Activities

Tune: “Mary Had a Little Lamb”
Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, the bell.

Ring it loud. Ring it clear.

To tell the children in the room, 

That clean up time is here.

Take the class outside and divide into two groups, during outdoor time. Pick one group to go first, while the other group watches. Pair off children in the first group and assign an animal sound to each pair, for example a cow/moo or dog/bark.

Play Listening Lotto games. This can be done in small group.

After writing the morning news or a chart story, select one letter for a child to count and identify how many were written.

Provide small paper lunch bags for the children to decorate with crayons or markers. Cut a hole about 2 inches in diameter and about 1 inch from the top of both sides of the bag.

Display the children's artistic creations, and encourage discussion about their work. Provide a brief time each day when a few children may present and describe their artwork to the class. Encourage other children to make comments.

Read Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle. This book is full of fun sounds for the children to make, including truck and animal noises.

Sing “Little Children” to the tune of “Ten Little Indians”:
One little, two little, three little children.
Four little, five little, six little children.

Read the book Little Cloud by Eric Carle. After reading the book, ask the children what kind of clouds they would be and give them cotton balls to form the shapes of their clouds.

Read Little Cloud by Eric Carle, then have the children create their own clouds. Give each child a piece of blue paper and have him/her glue cotton balls to the paper to create clouds.

Read Alphabet Adventure by Audrey Wood to introduce children to the whole gang of “little letters.” After reading give each child a lower case letter.

Encourage the children in the reading center to arrange all the books in the classroom library with the cover facing forward. “Make sure we can see the title or ‘face' of the book.” Teach them that the face of the book is where the name is found.

Encourage the children to read stories to their classmates, dolls or stuffed animals as though they were a librarian. Provide simple props such as dolls or animals that relate to the story.

Recite the nursery rhyme “Little Miss Muffett” when you are outside with the children. Then have the children act out the rhyme as you say it. You can have them pretend to eat and then be frightened away when the spider sits down.

Sing this song to the tune of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” and touch the baby's facial parts as you sing using infant's name:
Ana has a little nose,

Little nose, little nose,

Ana has a little nose,

Oh, it'

Choose a child to be Little Tommy Tiddle Mouse and invite the child to sit in a chair.  Ask the child to cover his or her eyes.  Point to another child to stand behind Tommy Mouse's chair.

Read a book about helping such as Little Tug by Stephen Savage. Little Tug is a small boat who doesn't think he can do very much. But when the big ships need help, who do they ask? Talk to the children about who they can go to for help.

Use bulletin-board paper to draw a background scene from a favorite story, such as “The Three Billy Goats Gruff.” Provide props to support the story and encourage the children to “play inside the book.

Provide a very large cardboard box, such as one from a large appliance, and cut it so only three sides remain. In the box, draw roads and other things seen on the highway. Add toy people and other play vehicles in the box diorama.

Read What Is a Living Thing? by Bobbie Kalman. This book introduces the different aspects of living things, including people, animals, and plants.