November: Week 4 - Yummy, Yucky

Subject:  T is for TURKEY (discussion of food)

Phoneme: /t/

Transition song: Gobble Gobble (The Thanksgiving Song) by Nooshi

Concept:  What is food and what is not.  Good food to eat.  New food to try.

Materials:  8x10 Laminated page with large letter T, book (see below), song (see below)



Follow the previous November large group format with transition song, and pre-literacy phoneme and writing skills for letter T.



This week, we're talking about food.  Thanksgiving is a time where children may be overwhelmed due to all the new foods on the table.  All month, we've sung about turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie while showing pictures.  This week we're talking about what is good to eat and what is not.

Yummy Yucky is a great book to talk about what is good or not.  This is preschool - we have children who eat crayons, who put toys in their mouths, and yes, even boogers (gross!).  This book addresses the crayons and boogers as well as sand, mud and a whole host of other nonfoods.  The book also addresses what foods your child may not eat but are yummy - great for picky eaters!  Leslie Patricelli has a series of wonderful books to consider.  I particularly like that the sentences are short and allow the children to practice their pre-literacy skills in supplying the repetitive words.



Expand the yummy, yucky concept.  I'm using photos of foods and items found around the classroom that we've had problems with:  crayons, paint, playdough, etc, that some of our orally-seeking children will put in their mouths.  The group then decides to label that food (or nonfood) YUMMY or YUCKY.  There will be printed YUMMY and YUCKY on the board so the children can then attach the picture under the voted upon title.



Below is the song (technically choral speaking) we're adding to our unit of yummy foods to eat.  Rachel Arntson's recordings are targeted to encourage greater speech and language.  She includes children in her recordings, so it become an extension of the children sitting in large group at preschool.  The song is full of direct models (EX:  Banana.  Your turn.  Banana.)  The children will receive a lot of opportunities to verbalize foods they are familiar with.