Play School: Oceans

This week in Play School we learned about oceans!

Concepts: What kinds of creatures live in the oceans? What kinds of plants grow in the oceans?

Books: Going on a Journey to the Sea by Jane Barclay; How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long; Atlantic Ocean by Jen Green; Vacation: We're Going to the Ocean by David L. Harrison; and Secret Seahorse by Stella Blackstone

Activities: We used Tempe's magnifying glass to examine the conch shell that Jason and I got in the Bahamas a few years ago; the girls were also excited to "listen to the ocean" in the shell. Helena got a puzzle for her birthday last year that has sea creatures with magnets on them, so I made a little fishing pole and the girls fished for the different sea creatures. Finally, we made sea urchins from playdough and toothpicks and talked about why the sea urchin wanted to be so poky.

Sensory bin: This week's sensory bin was probably our favorite so far! I filled the bin with water and a few drops of blue food coloring, a bag of decorative shells that I got at DI for $1, and a little rubber shark bath toy that squirts water. We usually keep our sensory bin in the kitchen, but since this one was a little messier, it stayed on the back deck. The girls loved it. They played with it every day this week and spent a lot of time sorting the shells by size and shape and looking at them with the magnifying glass.

Can I just say that if you don't have a magnifying glass, you should get one? Tempe got one for her birthday and it's her favorite toy. We use it all the time in Play School, but she also spends so much time by herself in the backyard, looking at rocks and sticks and bugs and grass with it. It's a great toy!

Letter of the Day: D is for Dragon! D is also for darn, I forgot to take a picture of it. We also used our fishing pole to fish for magnetic letters from our alphabet set. When we learn about letters, I've tried to get Tempe interested in learning to write them--she's not. I really do not want to pressure her or push her (she's only 4, after all) so we concentrate on recognizing the letters and the sounds they make. She's actually gotten really good at guessing what letter words start with by sounding them out.

Next week our unit on "Our Body" starts with a lesson on My Five Senses!