March Week 4: Yoga Preschool Style

Phoneme: /h/

Transition Song: Wake Up! Daily Routines by Dream English Kids

Vocabulary and Concepts:  tall/small, high/low, body parts, stretch, animals, What questions, slow/fast, breathe in/breathe out, quiet voices, giving and following directions.

Materials: Laminated Letter H, Pandora Spa Radio

Pre-Literacy: Let's draw the Letter H
Start at the top and draw down
saying Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
Go to the right and do the same
saying Hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey
Now in the middle, left to right
saying Hee-hee-hee-hee just like me.

Discussion:  We're still talking about Healthy bodies.  We're revisiting yoga since the kids enjoyed it so much.  This time, instead of reading the book and following directions, each of the children picked an animal and taught us how they thought the animal would pose.  We stretched our paws like lions, stretched our backs like cats, stood tall and stuck our our tongues like giraffes, lay still with our heads and shoulders up like snakes, and stretched our arms wide like eagle wings.  The children really enjoyed choosing animals and teaching their classmates. We had spa music playing in the background and sat in criss-cross-applesauce position while we practiced breathing through our noses and out our mouths.

We also talked more about our daily routines.  Did we wake up this morning?  Did we brush our teeth?  Wash our faces?  Comb our hair? Did anyone eat breakfast?  Did you come to school? Yes, you did!

March Language Calendar

Thanks to Moog Center for The Deaf for posting such a great calendar every month.  You can download and print the calendar here.

My favorite one is playing balloon tennis with paper plate paddles.  Doesn't that sound like a lot of fun?  Get the whole family involved!

March Week 3: Hygiene

Phoneme /p/

Transition Song: Wake Up! Daily Routines by Dream English Kids

Vocabulary and Concepts: hygiene, healthy, clean/dirty, clothes, body parts, washing machine, bathtub, bath time, spin, scrub, wash, rinse, water, soap

Materials: Laminated Letter H

Preliteracy: Draw the Letter H
Start at the top and draw straight down
saying ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
Go to the right and do the same
saying Hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey
Now in the middle, left to right
saying hee-hee-hee-hee
Just like me

Discussion:  We're talking about a new word.  HYGIENE
What does hygiene mean?  It is all about keeping yourself clean.  We wash our hands before snack (or if we cough or sneeze or if someone gets caught with their finger up their nose).  We do that so we can be healthy and not sick.  We wash our bodies and hair to be clean.  We also wash our clothes.  It is important to be clean so we don't get sick.

We sang a song about taking a bath.  This was a great way to review body parts.

We talked about how funny it would be if we took a bath in a washing machine. The washing machine spins around and around near the end of the cycle.  As we pretended to take a bath in the washing machine, we spun around and around at the end.  Jim Gill's song was fun to dance and sing along. (sorry, the best video I could find was of some dance recital, but at least the music is clear.)

Week 2: Healthy Foods

phoneme: /h/

Transition Song:  Wake Up! Daily Routines by Dream English Kids

Vocabulary and Concepts:  Healthy, food, anytime/sometimes, eating, like/don't like, wake up, wash face, brush teeth, breakfast/lunch/dinner

Materials:  Laminated H, laminated pictures of healthy foods and sometimes foods

Preliteracy: Draw the Letter H
Start at the top and draw straight down
saying ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
Go to the right and do the same
Saying Hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey
Now in the middle draw left to right
Saying Hee-hee-hee-hee just like me.

Discussion:  We are learning about healthy food.  What is healthy?  What should we eat every day?  What should we eat only as a once-in-a-while treat?  Do you like this food.  I like tomatoes.  I don't like peas.  We put pictures under a check to show we eat it every day.  We put pictures under a star to show we eat it sometimes. We licked our lips all the way around if we liked the food.  WE stuck our tongues out and made silly faces if we did not like the food.  Anytime vs sometime is a concept that most preschool children do not understand.  So we focused on good for our body, if we liked or didn't like it, and who had tasted it.

We talked about fries, beans, cake, broccoli, tomatoes, celery, banana, apple, oranges, grapes, potatoes, corn, spaghetti, eggs, ice cream, and cookies.