=1 was a huge it!

More “Name” Activities: The boys also had fun spelling their names with foam letters and letter magnets!

Snack: For a fun snack, you could make some yummy people cookies!

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!

What’s in the Tub ~ All About Me

Next month our theme at Totally Tots is All About Me.  Here are some ideas for you to use in a sensory tub with your little one to explore the theme up close and personal.   

What’s in the Tub?: 

• blue rice (which is Aiden’s favorite color)
• wooden tree (a branch from the yard would also work)
• pictures of family members, with a hole punched at the top and string attached.
• pictures of our pets
• alphabet wooden beads
• our phone number on a piece of laminated paper
• magnetic numbers to practice making our phone number
• sea shells with letters written on them
• a few of Aiden’s favorite things; car, boat, miniature fishing pole, and a small bat and ball

Aiden’s favorite activity was looking for family members and adding them to our “family tree”.

He worked on spelling out a few family members names ~ of course he picked dad first.

This was a fun tub to put together and Aiden enjoyed that it was “All About Him”.

What’s in the Tub? is a feature that focuses on fun sensory tub ideas to go along with the monthly theme at Totally Tots.   Click here to see past sensory tub ideas.