NOTE: The song is too fast for our pre-K kids so we sing this without the music. We are learning the first three verses.
Materials: Laminated Santa parts, Laminated letter S, Scarves, music
Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: Santa, body parts, clothing parts, fast/slow, loud/soft, scarves, swoop, swirl, sway, sit, stand, dance, jump, float, bend, throw, see, watch, look, colors, pronouns, What questions, Who questions.
We are starting our holiday songs early in order to have time to learn it. This week we started practicing Must Be Santa.
We have a Santa we put together. We talked about the parts: boots, hat/cap, shirt, pants, nose, beard, night, and HO-HO-HO. We are also learning simple actions.
Preliteracy: Santa has a /s/ sound. To make that sound we close our teeth and hid our tongue. Then we hiss /s-s-s-s-s-s/ like a snake. To draw the letter S we
Start at the top.
Swooooop over.
Swiiiiiiiirl down.
Swooooop under.
And STOP!
That was a lot of /s/ sounds! What other words have an /s/ sound? Snow, snack, small group, sing, sit, stand, SUPERMAN!
Miss Carrie pulled out a box that had something else with /s/ sounds. Scarves! We chose the color we wanted. We learned that if we didn't get the color we wanted, we could ask our friends to trade (problem solving!). We listened to a lot of music and decided if it was fast or slow. Then we danced to that music with our scarves.
There was classical music, hip hop, movie soundtracks, bluegrass, disco, rock, country, and jazz music. Some of the music started slow and then went fast. Sometimes it was quiet and then it was loud.
DO THIS AT HOME: Put on your favorite music. Talk about what you like and don't like. Wave scarves, blankets, pillowcases, or hand towels. Or, just dance. Copy the dance moves of your child. Ask them to show you how to do certain moves. Put them in charge.
See what else happened in class this week:
Elephants invaded the house!
Practicing cutting skills with the playdough.
Playing The Cat In The Hat-I Can Do That. This game is great for learning prepositions and following directions.
One of our friends had a birthday and brought blue cupcakes!
Every year, parents ask "What are the favorite books at preschool? What do the kids like?" Here's the list. It's not complete by any means, but it is a good start. We aim for books that are great for language.
My Big Animal Book by Roger Priddy. This is a HUGE board book. Bright, colorful pictures with simple labels. He also has a My Big Farm Book that the children always ask if they can read my copy. These books are well-loved.
White Rabbit's Color Book by Alan Baker. This cover keeps changing but the book is the same. This rabbit starts out white but keeps jumping into the paint. The children LOVE to predict what color the rabbit will be next! I love the simple phrases and how it keeps the children engaged.
Another good color book is Bear Sees Colors by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman. Another fun book where the kids predict what color will be next. It's also fun to identify the animals and bugs in the pictures and talk about their actions.
Anna Dewdney and her Llama Llama books are always a great choice. But one of the new favorites is all about Nelly Gnu and her Daddy Too. Great language opportunities include relatable scenarios such as when Nelly loses her dad at the home improvement store. (Don't worry, she finds him!) They are spending time together and make a fun project. This is a fun book where you can point out the rhyming words!
Donald Crews wrote and illustrated Ten Black Dots the year I was born and Freight Train when I was 10 years old. These books have not lost their charm. The children love the art. The love counting and learning basic concepts. Just wait until you see how Donald Crews depicts fast in the book Freight Train.
The Mine-O-Saur by Sudipta Bardha-Quallen and illustrator David Clark tells the tale about a dinosaur (and you know the children love dinosaurs!) who thinks he needs to have everything. No one gets to play with the toys when he yells "MINE!" and takes the toys away. This is a great book for problem solving in the same way we do problem solving at school. What is the problem? I wonder how they can solve the problem?
There is also the favorite books post I wrote last year with some fun suggestions. You can find that by clicking here.
I'm sure Miss Jen and Miss Jeana have more recommendations. Happy reading!
Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: yummy/yucky, like/don't like, hot/cold, spaghetti, worms, blueberries, crayons, soup, soap, sandwich, sand, cookies, coffee, chocolate sauce, hot sauce, apple pie, mud pie, hamburgers, boogers (oh, yes, we went there!), eggs, ear wax, fish sticks, fish food, ice cream, too much, at home, Mom likes, Dad likes, What questions, Where questions, Who questions.
Pre-Literacy: Let's draw the letter T. Draw top to bottom. Now back to the top. Draw left to right and now we stop. What words have the /t/ sound? Turkey, turtle, toys, taco, tongue, tiger, tape, tomatoes, table, tree.
Babies put everything in their mouths. They don't know what is yummy and what is yucky! We read the book together and talked about what we can eat and what we can't eat. We discovered that some friends like foods we don't. We heard a story about one of our classmates who went camping at the sand dunes and got sand in her mouth. Sand is yucky! Fun to play in, but not to eat. Baby even tried to eat boogers! EW! We've been talking about boogers earlier in the year so everyone knows that we don't put them in out mouths. If you put your fingers in your nose, the teachers will ask you to wash your hands. We don't want to get sick.
This book brought out a lot of conversation and a lot of laughter among the kids. Everyone was eager to share what they liked and did not like. What do you like to eat? Who likes pie? Where did you eat hamburgers?
DO THIS AT HOME: What do you think is yummy/yucky? What things should you NEVER put in our mouths? What foods do you like or don't like?
Other things that happened in school this week:
We had a drill this week. The alarms were loud! We had to go outside until the drill was all done.
Transition Song: Gobble Gobble (The Thanksgiving Song) by Nooshi
We're learning this song without the music first so we can take it slower than the recording. Also, we are only learning the first two verses. This is a song that will get stuck in your head!
Materials: pictures of foods and classroom items, laminated letter T, pictures of turkey, pilgrim, and traditional Thanksgiving foods.
Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: familiar and unfamiliar food items (pizza, apples, carrots,
tomatoes, doughnuts, spaghetti, play dough, blocks, crayons, paint, not,
like/don’t like, food/not food.
Pre-literacy: Let's draw the letter T. "Draw top to bottom. Now back to the top. Draw left to right and then we stop." Let's make the sound /t,t,t,t,t,t,t/. Who has a /t/ sound in their name? What else has the /t/ sound? Top, bottom, left, right, time, table.
This month we are talking about about food and Thanksgiving. Miss Carrie brought out a lot of pictures of foods and items around the classroom (paint, playdough, crayons, blocks) and things from outside (rocks). We talked with our teachers and friends and Miss Carrie about the pictures. Was the picture was food or not food? Do you like it? Miss Carrie likes tomatoes, broccoli, peaches, spaghetti, and fries. Miss Carrie does not like peas. What happens if we put Miss Jen's or Miss Jeana's blocks or crayons or playdough in our mouths? We would have to wash the blocks. We would have to throw away the playdough.
DO THIS AT HOME: Talk about the foods you are eating at mealtimes together. Do you like it? What foods do you not like?
