Play Dough Small Group

 I don't do small groups like I do in kindergarten. In my room, we go to school 4 days a week.  We have small groups three days. I try not to have them on Monday's.  I am usually introducing centers or adding something that takes time, so I want to get them moving on to centers quickly.

I wish that I could share my small group plans, but my computer crashed and I can't access those plans. :(

I do think that I printed out a hardcopy though lol maybe I can find that ASAP to share :)

The break down, after the first month our schedule is math/science, ELA, and fine motor/art.

The first 26 weeks for fine motor/art is easy as we use Pocket of Preschool's Letter Book.

Now back to the first month of school.  We have a small group to cover all the school supplies.  Some of my students have never held a pencil before.  We get Pip certified as well.

I read the Pip Play dough book as a whole group.  We practice what Pip does in the book.  Then we use these cards from Tara West. Yes, I make them too.  I let them use my smelly play dough during this center.  When we get Pip certified (which we can show that we can make the cards, clean up our messes, and put the lid back on) I put out their individual play dough containers.   I got these smelly dough from Dollar Tree.

Read about how we get Pip certified here.

Grab the cards HERE.

I do have an order but I don't know what that is now lol

I think we pinch first, maybe lol

I show them the card and we do it together.  
While they are working, I have them try to make at least their age. 

Making sure that everyone has at least made one.

Then when everyone has some, we stack them.

We take one off at a time and 

then we press our fingers in them.

Now we make logs.

Then we roll those logs into snakes.

Finally we cut them up.

You can use plastic knives, 

I used some long handled stampers as my knife.

Then we make a big bolder with the dough.

Sometimes, all of it is too much for their little hands.

Then we use rolling pins.

I borrow so I can have enough 

rollers for everyone to try.

We have many rollers but some have patterns and

I want these to be plain because what's next is

Time to use cookie cutters!

I try to grab everyone's initial.

When we're done,

I have them make a boulder and 

turn it into a cylinder to fit back

inside the container.

I remind them not to shove the dough

into the container because then it is difficult to get out.

I do teach them how to get it out with

that long handled stamp though.

Then we practice putting the lid on tight and

getting it open as well.

I put those cards on the ring in the play dough bin.

The following weeks, I add 

these cards from HERE.

Read all about Pip here!!!!

  

Dental Health in the Kinderpond

 Sensory bin

In the upper left corner- there are those plastic cups (you can barely see lol)

measuring spoons

cupcake liners

mouthwash bottle

white letters

teeth from those tooth necklaces

Sad Cavity

I used this as a transition activity and later put in centers to play.

In journals, we made our own toothpaste trails.

We made rectangles and added a line to

make toothbrushes in journals. 

I have frog challenges.

Then when my students try out the center, we write their names

on the sheets. I draw simple pictures on them with a name.

So instead of calling these tracing lines, 

I call them toothpaste trails lol

Inside the center bin.

We erase with a toothbrush.

I used those sparkly pom-poms because I think they look like cavities lol

I added a pail to hold the teeth.

Children will place the number of teeth on the game boards.

These are playdough heads.

Shrek and the guy.

The guy was my son when he was younger, it was 

his toy. He called it Randy, his dad's name.

Now we also call it Randy.

Random coloring sheets

We color on the front and the back.

Toys

top ones from Dollar Tree

bottom one from Target.

Cavity Count

roll the number cube

add that many cavities to the teeth

erase with the toothbrush

Writing center

printables from HERE.

Science items HERE. 

All things Spring

Spring centers 

Cup stack- always a hit! 

I picked these cups up at Dollar Tree.

Geoboard challenge

Grab them here.

Playdough mats here.

Here are our pointers

rainbow tree and rainbow puff

frog and green star pointer

The frog thing is a watering can that holds our pointers :)

Leprechaun Brew from here.

Spring letter trace

rainbow patterns here

I drew a rainbow on butcher board paper. 

They will match these frogs to the colors 

on the rainbow.

Build the number here.

Raining Shapes here.

Our sensory bin.

I took strips of construction paper and wrapped packing tape around when I didn't have duct tape.

We celebrated Very Hungry Caterpillar day!!!

We did a scavenger hunt.

These "posters" came from Dollar Tree.

I think you're supposed to hang these up :)

We searched for all things red.

Then we talked about what was red- then we put them away.

We followed with orange

We rainbow wrote in small groups. Pip, IYKYK :)

We read letter of the day.

Read more HERE. 

This week's morning work:

Roll and trace from HERE.

Shamrock Color by Shape.

My students will find and put together these puzzles.

I may add dice and or tongs to this center.

Here's my updated rainbow name.

I wrote each of their names in

rainbow order with smelly markers.

Journals: