"F" is for Fireman

This was a fun little "unit" about community service workers, specifically focused on firemen.  We read lots of books about firemen and how they help us in emergencies.  I'm a little bummed we never made it to our fire station field trip, but there was only so many things I could squeeze in one day and that trip never happened.  Next year.

We talked a lot about what we would do should a real emergency occur at home, specifically a fire.  We talked about "getting low" to avoid smoke, and the kids practiced creeping along the floor to a safe spot.

They also mastered the "Stop! Drop! Roll!" technique.  They actually wanted to practice that every day. 

I was able to find some songs that were really cute!
9-1-1
(to the tune of "Frere Jacques")
There's a fi-re
There's a fi-re
9-1-1
Call the fire department,
Call the fire department,
9-1-1


9-1-1.
Never, Never Play with Matches
(to the tune of "Frere Jacques")
Never, never
Play with matches,
No! No! No!
No! No! No!
You will get in trouble,
You might burn your fingers,
No! No! No!
No! No! No!

Thanks to Pintrest I was able to find SO many cute fireman crafts!  This one was great fun as they got to paint their hands red.  We let them dry and the next day we added heads, hats, faces, hoses, and William came up with the idea to use Do-A-Dot paint for the water. 

Another great Pintrest find were these footprint firetrucks.  I set up a "paint station" so they could paint each others foot, without the worry that they'd run off and get red paint all over my floor.

This was clearly a very fun thing to do! 

And the final product! 

 These toilet paper roll firemem/women were fun to make as well. 

They both worked on their fireman packs. William, for this activity, circled all the Fs while Abby had a hard time circling so she used Do-A-Dot paint and stamped every F. 

And what would preschool be if there wasn't a TON of pretend play!  (They are hoping Oma still has the ax...Mom is hoping she doesn't.)  The hose William is holding is a Duplo hose.  Abby usually had to play the innocent victim being consumed by fire.  She'd drop and roll and William would come running in with the hose and water to extinguish the remaining flames.  It was SO fun to watch them at this.  

This math sheet was geared more for William but Abby would have none of that.  She actually did pretty well counting the objects on each side but needed William's help to determine what sign went between them.

These past two weeks Daddy has been gone so when the day came for Dad to come back the kids made posters.  Many, many posters to welcome him back. 

 Well...that pretty much wraps up our fire safety lessons. 

"L" is for ladybug

These last two weeks we have worked with the letter "L".  Both kids know their letters, but I want to make an alphabet book with Abby, like I did with William, so with spring on us I decided to do "L".

We got our Ladybug Land in the mail a bit ago (thank you Groupon!) and as soon as the ladybug larvae arrived in the mail we started our "L"/ladybug unit.

I picked up a bunch of ladybug books from the library, and we learned all about their life cycle (currently they are finishing up the pupa stage and there are about 4-5 of them that are turning into ladybugs.  So neat!) and the characteristics of insects in general.

Labeling the parts of a ladybug.

The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle was our main book, as we had lots of activities to go along with that book...as well as a fun stuffed animal I picked up some time ago.

Here's Abby posing with Ladybug L.  And yes, she completed this little project so early in the morning I didn't even have time to get her out of her jammies.  She simply loves to "do her letters".  It's actually hard to keep her occupied with quality activities, because she knows when I'm just giving her "busy work."  (She told me she wants to add this letter to her "alphabook".  {smile}

This puzzle could probably be considered "busy work" but she loved it!  It had the letter "L" on it, along with ladybugs, so it fit right in with what she considered "learning her letters". 

 

We started to learn to tell time, since The Grouchy Ladybug does something new at different hours of the day.  I pulled out my clock and while we read the kids found the new time.  Now they are running around asking what time it is, if we are late, and telling me the time. 

They colored hand-drawn pictures (by yours truly) of each of the different animals the grouchy ladybug talks to during her day, then they put them in the correct time order.

Both kids love doing Do-A-Dot, so they marked up the ladybug and I cut them out.  Pasting is a huge deal as well, so this little project turned into a very fun craft for them.

They each also made "L" books.  They traced the letter "L", cut out pictures from magazines that started with the letter "L" and did other activities for their books.

In all, I would have to say this was a very fun unit!

Links: 

• Confessions of a Homeschooler  
• Homeschool Share

Happy Mother's Day weekend!  I know I will be enjoying it with my little children.