I is for American Indians  (I apologize for missing links.  Will upload later today.)

I template covered in indian corn or ink stamps

ASL I  and Indian and ice cream (this week’s snack)

Number: 9  I love the number ladders Elizabeth and Katherine share at Serendipity!  Lots of ways to make 9. There are 9 planets, 9 choirs of angels, and 9 days in a novena.

Lit:

If you have a round table you can make a poster board cone, set it atop the table and drape a sheet over to make a special story spot this week.  If you are a really enthusiastic mom you will use an old sheet and let them make pictures on it.  ; ) 

The Legend of the Bluebonnets

At least one Iktomi story

Corn is Maize – Aliki

Hiawatha – I love this version by Susan Jeffers.  Then again I like most everything by Susan Jeffers!

Ten Little Rabbits

Tapenum’s Day

NC Wyeth’s Pilgrims (ties us to the holiday)

I is for Inside.  Berenstain Bears explain Inside, Outside, Upside, Down.

And for Important. Margaret Wise Brown of Goodnight Moon fame wrote Another Important Book which highlights the great things about being different ages.

In is also for Inches.  Leo Lionni’s Inch by Inch is the intro. Then print an inch ruler on green cardstock and fold accordian style along the inch marks. This becomes your ‘inchworm’ measure. 

We also made an inch measurement manipulative game using craft sticks. On one make a 5in ruler with a sharpie marker. On five sticks make lines varying from one to five inches long. On five more sticks write the answers in words and numbers (one on each side).  Player measures and matches sticks.

Coloring pages here.

Lots of fun preschool Indians ideas here. In particular we like:

Game: What Feather Is Missing:
Cut Indian feathers from assorted construction paper, or if you can get different colored "real" feathers, use these. Have the kids sit in a circle. Place four or more feathers in the middle of the circle. One of the children will hide his eyes, while another takes a feather away. The other child will try to guess which color is missing, and which child has the feather. Play this game until each child has a chance to guess the missing color.

We will have  Indian corn on the sensory table/station.  They can pick it off, grind it, whatnot.
We will make brown paper bag vests and cereal necklaces (lace "O" cereal onto string or ribbon) and feather headbands with cardstock.  Of course you must face paint.

Lotto: Match cards with Indian pictograph pairs.  I like this type of lotto using unfamiliar images. It requires much more attention to detail.

Saint:  St Isaac Jogues   and/or Isaac from the Bible.  (Asher is finishing a coloring page for St Isaac and a Huron Indian for us – will upload later today)

Songs/fingerplays:

One little, two little, three little Indians
Four little, five little, six little Indians
Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians
Ten little Indian boys.
Ten little, nine little, eight little Indians
Seven little, six little, five little Indians
Four little, three little, two little Indians
One little Indian boy.

Five Little Indians
5 Little Indians running through a door
(raise 5 fingers)
One fell down and then there were 4
(lower 1 finger)
4 Little Indians climbing in a tree
(raise 4 fingers)
One fell down and then there were 3
(lower 1 finger) 3 little Indians stewing a pot of stew
(raise 3 fingers)
One went to play and then there were 2
(lower 1 finger)
2 little Indians playing in the sun
(raise 2 fingers)
One went inside and then there was 1
(lower 1 finger)
One little Indian left all alone.

Poem:

Indian Children

Where we walk to school each day
Indian children used to play
All about our native land,
Where the shops and houses stand.

And the trees were very tall,
And there were no streets at all,
Not a church and not a steeple
Only woods and Indian people.

Only wigwams on the ground,
And at night bears prowling round
What a different place to-day
Where we live and work and play!

Annette Wynne

Funschool is done on a shoestring budget around here.  We use mostly what is on hand, online, or at the library. For that reason, while I was intrigued by the Waldorf letter stories plans I didn’t invest in any curricula this year.  I do think you can learn to read just fine without them. Still, you wouldn’t believe the fun we have had since finding Curious George Learns the Alphabet by accident.

Background here – my kids have all loved Curious George. Long before he hit the big screen he was a favorite around here. My aunt gave Aidan a stuffed "Monkey George" 6yrs ago. He is now enjoying his third owner.  Brendan never fails to pick a ‘hoo-hoo’ book (as in monkeys say: hoo hoo, ha ha) when Daddy sits down with them to read. During one of those sittings we worked through an anthology and ran across the alphabet story.  I don’t know whose wheels were turning faster, Kieran’s or mine. He was all over making notebook pages of the letters. He would like to make them all.  Tonight. : ) 

The letter pictures are all very sweet.  Nothing objectionable and George figures into each scene. The featured letter is highlighted in color every time it appears in the explanatory story.  The scanned pic is one of Kieran’s recreations.

So, can you learn to read without this activity?  Yep. But, boy letter pictures make things fun and HA Rey makes it painless and simple and (cheap!)for the teacher.

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.  : )