Crinkle, Crinkle, Little Star Activities

 After a recent trip to Liberty Science Center, we left the gift shop with a NASA shirt that says "I Need My Space" for my son and two books - one called This Little Scientist and another called Crinkle, Crinkle, Little Star. He is super into science and my daughters are loving touch and feel books, so they were big hits.

The latter is a rhyming book that extends the well-known song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" by adding information about some constellations and their stories. We also have this one, which is somewhat satisfying for the girls when they fight over the crinkle one.

We watched this short video about constellations:

before seeing One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure in the IMAX theater.

We printed a constellation connect the dots page, which was a big hit! 

Lastly, we came across a StoryBots video about Outer Space.

I cannot wait to see my son's reaction when he gets The Moon in My Room for his birthday. He, like most kids, has been fascinated by the moon since he could look outside. Before he was even two years old, he could point out the moon during the day and tell you when he saw a full moon or crescent.

Now you may not have a child or student in preschool or even lower elementary, but there are tons of great resources out there to get kids interested in astronomy. Here are a few:

NASA Kids Club has lots of fun space activities to do!

National Geographic Kids has an easy to use section of their site just for learning about space.

NASA Space Place is for slightly older kids.

The European Space Agency website is also geared towards grades 1-5.

Last, but not least is Time for Kids, your go-to place for current space events.

Can't get enough science? Read on:

https://alysiabattista.blogspot.com/search/label/science

Read other astronomy posts here: 

https://alysiabattista.blogspot.com/search?q=astronomy

Book shopping? Check out more posts that include books here:

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Ten Orange Pumpkins

 Today is the first day of fall here in the Northern Hemisphere! We are gearing up for Halloween and learning all about fall symbols. My son just loves pumpkins and is really getting into math, so we picked up the book Ten Orange Pumpkins by Steven Savage. If you're learning about subtraction like us, it's a fun one to read, especially for your beginning readers.

If you can't find the book at your local library or don't want to head to a bookstore or shop online, here it is in read aloud form:

We downloaded some pumpkin cards that came in number and word form as well as ten frames. I used the 3 blank pumpkins to write addition, subtraction, and equal signs.

Want to have some fun? Check out this video.

Find some Halloween printables here. 

Working on math and numbers? You can count on these activities!

https://alysiabattista.blogspot.com/search/label/math

See more preschool activities below!

https://alysiabattista.blogspot.com/search/label/preschool

20 Hungry Piggies

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We are focusing on math texts and adding right now. My son wants to read numbers in books, recipes and signs. He’s very good at reading two and three digit cardinal numbers, but number words are harder for him. We went searching and here is what I found at the local library. 

Today we read 20 Hungry Piggies by Trudy Harris. We are working on reading number words and counting to 20, which my son mostly has down pat. He's not quite 4 and is actually pretty good at using ordinal (order) numbers, such as first, second, and third. It was still fun and some good practical use of the mathematical terms. If you can't find your book at a local library or buy it online, here it is on YouTube.

I created some free printable activities to help with matching cardinal and ordinal numbers. It also includes a dot to dot draw by number page that my son liked coloring once he finished. If you've got a Promethean or Smart Board, check out my free Google Presentation. 

This was a fun story to read around my daughters also as they are still learning nursery rhymes and finger plays. This one is a play on This Little Piggy. See the original via video below.

Want to add to your farm / pigs unit or learning about the letter p? Check out these posts.

https://alysiabattista.blogspot.com/2020/04/pig-pancakes-and-pudding.html

https://alysiabattista.blogspot.com/2020/05/p-is-for-potty-printables.html

https://alysiabattista.blogspot.com/2020/05/p-is-for-pirate-printables.html

https://alysiabattista.blogspot.com/2021/09/10-orange-pumpkins.html

Working on math and numbers? You can count on these activities!

https://alysiabattista.blogspot.com/search/label/math

See more preschool activities below!

https://alysiabattista.blogspot.com/search/label/preschool

A Little Spot

 My kids and I have been spending a lot of time at one of our favorite places, the library. My son became very interested in the colorful cover of Diane Alber's A Little Scribble Spot after seeing it prominently displayed on the new book shelf. The next day we grabbed the rest of the first set and he insisted on having them in his room so he could sleep next to them!

As a teacher with a bachelor's degree in psychology, I've always found it very important to work on social and emotional development in schools. The current generation of school age kids has been through a lot with the coronavirus pandemic and they are growing up with the pressures of social media and challenges of technology use. We couldn't be happier with the series, which has helped him talk about his emotions and how to work through them. Once you read one, you'll want to read others. There are 3 box sets of 21 books and then some single books that can be bought on her website or on Amazon.

Diane created this memorable rhyme to help children with anxiety, and my son has responded well to it. It's a little wordy for a 3 year old to remember, but he can finish the end of the line and follow along with the actions described in A Little Spot of Anxiety. 

From the tip of my finger to the middle of my palm,

I can do this! I can be calm!

This worry grew too big, and cannot stay,

take a deep breath and blow it away!

Diane has really thought of it all and now even has songs and videos. This one is called The Feelings Song. 

And because she's awesome, Diane even recorded herself reading some of the books out loud to share her message. Find her YouTube page here.

Here are her printables!

March 27 is National Scribble Day! Click this link or the image above for ideas on how to participate!

Just remember like Diane teaches the kids... "In control is how I roll!"

Remote Learning Organizer

Are you looking for a way to help keep yourself and your students or kids organized while learning online? I have created this hyperlinked Google Doc that allows you to input assignments across multiple sites / platforms, or even just paper work. You can embed links into the organizer that will take students straight to their assignments - on Google Drive or Classroom, PDFs, websites, videos, songs, etc. Students click on the table of contents to view their work for that day. 

Click here to download this 6 page Google Doc on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Check out my other products here.