Learning and Teaching with Preschoolers Blog

Creative Art with Jack

3/16/2014

Jack and the Beanstalk Creative Art

Bring Jack and the Beanstalk alive and build comprehension by including art and writing activities for this beloved classroom favorite. Children will love these hands on learning activities geared toward one of their favorite stories.

The fun thing about this project is that it can be used two different ways depending on your art style.

You can give children more control of their project by just providing them with the clothing pieces and a sheet of paper.

Not one will look alike.

Or you can give the children all the pieces and have them assemble their project.

No matter what way you choose children will have the joy of recreating their favorite character from the book.

Writing Project

Use writing prompts and book making sheet will also build children's comprehension and creative writing skills.

With these sheet children will be able to create their own version of the book.

If you are interested in extending their understanding of Jack and the Beanstalk with art you can find it in my TpT story.

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Jack & the Beanstalk

3/7/2014

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As we read the classic tale Jack and the Beanstalk, some children found some magic beans. (hidden in the group area)

We asked the children what should we do with the beans? Of course they said lets plant them.

The Next Day...

A magic beanstalk appeared, growing straight from the floor of our classroom.

We had to measure it!

First we had the children estimate how tall did they think the beanstalk grew.

After we took yarn and measured from top to bottom and taped the yarn on the floor.

Next we took turns measuring the string with our feet,(foot over foot) to see how tall the beanstalk was.

We discovered that not every foot measured the same size.

So How many feet were you?

Each child measured with their feet to see how many feet they had to measure the beanstalk.

We taped the yarn to the wall to record the data.

So how many feet was the beanstalk? It measured 10 feet with a ruler.

We didn't stop measuring

We measured Jack, the Giant and every one that we read about in the story to see how tall they were.

How Tall are They?- Students will identify, describe, and compare by attributes of height. Tall, taller, tallest

More Math Centers

Graphing different Jack and the Beanstalk picture scene.

How Many?- Students will learn strategies for collecting, organizing and displaying data.

Making patterns with Jack and the Beanstalk.

Making Patterns-Students will extend simple patterns by predicting what comes next, with concrete objects.

Students will create simple patterns with concrete objects.

Making Numbers with Magic Beans

Making Numbers-Students will use one-to-one correspondence and rote counting to determine how many objects are in a set. 1 to 20

Students will demonstrate that the last count indicates how many items were counted.

Language and Literacy for the whole class

Help Jack climb to the top

The children helped Jack climb the beanstalk by place leaves with letters in the proper order so that Jack could make it to the top.

What's the Order-Students will be able to recognize and identify letters.

Children sorted beginning sounds by placing clouds on sound mats.

Beginning Sounds-Students will be able to produce a word and identify the initial sound of word.

Children had fun as they clapped and snapped the syllables on all the golden eggs that the hen laid.

Say It, Clap It, Snap It-Students will be able to segment words by syllables.

Children learned about ending sounds in words as we said words and identified the ending sounds that they heard.

Ending Sounds Clipping Ring-Students will recognize and identify ending sounds in words.

Retelling story through Art

Set up a table for an art activity after reading the story. Encourage the children to create what they just heard in the story Jack and the Beanstalk.
Retelling Story with Art-Students will learn how to visualize story to build compression.

If this is something that you would like to use in your classroom, you can purchase them in my TpT shop.

Jack and the Beanstalk lesson plan bundle (Math, Literacy and Art).

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Creating Art with Adult Tools

2/19/2014

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Where you ever given the opportunity when you were little to use real adult tools? I was lucky enough to have a family that was willing to share their passions and skills with me at a young age and they let me play, explore and use all of those wonderful shine new adults tools! It was like a fairy godmother letting me use her magic wand.

So with that being said,

I want to provide my little ones with those same kind of memories. That means I can't be afraid to let them use real meaningful adults tools and lets not forget that little bit of fairy dust of trust. So I broke out the glue guns and let them use them.

Here is what I learned when I trusted and showed them how to use and care for the tool, they lived up to the responsibility of using it. They were more focused and intentional about their work. Planning and testing each piece before applying the glue. This experience produced meaningful and beautiful child created art.