Weekly Theme  (Start Monday, continue with the theme all week)

This week's theme is the SEASONS.  Seasons Coloring Pages

The vocabulary word is autumn - explain that this is another name for the season we more commonly call fall.

Coloring page for autumn!

Books to read aloud that support the theme:

The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
Around the Year by Tasha Tudor
The Little Island by Golden MacDonald
Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months by Maurice Sendak
Snowy Flowy Blowy: A Twelve Months Rhyme by Nancy Tafuri
A Bunny for All Seasons by Janet Schulman
The Berenstain Bears' Four Seasons by Stan & Jan Berenstain

Poems that support the theme:

"Bed in Summer"
"Winter-time"
"Picture-books in Winter"
"Summer Sun"
"Autumn Fires"
all by Robert Louis Stevenson (From A Child's Garden of Verses)

Songs that support the theme:

The Seasons
by Katrina Lybbert

(Sung to the Tune of Frere Jacques)

In the springtime, in the springtime,
When it rains, when it rains;
How I love the flowers,
Birds and bees and showers,
Drip, drip, drop; drip, drip, drop.

In the summer, in the summer,
When it's warm, when it's warm;
We'll go on a picnic,
Have icecream that's fun to lick,
Mm, mm, good! Mm, mm, good!

In the autumn, in the autumn,
When leaves fall, when leaves fall;
I'll rake them in a pile,
Jump right in and smile,
Crunch, crunch, crunch; crunch, crunch, crunch.

In the winter, in the winter,
When it snows, when it snows;
Children love to play outside,
Get on a sled and have a ride,
It is fun!  It is fun!

Gross Motor Skills Activity:  (Monday)

Take a nature walk outside.  Talk about the season it is currently, and discuss what you can see that indicates it is that season.

Fine Motor Skills Activity:  (Friday)

~In the autumn you can make a leaf rubbing.
~In the winter you can make a snowflake.  Fold a paper twice and help your child make some cuts.  Then fold the paper one or two more times and finish the cuts yourself.  Open the paper and see the pretty snowflake!
~In the springtime you can color a picture of a tulip!
~In the summer you can make tissue paper flowers.  Start with a drawing of a flower, quite large.  Use squares of tissue paper that fit over the end of a pencil.  Dab glue on the tissue paper while it is folded over the pencil end and then stick onto the flower drawing.  Repeat over and over till the flower is covered with pretty tissue paper "petals".

Shape/Color  (Tuesday)

This week you will teach the color lavendar.

• Introduce the color by coloring in the pentagon (previous week's shape) on your learning poster with a lavendar crayon.
• Put on a lavendar article of clothing.
• Point out objects around your home of the color lavendar.
• Add the color to a meal by choosing a lavendar food, or using a plate, cup, or utensil of the color lavendar.
• Let your child color in a coloring book or on a printout using a lavendar crayon.

The letter this week is the letter V.

• Give your child a printout of the (capital) letter V to color.  ~Letter Printouts~
• Teach your child to trace the shape of the letter V using her finger.  You can trace in pudding, finger paint, a shallow tray (cookie sheet) filled with rice or beans, etc.
• Point out the letter V in signs, cereal boxes, etc.
• Post the letter V on your learning poster.

The number this week is the number 22.

• Show your child 22 objects to count, or eat 22 raisins, 22 cheerios, etc.
• Show your child the written symbol (numeral) for 22 and put on your learning poster.
• Add 22 stickers to your counting book.
• Show your matching index cards for the number 22 to your child.
• Draw 22 pentagons on a piece of paper and count them with your child.
• Walk around your home counting 22 objects.

The nursery rhyme this week is Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater.  Recite often!

Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater,
Had a wife and couldn't keep her;
He put her in a pumpkin shell,
And there he kept her very well.