J is for Jungle, Jack & Jill

Today was jungle day.  We talked about the letter "J" and we did the nursery rhyme Jack & Jill.  We started with our calendar and then looked at pictures of jungle and grassland animals (mostly African.)  We read poems about jungle animals from Eric Carle's Animals Animals and read part of "Why Tigers Have Stripes."  We sang "Five Little Monkeys Swinging In A Tree" and "Five Little Speckled Frogs" with some cute visuals I downloaded online and laminated.  We also read "The Animal Orchestra ABCs" and sang the ABC song.  

Next we did a letter matching game and reviewed all of the letters we have learned so far.  The kids know all of them and have even learned to recognize quite a few of the lower case letters on their own.

 Next we got out some wooden shapes and worked on patterns.  The kids had fun making their own patterns and having each other fill in the blanks.

 We did some simple animal and jungle puzzles.  I think we need to do puzzles more often in preschool.

 We are working on recognizing the numbers 11-20.  We used little cards with pictures of jungle animals and try to match them with a number.

 Next they worked on letter "J" shaped scratchboards.

 We practiced writing J on our paint bags.

 They did some prewriting worksheets to practice holding their markers right.

 Next we made jungle themed Valentines with jungle animal stamps, tempera paint and foam stickers.

New Fish's Jungle Valentine

 We finished off with the sensory bin.  Funniest moment of the day was when New Fish was telling Buddy B that she saw a caricature in Disneyland of Rapunzel and The Hulk together and she was telling him it looked just like when she and Buddy B get married and that he gets to wear his Hulk mask to the wedding and she will wear a princess dress.  He said : "Yes!" and fist pumped.  Hilarious.  Glad they are in agreement on the details of their future wedding.

We did some clay sculptures with friends later and spent more time in the sensory bin.