October Week 4

Month: October	Week 4
Gentlemen Training:
What to do when you’re afraid Read Tell Me a Scary Story but Not Too Scary by Carl Reiner and The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda D. Williams. Use the activity from: http://www.toddlerapproved.com/2011/10/book-of-week-little-old-lady-who-wasnt.html to tell the story of the Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. Talk about things that might scare us and that everyone is scared of something. Talk about how some things like monsters, ghosts, witches, etc. are just play and aren’t real. Discuss things we can do when we’re afraid or have a bad dream: sing a happy song, count to 10, take deep breaths, imagine something funny, talk about it, etc. Talk about how in the first book we read, the boy was scared but how it ended up being silly. Talk about how the little old lady reacted to things in the second story. Watch the video Go Away Big Green Monster from Super Simple Songs: http://youtu.be/4coi65CT1G4 Here’s an activity idea from: http://supersimplelearning.com/songs/original-series/one/go-away/ Print the flashcards for monster, vampire, witch, and ghost. Give the children soft fluffy balls or something they can throw at the cards. On each, "Go away!" they can throw one at the appropriate card. At the end of that verse, take that card away and go on to the next verse.
Day One
Literacy: Sing the Alphabet Song. The letter this week is H. Practice tracing the letter with our finger, saying the letter, and saying the sound. Trace a capital letter H using a Halloween bag of goo from: http://www.playathomemomllc.com/2011/07/squishy-bag-a-tactilemultisensory-approach-to-pre-writing-and-writing-skills/ or http://lets-explore.net/blog/2009/10/paint-bag-writing/ Read a witch book: Wobble, the Witch Cat—Mary Calhoun Room on the Broom—Julia Donaldson Read the poem On Halloween Night with visuals from: http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2010/10/h-is-for-halloween-packet.html
Math:   Print out the 13 days of Halloween pictures from: http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2011/10/the-13-nights-of-halloween.html Hide the pictures around the house and have the kids look for them. Once we have all of the pictures, sing the song together. Sorting and Matching—Do the witch’s buttons from: http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2010/10/h-is-for-halloween-packet.html
Snack We could make Witch’s Stew from: http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2010/10/h-is-for-halloween-packet.html
Science/Social Studies: Experiment and play with different sensory things. Focus on the senses and describing textures (soft, hard, gooey, dry, etc.) Here are some great ideas for sensory activities: http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2012/10/halloween-sensory-activities-for-kids.html I think we’ll play with goo and cloud dough. We could also play with play dough and put objects in the play dough (such as plastic spiders, eyes, etc.) and see if the kids can guess what it is by just touching it. Here’s a play dough resource: http://mamasmiles.com/halloween-crafts/ Have the kids make up a witch recipe for a witch soup. Be creative and gross using ingredients such as bat toe nails, etc. From: http://thehometeacher.org/2011/09/witches-13-days-of-halloween-ideas.html Have your kiddos make a Book of Brews by coming up with unique witch spells and writing the ingredients and directions. Another variation of this book would be to have your kids write different recipes such as Spider Stew, Bat Burgers, and French Fried Frogs.
Art: Make a paper bag witch puppet from: http://dltk-holidays.com/halloween/mbagwitch.htm
Movement: Songs and fingerplays from: http://thehometeacher.org/2011/09/witches-13-days-of-halloween-ideas.html If I was a Witch If I was a witch I would climb on my broom  And fly away with a zoom zoom zoom (Show the children walking fingers and say this is your witch. Next show the children their pointer finger and say this is a broom. Then have them put their witch on their broom and make her fly) Three Wee Witchies Not last night, but the night before  (Shake head, gesture with hand over shoulder to show the day before) Three wee witchies came knocking at my door  (Show three fingers, knock on floor) One played the fiddle  (Play an imaginary fiddle) One played the drum (Play an imaginary drum) And one had a pancake  stuck to her bum! The Witch Rides Tonight (Game: tune:Farmer in the Dell) The witch rides tonight  The witch rides tonight  Heigh-ho, it’s Halloween  The witch rides tonight!  The witch takes a cat…  The cat takes a bat…  The bat takes a spider…  The spider takes a goblin…  The goblin takes a skeleton… The skeleton takes a ghost…  The ghost scares them all…  Five Little Witches Five little witches standing by the door. (hold up five fingers)  One flew out and then there were four. (Flying motion with hand)  Four little witches standing by a tree. (four fingers)  One went to pick a pumpkin and then there were three. (picking motion with three fingers)  Three little witches stirring their brew.(stir)  One fell in and then there were two. (two fingers)  Two little witches went for a run. (run with fingers)  One got lost and then there was one. (one finger)  One little witch, yes, only one. (one finger)  She cast a spell and now there are none.(make motions as if to cast spell and then put hands in lap)  Old Mother Witch Old Mother Witch is coming to town Coming to town, coming to town Old Mother Witch is coming to town So early in the morning. This is the way she rides her broom… This is the way she wears her hat… This is the way she stirs her brew… This is the way she pets her black cat… This is where she has her wart… This is how she scares you BOO… Old Mother Witch is going away… From: http://www.themotherhuddle.com/halloween-fingerplays-and-songs/ ) Three Little Witches One little, two little, three little witches. (Hold up 1,2,3 fingers)  Fly over haystacks, fly over ditches. (Make flying motion with hands)  Fly over moonbeams without any hitches. (Make flying motion with opposite hand.)  Hey, Ho, Halloween Night! (Clap) One little, two little, three little witches. (Hold up 1,2,3 fingers)  Fly over barb wire and tore there britches. (Make flying motion with one hand, then turn and show your “torn britches”) Had to go home and get some stitches. (Pretend to sew)  Hey, Ho, Halloween Night! (Clap) The witch has an Itch (tune: Farmer in the Dell) The witch has an itch, The witch has an itch. Oh where, oh where, oh where does the witch have an itch? On her tiny little ____, her tiny little ____, The witch has an itch on her tiny little _____. (Children fill in body parts like toe, nose, etc.) Play witch hockey with brooms and a ball. The Dollar Store sometimes has little brooms that would be perfect for little kids. Another game idea from: http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2010/10/h-is-for-halloween-packet.html Pass the Witch’s Broomstick Have children stand in circle. Pass the broomstick from one child to the next. This game is like hot potato. When the music stops, the child holding the witch’s broomstick stands in the center of the circle (witch’s cauldron). Sing to the tune of ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It’ Pass the witch’s broomstick round the circle here. While you hear the music playing, do not fear. But if the music stops or if the broomstick drops, You will ride the broomstick while the goblins cheer. Hee-hee-hee!
Day Two
Literacy: Sing the Alphabet Song. Today’s letter is h. Trace a small h in our bags of goo. Think of Halloween sounds with the letter h: hoooo, hee, hahaha. Read: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat—Lucille Colandro Look at the sequencing in the story. See if the kids can remember what happens next. Make a little old lady with printables and a Ziploc bag and have the kids feed the little old lady the different things from the story in the right order. Resources: http://www.teachingheart.net/oldladybat.html The little old lady could also swallow other things such as letters, letter sounds, word families, numbers, etc. Another possible literacy activity from: http://www.teachingheart.net/aspiderunit.html Positional words Use an empty spider web and the sentence frame, "The spider is _____ the web."  Use 5 different pages like this. On each, place a spider somewhere on the page, and then fill in the blank accordingly. Examples: inside, above, under, on, and beside
Math: Spider Math Game from: http://www.brilliantbeginningspreschoolutah.com/2011/10/s-is-for-spider-math-game.html Spider Legs Game from: http://www.littlefamilyfun.com/2011/10/spider-game-counting-legs.html Some other great math activities can be found at: Spider unit printable: http://ateachingmommy.com/2011/10/spiders-expanded/ Spider math mats (put the correct # of spider on the web): http://kinderkorner.com/pics10.html Clothespin spiders (you do numbers, colors, letters, or any kind of matching): http://abbypediatricot.blogspot.com/2011/10/clothespin-spiders.html
Snack
Science/Social studies: Read a non-fiction book about spiders. Some ideas for books: National Geographic Readers: Spiders—Laura Marsh About Arachnids: A Guide for Children—Cathryn Sill Spiders Have Fangs: And other amazing facts about arachnids—Claire Llewellyn Spinning Spiders—Melvin Berger Make a small fact book about spiders. Here’s some facts from: http://www.teachingheart.net/aspiderunit.html Facts About Spiders *Spiders are not insects. *Spiders' babies come from eggs. *Most spiders have either six or eight eyes. *Not all spiders spin webs. *There are more than 30,000 species of spiders. *Spiders eat many types of harmful insects, helping to keep your garden free of pests. *All spiders have fangs, though which venom is ejected. Spider bites can be painful and sometimes fatal. *Not all spiders spin webs. We could also add information about bats and talk about nocturnal creatures.
Art: There’s so many ideas for spider or bat art projects! I think we will combine a bunch of these and see what happens! Handprint spider on a string: http://funhandprintartblog.com/category/halloween Spider hat: http://littlebuggietutu.blogspot.com/2010/10/spider-hat-another-fun-and-easy-kids.html Handprint spider on paperplate spider web: http://funhandprintartblog.com/2011/10/handprint-spider-watercolor-resist-paper-plate-web.html Handprint spider on lacing card web: http://funhandprintartblog.com/2011/10/handprint-spider-watercolor-resist-paper-plate-web.html Paper plate spiders: http://www.mypreschool-crafts.com/fall.html Paper plate bat
Movement/Music: Songs and fingerplays about bats and spiders: The Itsy Bitsy Spider The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain. And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again. Visuals for this song can be found at: http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2010/10/h-is-for-halloween-packet.html From: http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2010/10/h-is-for-halloween-packet.html Busy Spider (Tune: This Old Man) Busy spider, he made one Great big web on a drum, With a spin, spin spin ‘Round and ‘round he goes. He puts on, quite a show. Busy spider, he made two Great big webs on some shoes. With a spin, spin, spin “round and ‘round he goes. He puts on, quite a show. Busy spider, he made three Great big webs on a tree. With a spin, spin, spin, ‘Round and ‘round he goes. He puts on quite a show. Busy spider, he made four Great big webs on the door. With a spin, spin, spin, ‘Round and ‘round he goes. When he sleeps, no one knows! Fly Like Bats (Tune: Frere Jacques) Fly like bats, fly like bats, All around, all around They can go up and down They can fly without a sound Fly like bats, fly like bats. Use the movement cards from http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2010/10/h-is-for-halloween-packet.html to play a Halloween moving game.