8 Outstanding Options for Over-the-top O Activities

What's so outstanding about letter Oo?  The variety of options for learning activities!  From oceans to outside time, baking oatmeal muffins to sorting ovals to lovely hand print art, there's so much to do!

Let's start with oceans and octopi... octopuses...the octopus.  You probably have some favorite ocean themed books - and of course so do I!

If you're wanting to learn octopus facts, I love Gentle Giant Octopus by Karen Wallace, and so do my students.  Just for fun?  Octopus's Garden, by Ringo Starr.  Bonus points, it includes a sing-a-long CD, so you and your littles can learn (or relearn) the song.  While you're at it, check out the gorgeous illustrations in Inky's Amazing Escape by Sy Montgomery and Over in the Ocean by Mariann Berkes.  

I haven't get read Manfish A Story of Jacques Cousteau by Jennifer Berne, but a study of the ocean is incomplete without learning about him, and again, the illustrations look awesome!

Many years ago I made an ocean tent to go over a card table - super easy to do - and my students have had a lot of use out of it!  I found a couple of panels of ocean fabric that measured the same size as my card table, and added some plain blue fabric for the other 2 sides.  I put a cord through the top hem, and tied it onto the card table.  It takes about 2 minutes to put up or take down, and folds quite small for storage. (I was inspired by tents from https://www.etsy.com/shop/missprettypretty ).  Just add ocean stuffed animals or other toys for some fantastic pretend play!

 Your littles might also enjoy working on patterns with ocean animals - here's a fun way to do that:

and early readers will enjoy this FREE reading center - click here to download it!

If you're in the mood to do some cooking with your little ones, AND you want them to eat healthy foods, try the oatmeal muffin recipe I wrote about here. Look at all the delicious ingredients: 

Remember to let your little ones help you cook - they're spending quality time with you, learning life skills, and if they help you cook something, they're more likely to try eating it.  Want more?  They're also developing fine motor skills, counting scoops, measuring ingredients and learning vocabulary - they are learning.

If you've been reading my blog for long, you know I also love to do hand print art with my kiddos, and letter O is no exception!  Here are 3 fun ideas: otter, owl and ostrich!  

The ostrich came from CreativityTakesFlight.com, the otter was uploaded to Pinterst without credit, and I'm not sure about the owl either.  As always, you can find more hand print and foot print art ideas on this Pinterest board:

Don't forget to add outside time to your letter Oo activities!  This is so open ended, you're sure to have some favorite outdoor ideas - or brainstorm with your children and try something new!

It's always a good time to revisit shapes and other math concepts; we broke out some magnetic shapes that include ovals.  As you can see they're fun for sorting, or making patterns, or simply look for ovals and other shapes in your environment. 

Finally, here are two great picture book characters for the letter O: the giant squid from I'm The Biggest Thing in the Ocean (by Kevin Sherry) and Olivia (from the series by Ian Falconer).  I came up with both of these crafts, which encourage lots of fine motor skills (cutting, gluing, even painting).  I hope you and your little ones enjoy them!
 

Click here for a quick tutorial on how to make the squid from  I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean, or get everything ready made for labeling, graphing, measurement AND this activity in my TeachersPayTeachers store.

Here are the shapes your child will need to cut out and assemble to create Olivia...

... we think she's pretty adorable!  

Have an over the top outstanding week of O activities, and come back next week for penguins, polar bears and positively perfect ideas for letter Pp!  See you then, Paula

A Whale of a Good Story Time

I've talked about polar bears, penguins, and other polar animals in the last few weeks, so it's time to break out the whale books!

Sure, I have a couple of old favorites: Baby Beluga is and always will be a winner, whether you read it or sing it or both, and Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale is still a hit with the kiddos, but I recently found some new favorites too!

  

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love.

 

Breathe  What a lovely book!  The illustrations are gorgeous, and the spare text tells everything it needs to with only a few words.  When I read this aloud the children were fascinated - and calm.  I read it at a slow pace, taking a few moments to savor the words and pictures of different arctic animals on each page, and found the whole room taking a moment to breathe and slow down with me.  This beauty would be wonderful as a calm down story in a hyped up classroom - haven't we all found ourselves needing to take a few deep breaths and calm the room? - and it is perfect for a snuggle up bedtime read aloud.  I will definitely be reading Breathe again!

Following Papa's Song is my other new favorite! The illustrations absolutely glow, and like Breathe, there are just enough words on each page.  The children were hanging on to every word by the end of the story, waiting for little whale to follow papa's song and find his daddy.  Without making a point of it, this book surely taught my little ones that whales migrate and sing to communicate, while celebrating the close relationship between parent and child.  I don't think I'd read this one as a bedtime story because I did have one child quite worried that little whale was lost, but for the classroom or library story time it's a winner!

Here are a few more whale books that I've enjoyed reading with children.  The Gift is a little longer, more suited to early elementary grades - or at least to children with a longer attention span.  Barbara Lavallee's illustrations are gorgeous as always, and the story feels like poetry.

The Whale's Song tells the story of Lilly doing what her grandmother used to do, and waiting at the end of the pier for whales to come.  Again, this book feels like poetry.  I would read it with kindergarten and first graders, and it too would make a lovely bedtime story, sending animal loving little ones off to sleep thinking about meeting a whale.

The Snail and the Whale almost made the cut for story time, but with time for only 3 books, I left it out this time.  Snail and whale reminds me of Aesop's Lion and the Mouse - you might think there's nothing something so little could do to help something so big, but you'd be wrong. 

   

 

Don't forget I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean when you're looking at whale books!  Sure, the focus is on a giant squid, but look where he ends up!  Yup, your kiddos will definitely remember that the squid is NOT the biggest thing in the ocean after reading this one!  I blogged here about an activity my students enjoyed with this book, and created an ocean themed measurement center that can be used with it too.

Finally, another book that I almost chose for story time: The Whale In My Swimming Pool.  This one will appeal to children (because sure, they imagine things like this all the time!), and parents (because we know our children imagine things like this all the time)!  There's a surprise ending, which I won't spoil - you should go grab a copy and check it out for yourself!

I hope you enjoyed this round up of whale books!  Is there something you'd like me to blog about, or a book topic you're looking for?  Let me know, maybe I'll write about it next! 

Happy reading!
Paula

Oceans of Steals, Deals and Giveaways - week 2!

Are you enjoying your summer break?  (Sorry Australia, I know it's winter there, I don't mean to rub it in!)  I'm officially on vacation right now, spending time with family, eating too much, talking too much, and loving it.  Still, as much fun as we had with our Oceans of Steals, Deals and Giveaways a couple of weeks ago, I didn't want to miss out this time around, so real quickly, here's the scoop on what we have for you this week!

For our #MondayMadness deals, I have two resources marked down to just $1! 

Perfect for a math center or folder game, Busy Buses provides a fun way to practice subtraction from up to 10. Students will solve the math problems on each bus, then match it to the parking spot with the correct answer. Two follow up worksheets are provided, as are answer keys. Perfect to go with a transportation unit, your students are sure to enjoy this game!

Camping Sentence Picture Match is a complete literacy center that includes 18 sentences and pictures to match, 3 vocabulary posters, thematic writing paper (lines in 3 primary sizes for easy differentiation), and 4 worksheets: abc order to the first letter, word order in sentences, reading and labeling. The focus is on preprimer and primer sight words, and there is even a leveled list of sight words used. Best of all, this center is easy to prepare: print, laminate, and cut on straight lines!

On Tuesday, check out all the half price deals on TpT by searching #2forTuesday!   I'm offering my 15 Food Themed Graphs, and my Nursery Rhyme Bundle.

 On Wednesday there will be lots of flash freebies happening throughout the day.  Oh yes, FREE!  I snagged a bunch of amazing resources last time, and am looking forward to doing it again this week!  If you'd like to know exactly when my resources will be free, follow my FaceBook page.  https://www.facebook.com/PaulasPreschoolandKindergarten/

 You'll want to shop TpT again on #ThriftyThursday, to find amazing deals on bundles.   I'm offering my Ocean Theme Bundle, which includes 5 ocean themed resources: telling time, patterns, money, hundreds charts and a sentence picture match - and it will be 40% off for this one day only!  If you teach an ocean theme or summer unit, or just want some ready to use math and reading centers, you'll love this!

Finally, Friday is all about our giveaway! Check out all the amazing gift cards we are giving away!  

You can enter our giveaway by following our stores on FaceBook - and following each of us before Wednesday will get you notifications of all the flash freebies, it's a WIN-WIN!  Come join in the fun!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Shark Week Blog Hop (and Freebie!)

Are you ready for Shark Week?!  I'm excited to be joining a Shark Week blog hop for the first time, many thanks to Jenny at LuckyFrog's Lilypad and Matt at Digital: Divide & Conquer for putting this together!

I want to show you a couple of jawsome shark resources I've made recently, because summer and ocean themed learning just seem to go together!

Shark Math covers lots of first grade math concepts: measurement, graphing, addition and subtraction, word problems, and sequencing by size.  This one really takes a bite out of your math curriculum!

 Shark Patterns is great for a math center, where students can manipulate shark pictures to extend patterns (on a table top or in a pocket chart), then follow up with cut and paste worksheets to complete patterns and to create their own. 

If you're working on numbers to 100, these hundreds charts are super popular with kiddos!  Students read numbers 1 - 100 and color each one on the chart, revealing a mystery picture as they do.  I have hundreds chart mystery pictures for over 20 different themes, but if there's something else you're looking for, let me know, I'd love to hear your suggestions for new sets!

I also made this FREE resource for you - just click on the picture to go to my TeachersPayTeachers store to download it.  If you like it, please take a moment to rate it and leave feedback!

Sharks! Reading Fun includes 12 sentences and pictures for students to read and match...

... and a shark poster to display.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my shark resources!  For LOTS more resources, ideas, and freebies, continue the blog hop and head over to

An InLinkz Link-up

We're melting (colorful ice)!

With temperatures hitting 100* this week, we need to find ways to stay cool while we play outside.  I've seen some fantastic ideas on Pinterest, including Ice Play Ideas from kids weekly co-op , watercolor ice art from Learn Play Imagine , and More fun with colored ice from Time For Play.

I'm also very interested in reusing and recyling as much as possible, and have been saving dried markers for a while, in order to make my own watercolor paints - an idea I found on Finding My Marbles.

This week I put all those ideas together, and came up with this invitation to play.

 To get the beautiful colors, I soaked similar colored old markers in a little water for a couple of days.  Don't you love the intensity of the pink?  Once I had the colors, I watered them down enough to fill a variety of reused containers, and froze them.

I anticipated some fun color mixing as the ice melted, and we did see some of that - unfortunately I offered too many colors, and the resulting mix eventually resulted in a yukky grey-brown.  The kids didn't seem to mind, because, as always, it's the process they are interested in, much more than the result. 

They were fascinated by the colors and shapes, and crowded around the water table to get in on the action!

At first they were most fascinated by the colors and the mixing, not to mention the sheer fun of playing with ice and icy water on a hot day.

 Pretty quickly though, their main focus shifted from the melting colors, to another element I had put in the water table - a large block of ice with plastic ocean animals frozen throughout it.

 I made the block of ice by freezing a couple of inches of water at a time, with a few plastic critters added in each time.  The kiddos wanted to get those critters out!

 It was interesting to watch, and to listen to the children as they worked.  They started by wondering how to melt the ice to free the creatures: water, or other ice cubes.  I asked what melts things, and they were quite sure it was heat.  I asked which was warmer, the water, or the ice cubes - and they had it.  Water could melt the ice!  They poured, and poured and poured water onto the block.

 A critter was sticking out!  Excitement!  Pour more water, quick!

 They wrestled with the plastic animals, and I was really impressed with how well they took turns, and how they cooperated to free the animals from the ice.  With only one large block of ice (plus lots of smaller ones), we could easily have had a problem, but I didn't hear anyone fuss or complain, they simply got to work - together.

 When an older sibling came to pick up one of the kiddos, he joined on in too - this was an irrisistable challenge for the children!

 Slowly, the animals were freed from the ice.  Then another interesting thing happened: some children continued to pour water and free animals, and others began making "soup" with the ones that were already out.  (Anyone for whale, dolphin, crab soup?)

 It took 75 minutes for the block of ice to be completely melted, and all the toys released.  While they played, one of the girls told me, "You should make a fairy princess ice cube next."  She's right, and I'm already thinking of all the fun things to add... sparkles... jewels...pink or purple water...

Guess what I have planned for next Friday?  Oh yes, pink fairy princess ice cubes, here we come!

Fish hats, fish hats, roly poly fish hats

 A couple of years ago I had a student who pronounced the letter f with a "b" sound.  One morning she came in singing a new song: "Bish eds, bish eds, oly oly bish eds.  Bish eds, bish eds, eat dem up yum!"  I had no idea what she was singing, but another parent recognized it as "Fish Heads" by Barnes and Barnes, so we all watched it, and it became a sort of class song.

I was tickled to find an idea for a fish hat recently, at www.abbythelibrarian.com, and had to use it for our letter f review day.  The original author even included a reference to "Fish Heads", so how could I resist?

Here is my modified version.  I used 12" x 18" construction paper to make our fish, as I had some on hand.  I drew out a fish shape, making sure the body of the fish was about 12 inches long - I wanted to be sure that two fish bodies would fit all the way around the children's heads.  From all the scraps my assistant and I cut lots of circles to represent scales.

Each child decorated two fish, one facing left, the other facing right.  They glued the scales on in an overlapping pattern.  We needed many more scales than I had anticipated - if you decide to do this project, expect each child to need about 40 - 50 large scales.  

 We stapled a sentence strip to fit each child's head, then stapled on their fish.  **When you staple, be sure to put the smooth side of the staple to the inside so the sharp ends are away from kids' heads.**

 When everyone was ready, we watched Fish Heads one more time, and sang along in our own fish heads.  Aren't they adorable?!