Regaining & Maintaining attention

Give Me Five

When it’s time to begin an activity I sometimes hold up my hand and use
Give Me Five
to get the attention of my students.

Eyes are watching
Ears are listening
Mouth is quiet
Hands are to myself
Hearts are caring

Hold up 1 finger as you say each rule. You’ll soon find your students reciting these with you.

...Of the day

Each day has a theme… basically following REAL holidays: http://brownielocks.com some are a bit ‘tweaked’ or a day early or late, to be sure EACH day has a theme. My favorite themed days are: Talk Like a Pirate Day Johnny Appleseed Day Teddy Bear Day Candy Cane Day Rubber Ducky Day Tooth Fairy Day Each day has several other focuses as well:

Letter (recognizing, printing, sounds, words)
Shape (identifying, counting sides/angles, drawing)
Number (counting,naming, printing)
Color
Graph/Tally/Chart/Question (based on the theme)

Displayed each day are a series of poems or books based on the theme, often the children are able to select which will be read and shared aloud.

The start to each and everyday…

I remind the children that the “learning” will commence and usually give a “five minute wrap up play-time” warning. Throughout the ‘meeting’, I refer to the children by a different adjective (smarties, sillies, super readers) and proceed to follow the THEME of the day (in some cases week) in a short hint of what’s ahead.

Throughout the ‘meeting’, I refer to the children by a different adjective (smarties, sillies, super readers) and proceed to follow the THEME of the day (in some cases week) in a short hint of what’s to come for the day.

(ex.: balloon day — “Good Morning Aviators, we’ve got to fly through our work today so that we are able to float way up to the clouds).

Opening Circle Song:(sung to – Farmer in the Dell)

Hello to everyone, ( wave to children)

and how are you today?

We come to our circle time,
to laugh and sing and play.

And when you’re up you’re up, (hold hands in the air)

and when your down your down, ( place hands on floor)

and when your only half way up, (hold hands about chest level)

your neither up nor down. (throw your hands up and down quickly with words)

So roll your hands so slowly, (make fists with hands and roll about chest level like your punching a bag)

and roll your hands so fast, ( same action as above except fast)

give your hands a clap clap clap and fold them in your lap tap tap. (follow directions in this line)

Once the song is complete, and we’ve stretched some stretches, we take a look at the calendar, and weather and make predictions of the activities we’ll be doing for the day.

Calendar Song: (Sing to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”)

When we do the calendar
We learn the month the date the year.
Every weekday has a name
There are lots of numbers that look the same.
So let’s begin to show you how
We do the calendar right now.

Identify the MONTH of the year.

~~Month Chant~~

January,February,March,April,MayJune,July,August~~Hooray! Hooray!

September,October,November,DecemberThese are the months that I CAN REMEMBER!

Identify the DAY of the week.

~~The Today Song~: (To the tune of “Frere Jacques”)

Today is _______.
Today is _______.
All day long, all day long.
Yesterday was ______.
Tomorrow will be _______.
Oh what fun!
Oh what fun!

Weather

Weather Wheel

What is the weather the weather the weather
What is the weather like today?
(Childs name) says its (weather)(weather) (weather) (childs name) say its (weather) out today!

Once the calender and weather is completed, we do a little movement.

Form a Circle by joining hands. The children take a step
back until their arms are fully extended. Drop hands.
Say the following poem with activity motions:

Two little hands go clap, clap, clap.
Two little feet go tap, tap, tap.
One little body turns around and around.
One little child sits quietly down!

Fall food

AUTUMN BUTTER -

Ingredients:

* 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
* 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
* 1/4 cup whipping cream
* 1 cup butter, softened

Directions:
Mix all ingredients until well blended. Spread onto your favorite muffins, quick bread, sweet crackers, or drop a dollop onto morning pancakes.

CINNAMON BUTTER -

Ingredients:

* 2 sticks butter
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Serve over sweet bread, muffins, or morning waffles. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator.


Winnie the Pooh's Honey Pot Balls
Ingredients:
1/2 c. Peanut butter
1/2 c. Dry milk
1 T. Honey
2 T. crushed nuts

Directions:
Mix in bowl the first 3 ingredients. Mix well. Divide dough into 6 pieces. Mold each piece into a ball, sprinkle with the crushed nuts.

First Day of Autumn

Objectives:
Students will see the natural beauty in a fall leaf as they use non-traditional methods of creating leaf patterns.
What You Need:

* Construction paper
* Red, green, yellow and orange paint
* Paint brush for each color
* Safety scissors
What You Do:

1. Cover table with news print.
2. Have supplies ready and in individual trays, with paint brushes for each color.
3. Also have a sink or soapy water bucket and paper towel close at hand for clean up.
4. Have students paint one hand using each color, until the entire hand is covered.
5. Press hand on colored or white previously cut paper.
6. This technique will make some beautiful fall leaf shapes.
7. Once dried, have the students cut out their hand prints.
8. Use them to border a chalk board, or design a large "word" tree and change it through the seasons.


Objectives:
Children will learn about design in nature.
What You Need:

* Paper
* Different types of leaves
* Paint or crayons

What You Do:

1. Put the paper flat on the table and then put the leaf under the paper.
2. After you've done that, use the crayon to shade the print of the leaf on the paper.
3. If you are using paint, you put the leaf in the paint and then print in on the paper.

Angel Day

A simple way for younger children to make an angel decoration.
What You Need:

* White poster paper. (or other heavy paper)
* Scissors
* White glue.
* Magic markers.
* Cotton balls.
* Yarn or cording - gold is best.
* Glitter.

What You Do:

1. Cut one large and two smaller triangles from the poster paper.

2. Cut out a head and two hand shapes.

3. Glue the pieces together (see diagram).

4. Using the magic markers and glitter, decorate your angel.

5. Glue or tie some cording or string to the angel so it can hang as a decoration.

Recommended Products:

Watermelon Day

What You Need:

* Red Construction Paper
* Black or Brown Paint
* Q-tips®
* Green Paint
* Real Watermelon Slice

What You Do:

1. First students draw a large triangle on a piece of red 9X13 construction paper.

2. Using a Q-tip®, they can dip into the brown or black paint and place dots onto the red paper. These dots represent the seeds.

3. Students then take a rind from a slice of watermelon (of course they have to eat the watermelon first!) and dip one side into the green paint.

4. They can then place the painted rind onto one side of the triangle - making a print.

5. Students can then cut out their "watermelon slice".





What a fun addition to your summertime picnic or party. These watermelon cookies are easy and fun and the kids will enjoy helping as well!
Ingredients:

* 3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 cup butter or margarine, softened (not melted!)
* 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
* 2 eggs
* 2 tsp vanilla extract
* 6 drops red food coloring
* 1 cup miniature semi sweet morsels

Directions:
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.

Beat butter or margarine, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and red food coloring in a large bowl with electric mixer until fluffy. Gradually add flour mixture and stir with wooden spoon until thoroughly mixed. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for two hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out circles with a cookie cutter or other round object, such as a glass or round plastic container. Place circles on ungreased cookie sheet. With a butter knife, carefully slice circle in half and separate by at least 1/2 inch to allow for expansion during baking. Gently press miniature semi sweet morsels into each semicircle.

Bake for 6-8 minutes, checking after 6 minutes. Cookies will be done when edges are lightly browned. Do not allow cookies to get too brown. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes. Remove from cookies sheets to aluminum foil on a flat surface and allow to cool completely.
Glaze

* 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
* 2 tbsp water
* 15-20 drops green food coloring

In a small bowl mix together all ingredients to form a glaze. You may add drops of water to thin glaze if it is too thick.

To decorate the cookies, roll the round end of the cookie in the glaze, allow excess to drip off into bowl. Place cookies back on foil until glaze dries. Eat!