No More N (Wrap up week 14)

This post is full of name activities which were a lot of fun! 

Bible
The second half of the week we spent more time discussing the bible story.  I didn't think the kids would get much more out of the short story in our bible.  We played out Jesus calling his disciples together.  The kids and I all took turns calling names and following the leader.  First we called each other by name (or pretend names) then called out any of the disciples names remembered.  This was a fun activity to remember the disciples and talk about how we follow Jesus.
While we played follow the leader I asked the kids how they can follow Jesus.
I also asked them if they would get up and follow Jesus like the disciples did.  With no questions, if, and's, or buts.




We played a 'what disciple name can you remember' game.   I asked what they remembered, they yelled out names and when they got one right they got an m&m.  Simple rules.  I like that.


Circle Time
I have been spending more time doing circle time this week then previous weeks.  The dragons thrive on this interaction.
I  finally made it to the library this week we only had one day left of the letter n though so I didn't pick up any letter n books. I did get a great book about winter and a number book.

Winter is for snow

10 hungry Rabbits

Click here to see my reviews 

We played a fun game with our nutrition file folder.

Nutrition Grocery Shopping

With all the food on the board I pretended I was at the grocery store.  I told the dragons that I needed them to help me fill my cart and sort  my food.  We took turns being the helper and the one with the list calling out what food they need.
It turned into dramatic play with a Visitor Dragon being the parent and me and the other dragons being the kids.

Inside Little Dragons week folders he has had flashcards of food that start with the letter of the week.  We added those to the nutrition board after they were colored.
I plan on using them for alphabet review later.



Name Song/Cheer
I put a bunch of letters on the board for the kids to pick from. They had to pick the letter their name starts with. I called them one by one they came up and picked their letter.  The chant went like this:

N is for Natasha that's good enough for me
N is for Natasha that's good enough for me
N is for Natasha that's good enough for me
N-n-n-n is for Natasha!

Oh my did the kids love doing this!  I think the dragons did the cheer 2-3x each.  They loved it.

Next we did a name cheer.
Using balloons as our pom-poms we did a simple name cheer.

Give me an N (kids repeat)
Give me an A (kids repeat)
Give me a T (kids repeat)
and so on...

While calling out my letters I did little movements and encouraged the kids to use their bodies to compliment their cheer.

Alphabet
Our letter n motion was practiced a ton the last couple days of the week.  I find it helps to really push the letter at the end of the week.  There were a lot of n words mentioned along with the motion.

We listened to the N Song on YouTube.

Added the letter n to our explorers map.

And decorated the letter n printable with noodles! 

Which turned into a sensory bin for the remainder of the week and into the next.

Name Activities/Number

Now that we have taken time with numbers 1-10 I took out our number wheel for some review.  Set up with the number wheel were our puzzle hearts and name puzzles we made earlier in the day.

By the end of the week everyone knew everyone's full names and favorite pretend names.  We ended the week with a handful of fun name activities.

My favorite was writing your name 10 times on the number 10 worksheet.
 I liked this because it allowed for some creative ways to write your name.  It was great handwriting practice too!

The name puzzles I think were a favorite for the Girl Dragons.  Although they all did enjoy this activity, plus it makes for a great busy bag to use later. :)

I gave each dragon the number craft sticks that they had in their name.  The dragons lay them out side by side and I helped them tape the sticks together.

They wrote their names on the sticks, 1 letter per stick.





Then they drew on the sticks, whatever they wanted to draw.

When they finished we took the tape off and the dragons switched puzzles and tried putting the someone else s name together.  This was good for reading and spelling. 

Name Sake 
In the original lesson plan it suggests writing a letter to your child telling them how you picked their name.  I really like this idea an sat down with a pen and paper to write a letter to Little Dragon.  Before I got any words down I thought about Doll Dragon.  I couldn't write a letter to her about her name, I wasn't part of that.  I could ask Jerry to write one to her but he is a participant in preschool and it may still hurt her feeling not getting a special letter from me.  Or hurt Little Dragons feelings not getting a special letter from Jerry.

Because of these reasons I did not write a letter.  Doll Dragon has asked where she got her name and it is something we have discussed.  Little Dragon has not really asked as much, he is a bit younger though.

Instead of the letters I printed a picture they could color of their namesake or that had to do with their name.

Doll Dragon had a greek goddess in her folder.
Little Dragon had the May Flower.

Both loved this and we took the time to talk about names all together.