Wishy-Washy, Wishy-Washy, Wash-Wash-WASH!

Here is a fun activity Miss Julie's class has been doing.  I think it would be a lot of fun to do at home.

The class has been reading this:

Mrs. Wishy Washy by Joy Cowley with illustrations by Elizabeth Fuller.

The Cow and the Pig and the Duck were all muddy and needed to wash.  Mrs. Wishy Washy put them all in a big metal tub.

Then Miss Julie introduced water in the sensory table.  Farm animals were in the sudsy water along with paint brushes and washcloths so the children could wash the animals.

This was a huge hit!  Almost everyone wanted a turn washing the animals.  

This would also be fun at home in the kiddie pool, tub, or sink.  Get the book from the library and read it together.

Or watch it on Youtube.

Vocabulary: dirty, clean, wash, tub, cow, duck, pig, soap, bubbles, scrub, water

April Week 3: What Will Fat Cat Sit On?

Phoneme: /p/

Transition Song:  Silly Pizza Song 2 by Signing Time.

Vocabulary and Concepts:  NOT, ON, WHERE, animal sounds, feelings, body parts.

Pre-literacy:  Draw the letter P: Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and draw a little around. What words have the /p/ sound?  Pizza, peas, potatoes, popcorn, spaghetti (all foods in our Silly Pizza Song).

This week we are reading a fun book titled What Will Fat Cat Sit On? by Jan Thomas.

What will Fat Cat sit on?  The cow?  The cat? THE DOG?

Hmmmm, none of the animals want Fat Cat to sit on them.  Some of them look scared, surprised, or mad. The mouse has a good solution to the problem.  Read the book to find out!

This book is great for negation.  "Fat Cat will NOT sit on the dog." There are a lot of opportunities to talk about what Fat Cat will NOT sit ON.

After we read the book, everyone used a puppet to talk about sitting ON.  The puppets sat on our heads, our feet, our noses, our arms, our knees. We took turns verbalizing WHERE the puppets were sitting.  Finally the puppets sat ON the floor so we could go to Small Group.

Thanks, Jan Thomas, for creating such a fun book!

Arrow To The Sun

Both classrooms have been using a book I love:

Arrow To The Sun by Gerald McDermott.

There use to be a video on PBS that would come on every one in a while during  my childhood. I loved the video.  So, when I saw Miss Jeana and Miss Julie using the book, it reminded me of that great short film.  I'm posting it here to share with you.

Find the book at your local library to read to your children.  Talk about it.  Ask What and Where questions.  Describe the pictures.  Look for repeating symbols.

April Langage Calendar

Go to the Moog Center For The Deaf website here to download and print.  They are so great to make these and put them on their site for anyone to use.  Thanks, Moog Center!

April Week 2: Hear the Popcorn - Watch it Pop!

*Week 1 was Spring Break*

Phoneme: /p/

Transition Song: Silly Pizza Song

Vocabulary and Concepts: popcorn, pizza, pasta, peas, pour, sprinkle, on top, crouching, jumping, stopping, pop

Materials: laminated letter P

Pre-literacy:  This month we are drawing the letter P.  "Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and draw a little around."

Discussion:  What words have the /p/ sound? Our Silly Pizza song has pizza, soup, peas, spaghetti, and popcorn.  Some of the children offered Grandpa, Potato, and Present.  We found children who had a /p/ sound in their names.

Next we sang the Popcorn song.  We've modified it from the original to make it easy for everyone to sing.  The kids loved to be the popcorn (because, jumping!) and liked being the people who made the popcorn because it involved anticipation (slow to fast, soft to loud), clapping and calling out 'STOP!'

<softly>
Pour on the oil.
Sprinkle on the popcorn.
Put on the lid
Turn up the heat.

<increase volume gradually until loud at the end, rubbing hands together, clap on last word>
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle sizzle
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle,
Sizzle, sizzle, SIZZLE, SIZZLE
POP!

<clapping steady beat and sing loud>
Hear the popcorn! Watch it pop!
Hear the popcorn! Watch it pop!
Hear the popcorn! Watch it pop!
Hear the popcorn! Watch it pop!

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Now we STOP!

(Remember that we modified the words for this song)

This song is so much fun that all of the children requested to sing it again and again.  Everyone got multiple chances to be in the middle.