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.
Materials: laminated letter D, butcher paper, crayons
Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: draw, down, around, dog, dad, neighborhood, house, trees, street, cars, fireman, police, library, park, railroad tracks, up/down, big/little, tall/small, cold/hot, in front/in back, next to, over/under, What/Where questions, -ing, plural -s, possessive 's, past tense -ed, environmental print such as McDonalds or grocery store.
Pre-literacy: Draw the letter D. Start at the top and draw down. Go back to the top and draw around. Who has a /d/ sound in their name? What other words have a /d/ sound? This week the students thought up panda, dandelion, dinner, dad, dinosaur, doctor, dog, and duck.
This week, Miss Carrie showed everyone a map of the classroom. We found the tables where we sit and the different Work Time areas. Miss Carrie wanted to draw a different kind of map. She brought out a big piece of paper and unrolled it all the way across the rug! Then Miss Carrie showed us that she has a red house with big trees. She drew a horse because there are a lot of horses by her house. And down the street there is a McDonalds.
Miss Carrie handed out crayons. We all laid on our tummies to draw. We told each other what was next to our houses.
DO THIS AT HOME: draw a map together of your house or your neighborhood. Label with pictures. Talk about where you like to go (the grocery store, a restaurant, the park). A fun (and useful!) map is of your child's room or playroom. Label on the map where everything goes and put it in an area where you and your child can refer to it as you clean up the toys together.
For the end of November and all of December we're learning the song Must Be Santa (first three verses only). We're going to go caroling to some classrooms and to the staff in the front office. We'll be singing Must Be Santa and Jingle Bells. I'm including a youtube video with music and lyrics. Be warned, the music goes too fast for most of our kids. So we sing it without the audio music in order to sing it slower. We have a Santa that I made for the children to put together to highlight the different parts of the song.
Miss Carrie sings the first part - the Who question. "Who has a beard that's long and white?" The children all sing the answer. (Psssst - the answer is ALWAYS Santa!) "Santa has a beard that's long and white." We're talking about how the answer uses the same words as the question. We're pointing to the parts while we sing. During the chorus we clap:
clap-clap "Must be Santa!"
clap-clap "Must be Santa!"
clap-clap "Must be Santa Santa Claus!"
Be sure to sing it slower at home than what is on the video. I will upload a video later to give you an idea of how we do it in class.
Pre-literacy: Let's work on letter S. What sound does it make? When Miss Carrie makes the /s/ sound, she hides her tongue behind her teeth so no one can see it. It sounds like a snake! Does anyone have an S in their name? What words have that sound? Bus, yes, Snack Time, Small Group, soda, soft. Let's draw the letter S.
"Start at the top. Swooop over. Swiiiirl down. Swooop under. And STOP!"
Did you hear all of those S sounds? Miss Carrie pinches her pointer and thumb together to show that your teeth need to be closed and hide your tongue while she makes the /s/ sound. We noticed that the letter S looks the same upside down and right side up!
Stretch your pointer fingers up high to show you are ready to start!
Miss Carrie points to her mouth to show that her teeth are closed to hide her tongue.
This week, Miss Carrie turned on relaxing spa music and we did yoga. We read this book:
You Are A Lion! And Other Fun Yoga Poses by Taeeun Yoo. The children were instructed to look at the teachers if they didn't know what to do. (Looking for clues to understand how to behave or what to do is an important skill. This was a great way to introduce it.) Miss Carrie read the book and everyone followed directions or looked at a teacher to help them understand.
Afterwards we sat with our legs criss-cross, hands on our knees with palms up and fingers touching. We closed our eyes, breathed in through our noses and blew out through our mouths. Miss Carrie said that she did breathing like this when she needed to calm her body. After breathing a few times more, we walked with very calm bodies to our tables for Small Group (Miss Jen), or to the sink to wash hands for snack (Miss Jeana).
Guess what else happened in the classrooms this week?
Miss Jen had a rock concert. I kid you not, one of the kids asked for Electric Light Orchestra's Don't Bring Me Down. We played music instruments along with it.
In Miss Jeana's class, it became very popular to give Miss Carrie a checkup and LOTS OF SHOTS! OW! Miss Carrie tried to be brave. When she was little and went to preschool, she used to scream when the doctor gave her shots. All the kids in Miss Jeana's room told her that they were brave and didn't cry when they had to get shots.
DO THIS AT HOME: put on some soft music and try some yoga together. Let your child come up with their own poses for the family to try. Work on the phrase "Look at me!"
