Showing posts with label Sensory Bin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sensory Bin. Show all posts

September 7, 2012

Our First Week of School 2012 *Picture Overload*

We have done some schooling off an on for the summer, mostly just play type stuff. This week we got down to business and started our new curriculum. We had a three day school week as Austin was out of school Monday and Tuesday and I am following the same Calendar as the public school.

Wednesday our theme was Who are You? We started the morning off with me wearing a funny hat. It was my I feel special hat. We talked about what makes us special and how everyone is special in their own way. Then I shared my hat and Dylan told me what makes him special. 

Thursdays morning theme was Hands-On. We looked at a hand print that I printed out and discussed the lines and finger prints on the hand. 

Fridays theme was Favorites. Dylan was allowed to bring his favorite stuffed animal to School for the day. We discussed how different people have different preferences.
He did a worksheet on things that he like, night or day, dog or cat, car or airplane. His favorites were night, dog, and airplane. 

After we discuss these theme we add the Calendar Number to the Calendar. We say what month it is. We sing our days of the week song. Add what today is, what tomorrow is, and what yesterday was. Then we do the weather and season.

We review what our key points of the week are. 
This week it is the Letter A, Number 1, Color Red, and Shape Circle. 

Then we move to the table to do our Circle Time Journal.

 Next is Discovery Time

Wednesday we painted by instruction. Thursday we made finger prints with ink pads and observed them. Friday we colored on black paper with chalk and smeared it with our fingers. 

Our next stop in the day is Geography. We are using Expedition Earth from COAH.We are doing it on a PreK level though. Keeping it very simple. 
We just introduced the globe and some coloring of the globe this week. The second pictures printable came from 1+1+1=1 Continent Kids.

Then we have Art. 
Wednesday- I am terrific hat! Thursday- Hand prints with paint. Friday-Bubble Name Decorating.

 Then it is Free Play (read books, educational toys, or sensory bin) and Lunch Time. 
After Lunch we head back to the classroom to do Alphabet time. 
Here is just a little of what we did for the Alphabet this week.

 Then we focus on our Number of the week.

Then onto Colors.

 Last part of our sit down work is Shapes.

 After all sit down work is done he is allowed to explore and play with educational toys until Austin gets home from school. 

Here are a few pictures from that part of the week.




Last but not least we had some Sensory Bin fun!



 This gives a pretty good idea of what our day is like. We start school at 9am and end at 3pm. We had a few moments on the first day where he didn't want to do what I had planned so we stepped away and came back to it after he calmed down. It seemed to help and he was ready to go from there. Thursday and Friday were great and he was ready to learn.

Linking up


August 14, 2012

Colored Rice

I have seen this many times but always sat and wondered is this something I really want to do. How messy is it going to be to make and then what kind of mess will my kids make out of it in the end that I will have to clean up? Putting those thoughts aside I decided the experience and the things Dylan will get out of it for school are much more important. So this weekend I went ahead and bought a 20 pound bag of white rice. Yes I am sure people at Wal-Mart thought I was crazy and wondering if I thought there was going to be a famine of some sorts soon. I grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol and gallon size Ziplocs as well. Then headed to Hobby Lobby to get some of the good food colorings as I wanted some pretty bright colors.

I have no actual recipe to this experience as I basically squeezed the bottle of alcohol three times. Squeezed the food coloring four times and added four to five cups of rice at a time. I did this process two times per color as I had a ton of rice to cover. I mixed it all together in the Ziploc bag and shook it like crazy! Note to self make sure you zip them closed or you may end up with rice everywhere. Luckily I caught myself before I had food coloring everywhere. Once you have all the rice covered from shaking, you lay it out on a pan or like I did on paper towels and it dries pretty quick.

photo 3 (1)

Then I just added it to some shoebox sized totes that I had. And I will pull it out when it is Sensory bin time. photo 2 (1)photo 1 (2)

The end process was great and it wasn’t messy at all to make as long as you can keep the kids out of it as you are making it.

photo 4

Now I have to decide if I am going to mix it all together or use the rice over several sensory bins over the next year.

January 19, 2011

Preparing for February: Sensory Bin

 I have started preparing for February as its going to be a busy month between Valentines Theme, 50 States Unit, and our Police man Unit. So Im working hard on everything so that I am prepared! My 50 states plan is all set so I moved on to our Valentines Theme ( printables coming soon) and I went ahead and got our Sensory Bin ready. 



Whats in the Box:
  • Red and White Paper Shred
  • Clear Flat Marbles
  • Red Pom Poms
  • White Pom Poms
  • Pink Pom Poms
  • Red Heart Confetti
  • Red Hear Erasers that say Smile God Loves you
  • White erasers that say Love
  • Valentine Erasers
  • Pink Heart Buckets
  • 10 Smaller Heart Containers that open and close
All items were purchases at Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree for under 15$!


Ideas for using the Sensory Bin

  • Sorting by colors
  • Counting
  • Describing Textures
  • Tongs for Transferring
  • Spooning Objects
  • Pouring

I plan to add other things throughout the month as I find stuff that goes with the theme.

If you set up a sensory bin for February leave a link in the comments I would love to see it!