ivey league preschool: oceans of o's!

This week has been brought to you by the letter O!

We kicked off O Week by doing our do-a-dot, playdoh mat, and pattern block puzzle for the letter O:

We also did our magazine scavenger hunt and collage with letter O's:

We did a few ocean-themed activities from a preschool pack.  We worked on filling in beginning letter sounds, sorting fish from other sea creatures, following directions while coloring, and filling in more complex patterns.

 

We also did a couple more worksheets to work on writing the letter O, as well as coloring uppercase and lowercase O's:

Caleb also colored an octopus.

And finally, we made a very simple "ocean bottle."

I filled an empty water bottle about a third of the way with water, added a few drops of blue food coloring, then filled the bottle up the rest of the way with oil (I used canola oil, but I think a clear oil like baby oil might look a little better...oh well, I used what we had!).  I hot-glued the lid back onto the bottle so no one would try to open it and make a mess.  All in all, it's pretty cool!

When you tip the bottle back and forth, the blue water forms waves as it pushes itself through the oil.  This also taught Caleb that oil and water never mix!  Next time it might be cool to use a bigger bottle and add sand, little shells, or maybe shiny sequins to imitate sea life.

This week we listened to classic Christmas tunes on our cable's music channel.  :)

Our Ocean Books:

Secret Seahorse by Stella Blackstone

Fish Eyes by Lois Ehlert

Octavia and Her Purple Ink Cloud by Donna & Doreen Rathmell

Curious George at the Aquarium by R.P. Anderson

Finding Nemo (Little Golden Book) adapted by Victoria Saxon

Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusan

Sea Creatures by Anne Faundez

A B Sea by Bobbie Kalman

Other O Books:

Olivia by Ian Falconer

Good Job, Oliver! by Laurel Molk

Okie-Dokie, Artichokie! by Grace Lin

Links:

Do-A-Dot Alphabet Pages (Home School Creations)
Play-Doh Letter Mats (Home School Creations)
Pattern Block Printable Templates (Jessica's Corner of Cyberspace)

Ocean-Themed Preschool Pack (3 Dinosaurs)

Hidden Object Coloring Worksheet (Education.com)

Tracing Worksheet (Education.com)

Octopus Coloring Page (Education.com)

Ocean in a Bottle (Happy Hooligans)

ivey league preschool: thanksgiving week

Last week we took a break from our regular stuff to focus more on Thanksgiving.  First, we made a "thankful garland" out of cardstock leaves and thick twine:

We also did a few turkey-themed worksheets.  Caleb was very good at coloring-by-number, as well as with graphing the shapes.  For the alphabet one, he would tell me what he was thankful for and I'd write it down.  Seems strange, but the kid really IS thankful for llamas (Emperor's New Groove, anyone?) and vacuum cleaners, though I think we both ran out of steam by letter X.  :)

We did a file-folder game where you match up letter sounds with corresponding items using turkey feathers.

We also made a turkey puppet.  Caleb insisted we give the turkey wings and a smiley face too.

We put together pattern block puzzles of a turkey and the Mayflower:

And finally, we made a turkey emergent reader where Caleb colored different amounts of turkey feathers on each page.  He can recognize several color names by sight so he did very well with this!  I colored the cover for him but he signed his name.

Our Thanksgiving Books:
Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano
Run, Turkey, Run! by Diane Mayr
10 Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston
The Berenstain Bears Give Thanks by Jan and Mike Berenstain
The Littlest Pilgrim by Brandi Dougherty
Give Thanks for Each Day by Steve Metzger
Bear Gives Thanks by Karma Wilson
One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims by B.G. Hennessy

Links:
Thankful Garland Inspiration (Carina Gardner)
Turkey-Themed Color by Shape Worksheet (Pink Cat Studio; Teachers Pay Teachers)
Turkey-Themed Color by Number Worksheet (Mommy Octopus)
Thankful ABCs Worksheet (Written Reality)
Alphabet Turkey File Folder Game (123 Homeschool 4 Me)
Thanksgiving Pattern Block Puzzles (This Reading Mama)
Printable "This Turkey" Emergent Reader (The Real Teachers of OC; Teachers Pay Teachers)