Texas Our Texas: Our Week Review

I have to say my new favorite theme might be my Texas theme!  I had so much fun putting it together last week.  I used to do this theme every year when I worked in the schools.  It was kind of standard policy to do this theme during Texas Public Schools week.  But when I left the schools for the clinic setting, I did see that it was appropriate anymore…until this year!

The older kids listened to “I Know An Old Texan Who Swallowed A Fly.”  It’s a great Texas twist on the classic “Old Lady” book.  I love it because it introduces new animals like the horned toad and the bobcat.  The horned toad is what inspired the horned toad articulation activity for the sensory bin.

The little ones listened to “Meet Little Texas.”  It’s a great, short little book with a “touchy feely” feature.  There’s denim to touch as well as letter, felt and fur.  The little guys really loved touching the different pictures in the book.

Articulation was a lot of fun to work on.  We made a longhorn grazing in the grass, hunted for horned toads in the sensory bin, and colored crackers and chili!

Language was also made more fun with our activities.  We covered an armadillo with irregular past tense verbs, picked bluebonnets while working on “is” and “are” and smushed playdough while working on pronouns.  My favorite activity was our recreated “Cadillac Ranch.”  In my Texas Speech and Langauge packet, there is a passage comprehension activity about Cadillac Ranch.  I used this activity with a irregular past tense verbs activity.  Print and laminate the cars.  Cut them out and place them nose down in your sensory bin.  (Mine was a bin of black beans.)  Each time the child pulls a car out of the “dirt,” he had to tell the past tense form of the verb and use it in a sentence.

 This is just a quick review of the activities we did this past week.  It was such a fun time!  You can also check out my basic concept booklet to go along with this theme!