Educational creativity

After Thanksgiving, we dive right into Christmas because December goes by so fast.  Santa Here is the chimney (hand in a fist with thumb inside fingers) Here is the top (put other hand flat on top of fist) Open the lid ( remove top hand) And out Santa will pop. (Stick thumb up) Peppermint Stick Oh, I took a lick of my peppermint stick and it was really yummy. Oh, it use to be on my Christmas tree but now it's in my tummy.

Mr. Turkey Mr. Turkey, Mr. Turkey Big and Fat, Big and Fat I am going to eat you, I am going to eat you. Just like that, Just like that. Mr. Turkey I have a turkey big and fat, He spreads his wings and walks like that His daily corn he would not miss And when he talks it sounds like this gobble, gobble, gobble 5 Fat Turkeys 5 fat turkeys sitting on a fence. The first one said, " Oh, my , I'm immense!" The second one said, " I can gobble at you," The third one said, "I can gobble too." The forth one said, "I can spread my tail." The fifth one said, "Don't catch it on a nail." The farmer came by and had to say, "Turkeys look best on Thanksgiving Day." Not a Turkey by Karl Fuchs Mom is in the kitchen and when I take a look I'm glad I'm not a turkey that she's about to cook

Thanksgiving is about giving thanks.  This is what I like to teach my kids.  Of course turkeys make such great crafts.    The book by that name I got from scholastic for $1 says it all. Books I made a simple big book about scarecrows from a worksheet I was given to let the children color.  In my opinion children shouldn't be given worksheets, but they do make great books with a little creativity.  You could make it with any worksheet. The words I typed on the computer were:  The boots are black.  The hat is yellow.  The shirt is red.  The pants are blue.  Here is a scarecrow.  I just made multiple copies of the worksheet, colored it according to my words, and laminated.  This book here looks cute.   Sonshine Tot school also gives you her lessons to go with the book. Here is a flannel board set to go along with I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie. Turkey feather My favorite activity for Thanksgiving is on...

This is my favorite transportation finger play.  I use some sign language to go along with the poem.  We made something in art to go along with each line of the poem, so it would be easy to make a class book to go along. Transportation Ships(boats) sail on the water ( cup your hands together, bounce them forward like going over waves) Planes fly through the air. ( Put pinky finger and thumb out, fold others under, pretend to land plane on other hand) Cars and trains roll on the land (roll hands around each other) And take us everywhere. (Put both hands out with palms up)

     Writing, for young children is a playful but purposeful activity.  Doing countless tracing worksheets will not teach a child to write and will probably discourage them from wanting to write.  Here  is a site that explains this concept well.  Teaching writing should also be playful and purposeful.  If you are interested in learning more about the stages of writing  look at this previous post.   Along with fun group lessons that help children learn to write letters, words, sentences, and stories, I use a writing center as a way to encourage writing, practice writing, and making writing purposeful.  I frequently visit this center to prompt new letter or word uses.  I try to encourage story writing, also.  This will help with reading skills.  If they can write their own story, they can read it back to you.      In the writing center, children always have access to writing material...