The children have been fascinated by sharks lately. Many have been sharing shark facts at the last couple circle times. I decided to use this fascination to keep the children tuned in to our most recent virtual circle time.
The children were sent the invitation to our circle time. The invitation encouraged the children to practice some printing activities.
On the social media accounts, I shared activities for the children to do that encourage writing skills. Additionally, I shared the following article from NAEYC to give parents information regarding emergent writing skills. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/nov2017/emergent-writing
A great activity for fine motor development and emergent writing skills is lacing. Families were provided a shark lacing activity to download and complete at home. Feel free to print and use this lacing activity for yourself!
Our first activity during the virtual circle time was to learn about sharks! We listened to Sharks by Kate Riggs on Youtube.com. The reading of the book is a little fast, but the concepts shared are simple and engaging.
Following the book, we played a shark game. I shared the PowerPoint presentation with everyone. The children were to feed the shark the letter I said. They told me the color of the letter to acknowledge they had found it. The children were all unmuted and just shouted out the answers.
This is an easy game to make on PowerPoint. Simply place a shark, or any clipart animal, in the center. Add text boxes with each letter of the alphabet. Choose a different color for the letters. Once you have all the letters placed, use the animations tab to create the movement. Choose the Exit Effects animation then select the drop option to have the letters fall away. On the animations pane, you should see the letters of the alphabet in order. This will ensure that the correct letter will fall when you click your mouse.
Our final activity was a movement song. The kids enjoy interacting physically with one another. Movement songs is an excellent way to feel connected.
I hope you enjoy your shark day as much as we did!