Books
We borrowed a number of books from the library this week. Last week when we did
I is for Insects, we expanded into the category of bugs in general. This week was similar, as we discussed jets and how to recognize them among airplanes of all kinds. This was a fun group of books. We learned how things work at an airport, how to read signs, who a pilot is, what control tower does and even got a glimpse of stunt shows!
The last page from Amazing Airplanes showed us the parts of a jet, which was super helpful too!
Do-a-Dot Page
I found this page from
Palmer Practicality, and I like it because it gives room at the bottom for writing practice! The kids both started off with magnetic pom poms.
Then Honey Pot sounded out the word jet and wrote it on the lines.
Jet Patterns
I found these cute pattern worksheets from
Math Worksheets for Kids. I went over one page of it with Little M&M, just asking him what comes next. Then I gave all three pages to Honey Pot to color in. She did a super job!
Jets and Playdoh
We used our jet cookie cutter and tools for some playdoh fun on one of the days.
Honey Pot worked on making a runway:
and even a jet stream:
Then the two of them used letter cookie cutters to spell the word jet too.
Salt Tray - A to J Review
For our review this week I brought out the salt tray and the Leapfrog Fridge Phonics. Honey Pot really enjoys this activity.
This was Little M&M's first time using the salt tray, and he did a pretty good job!
Jet Stream Tracing/Cutting Lines
I created these tracing lines for each of them.
Then later Little M&M brought out the scissors to practice his cutting skills too!
Size Sequencing
I printed out jets of various sizes, and the kids enjoyed lining them up in size order.
Pattern Blocks
while Little M&M worked on the J.
Then they switched.
Storytelling Game
We have a fun card game called "Tell Tale." I created a quick template for them to use while telling stories, the only requirement being that the jet card had to be used. Honey Pot LOVES telling stories.
She sat down and got right to it.
Here was what her first story looked like:
Then it was Little M&M's turn. While Honey Pot's stories have characters and plot lines and details, much of his stories went mostly like this for now: "And then there was a piggy. And then a cheeseburger comed..." Super silly.
And they took turns for quite a while! Here is another of Honey Pot's:
Then, Little M&M started bringing in funny cards like chattering teeth and witches and ghosts.
I had started them off with only a few of the cards, but they were having so much fun, that we brought out the entire card game (and each card is two-sided). I even turned over the yellow paper and drew a 9-space template for their stories. Super successful game!
Airplane Felt Board
It's been a while since we've created a new felt board scene. If you've ever considered making one, check out our previous ones. They are worth the extra set-up time, and are such fun hands-on activities that we can bring out year after year.
So today I created some jet planes and clouds. I've accumulated quite an assortment of colors from making felt ears for Honey Pot's kitten birthday party.
So I decided to create planes in the colors of the rainbow.
The play started off as a color review and a lesson in "rainbow order." I was absolutely shocked when Honey Pot told me all the colors in the correct order. And how did she know them? She remembered them from the rainbow con-tact paper craft we completed a year and a half during her
Letter R unit! What?!
Then, we played the game I originally had planned, memory recall. They closed their eyes and I removed a plane. They had to tell me what was missing!
We played this over and over. Eventually I removed two at a time. Then later, I mixed up the order for an extra challenge!
The kids came up with this next fun idea. Color mixing! I created an addition and equals sign with the clouds. Then they told me which colors are used to create orange, purple and green.
We kept the felt board out throughout the week, and they often returned to it. Here is Little M&M on one such day playing memory recall with me.
Then, on another day, the two of them using the pieces just for pretend play.
Jet Stream Craft
We created jet streams with salt for our craft of the week. First the kids colored in their airplanes.
(I helped Little M&M, to help keep his interest through the whole craft.)
Then they glued them onto a larger sheet of paper.
Honey Pot ended up drawing a runway onto her page. Then we added swirls of glue, to pour salt onto.
I later remembered that the kids had had greater success when scooping and pouring bit by bit with spoons. Remember our sand crafts
here and
here? But this worked out all right too! Here are their final products:
Jet Roll and Cover
I like to do these games once in a while, as it's a fun way to add counting and number recognition to our themes. They seem to enjoy it! So I created this is Photoshop Elements (right-click to save).
The kids used cottonballs to cover their clouds!
Departure Times - Reading a Clock
I wanted to work on reading clocks with Honey Pot, and so calling them "departure times" seemed like a fun way to include it in this week's unit. I took this worksheet from
Math Worksheets 4 Kids, and added an jet and title to it. Great practice in writing numbers as well as reading clocks!
Afterward I flipped the page over, drew a clock and used her veggie straws as the hands. We talked about how to read the clock when it wasn't the top of the hour. She knows how to count by 5's already, so she seemed to catch on!
Tape Runway - Pretend Play
The kids have a Jet Blue toy that I had purchased on Amazon. We set up a runway out of masking tape for their pretend play this week.
Little M&M used his other airplane, while Honey Pot used the jet.
Paper Airplanes - Flight School
I Dig Pinterest has a great tutorial on how to fold paper airplanes. My husband, a self-proclaimed paper airplane professional, was even impressed with the design and flight of these babies. I used patterned paper in various designs. Ta-da!
I hung up our hula hoop from a light fixture, and our pilots practiced flying their planes through it. what an awesome rainy day activity. I didn't take many pictures because I myself was flying one as well. This activity was a real hit!
Airplane Maze
Field Trip - Airport
We live fairly close to a small airport, so we took a field trip over there to watch some planes come in. Super fun, and the kids were able to tell us which ones were jets.
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