Iceberg Hop! - A fun way to learn sight words and get moving!

  So, I am sure that since I have been hibernating (since the holidays ended), I  have put on like five pounds. This winter is getting so depressing! Maybe it's because I am not teaching this year, but man... I have had a serious case of the Winter Blues. Seriously.
   I have been itching to get my butt outside for a little run... and today-- I finally did it!!
   It was 21 degrees outside and a little cold,  but it didn't matter. That one mile felt really good! Of course, now I am a bit sore and I am sure I will be more sore tomorrow... but that's ok... I really needed that run and that adrenaline rush!!

    The other day, the little munchkin was randomly dancing around the house, with a book in her hand.

   At first, I was like " What is this child doing?"  It took me a few seconds to realize she was just ansy as I have been and needed to get up and move a little more. And a lightbulb immediately went off in my head.
   I grabbed a few sheets of printer paper and cut out shapes that looked somewhat like icebergs. I wrote her sight words on them, laminated them and BAM-- a gross motor learning activity!
   We called it the Iceberg Hop!
   She shouted out each sight word as she hopped on it!

She LOVED it! 

Even our dog, Sox, wanted to join in on the fun!

    The whole game kept us busy for more than 40 minutes! (Shocker, huh?)

    I am going to need to find some more fun gross motor activities to get us through the rest of this very long winter!

Green Eggs & Ham, Anyone?

  “Would you, like them in a house? Or would you like them with a mouse?”

   I love Green Eggs & Ham! Such a fun book that my kiddos loved!

   We had a parent come in to read this book  and the kids were thrilled to hear someone else read- other than myself or my assistants!

   I actually struggled with thinking of a fun activity linked to this book that I felt the kids would really enjoy.  

   When my assistant and I put our brains together, we came up with a way to use this cool solution that we have in our art closet. We have a paint product called Bio-Color that can be used in many ways! We have used it to create water colors (using one type of solution) and then have used it to create a gooey putty like substance, using a different solution.

   So we decided to make a green egg!

   We put a few drops of green paint into a bowl of solution and they mixed it up until they had a putty like substance. Then they had a blast playing with it and slapping it onto an egg yolk shape!

   During gym time, we worked on balancing skills, as each child had a turn in balancing plastic green (and yellow) eggs on a plastic spoon. It was funny to see them so concentrated and focused on not dropping the eggs!

 And for snack, we had green pudding with vanilla wafers. We poured the pudding onto a plate and then stuck a wafer in the middle to make a Green Egg! (Sorry, no ham here!) 

    I can tell that the kids are having such a fun time learning about Dr. Seuss and the classroom library has been a popular place this week, as they have been exploring all the books I have put out for them!

   Tomorrow I will share some of the other books and activities that we have read and done this week!

   But right now, I need to go raid my closet and put together a wacky outfit for our Wacky Friday fun! I can't wait to see what kinds of wacky outfits the kids come to school in!