November 4th- 8th

Community Helpers 

Supplies

• Construction paper
• Sidewalk chalk
• Small Squirt bottle or watering can
• Mini marshmallows
• Crayons or markers
• Cotton balls
• Small tongs

Books for the Week

•  "Clifford the Firehouse Dog" by Norman Birdwell
• "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
• "I Stink!" by Kate and Jim McMullen
•  "You Think It's Easy Being the Tooth Fairy?"  by David Slonim and Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt
• "Firehouse" by Mark Teague

Monday: "F" for fire: Read, "Clifford the Firehouse Dog".  Then cut a large "F" out of paper. While you're cutting out the "F" have your child rip up pieces of of red, orange, and yellow paper. (Great for fine motor skills!). Write the word "fire" next to the "F" and explain that you're going to make fire.  Have your child cover the "F" with the torn pieces of paper.
Original source: www.notimeforflashcards.com

Tuesday:  Put out the fire!! With sidewalk chalk, make flames. Based on whatever skills your child needs to work on (letters, shapes, numbers, etc.) write it amongst the flames.  Now, fill a squirt bottle or watering can with water and have them put out the flames.
Make this as exciting as possible. If you have a fire truck or a fire fighter hat have them put it on. Get into it! ("Help! Help! There is a fire on the circle!"). If you're having fun, they will have fun.

Wednesday: Marshmallow teeth.  Make a mouth a piece of paper.  Have your child add "teeth" to the mouth by licking the marshmallow and sticking it to the mouth.  The saliva will make it stick to the paper.  Take this opportunity to count and also talk about the size of the "teeth".  I put the marshmallows in a small container so my son was forced to grab the marshmallows with this pointer finger and thumb. (Great for fine motor skills and writing.)

Thursday:  Trash truck counting.  Make 10 houses out of  paper and number them 1-10.  Lay them out on the floor and place the corresponding number of cotton balls on each house.
Now it's time to pick up the trash!  Role play the idea of Trash Day.  It's time to pick up all the trash from each of the houses. As the truck pulls up to each of the houses, call out the number and have them count as they use tongs to put the trash into the truck.  How many are there all together?
Alternative:  If you don't have a trash truck or dump truck to play with you can play "pizza delivery". Same concept, but cut out little pizzas and deliver the correct number of pizzas to each house.

Friday:  "Driving the alphabet":  Read "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom".  Write out letters of the alphabet to resemble roads on construction paper.  Put a glob of paint separately and dip a small truck or car into the paint.  Now, tell your child to "drive" the letters.  Make a fun game out of it by making pretend police car noises if they drive off the road.