More Favorites Revisited

This week we finished up our favorite songs with  Wake Up Daily Routines, Spooky Walk, Cool Bear Hunt, Stick To The Glue, and Hands Are For Clapping.

We also did this:

Alphabet Exercise

Bubble Parties

Dance Parties

Singalongs

Summer Language Calendars

May Week 4: Traffic Signs

We started Large Group with the Circle Time Song.  Has your child taught you how we sing it in class yet?  This has brought out a lot of participation in our class.

This week we continue to revisit fun past activities.  This time it was traffic signs.  We discussed how we needed to drive safely (walking feet, no running) and follow the signs (Stop, Go, Slow, Do Not Enter, One Way).  Everyone took turns being drivers and traffic signs. We discussed concepts of fast/slow, and go/stop. We talked about following the directions. During Work Time the children asked to play with the signs again and decided on their own rules.

DO THIS AT HOME:  While you are out and about, look for traffic signs and see how many you can identify.  Draw a picture of the traffic sign and keep a tally list.  Talk about what you are looking for (color, shape, letters).

And here are some fun moments this week during Work Time.

Don't forget to send your child in proper footwear for playgrounds.  Sandals and flip flops do not have enough support for climbing ladders and running around the playground.  Make sure that shoes have a supportive base and stay firmly on the foot.  This weather has been so nice for playing outside.

Something is happening at our school!

We're getting new carpet at our school this month.  It has been exciting for the preschoolers to see the big rolls of carpet, the carpet layers, the halls where carpet has been removed, and the sights and sounds of carpet being laid.  Just in case your children have been trying to tell you about it at home.

It has been fun to watch the carpet layers.

TA-DAA!  Look, there is new carpet out there!

May Week 3: Favorites Revisited

This week in Large Group, we revisited our favorite Large Group activities we did this school year.  This week was all about picking our favorite songs we've sung to before.  Five Little Ghosts.  Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy.  The Gobble Gobble Song.  The Silly Dance Contest. Wave Your Hands Up High.

You can find these songs on the blog with links or look them up on Youtube.

Miss Jeana's Butterflies

Miss Jeana has been releasing the butterflies from her classroom.  Her class has had a lot of fun watching them grow, asking questions, and talking about the parts of the butterfly.  We waved goodbye as they flew away.

Everyone gets one last look.

It's still in the box.

There it goes!  Goodbye, butterfly!

Miss Suzanne - Early Childhood Para Educator of the Year

So this happened last week - Miss Suzanne was awarded the Early Childhood Para Educator of the Year.  We love Miss Suzanne and know that she deserves this.

Congratulations, Miss Suzanne!

We cheered loud for Miss Suzanne!

It was a carnival theme night.

I See Butterflies!

Miss Jeana's classrooms have been observing butterflies.  Miss Jeana brought in 6 caterpillars.  They crawled around eating food.  Then they formed chrysalis'.  Now the butterflies are coming out.

Field Trip To See Baby Chicks

Miss Jen's Classroom took a field trip to another classroom in our school to see their baby chicks.  Ask your child if they saw the chicks.  Do you have chicks in your neighborhood?

Field Trip To An Art Show

Some of the classes had the opportunity to see the art show put on by the elementary children.  We walked to the gym where the art was displayed. Look at the pictures with your children and have them talk about what they saw.  Label colors, label mask, picture, fish, animal, pattern.  The overwhelming favorite was the black light installment.  We asked "What do/did you see?"

May Weeks 1 & 2: Singing, Braying, Hooting, Meowing, Hissing.....

Phoneme:  /m/

Transition Song: The Circle Time Song by The Kiboomers.  (PS, This is Miss Carrie's favorite song all year! Have your children show you the actions and tell you why it is my favorite.)

Materials: Laminated letter M, Cube with animal pictures on each side.

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: loud/soft, same/different, fast/slow, Where and What questions.

We mixed things up for the first two weeks.  Depending on the class (over two weeks all the classes had an opportunity for each activity) we alternated choosing our favorite songs from throughout the year to sing again, and an animal activity.  For the songs, many of the children remembered and wanted to sing again Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy, Five Little Ghosts, and One Finger One Thumb.

For the animal activity, Miss Carrie brought in a box taped shut and each side had an animal on it.  We took turns rolling the box.  Whichever animal landed on top, we talked about what that animal sounded like, what it moved like, and where we could see it.  It was a fun activity.

DO THIS AT HOME:  make your own animal dice or pick out animal pictures from books or use animal toys.  Practice what the animal sounds like, (is it loud or quiet?) what the animal moves like, (is it fast or slow?), and where can we see the animal (at home, at a farm, at the zoo, in the mountains?)

May Language Calendar

April Week 3: First, Next, Last

phoneme: /p/

Transition Song: One Finger, One Thumb

Materials: white board and markers, Laminated letter P

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: first/next/last, action words, What questions

This week, Miss Carrie introduced First, Next, and Last. We came up with actions that we could do first, next, and last and Miss Carrie wrote our plan on the whiteboard.  Then she played music while we followed the plan.  We checked off each item we did.  We also looked at our classroom schedule and talked about what we did first, what we were going to do next, and what we would do last.

Here are some of the plans we made in class:

First, pat our knees.  Next, fly like a superhero.  Last roar like a lion.

First, jump up and down. Next, clap our hands like alligator mouths.  Last, fly like a bird.

First, fly like an airplane.  Next, spin around.  Last, jump up and down.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Make a plan for an outing, an errand, chores at home, or to look for items during a walk outside.  Draw pictures to make the plan.  Then check them off when you do them.  Use words First, Next, and Last.