Weekly Theme  (Start Monday, continue with the theme all week)

This week's theme is BALLOONS.  Balloon Coloring Page 1   Balloon Coloring Page 2

The vocabulary word is helium - a gas that when used to fill a balloon, allows the balloon to float up by itself.

Books to read aloud that support the theme:

Curious George and the Hot Air Balloon by H. A. Rey
Barney's Big Balloon by Mark S. Bernthal
Mouton's Impossible Dream by Anik McGrory
Come Down Now, Flying Cow by Timothy Roland
The Red Balloon by Albert Lamorisse

Poems that support the theme:

Balloons
by Katrina Lybbert

Balloons of red and yellow and blue,
Some for me and some for you.
See them reach up very high,
Floating with helium near the sky.
Be sure to hold their strings quite tight,
So you won't lose them... what a fright!

Songs that support the theme:

Flying in my Hot Air Balloon
by Katrina Lybbert

(Sung to the Tune of The Mulberry Bush)

Flying in my hot air balloon, hot air balloon, hot air balloon,
Flying in my hot air balloon, watch me fly to the moon.

Floating over the ground below, ground below, ground below,
Floating over the ground below, wave to me and I'll say hello!

Landing in my hot air balloon, hot air balloon, hot air balloon,
Landing in my hot air balloon, time for lunch... now it's noon.

Gross Motor Skills Activity:  (Monday)

Balloon Batting...  Parent and child can hit a balloon back and forth to each other.  Or try to keep hitting the balloon up in the air by yourself.

Fine Motor Skills Activity:  (Friday)

Have your child color in some balloons, drawn on a sheet of paper, then glue strings to each one.
 

Shape/Color  (Tuesday)

This week you will teach the color orange.

• Introduce the color by coloring in the triangle (previous week's shape) on your learning poster with an orange crayon.
• Put on an orange article of clothing.
• Point out objects around your home of the color orange.
• Add the color to a meal by choosing an orange food, or using a plate, cup, or utensil of the color orange.
• Let your child color in a coloring book or on a printout using an orange crayon.

The letter this week is the letter T.

• Give your child a printout of the (capital) letter T to color.  ~Letter Printouts~
• Teach your child to trace the shape of the letter T using her finger.  You can trace in pudding, finger paint, a shallow tray (cookie sheet) filled with rice or beans, etc.
• Point out the letter T in signs, cereal boxes, etc.
• Post the letter T on your learning poster.

The number this week is the number 20.

• Show your child 20 objects to count, or eat 20 raisins, 20 cheerios, etc.
• Show your child the written symbol (numeral) for 20 and put on your learning poster.
• Add 20 stickers to your counting book.
• Show your matching index cards for the number 20 to your child.
• Draw 20 triangles on a piece of paper and count them with your child.
• Walk around your home counting 20 objects.

The nursery rhyme this week is Hot Cross Buns.  Recite often!

Hot Cross Buns,
Hot Cross Buns,
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot Cross Buns.