Pre-K: St. Patrick's Day! 3-14-13

Thankfully this group was smaller than usual due to Spring Break and they were super good listeners because I got to do my St. Patrick's Day theme even though I'm recovering from laryngitis!!  I had a great time with you guys!

Thanks for taking some vocal responsibility off me and helping today, Miss Michelle!


22 kids
4 siblings
19 adults

Memory Box:  A lime from Green by Laura Seeger

Books:
Green by Laura Seeger:  Illustrations and simple, rhyming text explore the many shades of green.

Good Luck Bear by Greg Foley.  Bear looks for a lucky four leaf clover, but realizes he's even luckier to have a friend like Mouse.  (I often change the words and sometimes even the storyline of a book to send a more positive message, and I did that with this one).

 

Thanks for finding a FIVE leaf clover, Mouse!

 

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover by Lucille Colandro.  These books can be a bit cheesy, but I love making flannels and props to spruce them up!

 

 

Color of the Day (instead of letter): Green

Game: I'm thinking of something green: We gave clues and the kids guessed the picture

 

Movement Activities:

 

Ribbon Dancing to "Rainbow Dancers"

 

 

"Leaping Leprechauns" (http://www.hummingbirded.com/st-pattys.html ) Each child danced with a shamrock.  They held onto them for the next (and best part) activity

 

Magic Cauldron:

I put an armful of rainbows (streamers) into the cauldron and we said some magic words, but no magic happened.  Oh, that's right.... We needed some magic shamrocks!  The kids brought their shamrocks up in groups and put them in the cauldron.  We said some more magic words.  Nothing!  What's the most magical Leprechaun word of all??  Thanks, Miss Michelle for reminding me that it is "Shillelagh"!  That worked!  I pulled out a sack of gold coins!

 

 

 

The kids lined up along a patch of shamrocks and leprechaun footprints taped to the floor and received a piece of gold to take home with them.

 

 

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day, from yours truly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pre-K March 15, 2012 St. Patrick's Day!!

Today was great fun!!  We celebrated St. Patrick's Day and all things green.

Books:
Tweedle Dee Dee by Charlotte Voake.  In the woods there is a tree. And on the tree there is a branch. And on the branch there is a nest. And in the nest there is a bird.  And under the bird there are some eggs. And in the eggs are some baby birds.  And the green grass grows all around. 

I read this book while using some flannel pieces (thanks to the help of my good friend Lesley).  Before reading the book, we passed some green leaves out to the children with an illustration and a word from the book.  When they heard their word in the story, they help up their leaves.  The words were: birds, tree, eggs, branch, and nest. 

http://www.candlewick.com/book_files/ReadToUs_StoryHourKit.pdf

Good Luck Bear by Greg Foley.  When bear's friend Mouse tells him that finding a four leaf clover means one is lucky, the little bear searches for one.

Music:  We did the "Beanie Bag Dance" with some beanbags.  We danced while balancing the beanbags on our bodies and ended with the beanie bag toss!  (Sorry, CD not in our collection)

Letter of the Day: Gg for green

Game: I'm Thinking of Something Green.
The children guessed what green things we were thinking of based on our clues.

Movement:  We then discussed leprechauns and shamrocks and then did the "Leprechaun Leap" with some foam shamrocks.

Leprechauns jump forward and backwards
Forward and backwards
Forward and backwards
On Saint Patrick's Day

(they do lots of other stuff too like jump really high and spin around)

Now, for the magic....

Each child had a shamrock with a letter (A-D) on it.  I do this to prevent 40 kids from running up at once.  They held onto their shamrocks while I produced a large, magical cauldron.  I threw some rainbow in (streamers) and we said some magic words, but nothing magical happened....until we put our shamrocks in.  Groups A, B, C, and D put their shamrocks in and then we said the most magical, shamrocky phrase: Shazzle Dazzle! 

Much to our amazement, I pulled a SACK OF GOLD out of the cauldron.  The children followed the leprechaun footprints on the ground to form a line and each child got a piece of gold to take with them.