Chicka Boom Trees

My girls love reading the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! They never get tired of reading it!

 We've done several versions of the Chicka Tree, but our newest version is my favorite! 

  

I just love the way these came out! 

I can't wait to frame and hang in the playroom!  

Our older Chicka Tree versions...

Handprint Tree with Letter Stamps in Fall 2011

Dot Marker Tree with Alphabet Stamps Fall 2011

Handprint Tree with Magnetic Letters Winter 2009

If your child enjoys Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, be sure to check out this adorable video! 

Journal Writing

I really like the idea of using Draw Write Now, but I'm not sure if Izzie is ready for it. She loves to draw, at least 10 pictures a day, but she's a perfectionist! She gets very upset when she makes a mistake while she's drawing (her own picture). I'm concern that the Draw Write Now books would put too much pressure on her. If she couldn't draw something just like the book, she would be very disappointed with herself and I don't want that to discourage her from drawing. So, for now, she'll get the same concept, just with a twist!

I stumbled upon this fantastic notepad at the Homeschooling Conference that I attended. It's the same concept as the Read Write Now workbook, but with a more colorful approach.

I also like that each page is separate. When I looked at the Read Write Now workbook, I did not like how the drawing of one story was on the back of the copywork of another drawing....does that make sense? Izzie loves to tear out her completed pages and display them on the refrigerator. She would have been very disappointed with the Read Write Now workbook.

This notepad uses a blue line to indicate the sky, a red dash line for the fence, and a green line to represent the ground. Too cute!

Here's Izzie first journal entry. Since, her unit was Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, she drew a coconut tree and wrote her alphabet! She prefers to write in capital letters, which may be a hard habit to break.

I have purchased the Draw Write Now Book 1, which Izzie will start using, when she's ready.
I also found this Crayola Draw and Write book at Target on the dollar aisle!

This one is front to back, too! But, for only $1, it's perfectly okay!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Unit

A happy heart makes the face cheerful. Proverbs 15:13

I'm thrilled that our first few days of homeschooling are going so well. Yes, I'm staying up way too late making sure everything is ready for the following day (typical type A personality here) and it's a little hard getting up in the morning to jump into a day, overflowing with learning activities. However, when I grab my large cup of coffee and head out to the schoolroom and see the cutest, sweetest little face looking up at me...my happy heart makes my face cheerful!

This is where I find her every morning, anticipating the start of our day! She is so excited to learn new things and has been so cooperative...I'm praying that her love of learning will continue to grow.

Instead of jumping into a full day of schooling, I decided to ease our family into our new schedule. We had a very simple first day of school, which you can read about here. The first unit has been activities related to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, one of Izzie's favorite books!

After calendar time, we read our story of the day, which has been Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, then the girls do a book related activity together. Here they are listening to the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom song (best little gadget, ever!), while coloring.

Over the last few days, Izzie has been busy doing her phonics and math activities.

**Earlier posts detail each activity.**

In addition, she completed several art projects!

Chicka tree alphabet sticker fun!

The famous handprint Chicka tree! Here's her previous one, when she was only a tot!

Alphabet stamps from Target's dollar aisle and Melissa and Doug stamp pad complete the artwork.


She has spent time practicing her handwriting.

Kumon dry-erase letters with Crayola dry-erase crayons. The Crayola crayons have been the best purchased school item, ever! They work wonderfully on these cards and page protectors!

And working every alphabet puzzle in the house!

This one was found at Target this summer in the dollar aisle.

A little Chicka tree snack made from bananas, peanut butter, and apples!

Izzie was a little disappointed that I wasn't able to find the Sesame Street alphabet cookies to go on top of the peanut butter. I can't believe that she remembered the cookies from last time !

The girls loved watching this Chicka Chicka Boom Boom video, over and over again!

Finally, there was a lot of playing outside!

So, we survived our first few days of homeschooling! I'm feeling much more confident that I can actually do this! Looking forward to many more school days and a lot more sleep!

Skip over to Homeschool Creations and/or Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see more!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom...Math

As of now, math is Izzie's favorite subject! Seriously, she could do math all day! Here are a few of the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom math activities...

Color By Number...roll the dice, count the dots, color corresponding part. I color coded the color words at the bottom, so this could be an independent activity.

As I observed Izzie completing this activity, I realized she was not pointing and counting to the dots. She was simply looking at the block, then coloring the correct number. So, I asked, "Izzie are you counting the dots?" Her response, "Yes...I'm counting in my head!"


Chicka Shape Tree...color the different shapes, count how many, record the number.

Instead of writing, Izzie enjoyed stamping the numbers. I found these number stamps at Target earlier this summer in the dollar aisle, which are perfect for little hands. The stamp pad is from Melissa and Doug.

Chicka tree dot-to-dot numbers 1-32!

Chicka Boom Addition Math Mat

If downloaded, please use only for your own personal use.

Simple addition: Chicka math mat, basket of counters (10 light brown and 10 dark brown to represent coconuts), small clothespins, and addition cards.

**Not sure what is going on with the price of the cubes on Amazon. I found mine at a used curriculum for $4...retail is normally around $20.**

Count out coconuts for each tree to represent addition problem.

Add coconuts together for total and attach clothespin on correct number.

Chicka Boom Subtraction Math Mat
If downloaded, please use only for your own personal use.

Simple subtraction: Chicka math mat, basket of counters (10 light brown and 10 dark brown to represent coconuts), small clothespins, and subtraction cards.

By looking at subtraction card, decide how many coconuts are on tree, have asked amount fall from tree, then count number of coconuts remaining in tree. Identify correct total number on card and attach clothespin.

Izzie really enjoyed working with the math mats and was using the manipulatives to "talk" her way through each math problem.

Here are the Chicka Chick Boom Boom phonics activities!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom...Phonics

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, it's time for kindergarten!

Izzie adores the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, so our first few days of school, we did several activities related to the book. It was a nice way to ease into our new schedule and a fun way to begin our new school year.

Letter identification: Melissa and Doug magnetic capital letters in alphabetical order on the dry-erase board. The matching lowercase letters were in the bowl.

Super fun and simple way to review letters!


Letter identification: Mix and Match game with assessment handouts from The Mailbox.

Check out their clearance section. A ton of great resources, super cheap!


Letter assessment: hidden lowercase letter tiles in rice, cute bunny chopstick, dot marker, and Chicka tree capital letter printout. Retrieve lowercase letter from rice, locate matching capital letter on handout, then dot it!

This really helps with fine motor skills, too!


Letter assessment with a twist: Melissa and Doug capital letters hidden in rice, another cute chopstick, dot marker, and Chicka tree lowercase letter printout.

Retrieve capital letter from bowl of rice, locate matching lowercase letter on handout, then dot it. Place capital letters on whiteboard.

Izzie decided to find the letters in a particular color order.

After all the letters were found, she put them in alphabetical order.


Beginning sounds: Place the sound-objects from the Melissa and Doug alphabet puzzle book into a container.

Print off Chicka Boom letter mats.

And, let the fun begin!

I placed four letters in each page protector, where Izzie could easily put them in alphabetical order. She had to randomly draw our a sound-object, say the name of the object, identify it's beginning sound, then place the object on the correct letter.

Beginning sounds: In the pocket chart, I placed these cute Chicka tree themed letters in alphabetical order, with picture sounds cards below. Izzie had to say the name of the sound card, identify it's beginning sound, and place it beside the correct letter.

Beginning sounds: Alphabet Toss-n-Play game

Izzie would toss one bean bag on a letter, then toss another bean bag to the matching sound picture. Reverse...toss one bean bag on a picture, then find it's beginning sound letter.

The girls love watching Leap Frog Letter Factory, so of course, we watched it!

This is a must buy for any child learning their letter sounds!

Izzie also enjoyed playing Starfall, which is an excellent interactive way to review letters and their sounds!

Rhyming: Printed off these amazing Chicka tree rhyming mats and cards. There is a total of 10 mats, each having two rhyming cards.

To keep the activity from becoming overwhelming, Izzie only matched four mats at a time.

This was also an excellent speech activity!

Other fun activities:

Alphabet dot-to-dot...Izzie loves doing these!

Chicka tree capital letter tracer page.

Melissa and Doug alphabet puzzle

Another alphabet puzzle


Stay tuned for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom math activities!


Other resources for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom theme...

1+1+1=1 Lapbook

Making Learning Fun