Read & Learn Fireflies

Glow in the Dark Firefly prop

"Firefly Fly" sung to the tune of "Three Blind Mice" by Miss Meredith.

Fly, fly, fly,

Fireflies fly.

Fly over here.

Fly over there.

They fly up high, and they fly down low.

Around and around and around they go.

They fly fast, and they fly slow.

Fireflies fly.

The theme of the week was fireflies and crickets, but I love fireflies too much to split the attention. I read Ten Flashing Fireflies by Philemon Sturges and The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle. We sang "Firefly Fly" with the light on a couple of times flying around the firefly props.

Glow in the Dark Firefly prop

Then, I slowly turned out the lights, so the children could see each firefly magically light up.


 "Little Firefly" sung to the tune of "This Little Light of Mine" adapted by Miss Courtney.

See a little firefly,

Flying in the midnight sky.

See a little firefly

Flying in the midnight sky.

See a little firefly

Flying in the midnight sky.

With a light, oh so bright, oh so bright.

For the craft, we made the band-aid firefly. We used stickers for the glow part.

WMCIR: The Greedy Python

Bobo's favorite book from this round has been The Greedy Python by Richard Buckley with illustrations by Eric Carle. The greedy python is hungry and gobbles up everyone he comes across. He eats a rat, a monkey and even an elephant. Then, the python begins to feel ill when all the animals start jumping around in his belly. After the animals escape, the python finds an even better treat, his own tail. He's so greedy, he eats himself right up and disappears. Bobo's favorite picture is the greedy python's swollen belly after he's eaten the elephant. This book is part of a new series of easy readers, so the text has simple structure with vocabulary that can be identified by the illustrations. So far, I've really enjoyed what I've been seeing.

As I've said in several other posts, I adore Mo Willems' books. I finally coaxed Bobo into telling the Pigeon, "No!" He gets it, now, and thinks telling him no is really funny. He did say, we'd have to let the pigeon stay up a little later because he said Please. If we ask for something nicely in our family, we try to say Yes. After a couple of seconds, he told the pigeon to go to bed now.

From the author of the Do Princesses... finally comes a book for boys and girls. This is my favorite of this series because a super hero can be a girl or a boy as shown in the illustrations of a boy and his little sister. The rhyming text and colorful illustrations make this a fun read aloud. Bobo loved that the teddy bear and dog were both dressed like super heroes. His favorite part of the book was the very end where the boy is looking at his father and asking if there is a difference between regular heroes and super heroes. 

Look on my sidebar to see all the other What My Child is Reading posts.

Vertical learning without the easel

The Invitation:
Old rug

Newspaper taped to window
Paper taped to newspaper
Paints

Real paint brushes

I read recently that 3-year-olds should write, paint or create on a vertical surface every day. It helps with pre-writing skills. We don't have an easel, but the window works just fine.

Flannel Friday: Ten Flashing Fireflies

Miss Meredith made the velcro firefly story board this week and I added the rhyme.

"Ten Flashing Fireflies" by Miss Courtney

Ten flashing fireflies flying in the night

One's bright light

Went night, night

Good-bye, sleep tight!

(count down to one)

No more fireflies flashing in the night

They are all gone, good night!

The velcro story could also be used to replace or re-tell the book Ten Flashing Fireflies by Philemon Sturges. See what the rest of the Flannel Friday group has been up to this week at Read, Rhyme & Sing.

365 Days Outdoors: Why always keeping a bathing suit in the car is a GREAT idea!

You never know when you may come across a great place to jump in!

Run wild...

get your hair wet...

and cool down!

Laser Light Show

As soon as the laser came up, Bobo shouted, "COOL!"

We learned the science behind a laser light show. The laser is a concentrated beam of light. When you move it really fast, faster than the eye can see, you can create shapes.

The same science is behind televisions, by moving the light very fast, the eye detects motion.

If you use lots of lasers at once, you can make letters and words.

We enjoyed a laser light show with music and characters we recognized.

Bobo loved when the lasers bounced off mirrors and reflected all over the room.

Towards the end, he stood on my lap and tried to reach the lasers. After the show when the Laser People asked for questions he said, "Can the lasers hurt you?" The Laser Man said that if they shine directly in your eye, they can hurt your eye. Even the tweens were impressed with this show as were the parents. I re-iterate, "So cool!"

 

Read & Learn Outer Space

Memory Box- Moon Sand

For our first week of storytime, we went into outer space. I've added a  new element to our storytime to replace our matching game. I always have more children coming in the summer and different people each week, which makes it difficult to do the same routine I do during the school year. I made moon sand for our Memory Box, original idea from Abby the Librarian. I hid a star under the sand and had the children guess.

We read some outer space books like Goodnight Moon 1, 2, 3 by Margaret Wise Brown and Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle. I found out my summer group loves counting by the enthusiast shouts for rhymes and the counting book.

"Ten Little Spaceships"

by Robin Currie

from 1, 000 Fingerplays & Action Rhymes

One little, two little, three little spaceships,

Four little, five little, six little spaceships,

Seven little, eight little, nine little spaceships,

Ten little spaceships go.

Countdown? Ready?

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0

BLAST OFF!

We pretended to be comets, then spaceships with rainbow streamers. Their favorite rhyme of the week was  the one I shared, "Ten Little Spaceships".

Last, we made name rockets with squares and triangles. We embellished with glow-in-the-dark glitter glue and star stampers.

Bobo Projects: Robot Zombie Frankenstein

Bobo and I have been reading Robot Zombie Frankenstein for weeks, now. You can read more about it in my "What My Child Is Reading" post. The inside cover of the book has all the parts you need to make your own robot zombie Frankenstein.

To do this project, we copied the inside cover of the book, cut out the pieces and glued them together to make a robot. This particular robot is the "ninja robot." Bobo has already asked to make another one.

Sensory Tub: Fizzy Bathtime

Still uploading pics from cell (fuzzy)

I mixed cornstarch, baking soda and water with food coloring to make bath paint. It was a little runny, so I'd use less water next time. Here is a recipe for outside painting. I stuck the boats and helicopters from our Transportation sensory tub to be painted with the addition of a cut-out of Buzz Lightyear.

When Bobo saw the invitation, he immediately asked for his Toy Story toys. Luckily, I had just organized his toys and could grab the box. Instead of painting the walls and cut-outs like I anticipated, he painted his toys. He pretended they were in disguise and had lots of adventures.

Bobo sprayed the toys with vinegar to get them clean. Since the paints had baking soda in them, they reacted with the vinegar by fizzing. He thought it was cool, but taking too long and asked for the bath to be filled, so he could get them really clean.

365 Days Outdoors: Hanging Upside Down

Last year, this playground equipment made me so nervous.

This year, it's no problem. Bobo can climb, flip and hang upside down.

Flannel Friday: Five Owls in a Tree

"Five Owls in a Tree" pattern and story are from Kidstuff Magazine Volume 5, Number 8. I've used this story for several years. I like to use it for tours, because the teachers can help hold the stick puppets. When one owl went missing, I decided to flannelize it.

The Original

"Five Owls in a Tree"

There were once five owls,

High in the trees.

Who were hooting to each other,

Just as loud as you please!

CHORUS

The big owls said, "Whooo." (group says who)

The next one did, too. (group says who)

The third one said, "Whooo." (group says who)

The fourth did, too. (group says who)

But the smallest said, "Tweeeet!"

The first four looked and shook their heads, "You should say what the rest of us said!"

CHORUS

But the smallest said, "Chirp!"

"You must try to learn to hoot the right way.

You'll just have to practice all night and all day!"

CHORUS

But the smallest said, "Chip!"

He did what they asked.

He knew that he should.

He practiced all night.

In the cold quiet woods.

CHORUS

But the smallest said, "Caw, caw!"

He tried his very best, even when it started to rain.

(use spray bottle to spritz children)

But on the next day, his nose started to drain!

CHORUS

"Sniff, sniff, sniff," said the smallest.

They shook their heads and their wings got rather floppy.

"If you would just come close that would make us very happy!"

CHORUS

Then the smallest said, "Ah-ah-achooooo!"

Read it Again! has the rest of the round-up.

365 Days Outdoors: Taking a Hike OR the Search for the Perfect Stick

This one may be too big.

This one helps you climb big hills.

There might be a better stick on the other side of that creek.

Maybe in that water.

Even though we never found that perfect stick, we did have a fun adventure in the woods.