H is for hearts and hands and home.

H Template

ASL – h, happy, house

Cover the letter template with hearts or hole punch holes into it.

No preschool program is complete without some handprint art. Our big project this week is to make this handprint calendar. I admit to being a smidge concerned about trying to pull this off with four families of children but I really hope to finish these for Christmas. They are way cute.

Montessori Practical Life – sorting clothes in hampers. Housekeeping is a major focus of Montessori practical life work. Using child sized tools is highly recommended.  The link takes you to labels for your hampers.  Even very young children can  learn to sort and  keep their laundry off the floor.  Or so I am told. I think they lose this skill later. Must be a brain chemistry issue in adolescence. Maybe my big boys will like these labels. <g>

Sensorial/Sorting:  Hot/cold game – google images of hot items such as hamburger, fireplace, candle, teapot and cold things like ice cubes, ice cream, snowman.  Glue them to cards and sort.   You can also purchase or make thermic bottles I would suggest making, unless of course you had $200 laying around you didn’t know what to do with.  Actually even if you do, don’t buy them anyway.  Call me.  I can use it. ; D

Math: A Hundreds Chart teaches and reinforces many math skills in the early elementary school years. This site suggests lots of extension activities.

The concept of 100 can be taught using the long chain manipulatives such as these from JMJ Publishing.

Shape: heart

H is for handwriting. We are using this book from Handwriting Without Tears to teach letter formation. We really love the little chalk board and then the transition to the shaded rectangles. 

PE – hopping.  Play hopscotch this week and you can reinforce numbers (counting up and back down again) and balance at once.  Hoola hoops are a great tool as well. You can use them to hoola which is a skill in itself. You can shoot bean bags through them. You can hop inside-outside-around them thereby working on positional directions. This book gives more ideas. Play Hokey Pokey.

Snacks for this week: hamburgers, hotdogs, ham and cheese, hot chocolate, hot cross buns, Ho-Ho’s (did I say that or was I just thinking it ; ) and candy hearts

Lit/art:
The House That Jack Built  etext   to go with some house and home  fun like this. You can save oatmeal and other boxes, cover them with construction paper and black window squares to make a whole village of houses.  Take a large poster and make a house of large rectangles.  Cut out pics of furniture and appliances appropriate to different rooms and laminate. Have the children match them to the rooms on the poster. They can simply glue them on for a one time project instead.

Songs/rhymes:
Hickory Dickory Dock

If You’re Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands
He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands

My Hands by Aliki
Handrhymes
Ho for a Hat by William J Smith
Hop on Pop

Bible/Saints:

Discuss halos and their use in sacred art. Look through any art appreciation book and note the halos in images of holy men and women.
The Holy Family.   
As For Me and My House coloring page.  This memory verse would be nice to write on one of the box houses you make this week.
Holy Holy Holy song. 
For Catholics: Immaculate Heart of Mary and Sacred Heart of Jesus. Practice the Hail Mary and/or Hail Holy Queen prayers. This online color book has both prayers along with songs and lots of activities.

H is for Hugs. Distribute them freely this week.  : )