Plans Change...

I really do love my job!  Last week I prepared what I thought was going to be a SUPER FUN lesson plan for this week.  I had my books prepared.  I had my activities ready.  I was excited for another week reading stories from one of my favorite authors, Eileen Christelow.  

Then, Monday comes.  Little did I know that the children would be really interested and excited about the "ghost story" that the little monkeys were reading in bed.  Also, the shadows that were talked about in the book were the source of a lot of questions.  So, my lesson plan changed and we cut out ghost shapes and I wrote down what the children said about the "ghost story" in the book.  I also took out the overhead projector and the children learned about shadows while playing with shapes. (see picture from yesterday's blog post).  It was a fun and meaningful day and the children were interested and engaged in learning.

Today I came to class prepared to get back on track with the GREAT lesson plan I prepared.  As I was changing the bulletin board in the classroom a little friend saw the brown piece of paper I was going to use as a tree trunk.  He was so excited because it was a "brown swamp" just like in the 5 Little Monkeys Wash the Car story.  He and another child put a car in the swamp.  We found a paper crocodile and monkeys for them to color and cut out.  It was really cool to see them act out the story! 

As for tomorrow...  who knows what we will end up doing!  I still have my GREAT lesson plan ready to go but you never know what kind of interesting learning activities the children will bring up.  Did I say "I Love My Job!" yet   :}