Fingers, Toes and Homes around the World

Today I read this book to my class. I have done a previous post about this book, but here are some more details about how we used it in class.

First we did a small group that consisted of using these felt board fingers and toes to count to 10.

Then we took off our socks and shoes to count our toes. Yep, we all had 10 :)

We have also started learning about homes around the world. Here is our sensory table filled with materials for building a house. We got into questions such as what are houses made of, what are the parts of a house, how do you build a house, why are houses different around the world, what is the purpose of a roof? The children had some good answers and seemed like they were becoming interested.

He said this was an apartment :)

Hammering the pieces together.

I introduced a lot of new vocabulary such as carpenter, hinges, plaster, door frame, etc. I am beginning to see that there is so many directions this study could go. We had planned to go into weather around the world next week, but we may stretch out homes for another week. Can't wait to do some more of the activities we have planned for this week. Stay tuned!

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Storytime Sunday: Fingers and Toes

This week's book is:

If you missed the 20% off sale at Half Price Books, I'm sorry. But I didn't :) And I managed to pick up some books for my son as well as for the classroom. I found this list of must have books for your baby's first library conveniently just as we were driving to HPB and decided to see if they had any of the ones I don't already have. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes is one of them.

Our class is so diverse that we are going to be starting a whole unit on cultures and countries around the world when we return from break. This book could be a great introduction to the unit. I am so excited and I think the kids will really get into it and begin to embrace their own various cultures and traditions. Hopefully it will last a while!

Anyways, I got this book for my baby's collection. It talks about different babies being born at the same time in lots of different places, but as everyone know, they all have 10 little fingers and 10 little toes. From the baby who was born in the town to the baby born in the hills and even the baby born on the ice, there is something for every child to relate to. I especially love the pictures of the babies which I know kids will love as well.

For an extension of this book, you could do any of the many many hand print and foot print activities found on Pinterest. Here is an example that my son made at school although it's a little late for this:

Also, it is a great way to talk about geography and the types of houses people live in in other parts of the world.

So if you haven't read this book, please add it to your collection ASAP!

Happy Reading!