December Week 3: Jingle Bells

Transition Song: Must Be Santa.  The children are getting very good with this!

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: high/low, fast/slow, over/under, front/back, shake, bells

This week Miss Carrie pulled out jingle bells for everyone.  In previous years, we went caroling to the front office and an older classroom here and there.  Since we couldn't do that this year, we sang in our classrooms and then danced to holiday music.  Teachers followed the children and tried to do all the actions the children were doing.

And we got to WEAR PAJAMAS TO SCHOOL!

(Miss Carrie's phone was playing the music and couldn't take pictures during that time).

DO THIS AT HOME:  No jingle bells?  drum on pots and pans, laundry baskets, or even the floor.  Follow what your child does.  Make up songs, jump around, balance, talk about concepts like high and low.

December Week 2: I like my RED shoes!

 Transition Song:  Must Be Santa by Raffi

Vocabulary: same/different, big/small, like/not like, buckle, zipper, velcro, colors

This week Miss Carrie brought one of her favorite books!  Pete The Cat, I Love My White Shoes.  It's written by Eric Litwin and illustrated by James Dean.

Miss Carrie asked if everyone remembered that she dressed up like Pete The Cat for Halloween.

This time, we read the book.  Everyone sang and clapped or snapped their fingers along with Pete the Cat as we sang "I love my WHITE (Red/Blue/Brown/Wet) shoes!  We shook our head when we said "Goodness, NO!"  We guessed what color would come next.

Then Miss Carrie brought out a big box full of shoes.  There were her Pete The Cat red shoes, there were sparkly shoes, dancing shoes, sandals, boots, shiny gold shoes, and gym shoes.  We found shoes that looked the same and shoes that looked different.  We compared them to the shoes we were wearing to see if they were bigger or smaller.

DO THIS AT HOME:  What can you match at home?  Shoes? Socks? So laundry takes a little bit longer to put away...you're working on language skills! Go you!  What about setting the table?  What is the same and what is different?  Do you use big glasses for the adults and small cups for the kids?  Set the table together and talk about it.  Find opportunities in your everyday routine.  Then do it again the next time.

December Week 1: Silly Sally

 Transition Song:  Must Be Santa

NOTE:  This song goes much faster than we sing it in class.  We sing the first 3 verses.

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  front/back, right side up/upside down, forwards/backwards, walking, leapfrog, dancing, jig, singing, tune, loon, dog, pig, sheep, awake/asleep, and /s/.

This week we read the book Silly Sally by Audrey Wood.

Silly Sally went to town, walking backwards, upside down.

Why read a book like this?  There are so many concepts to cover!  And the idea of walking upside down and meeting friends (we have clues on every page who she will meet next) is so much fun!

When we were done we used toys to talk about front, back, right side up, upside down, forwards, and backwards.  We practiced walking forwards and backwards, making sure to look so we didn't crash into friends. We learned new words like jig, loon, and tune.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Find any book where characters are moving.  Can you move like that characters?  What do you need to do?  We didn't practice moving upside down since a school rule is "Feet on floor" so we don't accidentally kick our friends.