Letter J for Jack and the Beanstalk!

We are officially Jack and the Beanstalk experts now! Today was packed with a bunch of fun activities. We started our morning with circle time including shape recognition. We stopped doing a weather word as our mornings have been packed as it is. We read one version of Jack and the Beanstalk (Howe), which was actually rather long, and ended up not having time to read Kate and the Beanstalk (Oso). My goal was to read two versions and compare and contrast them but alas, they were storied out after the first version and ready to get going. I left the two books on the carpet for them to read if they finished their workbooks early.

We headed to the table to jump into our workbooks!

After they were done, it was time to read Trust Me, Jack’s Beanstalk Stinks! (Braun). Once we finished it and participated in a  brief compare and contrast to the original story, we were ready for the trial of the century-lol! Using mask props, G and K, along with Lisa (Jack’s mother) and I (the Giant’s wife), as character witnesses, all participated in a mock trial: Jack vs. the Giant.

The Giant brought Jack to trial and accused him of trespassing and theft. It was G (as the Giant) and K’s (as Jack) job to convince the jury (L, B, and C) of their innocence. Using some questions from TPT, and a bit of help from myself, they were brought to the stand and questioned. They both did a great job but the Giant’s plea that Jack entered onto his property (even though Jack claimed it was once his father’s), stole his prized possessions, and attempted to murder him by chopping down the stalk won him an innocent verdict and Jack, guilty. What fun we had and everyone was a good sport about it too!

We took a break to construct our own beanstalks from snap peas. They were challenged to build the tallest one that could stand on its own. G came up with a solid plan to build them horizontally but B’s vertical build won as the tallest AND most stable.

Next we headed to the garage to create construction paper castle garden stakes and plant our own beans! Hopefully, in two weeks we will have our own beanstalks that have reached the castle walls.

While I prepared lunch, Ms. Lisa hid two dozen golden goose eggs in the yard for them to seek out. Hiding inside were their own yummy beans, jelly beans that is! They had a blast finding them; it reminded them of Easter-lol!

After they were found, everyone enjoyed a black BEAN and rice burrito…. and then the jelly beans. Everyone had such a great day!

Note: Three weeks later and only one of our three grew but boy did it get up there!