Story Book for December 5, 2008

Our story book for December 5th was Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler.  In this story poor Skeleton has the hiccups and can't get rid of them.  He tries every hiccup remedy but nothing works until his friend Ghost has an idea.  This is a really funny book that the kids loved.

Art Activity: Skeletons

For this art activity we gave the children paper skeleton parts (legs, arms, bodies, heads) to color with crayons.  After coloring the parts, the children used paper fasteners to put their skeletons together.

Art Activity: Painting Fabric Strips

We gave the children white strips of cloth and water color paints.  After reading the Ten Little Mummies story we asked the children to decorate some cloth strips so that we could make our own mummy.  After the strips of cloth were dry we used them to wrap up a stuffed person to make a mummy for the classroom.

Story Book for December 4, 2008

Our story book for December 4th was Ten Little Mummies by Phillip Yates.  This is a counting book where 10 little mummies get into various sorts of mischief.

Math Activity: Feed the Monster

For this activity we used a Monster gift bag with a opening for a mouth, a pair of large dice, and some spider counters.  The children rolled the dice and then counted out that many spiders to feed to the monster.  This game was very popular with the children.  This was great for rote and touch counting.

Art Activity: Playdough Monsters

For this art activity we gave the children various colors of playdough along with feathers, tooth picks, wiggle eyes, pipe cleanser, and spangles.  The children used their materials to create a monster.  

Story Book for December 3, 2008

Our story book for December 3rd was My Favorite Monsters by Vincent James.  In this story a little boy lives in a house full of friendly, funny monsters.  Rhyming text and great illustrations make this book perfect for preschoolers.

Art Activity: Monster Stories

This activity was a combination of language and art.  The children drew a monster picture and then told a story about their drawing.

Story Book for December 2, 2008

Our story book for December 2nd was There's Something in My Attic by Mercer Mayer.  In this story a little girl discovers a monster living in her attic, and the monster has taken her Teddy Bear.

Discovery Table for Monster Stories

For our Monster Stories theme we put colored paper in the discovery table.  We added scissors and hole punchers to the paper to help with fine motor development.

Language Activity: Big Green Monster Chart

For this activity we asked the children to complete the following sentence in their own words:  "Go away big green monster!  and don't come back until..."  As you can tell from the pictures above, we got some creative sentences from the children.

Art Activity: Big Green Monsters

For this art activity we gave the children construction paper in the shape of teeth, mouths, noses, eyes, etc.. to create their very own Big Green Monster like in the story we read on this day.

Story Book for December 1, 2008

Our story book for December 1st was Go Away Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley.  With this book children are able to create and then make disappear a Big Green Monster.  This is hands down one of the best books for children ever.

Art Activity: Monster Rubbings

For this art activity we taped textured rubbing plates to the art table.  We then gave the children paper with the outline of various styles of monsters and crayons with the paper removed.  The children placed the monster paper over the rubbing plates and used the crayons to rub color onto their paper creating different textures on their monsters.

Story Book for November 26, 2008

Our story book for November 26th was You Monsters Are in Charge by Jill Sardegna.  In this story Momma Monster leaves Baby Monster to be watched over by 10 little monsters.  The monsters have a hard time keeping the baby from crying until bedtime.  The books is also a counting book and a Pop-Up book.  The kids in our classroom loved this story.

Easel set up for Monster Stories

For our Monster Stories theme we attached rubber monster fingers to the paint brushes at the art easel.  We hope that this will draw the children to this area during these next few weeks.