wisdom's path: S Day: S is for Sssssssnake!

I was very grateful to have the letter S this week. It just seems so easy compared to the last couple of letters I've had. Usually, for letter day we focus on a couple of different words that start with S, but today I only wanted to use one. Snake. I like the snake word, because not only does it start with S but snakes say sssssss, which is the sound the S makes, and I thought it would be a good way to help the boys associate the letter and the sound.

We started off reading the book Snake Stew by Tami Hunt. It's about a garden snake who tries to steal some eggs from the cook and ends up in a pot of boiling water and has to figure out how to get back home. It's a cute story and has lots of fun rhymes. But what I like about it is that any time the snake says a word ending in S, the S is dragged out. For example, the snake talks about moving through the graSSsssssss. And so on. So the S's really stand out and so does the S sound.

For our next activity, I dug down deep to a song from my preschool days called Sally the Swinging Snake by Hap Palmer. It's a fun song, and while you sing, each kid gets a piece of yarn that is their very own snake, and they have to make the yarn do the actions that go along with the song. Here are the lyrics:

1. Sally The Swinging Snake
Words and Music: Hap Palmer

Chorus:
Sally the swinging snake
She does the shimmy shake
She loves to rock and roll
Feels that rhythm in her soul

Sally can you swing from side to side?
Oh my yes I can
Sally can you stretch out long and tight?
Oh my yes I can
Sally can you curl up in a ball?
Sally can you jump up high and fall?

Repeat Chorus

Sally can you crawl in a small space?
Oh my yes I can
Sally can you crawl all over the place?
Oh my yes I can
Sally can you quickly vibrate?
Sally can you make a letter shape?

Repeat Chorus

The boys had a lot of fun with their Sallys and liked making her do the different actions, I think it kept them interested in the song for a lot longer than they would have been just singing it.

After that we colored and cut out "Springy Snakes". I found the template for this activity on the San Diego Zoo website. It's really easy, all you have to do is print it out on cardstock and cut out the snake. I did one for Sponge too, to keep him occupied while the big boys colored theirs, and I think this picture of him shows the template the best.

Scientist was thrilled with his finished project, he kept running around going "Spring! Spring! Spring!" and making the snake spring up and down. I think once he's done playing with it, we'll hang it up outside so the wind can do the springing for us.

After the kids ran around with their snakes and got some wiggles out, we sat them down at the kitchen table and gave them each a different color of playdough and had them roll out playdough snakes. After they got the hang of the snakes they took it upon themselves to make other kinds of animals too, and even though most of them didn't start with S, we didn't mind letting them be creative. :)

After that we had "Chocolate Snakes" for snack. It's a no bake cookie recipe I found online. Originally, I was going to have them help me make it, but I didn't think we'd have enough time. As it turns out, I'm glad I made it by myself before hand....the recipe has a 1/2 cup of honey in it, and it was a sticky mess! If you're interested here it is:

Snake Refrigerator Cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

•1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
•1/2 Cup Powdered Milk
•1/2 Cup Honey
•1 Tbsp Cocoa
•1/2 tsp Vanilla
•1/2 Cup Chopped Nuts
•1/2 Cup Raisins
•Mini M & Ms

Preparation:

Combine the peanut butter and the powdered milk until blended. Stir in honey, cocoa, vanilla, nuts, and raisins - in that order. Roll your mixture into small snake shapes. Add 2 mini M & Ms for eyes. Attach the Mini M & Ms with peanut butter. Place the snakes on wax paper on a cookie sheet and chill in the refrigerator until very firm.