Preschool F is for fish

So I taught my second lesson in preschool today. I was assigned the letter F, and the number 4. Last time I kind of neglected the number and I didn't want that to happen today too. So ever since my last lesson I've been trying to figure out just how to teach today's lesson.

When I taught my first lesson, I discovered this really cool series that our library carries, called "The Sound Box Library" by Jane Belk Moncure. There are books for most of the letters in the alphabet, plus some other sounds that come into play with reading. Anyway I highly recommend them. Ever since I discovered them, I have been checking out the letter of the week, to read over with Cinderella to reinforce what she learned in preschool that week. And I plan to use them in my lessons.

Well when I checked the library system, a week an a half ago, for the F book, there was only one copy and it was checked out. I figured the chances of me having it for today were slim, so I looked for an alternative. I came across a book called "Four Fish, the Sound of F" by Alice K. Flanagan. That gave me an idea, because I was still wondering what to do, to teach the number 4. I hoped the book would all tie it in, so I reserved it. When it came, I noticed it didn't really talk much about the number four. It just concentrated on the F sound. But that was fine. And it gave me an idea.

I would do my preschool lesson, about fish. As soon as I decided that, I remembered a time when I was in college. I was taking a preschool class, where we taught preschool. The teachers were divided up into teaching two separate classes. One day afterwards, I noticed the children in the other class going home with little clear plastic cups with blue jello, and gummy fish in them. When I recalled this, I thought it might be a fun activity, and could add to our snack.

So I did some research trying to find the instructions on this activity. I found instructions from the Kraft Foods Jello website. I also found a lot of blog posts and other Internet listings of people messing this idea up. I was kind of concerned, about weather or not it would work. One of the tips someone gave, was not to use Swedish Fish, because they "melt". Well, I was looking for ingredients on Monday, and didn't want to rush to a million stores looking for gummy fish that aren't Swedish Fish. I ran over to Albertson's because it is our closest grocery store, and I needed to get some groceries for dinner that night any way. Well Albertson's had two choices. Swedish Fish, and their name brand "gummy fish." I decided to take my chances with the Albertson's brand that looked suspiciously an awful lot like Swedish Fish. But I got enough supplies to do a trial run for our Family Night treat that night.

It took about a half an hour to make up the jello and get it to the right consistency. I left out the fruit on the bottom, so it was just jello with fish in it. It seemed to turn out OK. The fish were starting to dissolve on the outside, which made for, in my opinion, an unfavorable texture. But the kids didn't seem to mind. So I decided that for this time, what I had would work.

The girls were supposed to show up about 9:30. And I didn't want to waste time making the jello while they were here. But I wanted the girls to be able to put their own fish in their jello. This jello ended up being the trickiest part of today. And it was all on timing. After I made the jello, I only needed to refrigerate it about 5 min for it to be the right consistency. So I started the jello, so that it would be ready, about 9:30, maybe a little after. Thankfully it ended up being a little after, because the girls weren't here at 9:30 on the dot. So we were able to get it to work. The girls stuck their fish in, then we put it back in the fridge to set up the rest of the way.

Then we talked about the Letter F, and what sound it makes. Then I had a tracing paper, with upper and lower case F, and some fish on it, for the girls to trace. When they were done tracing, we read the book "Four Fish".

Then we "went fishing." I had printed some fish onto card stock from my computer yesterday, and had them all cut out. I made a "fishing pole" for each girl, with a bamboo skewer (I cut the pointed end off), some yarn, and a clothes pin. Then I had them stand behind the couch and put their strings over the couch. I then sat on the couch and had a fish "swim along, and bite" a hook. Then I would have the girl pull her pull up, and add the fish to her collection. Each girl caught 4 fish.

At this point I knew the girls needed a change of pace. The jello wasn't quite all the way set up yet, but it was soft set. So we had snack. We had gold fish crackers, and our jello fish bowls. Guy enjoyed his just as much as the girls did.


I still had one more activity for the girls, but I got the feeling that the needed a little less structure for a while, so I let them have their play time.

When there was about 15 min. left I had the girls clean up the toys, and then they came and made fish bowls. This was an activity that I printed up off the Internet. It had 5 fish that were numbered for children to paste onto a picture of a fish bowl. Because I was focusing on the number 4, I got rid of the 5th fish, and let them have 4 fish to put in their bowls. They colored the bowls, and fish, and then glued the fish on the bowls.

Over all I think it turned out pretty good. It was a bit of work, but I made sure I was all ready last night before I went to bed, so I didn't have to worry about it, and not sleep. :)