Washing Hands

Transition Song: Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy by Rachel Arnston on her Volcalomotion album.  I filmed it at my house during the pandemic when schools were shut down.

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: wet/dry, germs, wash/washing/washed, hands, mouth, cough, nose, sneeze, shoulder, elbow, experiment, toys, yes/no, soap/water, clean/dirty, help, messy, paint.

This week, Miss Carrie talked about germs.  Germs are little bugs that live on our hands. They are so tiny that we can't see them.  But they can make us sick. If we put our hands in our mouths and then touch toys, that can make people sick.  If we sneeze or cough into our hands, that can make people sick, too.

If kids get sick, they can't come to school!  If teachers get sick, they can't teach.  We want to keep everyone healthy at school.

We learned how to cough or sneeze into our elbows.  Grab your shoulder, put your elbow up, and cough or sneeze into your elbow.

We learned how to wipe our noses.  There are tissue boxes all around the room.  We use a tissue to pinch our nose gently and wipe. Then we throw the tissue into the trash and wash our hands.  If teachers see our fingers in our noses or our mouths, the teachers will ask us to wash our hands.

Miss Carrie did an experiment.  She painted with her hands.  Paint was all over her hands.  Can she touch toys with paint all over her hands? No!  They are messy.  Everyone told Miss Carrie to wash her hands.

Look what happened to Miss Carrie's hand!  She needs to wash it.

Miss Carrie asked if anyone wanted to give her a high-five.  Some kids did.  They had to go wash their hands when paint got on them.  Other kids said No, they did not want to give her a high-five.  They still practiced washing their hands with soap at the sink.

We have a song we use at preschool to wash our hands.  Everyone practiced the song with Miss Carrie.

(I filmed this song when we still had to wear masks at school. This is the song we sing when we wash our hands to make sure the soap stays on our hands long enough to wash off the germs.)

DO THIS AT HOME:  Talk about washing hands and practice at home with the whole family.  Practice wiping noses together. Let your child be as independent as possible while doing this. Washing their hands and wiping their noses is a great skill to learn.

Thank you for keeping sick kids at home!  We really appreciate it when parents are actively helping teachers to stay healthy.

Great books to find at the library about getting sick:

Llama Llama Home With Mama by Anna Dewdney

Get Well Soon, Spot by Eric Hill

Bear Feels Sick by Karma Wilson

How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon by Jane Yolen

August/September Week 1: Germs and Movement

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: washing, hands, fingers, thumbs, elbows, head, arms, legs, feet, shoulders, nose, eyebrows, bounce, high/low, fast/slow, jumping, move, your turn/my turn.

In September we will start with a letter sound and specific instruction.  This week we learned all about Large Group.

In both classrooms, we started by singing Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy by Rachel Arntson.  It is a very simple song, easy to join in if you don't get there when we start singing.  The children pick which body part to bounce (arms, legs, feet, elbows, shoulders, head, nose, eyebrows, knees) and we bounce.  In between we wait (great for anticipation and looking to teachers and peers for direction) and then prep with "ready, set, GO!" to start bouncing again.

In Miss Jeana's classrooms we learned about germs aka "Please don't get Miss Carrie sick!"  Germs are little bugs that we can't see.  They get on our hands if we sneeze or cough in them.  We learned that if we touch anything else after sneezing or coughing into our hands, that the germs will get all over everything!  Miss Carrie used red glitter, pretending that the glitter was germs to show that touching her hands can get everyone''s hands messy.

Oh, no! Miss Carrie's hands are so messy!

We learned to cough and sneeze into our elbows so we wouldn't get germs on our hands.  We learned we could use tissue to wipe our noses.  If our fingers get into our noses or mouths, Miss Carrie and Miss Jeana will ask us to wash our hands because Miss Carrie and Miss Jeana DO NOT want to get sick!

We also learned a song to help us remember how to wash our hands:

First, get soap on your hands.  Don't put them under the water yet!  Now we sing as we wash our hands:
(to the tune of Frere Jacques)
Tops and Bottoms (wash tops and bottoms of hands)
Tops and Bottoms
In between
In between (wash between fingers)
Wash your thumbs
Wash your thumbs
(NOW put your hands under the water)
Now they're clean!
Now they're clean!

Everyone lined up to wash their hands.  We also wash hands before Snack Time.

In Miss Jen's class, we talked about moving our bodies.  We played Silly Dance Contest by Jim Gill (one of Miss Carrie's favorite preschool song singers and followed the directions in the song.  WE jumped, danced fast/slow, and (everyone's favorite) froze with a silly face. 

(Here is the song performed by Jim Gill to try at home)

Then we danced to Rock and Roll Preschool by The Wiggles and everyone showed Miss Carrie what they could do and she tried to copy them.  We ended with music from the album Calm Piano by Paul Cardall and tried moving slow and blowing air out of our bodies as we prepared to move to Small Group.

DO THIS AT HOME:  You can talk about washing your hands, when to wash your hands, and practice it together.  Ask your child to show you how if they remember.  Also, have a dance party and let your child lead.  Do what they do.  This is a fantastic activity for the entire family.

August/September Week 3: Who's Behind The Blanket

phoneme: /b/

Transition Song: Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy

Materials: blanket, laminated letter B

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: Who questions, yes/no questions, behind, blanket, classmate names

Draw the letter B: Put your pointer finger up high!  Show me that you are ready!  Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and bounce around.
What words have a /b/ sound?  baby banana, back, blue.

Miss Carrie brought a very special blanket into the classroom. A student gave her the blanket a few years ago.  We looked at all the pictures on the blanket and found everything that had a /b/ sound: balls, robots, butterfly, bee, bear, and ladybugs.

Then Miss Carrie taught us a new game called "Who's Behind The Blanket.  She held the blanket up so she was behind it and we couldn't see her.  We sang:

Who's behind the blanket?

Who's behind the blanket?

Who's behind the blanket?

1-2-3-4-5!

At the count of 5, Miss Carrie dropped the blanket and we could see her.  Who was behind the blanket?  Miss Carrie!  Everyone could choose whether or not to hide behind the blanket.  They could answer yes or no.  

When we saw who was behind the blanket, we called out their name.  "Hi, Miss Carrie!"

DO THIS AT HOME:  Play hide and seek and narrate what you are hiding behind.  When cleaning up, practice looking behind you.  Ask Who questions while looking at a family album or familiar book. 

Other things that happened in class this week:  Small Groups, Work Time, and an impromptu dance party!

August/September Week 2: Box of Balloons

phoneme: /b/

Transition Song: Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy

Materials: cardboard box, balloon for each child, music, laminated letter B

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: box, balloon, blow, little, big/bigger/biggest, predicting, high/low, space, body parts

Miss Carrie had a little box.  She shook it.  We predicted what would be inside the box.  Animals?  Cookies?  Cars?

It was balloons!  Pink, blue, green, purple, yellow, white, and black.  We told Miss Carrie that she had to blow into the balloon to make it bigger.  We predicted how many times Miss Carrie would need to blow into the balloon to make it bigger.

What can we do with balloons?  We can bounce them high and low!  Miss Carrie turned on some music and we made our balloons fly!  We caught them, bounced them, and rolled them.  We asked friends and teachers to bounce them back to us.

DO THIS AT HOME:  What can you do with balloons at home?  Or bouncy balls?  Find words using the /b/ sound (at the beginning, in the middle, or at ends of words) and describe what you are doing.

Other things that happened at preschool this week:

August/September Week 1: Germs, Glitter, Bodies, and Bouncing

phoneme: /b/

Transition Song:  Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy

We don't use bouncy balls.  We choose body parts to bounce: hands, fingers, elbows, arms, legs, knees, toes, nose, ears, heads, shoulders, whole body.  This is a great way to work on labeling body parts.

Materials: Laminated letter B, sheet, glitter, sink, soap.

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: body parts, bounce, germs, soap, water, wash, top/bottom.

This week in Large Group with Miss Carrie we are learning the /b/ sound.  First we looked at the letter B and talked about the top and the bottom of the letter.  We used our pointer fingers (some of us had to learn pointer finger) to draw the letter B:

Start at the top and draw down.
Go back to the top and bounce around.

What words have the /b/ sound?  Banana, boy, bumble bee. (This list will get longer over the next month as the children understand the concept).

Next we learned how to wash our hands. 

This is the closest match to the song we sing.  

In Miss Jeana's class, we sing:

Tops and bottoms. Tops and bottoms.

In between. In between

Wash your thumbs. Wash your thumbs.

Now they're clean. Now they're clean.

In Miss Jen's class, we sing:

Tops and bottoms. Tops and bottoms.

In between. In between

Rub your hands together. Rub your hands together.

Now they're clean. Now they're clean.

We practiced using our elbows instead of our hands to sneeze and cough.  If you sneeze or cough into your hands, it will leave germs on your hands.  If you touch things with germy hands, that will leave germs on everything you touch. That will make everyone sick.  Miss Carrie, Miss Jeana, and Miss Jen DO NOT want to be sick.

We did an experiment where Miss Carrie pretended glitter was germs.  She pretended to sneeze and got glitter all over her hands.  When we touched her hands, we got glitter all over our hands.

When that happened , we had to wash our hands clean.  We lined up at the sink and used soap and water while we sang our hand washing song. We learned that it is important to not rinse off our hands until we finish the song so the soap has time to make the germs slide off.

DO THIS AT HOME:  It's great for your child to see everyone in the family washing their hands and talking about it.  Repetitive singing helps language in that your child can focus on producing the words over and over.  Ask your child to teach you the song.  Let them be in charge for a few minutes.

Here are some other things that happened in preschool this week.  Show your child and help them tell you about their day.