February Week 3: Visit from Occupational Therapy - Draw A Map

This week we had Miss Shannon our OT.  She had us lay on our Tummies and draw on a huge map of our community.  The roads were already on the paper.  We talked about what was in our community.  We drew trains, schools, houses, flowers, stop signs, and lots of restaurants.

February Week 2: Up and Down and All Around

Phoneme: /d/

Transition Song: H-E-A-R-T

Concepts: down, up, high, low, fast, slow, stop go

Materials: Laminated Letter D

Pre-Literacy Skills:  Draw the letter D. "Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and draw around".  What sound does letter D make?  Who has that sound in their name?  What other words have a D sound? Dinosaur. Dinner. Dog. DOUGHNUT!!!! (the kids were excited about this idea).

Let's move our bodies up and down.  We played music that allowed us to dance fast and slow.  We jumped up and down.  We would freeze STOP and then GO!

Do this with any type of music.  We used movie sound tracks and Jim Gill music.

Cool Bear Hunt

This is by far the favorite song/choral recitation of the preschool kids.  Some parents have requested to know which version we use.  Here it is Cool Bear Hunt from Dr. Jean.

Check out Dr. Jean's website for more great ideas to use at home. You can print out a fun book of Dr. Jean's Cool Bear Hunt here.

FYI:  The H-E-A-R-T song by the Kiboomers that I posted for the month of February is also a huge it.  The children have been practicing how to make a heart shape with their hands.  We don't skip any of the letters, but sing all of them.

February Week 1: Dinner - Set the Table

Phoneme: /d/

Transition Song: H E A R T Valentine Song by the Kiboomers

Concepts: What questions, Who questions, sequencing, following directions, choral recitation, rhythm

Materials: Laminated Letter D, place mat, plate settings

Preliteracy Skills:  Draw the letter D.  Start up at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and draw around.  Does anyone have a /d/ sound in their name?  What words have a /d/ sound in them? Draw, down, dollar, do, don't, and.........

Dinner!  We're talking this week about dinner.  Before we eat dinner we have to set the table.  This activity is a repeat from before.  The kids love this.  Many of them now can act as 'voice' and lead the choral recitation.  This time we added more placemats  and settings to the session to keep the children engaged and participating.

(Take a beat on your knees similar to "Going on a Bear Hunt".  Have the class repeat each phrase after the "voice" lead.)

Time to eat?

No, not yet.

What do we need?

A (napkin, fork, plate, knife, spoon, cup)

Put it on the table.

(Repeat until everything is on the place mat.)

Time to eat?

Look....

YES!!!!

At the end of class we looked at our socks.  Depending on the color of our socks, we moved to small group by flying, stomping, jumping, spinning, or skating.

Week 4: Stick Like Glue

Date:  January Week 4

Title:  Stick Like Glue

Phoneme: /k,s/

Pre-Literacy:  Trace the Letter C.  “Put your finger at the top. Draw half a circle and then we stop.”

Materials required:  Laminated Letter C

Concepts:  high/low, fast/slow, body parts, sticky, What questions

Transition activity:  Song:  Colors by Learning Station

Discussion:  Do you know what sticky is?  What things make you sticky? One child said that when he eats pancakes, his fingers get sticky from the syrup.  Another talked about gum in his hair being sticky (sounds like the occurrence made a BIG impression!).  We also talked about glue being sticky.  Then we sang and danced to Jim Gill's Stick To The Glue *** song.  We clapped our hands and pretended they stuck together.  Then we stomped our feet until they (just pretend!) stuck to the glue we stomped in.  Then we shook hands with our friends until *GASP!* we stuck to our friends!  Our last try was hugging (side hugs in preschool) and we stuck to EVERYBODY in Large Group!  This was a lot of fun and I'm sure that the kids will want the Sticky Glue song again.

We ended with the Silly Dance Contest (always a favorite).

***Sorry, there is no link to this Jim Gill song.

Week 3: Cake, Candles, and Cookies

Large  Group Activity

Date:  January Week 3

Title:  Cake Candles, and Cookies

Phoneme: /k,s/

Pre-Literacy:  Trace the Letter C.  “Put your finger at the top. Draw half a circle and then we stop.”

Materials required:  Laminated Letter C

Song: Happy Birthday Cake and Cookies by Kids Express Train Drills on Wheels 1

Concepts:  articulation and alliteration, vocabulary, follow directions, swaying

Transition activity:  Song:  Colors by Imagination Station

Discussion:  We're talking about Happy Birthdays.  What do we have at birthdays?  Cake, candles and (sometimes) cookies!  We pretended to Cut the Cake. We cheered "HOORAY!" and practiced our /k/ sound in consonant-vowel combination and in words. We swayed side to side and waved our hands high.

During small groups in Miss Jeana's classroom for the next few weeks we will be playing a fun game called Cat in the Hat - I Can Do That.  This is a great game for practicing prepositions (on top, under, front, back, between, through, next to) as well as following 2- and 3-step directions. The children's favorite part?  Crawling under the Trick-a-ma-stick!

January Language Calendar

The Moog Center for the Deaf in St. Louis put out their calendar again.  You can download and print your own copy here.

We've done the freeze paint in ice cubes and paint activity.  The children loved that one.