More Insect Fun- plus a FREEBIE!

     There was all this buzz in the classroom about insects and I knew the munchkins knew what insects were, but after reading several books and discussing different types of insects, I decided to try and trick them!

   

ANALYSIS/CLASSIFYING:

   I made an Insect web and drew insects and some non-insects. (My drawing skills are at the preschool level, so don't laugh!)

   We went through things that we knew about insects ( 6 legs being the most important characteristic) and determined which  animals could be classified as Insects.

BOOK ACTIVITY/EXTENSION: 

   Last  week was also Mental Health Awareness Week, and we  read a perfect book about a certain red insect who had an attitude problem: “The Grouchy Ladybug”.  We talked about what it meant to be grouchy and then each munchkin shared what things make them grouchy!

  I then took my camera and asked them to make their best Grouchy face… and they made a ladybug and I pasted a picture of their grouchy face onto the ladybug. (An idea I saw all over Pinterest and just HAD to do!)

LITERACY: 

   We also worked on our uppercase and lowercase alphabet recognition with my newly  created Ladybug Mats (get your free copy here). I had intended to use a cookie sheet and magnetic squares for individual use, but when I noticed that there were more than 3 munchkins who wanted to play, I decided to make it into a group game. Each munchkin had to search for the cards they needed. It turned out better that way because I was able to see them working together and got a better sense of who was knowledgeable in matching uppercase and lowercase letters and who still needs extra practice!

Now, here is a FREEBIE for you!

   In addition to having them try and spell the names of different insects, I put some spelling mats in our Writing Center.

Click here to grab your copy!

   It is obvious that my munchkins are obsessed with insects right now and my head is still FULL of ideas that I would like to try BUT I do need to move it along... There is LOTS to do to start getting ready for the end of the school year! 

   I think I am going to give it another few days-Especially since I just replaced the sand with dirt and digging tools in our sand table that has been full of insects! (plastic ones of course!)

What? Sunday night already?

Wow, the weekend sure went by fast! And I feel like I have been run over by a truck! My little munchkin’s internal clock is a pain in the neck! She was up by 6:30am both on Saturday and Sunday! NO sleeping in for this momma!

BUT I must say, it was a productive weekend! We did some fun activities, went shopping and… I’m excited about this one—I started working on my 1^st Freebie! I am hoping that I get around to finalizing it by the end of the week to be able to share!

Anyhow, the little munchkin’s interest in Ladybugs is still going strong and this weekend we stopped by a toy/teacher store in the mall and found what I had been looking to purchase online: Lady Bug Land! And a Teacher Discount at the store was even better!

She is super excited and is already eagerly awaiting the arrival of the ladybug larvae- even though I won’t be sending the card out until tomorrow! I know, I know-- bad momma---I should have done it as soon as we opened the box! Oops…

Well, I am sure she will forget all about it until they actually arrive…or until she notices where I put the Ladybug habitat in her playroom!

BUT… I have many other things planned to hold her interest until then! I found a set of Beginner Skill floor puzzles (four puzzles) at this same store and I originally bought it with the intention of using them in my classroom but once she got her little hands on it, it was over! You know those toddlers: “It’s MINE!” 

And she shocked me when she was done with all four puzzles in no time!

So, now I probably will have to go get another set for my classroom… OR sneak them out of the house and hope she doesn’t notice they are gone! J

Well… that’s about all the excitement I have for now… 

I am one exhausted momma and I have to deal with 19 preschool munchkins tomorrow, so I will have to post again tomorrow and share the other things my little munchkin and I did this weekend...

Ladybug Snack

Well it’s Sunday night and that means back to work tomorrow! While I am bummed out to not be able to stay home with my kiddos, I can’t wait to get back into the classroom with my preschoolers. We have lots to do! 

There are just about 9 weeks left in the school year; that is about 45 days- but I’m not counting, I promise!  LOL

Anyhow today for a morning snack, my little munchkin and I couldn’t decide what kind of snack we wanted to make. On Pinterest I had seen some cute snack ideas: Ladybug cupcakes and Oreo Ladybugs! BUT we decided to male something easier that required no cooking and very little mess! We made a Ladybug cookie!

All we needed was baked sugar cookies from the grocery store bakery, and some red and black cookie icing (and tools).

When I made an example, my little munchkin watched me carefully and made her very own! 

Hers in on the right, mine is on the left. She did a pretty good job huh?

My big kiddo joined in and made one with us too!

YUMMMMMM!

What a great way to end our mini ladybug unit!

More Ladybug Fun !

I love that I let my little munchkin pick the topic of study this week! Everyday she wanted to do something with ladybugs. It has definitely been a fun week.... 

One day, all she wanted to do was work with glue! So, that’s what she did!

Ladybug Shapes

She can name all her shapes but I always look for ways to reinforce shapes in every day activities. 

I made a ladybug body cutout and had her paste it together. On the wings, I had drawn some shape outlines and I gave her the shape cutouts to match and glue onto the wings.

 She went absolutely wild when I gave her glitter!

Ladybug Letter Sorting

We also worked on visual skills and letter sorting with a printable from the Letter of the Week curriculum.

Ladybug Painting Fun

One day, my little munchkin woke up and wanted to paint.

She picked red paint, grabbed some popsicle sticks and went right to work.

      Isn't  that a cute Ladybug?

 

Another painting project we did was with the letter L.

 She painted a letter L with watercolors and then took some ladybug stickers and put them on the L.

Mail Delivery!  (Ladybug Alphabet Puzzles)

When the package from Amazon.com came in on Tuesday afternoon, I  don’t know who was more excited: her or me!

We immediately ripped the box open to find our goodies and start playing! I gave her only a few of the ladybug puzzles so she wasn’t overwhelmed.

Soon, one of our guinea pigs, Mimi, decided to join in on the learning fun!

 I was cracking up as I watched my little munchkin interact and be the teacher and play school with Mimi.

Mimi was a perfect student and was paying attention very well!  LOL 

A+ for Mimi for the day! 

Ladybug Critter Craft

So I mentioned that I came across an easy ladybug craft project at Michaels for my little munchkin to do.

Here are the supplies we used:

(There is double of almost everything on the tray b/c I wanted to make one too!)

- Clay pots

- Red & Black craft paint

- Small Styrofoam balls (you only need about 3 per project)

- Wiggly eyes

- Craft glue

- Paintbrush

- White & Black pipe cleaners

                                                                                                                                                                    She was very excited to start painting even though I noticed that she used only one hand the entire time she was painting!

She started off painting one small clay pot red. 

Just look at that concentration!

   Next I cut off a small part of one Styrofoam ball (to allow for easy gluing onto the pot) and she painted it black. She couldn’t get a good grip on the ball and paint at the same time so I had to lend a hand.

Notice how she is only using one hand? Weird... LOL

After we let it dry for about 30 minutes, we proceeded to glue the “head” onto the body.

We had to stick the eyes in, on the top of the Styrofoam ball and put some glue to hold them in there.

Afterwards, we cut the black pipe cleaners in 2 inch pieces and stuck them behind the eyes. I added a piece of white pipe cleaner to add a little smile. 

** The other 2 Styrofoam balls are to be cut in half, painted black and then glued to the bottom of the pot to make the ladybug’s feet.**

HOWEVER, little miss munchkin liked her ladybug just as it was, so we left it like that!

Isn’t it adorable? It is now displayed on the windowsill in my kitchen!  I   LOVE   it!

(I have yet to finish mine!)

Too bad all the cute craft ideas can’t all be MY ideas, right? LOL

Big Thanks  to  Michaels  for the cute idea !  =)  

Ll is for Ladybugs!

It’s  Ladybug  Week!  

    I was planning to do some spring type activities with my little munchkin this week, but she had other ideas! She was looking at my Insect theme box & books that I had pulled out of the garage to do some lesson planning and when I asked her what she wanted to learn about and she said “Lady bugs!”

   So I switched gears and ladybugs it was. Thankfully I already had some ladybug stuff in my Insect theme box (books, mini bug erasers, bug toys) but that didn’t stop me from searching everywhere for new ideas and activities!

   I hit the jackpot on Amazon where I found a letter matching game in the shape of ladybugs, a ladybug notepad which I plan to use in several different ways and ladybug stickers… All from Carson Dellosa- one of my favorite places to order teacher stuff!  And thanks to my prime membership at Amazon, everything arrived quickly! 

 Then I strolled up and down the aisles at Michaels to find any ladybug thing that I could use this week. I found more stickers, wooden pieces and a ladybug stamper! And I found a very cute, very simple craft project for her to do.

Ll is for Ladybug

We started off the week by using some printables from Confessionsof a Homeschooler's Letter of the Week Curriculum, which is one of my favorite homeschooling blogs.

She wanted to do one thing after another. She was ready to go!

She worked on her coloring and cutting skills, a puzzle and a sizing game all within an hour and a half!!

Sorting

Later that day, I pulled out my big bag of mini erasers and she dumped them all out on the floor! I immediately turned it into a sorting activity and gave her some cupcake liners and showed her how to sort them.

She actually saved me the tedious task of having to pull out all the ladybug erasers to use as counters. 

Counting

And again, she was ready to work and started working on the Leaf/ Ladybug math mats I made just for her. It was a great way for her to practice her one to one counting!

More fun ladybug activities to come......