Fish Out of Water

In Class:
This week in class we read Fish Out of Water!


This is an OOOOLD book that came out in the 60's. It is so cute, and the kids absolutely loved it! We talked about why the fish kept growing and predicted what the boy could do as Otto got bigger and bigger. We practiced the /sh/ sound while reading the story.

At Home:
Print off two copies of this large fish, preferably on cardstock. Glue, staple or tape along the edges but leave an opening at the top, big enough to fit the target word cards in. Print off the target words and cut them out. As you practice the target words (at the word, sentence, or story level), put them inside the fish when you're done. Have fun!!

Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea!

In Class:
This week we read Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea!


We played in the "ocean" to see what we could find in the deep blue sea!




At Home:
Make an ocean of your own! Water, blue food coloring, and a little soap if you want some bubbles. Have your child help you find things to put in the sea. As you play, help them with their language skills. If they are at the labeling stage, have them label items they pull up. Sentences stage, have them say a sentence such as "I found a ____ in the sea!" To make this an articulation activity, have your child find things in the house that start with their speech sounds. Put them in the ocean and when you pull them up have them say each word 5 times. To make it a sentence level artic activity, add a carrier phrase like "I found a ____ swimming in the sea!"

Flotsam

In Class:
This week we read Flotsam!


This is an awesome wordless book and I got so much language out of the kids. We talked about each page and how you don't need words to read a story. They helped me tell the story by looking at the pictures. We talked about what we would take a picture of if we found the camera from the story.

In APPLE class, Miss Marcia brought us the supplies to make these awesome cupcake octopuses!


Home Activity:
Help your child use your phone or camera to take some pictures. Have them use their good language to describe what they captured in each photo. You can also use this as an articulation activity. Have your child take pictures of things that begin with their speech sound, then as you look through the pictures, have them say each word 5 times!

The Pout Pout Fish

In Class:
This week in class we read The Pout Pout Fish!


We practiced two sounds this week- initial P and final SH. This book is great for choral reading so the kids helped me read it and we got lots of practice with our sounds!

We played Let's Go Fishing during centers to get more individual speech time. It was a huge hit, and we've got some great fishermen in our classes!

Home Activity:
Print off the following page on cardstock if possible. You have a few options here! Do one, or all of them!

1. Print 2 copies, and cut out the fish and play matching or Go Fish.
2. Print 1 copy, cut out, and hide the fish around the room, Take turns finding the fish and practicing the word as you find them.
3. Print 1 copy, cut out, and attach a paper clip to the front of each fish. Use a magnet at the end of a pole as a fishing rod and once you catch a fish, practice the word!!

Under the Sea

For more ocean ideas, check out my friend Annie's post!

"Under the Sea"

The fifth theme I chose for my son was the ocean. Here are the activities we did throughout the week. You don't do them all in one day, you space them out so throughout the week you are talking about your theme here and there, a little at a time. This theme was SO FUN for me! Before I changed my major to speech and language pathology, I was a marine biology major. So doing OCEAN themed SPEECH/LANGUAGE activities is pretty much my favorite thing to do in the whole world!!

Field Trips:

1. Unfortunately we didn't have much money left in our budget to go to the World Zoo and Aquarium. Next time! If you can afford it, go to an aquarium and check out all there is to see there!

2. We did see some fish last week at Butterfly Wonderland, so here is a cute picture. We also got to pet sting rays there, so our fish experience just happened partially during bug week. We also checked out some local pet stores to see what kind of fish they had. That was fun and free :)

Activities:
1. We spent lots of time SWIMMING in the pool! We are blessed enough to have one in our backyard, but if you don't, it would be a fun week to go to the local rec center.

2. We played with these swimming fish A LOT this week. I got them at the $1 spot at Target. You wind them up and the swim, they are so fun! Pool or tub, they were very fun.

3. Have you ever seen these? We had "blue" baths this week, just like fish swim in the blue ocean! 

4. We did play doh with sea creature cookie cutters. We love play doh!

5. We didn't play it, but Go Fish would be a great game. Also Let's Go Fishing!

            

6. We did different sensory bins- sand with shells (the same sand I used for the desert unit), blue water with sea creatures (food coloring), and sand dough with sand toys (mix 5 cups flour with 1 cup baby oil... seriously so much fun!)

Food:
Once again, look on Pinterest. We just did a few simple things!
1. Octopus Hotdog

2. Sand Dessert (vanilla or butterscotch pudding, with vanilla wafer crushed on top)

3. Jello Aquarium (blue jello with gummy sea creatures in it)

Songs:

Slippery Fish/The Octopus Song by Charlotte Diamond
Let's Go Swimming/The Goldfish by Laurie Berkner
Baby Shark
Baby Beluga

Books:

Go to your local library and check out all the ocean books they have. The top six were definitely our favorites, but it was hard to choose!
    

    

    
    


Movies:
We watched my favorite, Finding Nemo! The Little Mermaid, Shark Tale, and Planet Earth would also be good ones :)