PreK Week 23 - Around the World

This week in Pre-K we had an 'Around the World' theme, ending with learning about China on Friday, which was Chinese New Years.

 We also tied in Ms. j from the letter people curriculum; she talks about different sounds. How did I tie in sounds and around the world you ask? I talked about how people all talk, but we speak in different languages in different parts of the world. We then learned how to say 'hello' in a different language each day.

 On Monday, I introduced the concept of the world and different places in the world instead of focusing on one country. The kids did two art projects that day.

First, they made these adorable Cereal Box Suitcases from Pinterest. It was a lot of work on my part getting all the paper cut to the right size, but the kids had fun gluing down the paper and stamping them. I added Velcro to the top so it can stay closed and the kids can actually put their projects from this week in it to take home.

 The kids also made 3D salt maps of the world from www.notimeforflascards.com/2011/05/salt-map.html. To do this, I just printed a simple globe on a piece of blue paper and quickly shade the land forms green so the kids would know where to put their salt mixture. I also backed the paper on leftover cereal boxes to make it stronger. The mixture was a simple mix of flour, water, salt, and food coloring mixture, and the exact recipe is on notimeforflashcards. The kids used paintbrushes and I showed them how to dab it on to make it really thick.  

 On Tuesday, we talked about Africa. We learned how to say hello, 'Jambo', which was convenient because it's a J word and we were talking about J all week. I read a book called 'Honey Honey Badger' which took place in the jungles of Africa. We happened to be able to watch a movie later in the day, so of course it was a perfect time to play 'The Lion King'. 

We made two projects, including colorful paper plate masks from "Art for All Seasons" and we beaded colorful necklaces as well.  

 On Wednesday, we talked about France and learned how to say 'Bonjour'. There wasn't much I could really tell about France, so I told the kids there's a lot of cool buildings, and they eat a lot of bread. I think that prey much sums it up! :)

We read 'Madeline', and I pointed out all of the landmarks in the book including the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Notre Dame. I also showed the kids pictures of me in Paris in front of these same monuments so they could get a better understanding of how real they are and how large they are.

For our projects that day, the kids colored a Paper City Paris from . 

They also did Eiffel Towr Tape Painting, which I can't find the source to. All I did was put down scotch tape on pieces of white construction paper in a shape slightly resembling the Eiffel Tower. The kids painted over the tape and when it was dry we peeled it off. They loved it and I think turned out really cute. They loved pointing out that the eiffel tower looks like an A. 

 On Thursday, we talked about Italy. I read the book, 'Gaspard on Vacation' about a dog that goes to Venice with his family. The kids liked seeing the canals instead of roads. I also talked about how Italy is known for pizza and pasta.

The kids got to make their own pizzas in the toaster oven from English muffins, sauce, cheese, and pepperonis... Then we ate them for snack! 

Before they made the pizzas, I read the book, 'Pete's a Pizza', which is a cute story about a little boy whose parents try to cheer him up by making him into a pizza.  

 The kids also made their own Italian flag by color sorting on a piece of construction paper. 

 Finally, on Friday, we talked about China to celebrate the Chinese New Year. I read the story 'Tikki Tikki Timbo', and the kids made their own Chinese Dragon puppets from krokotak.com/2012/01/idea-za-godinata-an-drakona. 

They also did a Chinese anew a year preK pack from royalbaloo.com/downloads3/Chinese-new-year-packs/.

Overall, it was a very busy week but it was fun to teach about all the different places in the world!

This was our finished bulletin board: