If You Take a Mouse to the Movies

I just completed this unit.  It is available on the Teachers Pay Teachers site here.  The activities included are:

 Circle Time
-Microphones to use while singing Christmas carols

Literacy
-2 story sequencing activities
-comprehension questions
-writing prompt
-writing your own circular story
-stringing popcorn (alphabetical order)
-blank popcorn pieces (sight words or CVC words)

Math
-stringing popcorn (numerical order)
-blank popcorn pieces for you to customize own counting
activities (count by 2s, 5s, 10s; addition or subtraction
sentences)
-Making sets (1-10 ornaments on trees; 11-20 popcorn in
buckets)
-Addition mat with ten frame
-Patterns
-Size sequencing
-Memory game (matching pieces of popcorn to numeral)

Fine Motor
-Create own ornaments (could be given as gifts to parents)
-Popcorn stringing
-Fort building

Science
-Popping popcorn - using five senses

Cooking
-Different popcorn toppings (predicting, voting, analyzing graph)
-Edible snowman

Lots of Dino Ideas!

The following activities were found here.


Here are some of the activities you may want to consider in your preschool dinosaur unit (links will follow as detailed activities are added):
Dinosaur Mural (Creative, Social)
Five Silly Dinosaurs  (Music, Math, Language)
Crayon Melting, Dino Style (Creative, Science)
Dinosaur Erosion Table (Sensory, Science)
Fossil Imprints (Science)
Frozen in Time (Sensory, Science)
Preschool Paleontologists  (Science)
Rhyme-A-Saurus(Language, Pre-Reading)
Dinosaur, Dinosaur, What Time is it? (Social, Large Motor)
A Visit to the Museum (Science, Social, Language & Literacy)
Dino Scales (Fine Motor, Creative, Science)
The Classic Volcano (Science)
Hot Lava Hop (Large Motor)
We are the Dinosaurs (Music and Movement, Language)
How Big is a Dino?  (Math)
Dinos Invade the Block Area (Math, Science, Language)
Best Dino Books  (Language)

Environmental Print Resources

The first link gives you a resource including reasons to include environmental print in the curriculum, as well as several ideas for activities and organization.

The second link is a class book with some of the letters pre-filled.

Alphabet Actions

A	act like an airplane
B	blink
C	crawl
D	dance
E	exercise
F	fly
G	growl
H	hop
I	itch
J	jump
K	kick
L	leap
M	march
N	nod
O	over
P	push ups
Q	quack
R	run
S	sit
T	twist
U	under
V	visit
W	wiggle
X	xylophone
Y	yawn
Z	zip

Alphabet Class Book

Our Class Alphabet

1.          Cut construction paper in half.

2.          Use one half page for each child.

3.          On each page glue the photograph of an individual child.

4.          Under the picture print the first letter of the child’s name.

5.          Under the first letter print the child’s first name.

6.          Repeat for each child in the class.

7.          Arrange the pages in alphabetical order.  It is all right to have a number of children with the same first letter in their names.

8.          Determine which letters are missing.

9.          Use the magazine or toy catalog to find colored pictures of objects that start with the missing letters and make a page for each letter, so that each letter of the alphabet has at least one page with either a photograph of a child or a picture of an object that starts with that letter.

10.      Read the children their “Class Alphabet Book” during circle time.  Encourage the children to “read” the book aloud: “A is for Allison, B is for Bill, etc.”  Make the book available for them to look at during playtime.

Mixing Paint Bags

Paint in a Bag

1.          Write each child’s name on a bag with a permanent marker.

2.          Ask a child to choose the colors to put into her bag.

3.          Allow the child to zip the bag closed (check that the seal is good).

4.          Place the bags on a flat, clean surface where the children can squeeze, squish, squash and mix the paint by manipulating the bags.

5.          At circle time, ask each child to describe the colors in her bag.

More – Mix liquid tempera with liquid dish detergent.  You’ll extend the paint and it will wash out of clothes more easily.

Games

Musical Spots

1.          Make enough shapes of various colors for each child in the class.  They should be large enough for a child to stand on.

2.          At circle time talk about the shapes and colors with the children.

3.          Give one shape to each child.  Ask the children to place their shapes in a circle on the floor.  This circle should be large enough for the children to walk in a circle without touching the next child.  Ask the children to stand on their shapes.

4.          Explain that this game is played like musical chairs.  When the music starts the children begin to walk outside the circle of shapes.  When the music stops the children will step on the shape that is closest to them.  Only one child may stand on a shape.  There is one less shape than children each time the game is played.

5.          The child who does not have a shape to stand on is asked to sit down and hold the shape that is taken away.

6.          The game continues with a shape being removed each time the music stops.

More – The game can be played with shapes of animals, transportation vehicles or with vinyl placemats.