Our Toy Boats!

This morning the kids went through rotating centers. At center #1 we made stress balls filled with rice. The kids poured rice into a balloon and pushed it through the hole until the balloon was filled. They practiced squeezing the balloon with their whole hand and then just two fingers at a time. At center #2 we searched through the water beads to find letters to spell our name and CVC words.

 At center #3 we made sensory water bottle. The kids put glitter, beads, sequence and transportation foam shapes into the bottle. Then we added oil using a funnel. Next we walked to the bathroom to fill out the bottle with water. Before closing the bottle the kids added 3 drops of food coloring. We put glue inside the cap and sealed the bottle. The kids did a great job rotating through all 3 centers.

Ms. Abby came today and set up four stations. The kids were separated and rotated through each station. At station #1 the kids practiced kicking the soccer ball into the soccer goal. At station #2 the kids hit the ball of the tee with a bat. At station #3 the kids practiced kicking the ball to each other. At station #4 the kids used a hockey stick to shoot the ball into the net.

Our story today was "Toy Boat" by Randal de Seve. A little boy has a toy boat.  He made it from a can, a cork, a yellow pencil, and some white cloth. The boy and his boat are inseparable--until a big storm pushes the toy boat out into the lake. On the boat's journey he saw all different kids of boat. Finally the boat made it back to the little boy and never left his side again. After reading the story we recalled the events from the story. The kids sequenced the different boats the boat saw on his adventure in the lake. He was a tub boat, ferryboat, speedboat, sailboat, sloop and a fishing boat. We also learned the different parts of a boat. The hull is the bottom of the boat. The mast is the big pole in the middle of the boat. The sail is attached to the mast.

For art the kids made their very own sailboat. We used rubber bands to connect the hull of the boat. Then we used a toothpick as the mast to hold the sail. Once the sail was on the mast we pushed it into the middle of the hull. The only way to see if our boats would work was to sail them! We walked down to the creek at the park to see if our boats would float and sail. We set them into the water and all the boats started to sail down the water. The kids loved seeing their boats move down the creek!

After getting back to school it was lunch time. The kids were very hungry after our trip to the park to sail our boats. We ended the day with the kids favorite boat song.