January Week 5: Drum those drums!

phoneme: /d/

Transition: The Color Song by the Kiboomers

Materials:  Laminated Letter D, sturdy cardboard boxes, variety of music

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  loud/quiet, fast/slow, stop/go, big/little (or small), big/bigger/biggest, small/smaller/smallest, beat, drum, box.

Preliteracy - We've been drawing the letter D all month.  This time we used our fingers to dance and drive around the letter D.  We talked about words that had that sound and names that had that sound.

This week, Miss Carrie brought a lot of boxes to class.  Big boxes and little boxes.  We drummed on boxes.  Miss Carrie turned on music and we drummed fast or slow, and loud or soft. We listened to the music to determine how to drum.  When Miss Carrie called out "Hands up!" we put our hands up and waited.  We discovered that we couldn't hear each other when we drummed loudly.  some people liked to drum to music that was fast and loud.  Other people liked to drum to music that was slow and quiet.  We took turns choosing how to drum.  We watched each other try different ways to drum (back of hands, drum-clap-drum-clap) and tried to copy it.  It was a great opportunity to practice describing and work on basic concepts.

Some of the music we used included: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rock and Roll Preschool by the Wiggles, Life Is a Highway from Cars, You're Welcome from Moana, and Yo Yo Ma's Appalachian Journey.

DO THIS AT HOME: use boxes, pots and pans, or (if you have it) a drum set. Describe your actions and the sounds. 

January Week 4: Dinosaur, Dinosaur

phoneme: /d/

Transition: Colors by the Kiboomers (no music this time as we are adapting the song to the colors the children are wearing)

Materials:  laminated letter D, Dinosaurs Dinosaurs by Byron Barton, dinosaurs, play food

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  same/different, big/little, loud/quiet, long/short, smooth/spiny, stomp, walk, fly, run, swim, eat, identify parts of a whole, labeling body parts, Who/What/Where questions

Preliteracy:  Let's pretend to be dinosaurs and use our fingers to stomp around the letter D.

This week Miss Carrie pulled out a giant book (Thanks for those who contributed to this Donors Choose project!) called Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs by Byron Barton.

In this book we read about different kinds of dinosaurs.  Some dinosaurs have long necks and long tails.  Some dinosaurs have sharp claws and sharp teeth.  Some dinosaurs have spikes or armor plates or horns.  Every time Miss Carrie read the word dinosaurs we clapped our hands over our heads for the syllables and said "DI-NO-SAURS!" in voices that were fierce, or little, or hungry, or tired to match the dinosaur on the page. (FYI: Slowing down and clapping out multisyllable words creates awareness of the sounds in the words and gives children the chance to articulate them.) We kept looking for the eggs and the baby dinosaurs that appeared in the book.  We talked about if we had toy dinosaurs at home.

Then Miss Carrie brought out toy dinosaurs that matched the dinosaurs in the book.  We played with the dinosaurs and fed them food, and helped them stomp around.  We compared what was the same  and what was different.  Some friends had dinosaurs with short legs and short necks.  Some friends had dinosaurs that were different colors.  We talked about the dinosaurs and then asked our friends if they wanted to trade.  Our friends could say yes or no.

The children had so much fun with this book!

DO THIS AT HOME:  check the book out of the library.  Pull our your toy dinosaurs or color some dinosaur pictures and cut them out.  Get down on the floor and play together. Or you could pretend to be dinosaurs.  Go to a dinosaur museum or find more dinosaur books at the library.

January Week 3: Dance, Dance, Dance

phoneme: /d/

Transition Song: Colors by The Learning Station.  This week we started singing without the music so we could adapt the colors to what the children were wearing.

Materials:  Laminated letter D, Scarves, jingle bells, music

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  dance, What questions, head, neck, shoulder, arm, elbow, wrist, hand, front/back, hip, leg, knee, feet, high/low, fast/slow, jump, sway, stomp, spin or twirl, wave, flap

Pre-literacy:  This week we traced our letter D by driving our fingers and making car noises.  Then we danced our fingers around the letter D. 

Miss Carrie announced that we would dance for Large Group.  We had to decide on at least 2 body parts to move.  We waved arms and kicked legs. We stomped feet, we swayed our hips, shrugged our shoulders, and shook our head.  Miss Carrie brought scarves and bells.  We shook bells and waved scarves.  We threw the scarves in the air.  The music was fast and slow, popular songs, blue grass, big band, and soundtracks.  After each song, we talked to our teachers about What body part we moved.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Turn on your favorite music and start moving!  Talk about what body parts you are moving and how you are moving them.  Use props.  Take pictures and look at them.  Save a few to show other family members and help your child tell the others what they were doing.  You could even print a few pictures to make a book.  Don't be surprised if it becomes a favorite book.