October Week 2: Stop and Go (and other basic concepts)

phoneme: /g/

Transition Song: Five Little Ghosts by the Kiboomers

Materials: laminated letter G, Jim Gill's Silly Dance Contest, street signs for Stop, Go, Slow

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: Stop/Go, Fast/Slow, High/Low, silly, stand up/sit down

Pre-Literacy:  Let's draw the letter G.  "Draw half a circle, not a frown.  Go across the middle and then down."  What other words can we think of that have the /g/ sound?  The children came up with gumdrop, goose, goat, mug, big, bag, wag, bigger.

This is a favorite.  It's the Silly Dance Contest! 

We listened to the song and followed directions.  Miss Carrie had a Stop sign, a Go sign, and a Slow sign.  The children kept anticipating and yelling GO! right before the music said GO!  We danced fast and slow, we jumped high.  When the music STOPPED we had to freeze.  Sometimes we had silly poses or silly faces.  Then Miss Carrie and all the kids would call out GO! and start again.  Then we raised our hands HIGH and then sunk LOW and the music went lower until we were all laying on the ground and laughing.

In case you don't know it, I adore Jim Gill.  His songs are fun and encourage parents and kids to sing and dance together.  If you ever have a chance to attend one of his concerts, it will be well worth your time.  In the meantime, you can find his music online or at your local library.

Aug/Sept Week 2: THINGS THAT GO

phoneme: /b/

Transition Song: Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy (we tried bouncing our hair)

Materials: laminated letter B, Sound Touch App, laminated traffic signs

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: stop/go, fast/slow, loud/soft, big/little, vehicles, bus, boat, bike, airplane, train, carriage, tractor, helicopter, firetruck, motorcycle, car, semi/tractor trailer/big rig, What questions.

Pre-literacy:  We looked at the letter B upside down, backwards, and right side up to make sure we knew which way was the right way.  We noticed the straight line and the bouncy lines.  We found the top and the bottom of the letter B.  Then we practiced drawing the letter B.  "Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and bounce around."

Next I pulled out my iPad with the SoundTouch app.  It has an app that plays the sounds of animals, vehicles, musical instruments, weather, and household sounds.  Along with each sound comes a series of 4 or 5 photographs of the object that makes that particular sound.  First we listened with our ears (and turned our voices off) to try to determine what vehicle was making the sound.  Then I showed everyone the picture to see if they were write in their predictions.  We listened to cars, trucks, firetrucks, helicopters, trains, tractors, air planes, motorcycles, busses and bikes.

Next I gave traffic signs to the teachers.  Stop, Go, One Way, arrows showing a turn with the word "Only" at the bottom.  I had the children each pick what vehicle they would like to pretend to drive.  We drove/flew around the preschool room, obeying the traffic signs.

After driving around and obeying the signs, we sat back down on the rug and each child was asked "What did you pretend to drive?"  Everyone loved telling the teachers what they were driving.

Do This At Home:  Look for Stop and Go signs when you are out and about.  Point out cars, fire trucks, police cars, bikes, tractors, and other vehicles.  Play together at home and build roads, ramps, and other ways for vehicles (or you!) to pretend to drive on/under/over/around.  Verbally narrate every single thing you are doing.  You will feel like you are talking to much.  NO, you aren't!  You are increasing your child's vocabulary.