August/September Week 5: Bounce and Move

Phoneme: /b/

Transition Song: Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy

Materials: various styles of music

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: bounce, move, body parts, sway, spin, turn, jump, roll, wave, crawl, march, tiptoe, high/low, fast/slow, quiet/loud, What questions, pronouns.

This week we talked about things we bounced in previous Large Group activities: balloons, balls, body parts.  This week we bounced and moved our whole body.  But there is a catch - we had to show our teachers what we could do and see if they could do it, too.  Miss Carrie played all kinds of music that was quiet/loud and fast/slow.  We talked about different ways we could move.  Then we showed our teachers and friends what we could do.  Then our teachers took turns to see if they could do it, too. We had to be careful to not crash or accidentally bump into our friends.

Spinning, swaying our knees and elbows, swinging our arms, moving our hips from side to side.

Rolling or laying still, skipping, walking, marching, and jumping.

Moving arms like robots, marching with our knees up high, twisting, and jumping.

Jumping, swaying, walking on tiptoe quietly, and spinning.

Moving like superheroes or robots, crouching down low, twirling.

Flying like airplanes, marching, moving our legs high in the air, twisting and swaying.

There are SO MANY WAYS TO MOVE!  There were so many ways to describe our actions. Some of the songs we recognized (Moana, Trolls, Preschool Rock) and some we didn't (Paul Cardall, Yo-Yo Ma, Preschool of Rock Robot Song, Special Order from Ratatouille, Tibetan Bowl music). Friends tried new moves, copied each other, and made sure teachers were following along.  We labeled body parts that we chose to move. We used pronouns while describing what our friends were doing (EX: She is spinning.  He is waving.) There was a lot of language throughout Large Group Time.

DO THIS AT HOME:  turn on some music and follow what your child does.  Use your announcer voice and describe the actions.  Describe the music.  Find some music that is new to you. Have a dance party where everyone follows your child.

August/September Week 4: Will It Bounce?

phoneme: /b/

Transition Song: Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy (the children all chose which body parts to bounce.  Most popular were head, shoulders, toes).

Materials:  feathers, bean bags in fun animal shapes, bouncy balls

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  bounce/bouncing/bounced,  yes/no, does/does not, high/low, roll/rolling/rolled, high/low, fast/slow, me/mine/my, He/She, Hers/His, Who/What/Where, experiment, drop, fall, float, flop, soft, squishy, my turn, negation - not

Miss Carrie introduced the word experiment.  We even clapped out the syllables ex-pe-ri-ment.  To do an experiment is to do something to see what will happen.  We can even guess what will happen.  This experiment was called Will It Bounce?.

First, Miss Carrie brought out a box of feathers.  The feathers felt soft.  We held them up high, counted 1-2-3, and dropped the feathers to see if they would bounce.  The feathers fell or floated.  They did NOT bounce. Everyone talked about what happened to their feathers.

Then we tried beanbags.  They were squishy.  We help them up and counted 1-2-3 and dropped them.  They fell and flopped.  They rolled.  They did NOT bounce.  Hmmm.  Everyone wondered what we would try next.

Miss Carrie brought out a big black bag.  What was inside the bag?  BALLS!  Everyone was certain that balls would bounce.  We held them up and counted 1-2-3 and dropped them.  Guess what happened?

The balls bounced!  Sometimes they rolled.  We bounced them to each other.  We bounced them to teachers.  We bounced the ball and tried to catch it ourselves.  Our experiment was a success.  

DO THIS AT HOME:  What bounces at your house?  Pick three objects and try the experiment.  Bubbles?  Blankets?  Shoes?  Do you have a bouncy ball?  Consider other experiments that you might try such as does this taste sweet/salty/crunchy (try different foods) or feel cold (tepid water, dryer-warmed blanket, ice cubes).  Talk about what you are doing.  Use a lot of descriptive words.

August/September Week 3: Who Is Behind The Blanket?

phoneme: /b/

Transition Song: Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  behind/in front, on top/under, blanket, bear, bees, rote count 1-5, My turn, Your turn, yes/no, He/She, Who questions

Miss Carrie has a very special quilt.  There are so many things to see on the quilt.  We found butterflies and bees and lots of bugs.  They were all in bottles.  It was fun to look at her quilt.

Miss Carrie taught us a game to play with her quilt.  It was called "Who's Behind The Blanket".  One of our friends would stand behind the blanket.  Then we sang:

Who's behind the blanket.
Who's behind the blanket.
Who's behind the blanket.
1-2-3-4-5!

On 5, Miss Carrie dropped the blanket and we saw who was behind there.  We learned their name and practiced saying "Hi, _________!"

Then Miss Carrie did a magic trick.  She had Miss Jeana or Miss Jen kneel behind the blanket.  When she dropped the blanket, THEY WERE GONE!  It was funny when Miss Jeana or Miss Jen popped up behind one of the shelves and we saw that they weren't gone....they had crawled away to hide!  

Do this at home:  Use any blanket or other item and talk about who is behind it.  Be sure to pop out from behind so family members can say "Hi!"

READ!

Every year, all the teachers in my school gather for pictures.  Not for the regular school pictures.  These are special pictures for the READ! board.  Every teacher features a favorite book.  This is my picture this year:

And last year's picture...

The rest of my pictures are above my desk in Miss Jeana's room.

You'll find the READ board across from the front office.  Check it out and see if you can also find Miss Jeana and Miss Jen.

August/September Week 2: Bouncy Big Balloon

phoneme: /b/

Transition Song: Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy

Materials: laminated letter B, small box, balloons

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  high/low, empty/full, descriptive words big/bigger/biggest, predicting, blow/blowing, bounce/bouncing/bounced, sitting, standing, turn-taking, hands, heads, elbows, “My turn”, pop, more

First we drew the Letter B.  "Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and bounce around." What words have the /b/ sound in them?  The children came up with baby, bus, bumblebee, and bump.

Miss Carrie showed us a box.  It was a little box but it had something inside.  Something small that would get bigger. 

Wow!  It was a lot of balloons!  Red, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue, pink, orange, and purple.  What did Miss Carrie need to do to make the balloon get bigger?  The children suggested she blow into the balloon.

That balloon grew big and then bigger!  Miss Carrie tied the balloon and then asked "What should we do with the balloon?  Children suggested bouncing it.  Or hitting it with their hands. Or bumping it with their head.  There were a lot of balloons, enough for everyone to have one to play with.  So the teachers helped blow up more balloons.  And then this happened:

We talked about What our balloons were doing, Where they went, and Who we could ask to send them back.  Did they go high or low when we hit them? Were they heavy or light?  We talked about colors and compared sizes: "My balloon is bigger/smaller."  Sometimes we just expressed "My balloon" when we wanted it back.

DO THIS AT HOME:  have fun playing with balloons.  Get the entire family involved and talk about what you are doing, where the balloon goes, and who has it.  If it pops, talk about the loud noise and what you can do so it doesn't pop again.