August/September Week 5: Bounce Your Body

Given that it is a short week, we used Large Group to move our bodies.  I introduced Wave Your Hands Up High from Preschool Action Songs:

This is a great song to reinforce basic concepts (high/low, front/back) and action words (jump, hop, swim, shake, wave).  Gross motor movement and fun music!

Miss Jen introduced us to Cosmic Kids Yoga Betsy The Banana:

This was FULL of /b/ words: Betsy, banana, breakfast, bicycle, bus, birthday, behind, bunch, ballerina, ballet, bing, bouncing, bounce house, boing, balloon, bird, birthday cake, birthday party, blow, breathe, back.  The teachers got a big kick out of the kids British accent pronunciation of banana. 

Do this at home:  dance together!  Talk about your movements and concepts (high/low, fast/slow, stop/go).

After School Restraint Collapse - yes, it's real!

There is a viral article circulating the past two years about After School Restraint Collapse by Andrea Nair.  You can find the article here.

After School Restraint Collapse refers to a child who is well behaved at school but seems to fall apart in that department once he or she gets home.  Learn more about it and what you can do about it.

PD Training in Classroom Behavior Management

Last week, Ms. Jeana, Ms. Jen, and I were able to participate in professional development training about classroom and  behavior management by the fantastic Melisa Geneaux.  Melisa travels the country, training schools about classroom behavior management and ways to teach children to understand and follow directions in order to participate fully in classroom instruction.  The session was full of ideas that Jeana and Jen are bringing into the classroom with the goal to help children become successful. We were excited for this session!

August/September Week 4: Will It Bounce?

phoneme: /b/

Transition Song: Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy

Materials: laminated letter B, feathers, bean bag toys, bouncy balls

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  experiment, predict, yes/no, bounce/bouncing/bounced, straight, curved,

Pre-literacy:  This week we looked at our letter B and talked about which line was straight and which lines were curved.  What words have a /b/ sound?  Baby brother.  big banana, boy, bear, bumble bee.

This week Miss Carrie talked about an experiment. An experiment is when you try something to see what happens.  You can predict what will happen first.  We tried to see what things could bounce.  First we tried feathers.  We held them up high and chanted "Ready, set, GO!" and dropped the feathers.  Did your feather bounce?  Everyone had a chance to say yes or no and describe what their feather did.  We determined that feathers do not bounce.

Next we tried bean bags.  We held them up high and chanted "Ready, set, GO!" and dropped them.  Did your bean bag bounce?  Miss Carrie's bean bag rolled but did not bounce.  Again everyone answered yes or no and described what their bean bag did when dropped.

Then Miss Carrie brought out bouncy balls.  We stood up and practiced bouncing and catching the ball.  YES, bouncy balls do bounce!

Bouncing a ball and catching it yourself is a milestone we look for.  Everyone had fun spending time trying to bounce and catch as well as talk to teachers and peers about it.

DO THIS AT HOME:  What kind of experiment can you come up with.  Predict what will happen.  Then try it out and answer yes or no.  I wonder if a  tub toy sink or float?  I wonder if Mom likes tomatoes? I wonder if red and blue paint mixed together will make purple?  I wonder if everyone in our family likes chocolate chip cookies?

Other things that happened this week:

August/September Week 3: Who's Behind The Blanket

phoneme: /b/

Transition Song: Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy

Materials: blanket, laminated letter B

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: Who questions, yes/no questions, behind, blanket, classmate names

Draw the letter B: Put your pointer finger up high!  Show me that you are ready!  Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and bounce around.
What words have a /b/ sound?  baby banana, back, blue.

Miss Carrie brought a very special blanket into the classroom. A student gave her the blanket a few years ago.  We looked at all the pictures on the blanket and found everything that had a /b/ sound: balls, robots, butterfly, bee, bear, and ladybugs.

Then Miss Carrie taught us a new game called "Who's Behind The Blanket.  She held the blanket up so she was behind it and we couldn't see her.  We sang:

Who's behind the blanket?

Who's behind the blanket?

Who's behind the blanket?

1-2-3-4-5!

At the count of 5, Miss Carrie dropped the blanket and we could see her.  Who was behind the blanket?  Miss Carrie!  Everyone could choose whether or not to hide behind the blanket.  They could answer yes or no.  

When we saw who was behind the blanket, we called out their name.  "Hi, Miss Carrie!"

DO THIS AT HOME:  Play hide and seek and narrate what you are hiding behind.  When cleaning up, practice looking behind you.  Ask Who questions while looking at a family album or familiar book. 

Other things that happened in class this week:  Small Groups, Work Time, and an impromptu dance party!

Meet the Teachers

Let's meet the teachers in the classrooms:

In Ms. Jeana's room, Ms. Jeana is the teacher and Ms. Kelly, Ms. Traci, and Ms. Suzanne are the awesome paraeducators.

In Ms. Jen's room, Ms. Jen is the teacher and Ms. Shirley, Ms. Debbie, and Ms. Bella are the awesome paraeducators.

Hopefully you can put some face to the names your children might say.  We are working hard to teach them our names as well as the name of the other children in the classroom.

August/September Week 2: Box of Balloons

phoneme: /b/

Transition Song: Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy

Materials: cardboard box, balloon for each child, music, laminated letter B

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: box, balloon, blow, little, big/bigger/biggest, predicting, high/low, space, body parts

Miss Carrie had a little box.  She shook it.  We predicted what would be inside the box.  Animals?  Cookies?  Cars?

It was balloons!  Pink, blue, green, purple, yellow, white, and black.  We told Miss Carrie that she had to blow into the balloon to make it bigger.  We predicted how many times Miss Carrie would need to blow into the balloon to make it bigger.

What can we do with balloons?  We can bounce them high and low!  Miss Carrie turned on some music and we made our balloons fly!  We caught them, bounced them, and rolled them.  We asked friends and teachers to bounce them back to us.

DO THIS AT HOME:  What can you do with balloons at home?  Or bouncy balls?  Find words using the /b/ sound (at the beginning, in the middle, or at ends of words) and describe what you are doing.

Other things that happened at preschool this week: