Fun with Shapes...and a FREEBIE for you!

   Looks like I am becoming a Friday night blogger! While most teachers step away from anything related to the classroom on a Friday night, I just keep on going, as if Friday is just another day during the work week! But that's me... PreK on my mind 24/7 !
   Anyhow, we are just getting into the swing of things now. The munchkins have the routine down for the most part. (I just hate that I might have to switch it up a little in October due to good ole' testing stuff.)  The crying is over and done with, they are learning each other's names, playing well together and overall, adjusting very well to the preschool environment.
    It did not take long for the munchkins to follow along when I introduced learning centers this week. I am always prepared to have some kids who will have trouble with the transition and I was well prepared for it. But to my surprise, there weren't too many issues with it. I did get a few, "When can I play outside?" and "I wanna sing another song"  the first day I introduced the routine of Learning Center Time.
    It usually takes awhile to get little ones used to this part of the classroom routine simply because they are just not made to sit still for very long at this age! So I make sure we get some Music & Movement activity in right before we switch to Learning Center Time, and then some other type of Gross Motor activity afterwards too. This group loves to sing and dance, so I have to keep up with them! My Learning Center time has usually ranged from 30-40 minutes, depending on the activity and interest. I always make sure that my learning center activities, which are usually 3-4 different activities, are short (no longer than 10-12 minutes), fun and engaging so that the munchkins really want to participate. And this group of munchkins is turning out to be very eager to learn and play...and that makes this teacher very happy!

   This week, we wrapped up our Shape unit and began our Apple unit. I grabbed these very cute Shape Poems from Miss Kindergarten. They are short and catchy little poems that help kids remember the characteristics of each shape.

And I created a set of Shape Friends to go along with the poems. There are some great shape craftivities out there, but I am not ready to let the kids take on a lengthy craft project just yet! 

The poems and friends were a fun way to learn about shapes! 

As a special treat, you can download the templates for these cute little shape friends.

 CLICK HERE to grab your free copy!

(Just simple copy onto colored paper or just use the templates to trace onto colored paper)

    Our Math Center had a few fun activities throughout the week to help the kids learn shapes.

These great shape tracing sheets came from Teaching with Nancy's Bushel of Shapes packet.

Our Big Button Number Fun Game from Melissa & Doug and our Shape Sorting Game from Lakeshore. (not pictured) have been huge hits in the Math Center as well.

And the munchkins used their imagination to create different pictures with shapes.

Such creative artists I have, huh?

I think they have a good grasp on basic shapes now, so next up: 3D Shapes.

We will be getting to that very soon!