Week 32 - Food

The second week in April was food-themes, and we worked on understanding that everyone needs food, as well as the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods.

 

We started on Monday by reading "Mouse Mess".  We also did the finger play 'Hickory Dickory Dock' to go with the mouse story, and we made a Healthy and Unhealthy food anchor chart, where the kids helped me think of healthy foods (foods that made you strong) and unhealthy foods (ones that make your belly hurt). 

 

For our art center, the kids colored their favorite healthy food, the made it out of play-doh. We out all the pictures together in a class healthy foods book.

 

We also did a cracker sorting activity, similar to the Dino egg sorting activity, where I cut out paper crackers from cardstock and drew differ numbered dots on them, and the kids had to sort them by number.

 

On Tuesday, we introduced Mr. C, who wears a Colossal Cap because he’s shy and likes to hide under it.  We read the books, “Gregory the Terrible Eater” and “Who Stole the Cookie”, then did a ‘Who Stole the Cookie game’.

For our game, I made a big cookie out of cardstock and put the kids in a circle. They all closed their eyes, and I gave the cookie to one student to hide behind their back or sit on.  Then I told them all to open their eyes, and I would ask someone, “Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?” and they would reply with who they think did it; “Bobby stole the cookie from the cookie jar!”  I would then go over to Bobby and he would say “Who me?”. We would all reply “Yes, you!” and if Bobby didn’t have the cookie, he would say “Couldn’t be!” and I would say “Then who?”.  It would then go on until they figured out who had the cookie.  It was a great activity to practice hiding objects, and using our friends’ names!

 

For art, we made our very own Colossal Caps to match Mr. C’s! I did this by having the kids decorate a big piece of construction paper with things that started with C, then I taped the two ends together to make a cylinder, then cut & added brims.

 

On Wednesday, we read “What Do We Need?” from the letter people curriculum, which reminded the kids of all the different needs that we have, including shelter, food, water, and sleep.  We also read “On Top of Spaghetti”, then sang the song and did a movement activity to go with it.  If you don’t know the song, it’s one of my favorites!  You can find it here. 

 

For a game, we played ‘Hot Meatball’, which was just like ‘Hot Potato’, but with a meatball (red ball)!

 

We also watched “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”.

 

On Thursday, we focused on breakfast foods.  We read “Sheldon’s Lunch” and “An Elephant Comes to Breakfast”.  The kids made and ate pancakes, then did a Healthy/Unhealthy food sort by putting magazine pictures in the correct column based on if they ‘made you strong’ or ‘made your tummy hurt’. 

 

At the end of the day, we read “We’re Making Breakfast for Mother”.

 

Finally, on Friday, we read the book “I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie”, as well as “Stone Soup”.  With “Stone Soup”, I turned it into a group story activity, where each student had a paper version of the ingredients in the soup, and as I was reading the story they had to come put their ingredient in the ‘pot’ and stir, stir, stir.  It was a great activity for recognizing and naming foods, plus made sure they listened to the whole story!

 

The kids also played food bingo, and at the end of the day we read “The Berenstein Bears and Too Much Junk Food”