Sign of the Week - Chicken

This week's sign is 'chicken'.
Using your thumb and forefinger pinch them together and place at your chin (like a bird beak).
Place your other hand in front of you, palm facing up.
Now drop the 'beak' down into the palm as if the chicken is pecking for food.

The song we'll sing this week is "The Barnyard Song"
The tune is to "If You're Happy and You Know It"

If you're a chicken and you know it go "cluck, cluck"
If you're a chicken and you know it go "cluck, cluck"
If you're a chicken and you know it 
And you really want to show it
If you're a chicken and you know it go "cluck, cluck".

Other verses can be added for other animals.
cow - moo, moo
horse - neigh, neigh
sheep - baa, baa
etc.

Five Eggs

One of my favourite fingerplays for this time of year is called 

"Five Eggs and Five Eggs."

It goes like this...

Five eggs and five eggs,
That makes ten.
Sitting on top is mother hen.
Crackle, crackle, crackle.
What do you see?
A fluffy little chick 
As cute as can be!

A couple of years ago I found fluffy little chicks at a dollar store.  I put a fluffy chick inside a plastic Easter egg, enough for each child.  After teaching the fingerplay I ask the children to make a little nest with their legs to keep the egg safe till it's ready to crack.

We then sing the song again but this time when we sing "crackle, crackle, crackle" we pick up the egg and crack it open.

 Every time the children are thrilled to see the little chick.  Doesn't matter if we sing it two or three times in a row, the pleasure is always there.

 This time, because we were on a field trip and it was the day before Easter weekend, the children could keep their egg and chick to take home.  I hope they'll be playing it for their families.

Happy Easter

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A Visit to the Farm

Oh what a beautiful day to go to the farm.  

One of the few sunny days that we've had for a while and we got to be outside and visit baby chicks.

Shamrock Farms opens its doors to the public every fall for pumpkins so I was excited to see that they were hatching chicks and were welcoming classes to come and visit.

This is a popular field trip, it's a fun and relaxed farm to visit, the sign up sheet always fills up fast.

We are lucky that we are doing two trips, today and next Tuesday.

Even though our focus was to visit and hold the chicks there were chickens and goats to feed.

The roosters were vocal and showed us their lovely tail feathers.

We found eggs in the nests.

And best of all we held the chicks.

What's in the Egg? - Family Project

A Family Project is an activity that families do at home then bring back to school and share with the group.  This month's project is called "What's in the egg?"

I provided plastic Easter eggs for the child to take home, encouraging them to find something to fit inside it, think of clues for it and bring it back to school.

When they bring it to school I ask them for their clues and write them down on a folded piece of paper that looks like an egg. (demonstrating literacy in action - what you say is the same as what I write)

At circle time, it's their time to stand up and be the leader.  Giving their clues and waiting for guesses. In the picture above we were with our grade 3 buddy class and this little guy was able to share the game with them.

Family projects are similar to homework but for under 5s.  They offer families the opportunity to have fun with an activity at home.  But what I enjoy most is watching the child stand up in front of the group for the first time.  Their first experience with public speaking.

Today a little girl brought in her project and we went through all the steps of prepping her to stand in front of the group.  But at the last minute she didn't want to stand up and be the centre of attention so I asked her if I could do it with her.  From where she sat comfortably with her mom she clearly answered all the questions.  And the children guessed what was in her egg.  Maybe next time she'll feel ready - little steps with family and school support can be powerful.

Jelly Bean Stew

I love jelly beans and get quite excited at this time of year when I can chant this poem at school.
Do you know the Jelly Bean Stew poem?  Here it is...

Jelly bean stew, jelly bean stew
Red and yellow and purple ones too.
Orange and pink and black and green
It's the prettiest stew I've ever seen.

It's not just because I like to eat jelly beans but it's another fun way to talk about colours.

Today I set up an "invitation-to-play" around the poem.

Driftwood, stones and sticks to build the fire.  Tissue paper for the flames.  An old pot, wooden spoons and little bowls.  And plastic jelly beans that I found several years ago.

It didn't take long for the cooking to begin.

Or serving it and sharing with others around the fire.

And it was really fun to stir and stir and stir.  It made a lot of noise.

Melted Crayon Eggs

We've used the warming tray to melt crayons before but today we did one step before that to decorate our paper eggs.

We used our tiny cheese graters to make tiny pieces of crayon. 

 Then set the crayon covered paper egg onto the tray and watched the crayon melt.

We also set chunks of the crayons on paper on to the warming tray.  When they started melting we used wooden coffee stir sticks, tongue depressors and chop sticks to spread it around and  make designs.

Two handed method works well.

Sign of the Week - Egg

This week's sign is 'egg'.
Using both hands, hold up the index and middle fingers together (just like we did when we signed 'bunny').
Now place them in front of your body with palms facing the body.
Place the right hand on the left (crossing fingers).
Drop fingers down and apart.
Like an egg being cracked open.

Our nursery rhyme of focus this week will be...
Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.