Rex Wrecks It: practicing Conflict/Resolution

 Transition Song: Five Little Ghosts by the Kiboomers

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: wreck, wrecks, wrecking, wrecked, knock, knocks, knocking, knocked over, build, builds, building, built, heart, rocket, towers, tall, dinosaur, robot, problem, problem solving, solution, solve, happy, sad, mad, frustrated, scared, worried, What questions, asking, yes/no.

Miss Carrie read a book called Rex Wrecks It by Ben Clanton.

In the book, Gizmo, Sprinkles, and Wild have a problem.  Rex is wrecking everything they build.  They came up with one solution to the problem and tried it.  It didn't work.  The second solution they tried did work. They solved the problem! (This closely mimics our conflict/resolution that we are constantly teaching in our classrooms.  This is an intregal part of our High Scope Curriculum.)

After reading the book, Miss Carrie brought out blocks and we started building.  If we wanted to knock the blocks down, we practiced asking our friends "Can I wreck it?"  Our friends could answer yes or no.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Get on the floor together with blocks or boxes and start building.  Emphasize asking first "Can I wreck it?" and wait for the answer yes or no.  This is more fun if the entire family gets involved. Practice the phrase "Can I wreck it?" or "Wreck it", "yes" and "no",  and "help".

Hot and Cold are Opposites

 Transition Song: Colors by The Learning Station.

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: hot/cold, wet/dry, big/small, short/tall, high/low, fast/slow, heavy/light, day/night, i/out, whisper/shout, weak/strong, right/wrong, young/old, hello/goodbye, What/Where/Who, coat, gloves, hat, snow, pajamas, yes/no.

Materials: - pictures of classmates over Winter Break

                 - Opposites by Sandra Boynton

                 - hand warmers

                 - warm cocoa and marshmallows

This week, Miss Carrie read Opposites by Sandra Boynton (book is linked here)

The book gave us the opportunity to talk about opposites and also rhyming words.  Then Miss Carrie showed us pictures of our friends during Winter Break.  Some of them were outside where it was cold.  Some of them were inside where it was warm.  We talked about if we did activities like we saw in the pictures.  Who is that?  Where are they? What are they wearing? Is it warm or cold?

Miss Carrie brought out hand warmers.  Everyone was able to have a turn holding a hand warmer.  Miss Carrie puts hand warmers in her gloves and toe warmers in her boots because she does not like being cold.

Afterwards, Miss Carrie brought a treat.  She made hot candy cane cocoa and marshmallows.  Everyone had a change to say "Yes, I want cocoa.", or "No thank you.  I don't want cocoa."

I didn't have much chance to take pictures of our cocoa party because I was THE MOST popular person in the room.  Most of the kids loved having hot cocoa with Snack Time.

Do this at home.  Look at family pictures together. Talk about Who/What/Where.  Do you see any opposites?  Short and tall?  Warm and cold? Day and night? Big and small?

At then end of your family activity, make hot cocoa.  When Miss Carrie is at home, she likes whipped cream in her cocoa.  Talk about what you like in your cocoa, or if you don't like cocoa at all.

Let's Build a Snow Person

 Transition Song: Must Be Santa by Raffi

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: cold, eyes, nose, mouth, hands, hair, snow, seeds, nuts, strings, bells, fork, hay, popcorn, What questions, Where questions.

This week, Miss Carrie showed us the book Snowballs by Lois Ehlert.  

There were pictures of different snow people, a snow cat and a snow dog.  We talked about the materials used on each one.  

Miss Carrie really wanted to make a snow person.  She even brought a bag full of items to put on a snow person.  But we had a problem.  Miss Carrie couldn't bring snow into the school.  And no one had gloves so we could build a snow person outside.  What could we do?  Maybe, we could turn one of the teachers into a snow person.  Would that solve our problem?  Who would we choose to turn into a snow person?

Look and see...

 DO THIS AT HOME:  What do you have to build a snow person?  Gather some items from around the house.  Build a snow person outside or pick someone to be the snow person inside.  Label all the items, talks about tall/short, cold, and action words.  Finish up this activity with a cup of hot cocoa.

Can I Wreck It?

Transition Song: Five Little Ghosts by The Kiboomers

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: Wreck/wrecks/wrecked, knock/knocks/knocked, dinosaur, robot, blocks, building, Can I, yes/no, wait, problem, solve, happy, sad, mad, worried, afraid.

This week Miss Carrie read the book Rex Wrecks It by Ben Clanton.  In the book, Rex keeps wrecking everything.  Wreck means to knock something down or break it. The group in the book has a problem with that and comes up with two solutions. There was a lot of RAWR-ing in the book.  We had fun talking about how the characters in the book could solve the problem.

Then Miss Carrie brought out boxes to use like big blocks.  We could build things together.  But, if we wanted to knock it down or wreck it, we had to ask "Can I knock it down?" Friends could answer yes or no.  If they said no, we had to wait.  Sometimes waiting is so hard!  Friends felt bad or sad or frustrated if their blocks were wrecked and they didn't want that to happen.  It was a good thing to practice.

DO THIS AT HOME: Pull out boxes or blocks, build, and then practice asking first to wreck it.  Talk about your feelings if someone wrecks it before you said yes or no.