Jack and the Beanstalk - Preschool Unit

Letter: J

Story: Jack and the Beanstalk (here are the printables I used to make magnet board characters)

Rhyme: Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley

Vocab words: cow, bean, hen

Literacy Activity: Compound words. I taped the words corn, bean, and stalk onto separate duplo blocks and we practiced building one word out of two smaller words and then practiced taking away a word and seeing what we were left with. We made the word cornstalk and beanstalk. Then I would take away stalk and the kids would shout out the word we were left with. We did the same thing with cowgirl and cowboy later in the week.

I can't remember what days I did what printables, unless they specifically went with the focus for that day (like I know we did most of the letter J printables on Monday). So I am just going to link to the packet and you just realize that I printed worksheets off and we did them as needed/wanted.

Monday: Letter J
Worksheets
Alphabet sidewalk chalk game (found here)

Tuesday: all about beans
We learned about the life cycle of a bean using this worksheet. Cut and paste in sequential order.
Started our lima bean sprouts in sandwich bags. (Instructions here)
Painted lima beans, said some magic words to make them magic beans, and then planted them. I made the kids draw a picture of what they thought would grow. (Day 1 a sucker stick grew, day 2 a small pompom was added, day 3 a bigger pom-pom, day 4 a sucker!)
Beanstalk art project. (found here)

Wednesday: numbers
Sidewalk chalk beanstalk game. I drew a beanstalk on the sidewalk and numbered the leaves from one-ten. Then I would say "run to the 8" or "skip to the 4". The kids loved it.
Add 'em up dice game. I drew a beanstalk and numbered the leaves 2-12. Using two dice we practiced adding/counting. The first person to roll all the numbers won.
Counting worksheets.

Thursday: Review
I made golden eggs out of yellow construction paper and put a lowercase letter on each one since Miss J has been struggling with those. Every time the kids found one they had to tell me the sound it made before putting it in the bag. Max played this over and over by himself throughout the day.
I cut out cardboard giant feet and attached yarn. The kids took turn feeling like giants and knocking over towers and terrorizing their Fisher Price Little People.


We also added a literature element to our days. I have been reading the first story in A. A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh out loud to the kids. (The one about the balloon and the bees) Then we are working on this lapbook. The book is a bit complex so we read it through slowly and now we are reading it again as we do the lapbook and we will probably read it through a third time as well.

We also started doing a few Brainquest cards at night.

Jane has started reading the first Bob Book, "Mat". I will probably have her read it every day for a week, maybe do these worksheets/activities, and then move on to the next book. She decided she wanted to do this on her own, and so we are taking it very slow and I'm trying not to push anything.