August/September Week 3: Who Is Behind The Blanket?

phoneme: /b/

Transition Song: Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  behind/in front, on top/under, blanket, bear, bees, rote count 1-5, My turn, Your turn, yes/no, He/She, Who questions

Miss Carrie has a very special quilt.  There are so many things to see on the quilt.  We found butterflies and bees and lots of bugs.  They were all in bottles.  It was fun to look at her quilt.

Miss Carrie taught us a game to play with her quilt.  It was called "Who's Behind The Blanket".  One of our friends would stand behind the blanket.  Then we sang:

Who's behind the blanket.
Who's behind the blanket.
Who's behind the blanket.
1-2-3-4-5!

On 5, Miss Carrie dropped the blanket and we saw who was behind there.  We learned their name and practiced saying "Hi, _________!"

Then Miss Carrie did a magic trick.  She had Miss Jeana or Miss Jen kneel behind the blanket.  When she dropped the blanket, THEY WERE GONE!  It was funny when Miss Jeana or Miss Jen popped up behind one of the shelves and we saw that they weren't gone....they had crawled away to hide!  

Do this at home:  Use any blanket or other item and talk about who is behind it.  Be sure to pop out from behind so family members can say "Hi!"

Aug/September Week 1: Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy

Every year I start with an easy song that children can pick up quickly.  The lyrics are simple, the body movement is repetitive, it allows practice for keeping a beat, focuses on concrete What-questions, and the kids learn anticipation/waiting skills.

Materials: Laminate Letter B

Song:  Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy
Artist: Rachel Arntson
CD: VocalMotion
Bouncy, ® Rachel Arntson and Chez Raginiak, 2007
Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy. Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy. Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy. Now we stop. Wait! Wait! Ready, set, go!

Phoneme: /b/.  Practice b-b-b.  Does anyone have that /b/ sound in their name?  What other words have that sound?  Baby, bubbles, banana, boy, bounce.

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

Vocabulary: bounce, bouncy, wait, ready-set-go, back, top, down, body, head, toes, legs, knees, shoulders, tongue, head, feet, elbows.

We started with bouncing hands, feet, head, and elbows.  What other body parts can we bounce?  The kids came up with  knees, legs, whole body, and hair.  Miss Carrie came up with shoulders, noses, and tongues.  Try to bounce your tongue and sing the song at the same time!  We ended up in a fit of giggles and then bounced our way to our tables for Snack Time.

April Week 2: Hear the Popcorn - Watch it Pop!

*Week 1 was Spring Break*

Phoneme: /p/

Transition Song: Silly Pizza Song

Vocabulary and Concepts: popcorn, pizza, pasta, peas, pour, sprinkle, on top, crouching, jumping, stopping, pop

Materials: laminated letter P

Pre-literacy:  This month we are drawing the letter P.  "Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and draw a little around."

Discussion:  What words have the /p/ sound? Our Silly Pizza song has pizza, soup, peas, spaghetti, and popcorn.  Some of the children offered Grandpa, Potato, and Present.  We found children who had a /p/ sound in their names.

Next we sang the Popcorn song.  We've modified it from the original to make it easy for everyone to sing.  The kids loved to be the popcorn (because, jumping!) and liked being the people who made the popcorn because it involved anticipation (slow to fast, soft to loud), clapping and calling out 'STOP!'

<softly>
Pour on the oil.
Sprinkle on the popcorn.
Put on the lid
Turn up the heat.

<increase volume gradually until loud at the end, rubbing hands together, clap on last word>
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle sizzle
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle,
Sizzle, sizzle, SIZZLE, SIZZLE
POP!

<clapping steady beat and sing loud>
Hear the popcorn! Watch it pop!
Hear the popcorn! Watch it pop!
Hear the popcorn! Watch it pop!
Hear the popcorn! Watch it pop!

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Now we STOP!

(Remember that we modified the words for this song)

This song is so much fun that all of the children requested to sing it again and again.  Everyone got multiple chances to be in the middle.