Workshop Wednesday

Thanksgiving Matching Cards

These photo cards are absolutely beautiful. Follow the link and print 2 sets of the cards and laminate. Use the cards as a simple matching game or as a game of memory. You could even place the cards in the literacy area as writing prompts or language development.

Thanksgiving Matching Cards from Montessori for Everyone

Transition Tuesday

Try this fun finger play with your students this month.

Mr. Turkey 

Mr. Turkey went for            (Start with hands behind your back.)

A walk one day                     (Bring right thumb out in front of you.)

In the very best             

Of weather.

He met Mr. Duck                 (Bring left thumb out in front.)

Along the way
And they talked                   (Have thumbs look at each other.)

Together.

“Gobble, gobble, gobble.”        (Wiggle right thumb.)

“Quack, quack, quack.”           (Wiggle left thumb.)

“Good-bye.”                           (Bow right thumb.)

“Good-bye.”                           (Bow left thumb.)

And they both walked back!   (Wiggle thumbs behind your back.)

Taken from Dr. Jean, 2011

Make & Take Monday

Paper Plate Turkeys

Materials: paper plates, markers, paper tube, turkey head pattern, construction paper, and glue

Directions:
1. Have children color paper plates with markers (see photo).
2. Trace turkey head pattern and cut out. Add eyes, beak, and waddle.
3. Glue turkey head pattern onto paper tube.
4. Staple tube to plate.

Feature Friday

A preview of Thanksgiving books for the classroom.

"A Plump and Perky Turkey " by Teresa Bateman is such a cute and funny book about a town that needs a turkey and the lengths they go to to find one. The town is sadly outwitted by the turkey and end up eating shredded wheat for thanksgiving. The illustrations will keep your studnets interested even though the story’s humor may be a little above their heads.

“10 Fat Turkeys” by Tony Johnston is a classroom favorite.  It’s about as silly as a book gets and the children will have no clue they are actually learning about subtraction while listening to the crazy rhymes. This book will not explain the pilgrims, or talk about the Mayflower, but it will make your kids laugh! Very cute!

“The First Thanksgiving Day : A Counting Story” by Laura Krauss Melmed is a stunning gem of a book. The book has so many layers it will keep toddlers and preschoolers alike busy and engaged. The text explains the first Thanksgiving while counting 1-10 in rhyming poetry and the illustrations by Mark Buehner have hidden treasures, see if you can find them!

"Thanksgiving is for giving thanks” by Margaret Sutherland is book that explains what Thanksgiving is, and gives lots of examples of things to be thankful for. The narrator is thankful for lollipops, a teacher’s encouragement, grandma’s hugs, and sunny days.The book as a whole is a valuable teaching tool about Thanksgiving.

Thoughtful Thursday

Want to Give Your Kids an Advantage? Build Executive Functions

Every parent wants their kids to have the best shot at succeeding at whatever their chosen path may be.  So we try to give them all of the right opportunities.  Some go to tutors, buy complicated programs, or drill through flashcards, but one of the best predictors of success is one that can be regularly built through play.

Study after study has displayed the influential role of executive functions in success over the long run.  Perhaps the most well-known is what is commonly referred to as the Marshmallow Test.  Back in the 60s,  Stanford researchers essentially gave preschoolers the choice of having one marshmallow now or two marshmallows later.  (And did I mention these little ones were left alone with the marshmallows until “later” arrived?)

Researchers followed their subjects for decades and found that those preschoolers who could wait longer, did better academically, reported less drug-use, and found greater life satisfaction into adulthood.
It makes sense that efficient executive functions would be a strong predictor of other successes.  Executive functions, those functions of the prefrontal cortex, include impulse-control, judgement, focus, and flexible thinking. Children with these strengths will listen in class when there are distractions, will take the time to look for right answers beyond first-glance answers, and will get their school work done when they’d rather be playing video games.  They’re better able to take their other talents and strengths, build on them, apply them intentionally, and use them in working toward their goals.

The good news is that many researchers believe that these self-regulation skills can be increased through practice and experience.  Perhaps the better news is that this often takes the shape of play!  Here are some ideas for fun ways to build executive functions:

Play

Dance and Freeze.  You know the drill.  The music plays and everyone dances.  The music stops and everyone freezes.  Children have to resist the impulse to keep moving and stay frozen instead.  The same idea can be used for other stop and go games like Red Light, Green Light and Snowmen at Night or for using stop and go signs while singing.
Simon Says.  It seems easy enough.  Do what you’re told, right?  Except that you have to focus and pay attention to detail.  Instead of being distracted by the directions alone, children have to listen for that key phrase, “Simon Says”…
Opposite Games.  I love playing these with young children.  Often, I’ll say, “Listen to my directions and do what I say, but don’t let me trick you with what I do.”  So I’ll say, “Touch your nose,”while I touch my ears.  Can they fight the urge and focus only on my words?  It’s tough for those little ones, but they get better with practice!  Similar games have been played where children say the opposite of what they see on picture cards (night for day, day for night) or do opposite actions (x whenever the adult does y and y whenever the adult does x).  These games require kids to focus on what’s important and resist what is likely their first impulse.
Play Pretend.  Dramatic play is full of benefits for young children, not least of which is the flexibility of thinking and self-control required for a child to take on another character and play out the role.  Even better, as young children build their play scripts with other children, they begin to negotiate and share ideas and build a plan for play — the next avenue in building executive functions.

Are you providibng opportunities for your children to build their executive finctions???

Taken from Not Just Cute

Workshop Wednesday

Pumpkin Pie Counting Game

Materials:

aluminum pie pans (small); orange construction paper; cotton balls; bowl; tongs; marker

 

Directions:

1.Cut a piece of orange paper in the shape of a circle and place in the bottom of each pie pan.

2. Write numbers on each paper circle (You can have 1 - 10 or random numbers you are working on).

3. Place a bowl with cotton balls next to the pie pans.

4. Have the children place the correct number of cotton balls (whip cream) on each pie.
5. Use tongs for extra fine motor practice.

Taken from Kidsoup

 

Transition Tuesday

TURKEYS ALL AROUND
Tune: "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"

Turkeys, turkeys all around
On the fence, on the ground.
On the haystack, on the chair.
All around, everywhere.
Turkeys, turkeys all around.
Gobble, gobble what a sound!
                                Jean Warren