Eric Carle Week with Zoo Emphasis

Theme:  Eric Carle Books with a Zoo Emphasis

Letter of the Week: Z

Book: 1,2,3 to the Zoo

Story Retelling through sequencing cards (Math and Language Development)

I found a link to these at homeschoolshare.com.  Click HERE to get the originals.   I did not like the way the wheels were below them and so I added a color paper to cover them up and added black wheels below it.  Since I am teaching older children, I also used a label to cover up the picture beside the number and wrote the word on there.  This way they have to do actual object to number matching.  It will also be an way to work on beginning sounds with the students.  You can see a sample photo below.

More Jungle Animals in the blocks (Spatial Development, Social Skills) 

To allow my students opportunities to build a zoo, I added a good amount of jungle animals into their block area.

I would take ___ ______ to the zoo (Writing Skills, Early Literacy) 

I created this zoo train car so that each student could chose what they would like to bring to the zoo.  In the first blank they need to write their name, the second blank the number of animals they drew, in the last blank they will fill in the animal name.  I will write it on a piece of paper for them and allow them to copy it as best as they could.  I will also turn this into a bulletin board inside our classroom.

Book: From Head to Toe   

      

Animal Action Song (Musical Development, Listening Skills, Gross Motor)       We will dance to Greg and Steve's song Animal Action.  You can listen to a sample HERE

I Can, Can You? Class Book (Language Development, Self-Actualization)      Each child will have to think of something that they think they can do that no one else can.  I will then take a picture of them doing that action.  I will have them print their name so that I can write what they  said they were doing below it.   We will then put them into a photo album to make a class book.    

Animal/Animal Name Match (Pre-Reading Skills)

Have a picture from each animal in the book.  Below it have a box where they can find and place the word below it.  It can be self correcting if you have an outline below each box that fits the name exactly.  I found my animals with my Word program.  I used Primer Font to write the names.  You can download them HERE and HERE.  Below is an example of what my finished project looks like.

Letter Z Day

Book: Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?

Zookeeper, who said that? (Listening Skills, Gross Motor)      

Choose one student to be the zookeeper.  Have them turn around so they can't see their classmates.  Next whisper in another students ear the animal that you want them to imitate.  They may also need you to whisper the sound that it makes.  Once the student has made the sound, ask the zookeeper to turn around and see if they can identify who made the sound and what animal they were.  The student who made the animal sound because the next zookeeper.  Repeat until every student has a had a chance to become zookeeper.

Zoo Animals with Crepe Paper and Paint (Art) 

Students will be able to free paint any animal like they like.  They can also use crepe paper they like.   They can glue down crepe paper first and then paint over it or they can crinkle up crepe paper and use it do dab off their paint to get an Eric Carle like effect.  If I remember, I will try to take a picture of a sample and upload it for you to see.

Share Letter Items (Letter Identification and Sound Recognition)

Students bring something from home that begins with the letter Z.