(This lesson is my contribution to the Ratatouille unit, it was thrown together at the last minute, but came out well enough.) Curious George (the movie) in French Normally I don’t use tv with the children, but in this case it served several purposes: it allowed me to finish up my prep in the kitchen, […]

(part of the Finding Nemo unit) I did this lesson on a day that Red could be home with us. Unfortunately it was a while ago and I don’t remember well everything we did. Books: “The Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist” and probably something else but I can’t remember. I used Red as my guest […]

(note: this is part of a larger unit that will result in a “Finding Nemo” movie party) Background music: Yothu Yindi Read: “Where the Forest Meets the Sea” by Jennie Baker and “Marsupial Sue” by John Lithgow. In “The Aboriginal Peoples of Australia” open to page with didjeridu and have children identify a musical instrument. Talk […]

Z is for Zoo As the children entered I had them play with all of the animals (toys, puppets, whatever) that I had previously laid out. After a short play we did an animal sort with them, classifying which animals were zoo animals and which were not. Reading Time (Z is for zzzzzzz and zoo) […]

(I’m not sure why I didn’t post about this lesson the day-of, because of course, a month later, I can’t remember it all.) Reading Time (U is for Underpants) “Dinosaurs Love Underpants” by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort “Dr. Seuss’ ABCs” by Dr. Seuss U is for Umbrella What is it than an umbrella does?  […]

T is for Toys As the children entered I let them play with whichever toys they chose. Reading Time (T is for Trains and Trouble and Truck and Tikki Tikki Tembo and Toys and Turtle) “Freight Train” by Donald Crews “Trains” by Byron Barton “The Berenstain Bears and the Trouble with Friends” by Stan and […]

P is for puzzle As the children entered I had age-appropriate puzzles laid out for them.  I expected us to play for 15-20 minutes.  We played puzzles for more than 30 minutes and they wanted to do them again at the end!  Those with previous puzzle experience happily plugged away and those for whom is […]