February Week 2: What Do You Hear?

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

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: hear, loud/quiet, listening ears, quiet mouths, big/little, lion, tiger, bear, elephant, cow, pig, horse, dog, cat, duck, frog, chicken/rooster, bird, monkey, zebra, snake,  peacock, eagle, penguin, owl, turtle, bee, bat, hippo, camel, flamingo, What/Where questions, “I hear” phrases, home/farm/zoo.

This week we played the game "What Do You Hear".  Miss Carrie reminded us to use our listening ears and quiet mouths so we could hear.  She has an app (Soundtouch 1 & 2) that plays animal sounds.  We listened to the animals and guessed what they were.  Then we looked at the photographs of animals to see if we were right.  We talked about if we had seen an animal like that at home, on farms, or at zoos. 

Miss Carrie played a lot of different sounds.  We knew sounds like dog, cat, cow, and elephant. We were stumped with zebras, peacocks, hippos, and alligators.  We discovered that if we didn't have quiet mouths while we were listening, we couldn't hear the animal sounds.  It was so much fun to guess!  It was so much fun to try to sounds like the animal.

DO THIS AT HOME:  play animal sounds and take turns guessing.  You could find them on the computer or you could make the sounds yourself.  Or go to the zoo or to a farm, listen for sounds, try to identify the sounds.

January Week 4: Drum Those Drums

Transition Song: Colors by The Learning Station

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: loud/quiet, fast/slow, stop/go, big/little or small, in/out, open/closed, under/over, big/bigger/biggest, small/smaller, smallest, beat, drum, box.

This week Miss Carrie brought out boxes. So. Many. Boxes.  There were big boxes and little boxes.  we were going to drum!  But first we had to know how to stop and listen. We practiced putting our hands up whenever Miss Carrie said "Hands UP!" This meant "stop drumming and listen to directions".

Ready, set, GO! We drummed LOUD!  We discovered that when we were drumming loud, we couldn't hear Miss Jeana or Miss Jen talking.  When we drummed quietly, then we could hear them. We experimented with drumming fast and slow. We practiced go and stop (which was "hands up").

What else could we do with boxes.  We tried getting in them.  Some boxes were too little.  We could hide under them by putting them over our heads.  Some boxes were so big that we could get into them and close them. Our friends would open the boxes to find us.  We had so much fun exploring all of the boxes.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Find some boxes and make some noise.  Explore what else you can do with the boxes.  Make a fort.  Play hide and seek.  Make houses and color features on the boxes.  Let our child take the lead on what to do.

January Week 3: Do What I'm Doing

Transition Song: Colors by The Learning Station

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: colors, body parts, look, watch, move, swing, sway, stomp reach, throw, blow, up/down, forward/backward, high/low, fast/slow, big/little, present progressive -ing, past tense-ed, Pronouns I/He/She/We + is/am/are, What questions, Who questions.

This week Miss Carrie brought her scarves.  There were lots of different colors.  If we didn't get the color we wanted, we could ask our friends to trade.  Then we danced and moved with our scarves.  Our teachers had to watch us and copy what we did.  We ha so much fun showing what we could do.  Scarves waved high and low.  We threw scarves in the air and caught them.  Then we threw them at our friends.We jumped, stepped, swayed, and swung our arms.  We sat on the floor to see what other ways we could move with just our upper bodies. Miss Carrie played fast music and slow music.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Pull out scarves or not.  But do put on some music an dance!  Follow your child's lead.  "What are you doing?  Oh, look, I see that you are stomping your feet.  I wonder if I can do that?  Stomp!Stomp!Stomp!"  "You are shaking your arms fast!  I can shake them fast, too!" Use your best sports broadcaster voice and give a play-by-play.  Have your child tell you what they are doing and let them correct you if you do it wrong.  Or, use single word narration to talk about what your child is doing to hep them label: "Stomp! Swing! Arms! Legs! Head! Shake! Fast!"

January Week 2: Dinosaur, Dinosaur

Transition Song: The Color Song by The Learning Station

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 (EX: The head of the dinosaur), head, back, feet, Who questions, What questions, Where questions.

This week we read a book together called Dinosaur, Dinosaur by Byron Barton.

Every time Miss Carrie said the word dinosaur we clapped it and said it with her.  The word is divided up into three parts called syllables. We practiced the word over and over.  We said dinosaur with fierce voices, with hungry voices, with tired voices, with tiny voices,  and with big voices.

Then Miss Carrie brought out toy dinosaurs. They looked just like the ones in the book!  We traded with friends if we wanted to.  Then Miss Carrie told us to look at the head of the dinosaur.  We found the head.  Miss Carrie showed us pictures and asked if our dinosaur looked like the picture.  We looked at the back of the dinosaur and the tail of the dinosaurs.  Everyone had dinosaurs that looked different. We talked about which dinosaurs walked on two feet and which ones walked on four feet.

DO THIS AT HOME:  pick out some favorite toys and compare and contrast.  What looks the same and what looks different?  Point out the parts of the toy.  Be sure to get down on the floor and play with the toys with your child.  Let your child lead on what to do.

December Week 2: Over, Under Around, and Through!

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: over/under, up/down, around, through, walk, step, crawl, reach, stretch, squat, balance, jump, march, hop, obstacle course, What, Who, He/She.

This week Miss Carrie brought out a lot of things! There were stairs to go over, hula hoops to step over or crawl under, exercise mats to follow (Jumping Jacks! Squats! Sit And Reach! Stretch! Touch Toes! Balance! March! Hop!), and there were tunnels and tents.  Miss Carrie called it an obstacle course.

We went every where.  We tried everything. If we weren't sure what to do, we could ask a teacher. We made sure to use walking feet.  Miss Carrie took pictures of everyone.  Then we all sat down and watched the big screen.  Miss Carrie put our pictures on the big screen.  She asked "Who is that?"  "What is he/she doing?" 

DO THIS AT HOME:  what do you have around your house to make an obstacle course?  Kids think it is great fun to watch a grown up crawl under things.  If not at your house, pick a sunny day and head to the park.  Talk about what you can do.  Make  your child the leader and get ready to follow.

November Week 3: Yummy/Yucky

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: Yummy/Yucky, hot/cold, spaghetti, worms, blueberries, crayons, soup, soap, sandwiches, sand, cookies, coffee, chocolate sauce, hot sauce, pie, burger, boogers, eggs, ear wax, fish sticks, fish food, ice cream, alliteration.

This week we read the book Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli.

In this book, Baby finds foods that are yummy and items that we really shouldn't or don't want to put in our mouths.  Miss Carrie really likes this book because it says that BURGERS are yummy, but BOOGERS are yucky.  Miss Carrie always asks our friends to keep their fingers out of their nose because she doesn't want to get sick.  If Miss Carrie or any of the teachers get sick, they can't come to school.  They have to stay home until they are better.

On some of the pages, there are foods grown ups like such as hot sauce.  Miss Carrie LOVES hot sauce.  Some of our friends and teachers don't like hot sauce.  Baby didn't like hot sauce either.

Some of the words had what is called alliteration - words that start with the same sound.

DO THIS AT HOME: Find the book at your local library.  Read it together and talk about what you can or should not put in your mouth.  Then talk about foods you like or don't like.  Check out Leslie Patricelli's other books as well.  They are fun to read.

October Week 1: Fall Leaves and Out In The Jungle

This week Miss Jeana's class' Large Group was different that Miss Jen's class' Large Group.  It worked out for each teacher this way.  Next week we will switch so both classes get both topics.

This month we're singing Five Little Ghosts by the Kiboomers.  The children will have a lot of practice counting from 1-5 and backwards from 5-1. It also gives a lot of practices for the /g/ sound which is our phoneme we are focusing on this month.

In Miss Jeana's classroom we learned about Fall, leaves changing color, and read the book Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert.  high/low, same/different, big/little, in front/behind, next to, throw, roll, leaves, autumn, fall, trees, labeling colors, What/Where/Who, abstract convo, -ing, plural -s EX:  I have red leaves on my tree. 

Leaf Man is blowing all  over the place.  he sees a lot of animals and other things.  We tried to guess what he was seeing because all fo the pictures are made from fall leaves.  The children were excited when they recognized cows, chickens, and gardens. We talked about if the leaves on trees at their houses were changing yet.

Then Miss Carrie talked about what she liked to do the most with fall leaves - play with them!  She brought fall leaves for everyone to play with.

 

Ms Jeana had leaves in her hair!

DO THIS AT HOME:  Go on a fall walk to look at leaves.  Talk about shape, color, size, same/different.  Take some home.


In Miss Jen's class we went on a Jungle Hunt.  Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: jungle, animals, birds, bugs, loud/quiet, gopher, grasshopper, seagull, eagle, penguin, dog, goat, goldfish, gecko, glow worm, gazelle, grouse, earwig, grison, sea slug, wart hog, gorilla, pig, frog, flamingo, jungle, I like/don’t like, Where questions, What questions

Miss Carrie taught us to say:

Binoculars up!
Out in the jungle-
What do I see?
I.....see..... a.....

Miss Carrie put pictures around the room of animals, birds, and bugs that all had a /g/ sound somewhere in their name.  We looked for them with our hands up to be pretend binoculars.  When we found a picture, we told our friends about it, if we knew what it was, and where we might find it.

We came back to the rug so we could tell the rest of our friends what we found and where we might see it (in the sky, on the farm, at the zoo, in the water).

DO THIS AT HOME:  Go to the zoo, a farm, or other places to see animals, birds, or bugs.  Talk about if you like them or don't like them, are they big/small, tall/short, and their colors.