Really Cute Song for Teaching Opposites!
Cover of Opposites (Concept Sliders)
I came across an adorable song today for reinforcing opposites and just had to share! It’s called “Opposites” and it comes from the Scholastic Professional’s Book “50 Learning Songs Sung to Your Favorite Tunes- Teach & Delight Every Child With Skill-Building Songs That Are Fun to Sing & a Snap to Learn!” by Meish Goldish. That’s a lot of title!
I introduced the song during Circle Time at the start of our school day. The kids weren’t sure what to think the first time through, but after a few times they were having a blast. I would start each sentence, “You say hot (or whatever) and I say _____.” They would shout out the second word and liked trying to beat their siblings to the punch. My 5-year-old still struggles a bit with opposites and my 3-year-old is just learning them, so this was an awesome way to reinforce the concept! I overheard them singing (aka shouting) the song at/ with each other during free play time. Yeah!
Why do we bother teaching opposites? To get technical, teaching opposites is one of the first steps to developing higher level thinking. They help us recognize relationships between words and concepts. Opposites are one of the basic concepts young children need to master in order to grasp reading, writing, listening skills, math, and following directions. Opposites also teach kids lots of new vocabulary words and help them learn to describe their environment. Kids who gain a solid foundation with the basics do better academically later on.
That’s a lot of responsibility for such a simple concept. 
Here’s the song:
Opposites
(sung to “Ten Little Indians”)
You say yes, and I say no,
You say stop, and I say go,
You say fast, and I say slow,
These are opposites!
You say day, and I say night,
You say dark, and I say bright,
You say heavy, I say light,
These are opposites!
You say big, and I say small,
You say short, and I say tall,
You say none, and I say all,
These are opposites!
You say wet, and I say dry,
You say low, and I say high,
You say laugh, and I say cry,
These are opposites!
You say hot, and I say cold,
You say bought, and I say sold,
You say young, and I say old,
These are opposites!
You say fat, and I say thin,
You say lose, and I say win,
You say out, and I say in,
These are opposites!
Introducing the World’s Most Interesting Breed of Lions!
Introducing the world's most "interesting" lions!
Today’s amazing jungle craft was creating Paper Plate Lions. These homely creatures went well with today’s Story Circle topic, lions and tigers. The kids had a blast making them and the supplies were very basic. Alex wanted to join in as well… and took 1 1/2 hours making a very intricate mane. French time and phonics disappeared today. At least she had fun, right?
Can you guess whose lion is whose? The kids are very proud of their lions and can’t wait to show dad when he comes home from work.
Here’s what you need to make your own creations:
Paper Plate Lion
What You Need:
- Paper Plates
- Crayons/Markers
- Paint and sponges
- Yarn (Cut it up before hand! I wish I had!)
- Scissors
- Glue (heavy duty school glue works best)
What You Do:
- Give the children the materials and let them create a lion. Sponge paint the paper plate to give it color. The kids can glue the yarn to the edges of the plate to create a mane. Once the paint is try, draw or paint on a lion face. Get their creativity flowing and be prepared for some interesting pieces of art.
Related articles
- Jungle Art! Paper Plate Snakes (homeschoolinghelicoptermama.wordpress.com)
Jungle Art! Paper Plate Snakes
Derek loves his new pet
Preschool art was great fun today, so fun that my kindergartener and first grader begged to join in too and made a total of 6 masterpieces. We made paper plate snakes. Talk about an afternoon of entertainment! Derek loved cutting out his snakes and played with them the rest of the afternoon.
Here’s what you need to make your own jungle snakes:
Paper Plate Snake
What You Need:
- Paper Plates
- Crayons/Markers
- Paint (and perhaps sponges for painting)
- Scissors
- Glue
What You Do:
- Have the children draw a line that goes around and around their plate starting at the edge going to the middle Next have them cut out the line (you may have to help depending on the age of you children) Have the children decorate their snakes with the materials. You can then hang them from the ceiling or put them on the wall.
First step: Draw circles starting from the middle of the plate
Next, fine tune those fine-motor skills with some safety scissors
This project was a great way to practice cutting skills! Decorate before or after, depending on how anxious your child is to get to cutting. The kids loved how the snakes unravelled and bounced about. We started with one per child, and now have six paper plate snakes hanging from the playroom ceiling. This was a fun craft!
The Kids Loved Their Snakes
Apple Painting Art: Watch Out For Splashing Paint!
Alex and Derek Show Off Their Apple Painting Masterpieces
What is one fun and messy way to enjoy Autumn’s abundance? Cut an apple in half and hand it to a three-year old, along with some poster paper and lots of finger paint. Step back and watch your little Picasso at work. Just watch out for splashing paint!
This project was a ton of fun for my preschooler. He loved mixing up his colors, whacking his apples hard on the paper so that paint would haphazardly spray into the air, and creating lots of interesting shapes. By the time he was done, he had paint everywhere. His hands we covered, the apples were unrecognizable, and there was even paint on his forehead and neck. How it got there beats me. It may have had something to do with flying paint particles.
My kindergartener proclaimed the project “Too Messy” and refused to participate, but my first-grader begged to make her own apple poster. I made her finish her phonics first and we salvaged Derek’s apples by running them under water in the kitchen sink. They were … almost… as good as new.
If you’re looking for a fun fall project for little hands, this one is sure to keep your kids busy!
Ten Apples Up On Top! This Week’s Pre-School Theme: Apples!
Derek is Excited For This Week's Theme!
Our pre-school/ kindergarten theme this week is apples. Don’t apples make you think of Fall? Crisp Red Delicious apples fresh from Washington, cool air, and sweaters put me in the Autumn mood. We won’t be wearing sweaters any time soon in Florida, but we will be learning a lot about different types of apples, apple trees, plant growth, harvest, and more.
A fun and challenging part about teaching multiple grade levels is incorporating different ability-levels into a common theme that everyone can enjoy. Here are our goals for today:
Tuesday
THEME: Apples
Circle Discussion: Apple Trees
-Types of apples (red, yellow, green) (Red Delicious, Fuji, McIntosh, Cameo, Rome Beauty, etc)
-Apples have been around since ancient times
-Apple trees grow in orchards and ripen in the fall; Apple trees may live more than 100 years
-Read about harvest and plant growth from “What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know “
-An apple tree may live for more than one hundred years, but a mature tree revisits the same seasonal cycle year after year. In summer tiny buds appear on the branches. The buds develop and grow a protective covering in the fall. During the winter the buds are dormant, protected from the cold by a fuzzy coat. In the spring buds explode into green leaves and little flower buds appear. Insects pollinate the apples flowers, which give way to developing apples. Every apple contains seeds that can begin the process again. Use the poster to reinforce these concepts (From Scholastic website).
Literacy Activities: Read “10 Apples Up On Top,” Tracing A’s for Derek, A-word Word Search for Ethan. The Letter of the week is A.
Songs and Fingerplays: Apple Theme
All Around The Apple Tree
Sung to: “Mulberry Bush”
Here we go round the apple tree, the apple tree, the apple tree
Here we go around the apple tree
On a frosty morning.
This is the way we climb the ladder
-pick the apples
-wash the apples
-peel the apples
-cook the apples
Ten Red Apples
(Both hands high) Ten red apples grow on a tree
(Dangle one hand and then the other) Five for you and five for me.
(Shake body) Let us shake the tree just so
(Hands fall) And ten red apples will fall below
(Count ea. finger) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10.
Apple Poem
Apples big,
Apples small.
Guess what?
I like them all.
Art: Color Apple Tree Pictures
Number Sense: Workbooks and IXL.com
Large Motor Skills: “Apple Picking” and “Apple Balancing Fun”
For apple picking, see dramatic play.
Apple Balancing Fun: Balance beanbags on head to simulate apple balancing from book “Ten Apples Up On Top.” This can be done in circle time.
Fine Motor Development: Writing/ Tracing- See art and literacy sections
Dramatic Play: Pretend Farm
Pretend Apple Picking:
Wake Up! We’re going apple picking today! (Yawn, stretch, pretend to hope out of bed)
Let’s drive to the farm. (Pretend to steer car).
Get your basket. (Pretend to get basket).
Wow! Look at all the apples! Let’s pick some! (Pick apples off tree)
Put them in your basket. (Bend down, place in basket)
These apples are really high! Let’s climb! (Pretend to climb tree)
Wow! Our basket is really full! (Pretend to lift heavy basket)
Let’s pay for our apples. (Pretend to give money).
Let’s drive home, that was fun! (Pretend to steer car).
Science and Discovery: Learn About Apple Trees and Farms (circle time)
As you can see, many of these important developmental goals overlap. We should have a really fun day ahead of us. Later this week, we look forward to some apple tasting experiments and baking an apple pie. This week will be a blast!
What are some of your favorite Fall learning activities?
