August/September Week 6: Bodies

Phoneme: /b/

Concepts: top/bottom, high/low, fast/slow, big/little

Pre-literacy: Practice tracing letter B.  "Put your finger on the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and bounce around."

We're talking about our bodies!  Heads, shoulders, knees, toes, hands, wrist, ankles, legs, eyebrows, eyelashes, elbows, ears, earlobes (yes, earlobes.  One child exclaimed "Those are earlobes?!").  We sang Hands Are For Clapping (We LOVE Jim Gill music!) and followed up with Heads And Shoulders, Knees And Toes.  Click on the song titles to get to videos that will help you learn the songs.

We also talked about what we do when we like the music we are listening to.  We can sway our bodies, nod our heads, clap our hands, tap our toes, and/or smile to show we like the music.

By the way, Jim has a fantastic entry on his blog about engaging with your child.  You can find that entry here.  My favorite part is that he is including the American Library Association's recommendations for young children and their parents/caregivers:

Talk together.

Sing together.

Read together.

Play together.

Write together.

It is part of the American Library Association's Every Child Ready To Read initiative.  You can learn more about that at http://www.everychildreadytoread.org.

August/September Week 5: Bears, Birds, Bats, and Bees

phoneme: /b/

Gathering song:  Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy (hands, shoulders, and backs)

Concepts:  loud/soft, animal sounds, animal characteristics (fly, walk), big/little, What questions, Where questions.

Pre-literacy:  Trace the letter B. "Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and bounce around."

This week we're talking about animals that start with the /b/ sound.  We used the SoundTouch app to listen to bears, birds, bats, and bees.  We talked about whether they walk on the ground or fly in the air.  We saw that bears walk on all four limbs and bats hang upside-down - even when they eat!  We even pretended to be bears, birds, bats, and bees.  We went on a bear hunt...through a candy factory, a peanut butter river, and a jello swamp.  Finally, the children chose to be a bear, a bird, a bat, or a bee to go to their tables for small group.  The overwhelming choice was bat, with a few bears for good measure.

August/September Week 4 continued: Things That Go

Phoneme: /b/

Gathering song:  Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy

Pre-Literacy:  Trace letter B "start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and bounce around."  Talk about using your pointer finger.  We use it to point.  We use it to say #1.

Concepts:  Stop/Go, up/down/around, open/close, fast/slow,  loud/quiet, listening

The second half of the week (Tuesday and Thursday) we listen to sounds of other things that go: Bus, boat, bike, trains, tractors, motorcycles, airplanes, fire trucks, tractors, horse and cart, and cars. It is all on the same Soundtouch app I listed the previous post.  We practiced saying our /b/ words (bus, boat, bike, bye bye).  Then we ended by pretending we were bus drivers.  We turned on the bus, drove fast, drove slow, beeped the horn, looked for people, stopped the bus, opened the doors, welcomed people on board, looked around to make sure everyone sat down, closed the doors, and started over.  People also left the bus which gave us an opportunity to say goodbye.  I was surprised how much the children liked this activity.  So much that I will think of a way to use this again.

September Language Ideas

The September language calendar is from the Moog Center for the Deaf.  You can print a copy of it here:

Week 4: Large Group - Buses, Boats, and Bikes

Phoneme: /b/

Gathering song:  Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy (hands, toes, head)

Concepts:  Go/Stop, Fast/Slow, Open/Shut, Tall/Short, Listening, Over/Under

Pre-Literacy:  Trace letter B with your pointer finger.  "Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and bounce around."

Today we listened to noises to guess things that go (See Sound Touch app)

See :48 for the start of things that go.  I adore this app and use it for a great many activities.  After the kids guess the sound (it cycles 5 different pictures for each item), we sang The Wheels on the Bus, changed the song for The Wheels on the Bike, and then Row, Row, Row Your Boat (or sail or drive your boat).  The kids had a great time.

Week 3: Large Group - Washing Hands and Blowing Noses

Phoneme: /b/

Gathering song:  Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy (hands, feet, shoulders)

Concepts:  On/Off, Top/Bottom, In Between, Body Parts (Elbows, Hands, Noses, Mouths)

Pre-Literacy:  Trace letter B with your pointer fingers.  "Put your finger on the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and bounce Around".

We're learning how to wash hands and blow noses!  We don't want to get sick.  Germs are so little that we can't see them, but they can make us very sick.  We learned how to cough into our elbows and to sneeze into our elbows instead of our hands. Miss Julie and Miss Jeana passed out tissue and we learned to wipe our noses by pinching our noses instead of wiping across.  Always use tissue, never our hands or sleeves.  We rubbed lotion on our hands, then Miss Carrie put glitter on hers and high-fived everyone.  We saw how the glitter spread onto everyones hands just like germs.  Then we learned how to wash our hands to get the germs off.  Miss Carrie taught this song:

(to the tune of Frere Jaques)

Tops and Bottoms! (back of hands and palms of hands)
Tops and Bottoms!
In Between!  In Between! (interlace your fingers to get in between)
Wash your thumbs.
Wash your thumbs.
Now you're clean.
Now you're clean.

Singing and washing with soap makes sure you wash long enough.  Don't turn on the water until the song is over or you might wash the soap off too soon.

Expand language at your local grocery store

Kim at Activity Tailor has a great blog post about using your local grocery's samples to encourage and expand language with your child.  It is very motivating to use language when the reward is a cookie! (or cheese, or deli meat, or treat).  You can find the post here.  (The picture is also from her blog post.)

August/September Week 2: Large Group

Phoneme: /b/

Song: Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy (just to get attention this time.  We bounced our hands, our shoulders, and our eyebrows.)

Phonemic Awareness and Pre-Literacy:  Go over tracing the B as in Week 1 post.  We use our pointer fingers to trace capital B while reciting "Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and bounce around."

Concepts for Large Group:  high/low, small/big, big/bigger, predicting, blowing, bouncing, sitting, standing, turn-taking, head, elbows, hands, eyebrows, shoulders, and My Turn.

(Hold empty balloon in hands so children cannot see it).  I have something in my hands.  It is small, but it will get bigger.  What do you think it is?  (Let children guess. Show them the empty balloon.)  What do I need to do to make it bigger?  Blow in it?  (Blow one breath.)  Is it big enough?  No?  Let me try again. (Repeat until three breaths and then tie off balloon).

What should we do with the balloon?  (Let children make suggestions.)
Sing the song:

Oh, I wish I had a bouncy, big balloon.
Oh, I wish I had a bouncy, big balloon.
I would bouncy it in the air.
I would bounce without a care.
Oh, I wish I had a bouncy, big balloon.

Bounce the balloon in the air and let all the children take turns bouncing it around to each other.  Can you bounce it with your elbows?  With your head? Is it harder to bounce the balloon without your hands?

This is a VERY popular activity this week.  The teachers are reminding the children to "sit on their pockets" in a circle around the rug rather than standing or running to catch the balloon. We had a lot of verbal "My turn!"  Ask your child what color was the balloon (we used blue, green, and red balloons depending on the class).