Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3

Kindergarten in the Apple Tree

After all the fun we had with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, we couldn't help see what all the fuss was with Chicka, Chicka, 123.  The munchkins are always excited to see what kind of tree this story has in it.  With it coordinating with the first day of fall, it's always the perfect story to help us learn the seasons right along with practicing our numbers.

The munchkins did a great job learning the number words one, two and three and doing some fantastic reading in one of our emergent readers called:

One, Two, Three, What Do You See?

That story took place in an apple tree too!

The munchkins practiced counting, recognizing and writing numbers.

Our week was also filled with all sorts of projects about the seasons.

We made a cool touch and feel poster to show all four of them.

We worked with the four seasons at our science center.

And we made a little flip book about the seasons.

We also learned all about how an apple tree grows, while at the same time, learning the great story of John Chapman
(better known as Johnny Appleseed).

The munchkins enjoyed coloring and ordering a mini picture story. 

We had more fun reading the crazy story, Ten Apples Up on Top.  Then munchkins drew themselves and ordered 10 apples on their own heads.

What a hoot!

And everyone knows what you find living inside an apple, right?
Worms!

We added to our fun by identifying and copying the patterns on some gummi worms.

But of course, we all know that in kindergarten, the most fun always has to do with eating!

We had lots of different snacks at the snack center...all apple flavored. 

Plus, we had a day of apple tasting!

We had yummy red.

And yummy yellow.

And...well...Granny Smith green!

We graphed our favorite flavor and talked about how to read a graph, too.  Can you believe that Granny Smith was the favorite this year?

But that wasn't all. 

Our recipe for the week was an apple tree (of course).  The munchkins chose which season their tree would represent.

We had lots of winter trees. 

I wonder if the marshmallows had anything to do with it?

There were a few fall trees.

And only one spring tree.

No one wanted a plain green summer tree!  I don't blame them!

What a fun way to learn about the seasons...

Until next time...

Giggles,

Mrs. D.

Our Chicka Boom Room

Will There Be Enough Room?

This unit is always a favorite...of mine and the munchkins!

We always begin with a reading of the story, which is so very interactive and fun.  Then we use our pocket chart to practice the repetitive text, one-to-one reading, and sight word recognition.  It reinforces alphabet letters, too, as we add different letters to our blow up tree.

It's always funny when our tree gets too full of letters and...

Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom!

We take some time to make our own little Chicka Chicka Tree.  We fill it with all sorts of letters, just like in the story.

We also have fun searching for and working with letters throughout this unit.

Whether it be our letter bingo game...

Or the sand box filled with letters at the science center...

Or the fun little letter games we created at center time...

The munchkins had tons of fun with letters!

But we also learned all about the coconut tree...

Its life cycle...

It's many parts...

And what all those parts do for the tree.

We practiced several math concepts too.

Like patterning at the math center...

And working on patterning jobs at center time...

We also counted coconuts into the coconut tree...

And some of those malted milk balls coconuts were soooo yummy!

We enjoyed listening to the story on tape...

And getting our paints out to make our own version of the Chicka Chicka Tree.

But probably the most fun was the recipe!!

We made the Chicka Chicka tree!

It was complete with roots, trunk, leaves, coconuts and letters!

Chicka, Chicka!

Boom! Boom!

Until next time...

Giggles,

Mrs. D.