Sunday, January 22, 2012

Storytime Sunday: Homes Continued

Here are 2 of the very best books about houses that I know. 
"A web is a house for a spider. A bird builds its nest in a tree. There is nothing so snug as a bug in a rug and a house is a house for me!" Everything from a car to a teabag to ink has a house if you think about it long enough. I absolutely love how this book thinks outside the box for the meaning of a house. The illustrations are marvelous and I especially adore the very last 2 pages: "Each creature that's known has a house of its own and the earth is a house for us all." Think about the deeper meaning that could have!

This book is so great for younger ones. It is short and very to the point. The basics of building a house, step by step all the way to moving in. Children will love it and can easily sequence the steps or act out the story.


So some of the continuing activities we did this week about building houses include:
This is AM class's venn diagram comparing 2 different houses from different areas of the world. They were able to come up with some similarities and differences.
This, however is PM class's venn diagram. And I pretty much had to give them these answers. So, I decided  with the PM class being mostly 3s, they might not be ready for this activity just yet.

 So here is what I made for them instead. A much easier concept. We just talked about the parts of the house and the children were able to take apart and put together the house however they wanted it. Much better results with this. Although I think I will pull out the venn diagram again and give it another try.





We used mini marshmallows and pretzel sticks to build houses as well. They were a lot more difficult to stay together than I thought. Probably should have used regular sized marshmallows. But, as you can see, one little boy persisted and was able to build an entire house and get it to stand up!


Then, we sorted photos of different types of landscapes where your house could be located.


I also printed maps of countries where each of the children's family is from. We talked about the purpose of a map and some of the features of maps. In case you can't see, all the maps are different types. Some are just regular maps and some are topographical, etc. 

Where do you search for books for the studies you do in your classroom or at home with your children?
Link up your book search resources by clicking below!
Book Search Linky Party


7 comments:

  1. Wow, I wish my daughter went to your preschool! We really love The House Is The House For Me book - so clever. Thanks for sharing with Afterschool!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What fun books!! And I love how you built houses with marshmallows!! Thanks for linking up at TGIF! Have a great week,
    Beth =)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those houses are too cute! I'll have to check out that book from the library.


    Stopping by from Show-and-Share Saturday.

    ReplyDelete
  4. How fun! I will definitely check the books out. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you so much for linking to Read.Explore.Learn. I am sorry I am late in visiting!

    I love your building project. The venn came out so well!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love that first book that you used. The activities are also great. I used to love doing units on neighborhoods and houses. The kids always liked it. I also like that the first book talks about all kinds of "houses". Things kids can relate too. Thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oooh love all the book suggestions and then the clever construction craft. Lots of fun!

    Thank you for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy

    ReplyDelete