January Week 2: Dinosaur, Dinosaur

Transition Song: The Color Song by The Learning Station

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: same/different, big/little, loud/quiet, long/short, smooth/spiny, stomp, walk, fly, run, swim, eat, identify parts of a whole (EX: The head of the dinosaur), head, back, feet, Who questions, What questions, Where questions.

This week we read a book together called Dinosaur, Dinosaur by Byron Barton.

Every time Miss Carrie said the word dinosaur we clapped it and said it with her.  The word is divided up into three parts called syllables. We practiced the word over and over.  We said dinosaur with fierce voices, with hungry voices, with tired voices, with tiny voices,  and with big voices.

Then Miss Carrie brought out toy dinosaurs. They looked just like the ones in the book!  We traded with friends if we wanted to.  Then Miss Carrie told us to look at the head of the dinosaur.  We found the head.  Miss Carrie showed us pictures and asked if our dinosaur looked like the picture.  We looked at the back of the dinosaur and the tail of the dinosaurs.  Everyone had dinosaurs that looked different. We talked about which dinosaurs walked on two feet and which ones walked on four feet.

DO THIS AT HOME:  pick out some favorite toys and compare and contrast.  What looks the same and what looks different?  Point out the parts of the toy.  Be sure to get down on the floor and play with the toys with your child.  Let your child lead on what to do.

March Week 2: Plan A Pose

Phoneme: /p/

Transition Song: Wake up - Daily Routines by Dream English

(We're learning how to beat patterns - knees clap, knees clap.  We've also been learning  fun actions while we sing about their plan in the morning to get ready for the day. The best part of that plan is coming to school!)

Materials: Laminated letter P, You Are A Lion book, yoga music

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  Poses, lion, heels, hands, knees, roar, feet, toes, legs, butterfly, wings, stand, bend, touch, dog, stretch, stomach, shoulders, push, snake, hiss, squat, hop, frog, kneel, head, back, cat, palms, high/low, quiet, mountain.

Pre-literacy: Draw the letter P.  This week we pretended to be race cars and then dinosaurs as we drew the letter P.

Miss Carrie asked again (referring to the Wake Up-Daily Routines song) WHO woke up this morning, WHO washed their face, WHO brushed their teeth, WHO ate breakfast, WHO came to school.  We talked about how this was part of our morning plan.

Miss Carrie's morning plan includes exercise.  Usually, she goes to Orange Theory, but sometimes she does yoga.  We read a book called Roar Like A Lion and Other Fun Yoga Poses by Taeeun Yoo.  (Her illustrations are wonderful!) Miss Carrie turned on soft yoga music and we did yoga.

In the book we did yoga poses that looked like lions, cats, dogs, frogs, snakes, and mountains. Some poses were easier than others.  Miss Carrie asked "What does a lion say?" We roared (but quietly) like lions.  We hissed like snakes, making sure our teeth were together and hiding our tongues.  We meowed and woofed and ribbited. Butterflies don't  make sounds but we fluttered our legs like butterfly wings. We tried to predict what animal would be on the next page.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Do yoga together.  No special equipment, just go for it.  You can find children's yoga videos on Youtube or find this book at the library.

Other happenings:

We played outside this week!

February Week 3: What Do You Hear?

phoneme: /h/

Transition Song: H-E-A-R-T by the Kiboomers.  (This week we are singing it without music, slowing it down, and working on the clap pattern.)

Materials: SoundTouch App 1 & 2

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: hear, loud/quiet, big/little, sheep, duck, horse, frog, dog, pig, cow, chicken/rooster, bird, cat, elephant, monkey, lion, zebra, dolphin, snake, flamingo, owl, peacock, bat, turtle, hippo, bee, warthog, What/Where questions, “I want” phrases.

Pre-literacy: we skipped drawing the letter H this week to allow more time for the listening activity.

This week, Miss Carrie pulled out her iPad.  We played a game where we used our listening ears while she played a sound.  We guessed what made the sound.  Then Miss Carrie turned the iPad around so we could see the picture.  There were all kinds of animals and insects.  

SoundTouch 1 & 2 are great apps to talk about environmental sounds.  Each icon has five pictures with corresponding sounds.  Along with animals are vehicles, household, weather, and music sounds.  In class we stick with the animal and vehicle sounds.

Sometimes we guessed right and sometimes we didn't.  Sometimes we even tried to predict what it would be before we heard the sound!  We talked about what it was and where we could see it; also,  if we had one at home.  Miss Carrie has a dog at her house. She does not have a cat, or a pig , or a cow?  Where can we see elephants?  Where do dolphins live?   We had fun talking about where we can see the animals.  We were surprised at the different sounds frogs make.  And the different sounds owls make.  We listened to elephants and tried to make that sound.

This is a favorite Large Group every year.  The children often ask to do it again.

DO THIS AT HOME:  practice making different sounds together.  Listen to sounds while you're driving around or at the store.  Visit the zoo or a farm and talk about different sounds you hear there.