Hiding Phil

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

(Just first verse and clap all of the letters.)

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  hide/hiding, elephant, up/down, over/under, in front/behind, next to, big/small, bigger, biggest, bus, look, play, jump, slide, teeter-totter, bath, wet, whisper/shout, quiet/loud, paint, sneeze, suitcase, tree, Where-questions, Who-questions, He/She/We/They, His/Hers, locations around the classroom, peer names.

(This can be found at the library.  It is a kid favorite.)

This week we read the book Hiding Phil by Eric Barclay.  Phil is an elephant who is new in town.  They kids play with him. But when they worry that Mom and Dad won't love him, they try to hide him.

We talked about where Phil was hiding.  Did it work?  Where did they hide him next?  What happened?

Then we played Hide-and-Seek.  We hid around the room while Miss Carrie counted to 10.  Then, when she found us, she took our picture with her iPad.  We went back to the rug and Miss Carrie put the pictures on our Apple TV and asked "Who is it?" and "Where are they hiding?"  This game was so much fun, that we played it several times.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Easiest and most fun game!  Play hide and seek at home as a family.  When you find someone, take their picture of where they are hiding.  Then everyone get together and talk about Who it is and Where they are hiding.  Emphasize under, behind, next to, on top, in front.  Go for a few rounds and end with a fun treat.  This is one of the most popular activities we do all year.  Kids will be requesting to play hide and seek this way for the rest of the year.

Animal Sounds: The Cow Said Meow

 Transition Song: Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: What/Where/Who questions, animal sounds, in/out, loud/quiet, warm/cold, wet/dry, thinking, surprised, sad, happy, predicting, says, yes/no/not.

This week Miss Carrie read us a book titled The Cow Said Meow by John Himmelman.

Wait a minute?  The cow said meow?  The cow said MEOW?!  Does a cow say meow?  No!  Cows don't say meow, they say moo! (The children were very emphatic, trying to explain this to Miss Carrie). But this cow said meow to get into the warm, dry house.  The grandma let the cow in.  Then other animals decided to try it.

Miss Carrie talked about different emotions.

Thinking

More thinking

Surprise

Sad

Everyone had a chance to tell Miss Carrie what the animals were supposed to say.  At the end, we sang Old MacDonald Had A Farm and everyone got to pick an animal to sing about and show the class what the animal should say.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Pick any book with animals/animal sounds and talk about what animals say.  Try saying a wrong animal sound and see if your child corrects you. Get the whole family involved and singing Old MacDonald.  Your Old MacDonald may live at the zoo, in the jungle, or on the farm depending on the animals your child chooses.

January Week 1: Snowballs...But No Snow!

 Transition Song:  Colors by The Learning Station

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: snow, cold, dad, mom, girl, boy, cat, dog, string, buttons, hats, scarves, gloves, strawberry, shell, forks, bells, strings, Who questions, What questions, "I want" phrases.

This week, Miss Carrie brought in a big bag and a book. The book was called Snowballs by Lois Ehlert.

In the book, there was a snow dad, a snow mom, a snow girl, a snow boy, a snow cat, and a snow dog.  Miss Carrie used her camera to put the pictures on the Apple TV so we could look closely at what was on the snow people.  We saw forks, seeds and nuts, berries, popcorn, sticks, and buttons.  We noticed that the birds and squirrels were eating the nuts and seeds.  At the end of the book, the snow people and the snow animals melted.

Miss Carrie had a problem.  She really wanted to make snow people.  But there was no snow outside.  Miss Carrie brought a big bag full of hats, gloves, and scarves to use.  We had to solve her problem.  Some of the kids came up with the solution to dress the teachers like snow people.  Other kids decided that they wanted to dress themselves up like snow people.  There was a lot going on.

Miss Carrie took pictures of everyone and showed them on the Apple TV.  She asked "Who is this?  What are they wearing?"  Sometimes it was hard to tell who the person was and we had to look at their clothes for clues.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Dress up!  Doesn't have to be costumes or cold weather gear.  Dress up in Mom or Dad's clothes and shoes.  Take  a lot of pictures.  Talk about what you see in them.  Send pictures to other family members and have your child tell them what they did (you can support their language but really let your child do as much as they can on their own). 

If we ever get snow - GO PLAY OUTSIDE.  Be sure to drink a lot of hot cocoa afterwards.  Miss Carrie likes whip cream in her cocoa.