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.

PD Training in Classroom Behavior Management

Last week, Ms. Jeana, Ms. Jen, and I were able to participate in professional development training about classroom and  behavior management by the fantastic Melisa Geneaux.  Melisa travels the country, training schools about classroom behavior management and ways to teach children to understand and follow directions in order to participate fully in classroom instruction.  The session was full of ideas that Jeana and Jen are bringing into the classroom with the goal to help children become successful. We were excited for this session!

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.

December Week 1: Snow People

Phoneme: /s/

Transition Song:  Must Be Santa

Materials:  Laminated Letter S, Laminated Santa parts, bag of items to dress a snowman

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: What questions, cold/hot, snowball, snow man, boy, girl, baby, bird, popcorn, berry, string, clothing items, melting.

This week we've continued learning Must Be Santa and Jingle Bells in prep for our caroling activity in two weeks.  See the previous post for the music and information.

Pre-Literacy:  Let's draw the Letter S.  Start at the top.  Swoop over.  Swirl down.  Swoop under.  And stop!  What words have that /s/ sound?  Snow, same, sing, soup, baseball, kiss.  Remember to hide your tongue and keep your teeth together.

Book.  This week we are reading Snowballs by Lois Elhert.  (Remember her?  She wrote Leaf Man which we read in October). We are big fans of Lois Elhert!

Look at this snowman.  Someone gave him a strawberry nose!  What else do you see?

There was a snow dad and a snow mom and a snow boy and a snow girl and snow pets!  That snow mom has peanuts in her purse.  Miss Carrie does not carry peanuts in her purse. She carries chocolate in her purse.

This book also has lots of pictures of real snow people.

Miss Carrie wanted to build snowmen but there is no snow outside.  We wondered how we could solve this problem?  We decided to turn some of the teachers into snow teachers.  Good thing Miss Carrie brought some things from home.

Who is it?

Miss Pam is a snow teacher.

Now it's Miss Jeana's turn to be a snow teacher.

Miss Jen's class opted to turn all the teachers into snow teachers.

Miss Debbie is a snow teacher.

Working on Miss Jen.

We also sang Once There Was A Snow Man.

Tall-Tall-TALL!

We had so much fun making snow teachers!

DO THIS AT HOME:  If you have snow, great!  Go build a snowman.  But if there is no snow, turn one of your family members into a snow person.  What do you have around your house to make a snow person?  You could also cut out shapes and magazine pictures to make snowmen pictures.  Talk about your activity and narrate your actions.

In case your children have been trying to tell you, Miss Carrie has new glasses for the first time.  The glasses make her face look very different.  A lot of the kids were commenting about them in both classes.