February Week 3: H-H-H

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

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: Who/What/Where questions, big/little, labeling, describing words, have, yes/no, Heart, house, hippo, horse, hand, horseshoe crab, helicopter, honey, hamburger, hotdog, harmonica, hair, hammer, hat, hammock, hanger, helmet, Humpty Dumpty.

This week Miss Carrie taped pictures all around the room.  All the pictures started with the /h/ sound.  We practiced on our hands so we could feel the air moving out of our mouths.  /h-h-h/. We were going on a hunt for /h/ pictures!

Everyone pretended to hold binoculars to their face and said this: "Binoculars up! I have a picture and it starts with /h/."  Then we found the pictures around the room.  What is it?  Where have I seen it before?  Who has one at their house?  Do you like it or don't like it?  Is it big or little?  If there was time, Miss Carrie gave us pictures to match with the pictures we were hunting.

We knew most of the words but we didn't know horseshoe crab or harmonica. Miss Carrie showed us a video of horseshoe crabs.  She really likes horseshoe crabs.

Then Miss Carrie showed us a video of a 6 year old kid playing the harmonica.  We noticed that he was blowing so his cheeks puffed out.  We noticed that sometimes he moved his hand to make the sound different.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Go on a hunt for pictures and objects around your house, around the park, around the store, or where ever your are. Pick a sound. What can you find?  Talk about the picture/object.  Ask What/Where/Who questions, describe it (big, yellow, small, bumpy, soft), Do you like it/don't like it. Make sure you repeat the sound over and over during play to reinforce it. Picking the first sound in your family names is a good place to start.

April Week 2: Fat Cat and Conflict Resolution

phoneme: /k/

Transition Song: One Finger One Thumb Keep Moving

Materials: What Will Fat Cat Sit On? By Jan Thomas, Laminated letter C, puppets

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: happy, scared, worried, on/off, problem, solving, chair, cow, dog, chicken, pig, cat, mouse not, animals sounds, yes/no, "I want ________" phrases

Preliteracy: Draw the letter C.  Who has a letter C in their name?  Miss Carrie does!  Sometimes a letter C makes a /k/ sound and sometimes it makes a /s/ sound. 

This week, Miss Carrie read the book What Will Fat Cat Sit On by Jan Thomas.  (Hey, did you hear that Fat and Cat sound the same?  They rhyme!)  Fat Cat has a problem.  He doesn't know where to sit.  His friends have to help him solve the problem.  He wants to sit on all of them.  They do NOT want Fat Cat to sit on them.  Mouse has a solution to the problem that everyone can agree on.  We discovered if Fat Cat agreed to the solution, too. (Miss Carrie loves to use this book to talk about conflict resolution.  By this time, many of the children have had more than a few months to learn about conflict resolution as we solve problems in class.)  We also practiced animal sounds.  We noticed the animals feelings.  We labeled happy and mad.  Miss Carrie introduced a new feeling: worried.  The animals looked worried when Fat Cat wanted to sit on them......well, except the dog.  He was MAD! (which the children thought very funny)

Then Miss Carrie brought out puppets.  She had a lamb puppet.  The lamb liked to sit on knees or shoulders or heads.  The lamb asked us if she could sit on our knee.  We could say yes or no.  Sometimes we gave the lamb a hug.  Miss Carrie had a lot of puppets.  We could pretend to have our puppets ask if they could play or fly or sit on friends heads.  Then we could ask to trade.  Friends could say yes or no.  We also practiced conflict resolution if anyone wanted the same puppets.

Miss Carrie singing One Finger, One Thumb, One Arm, One LEG!

Pig is feeling worried! Can you make a worried face?

Fat Cat is feeling scared!  Can you make a scared face?

Dog is feeling mad!  Can you growl like Dog?

Lambie Pie asking if she can sit on his knee.  He said no.

Lambie Pie asking if she can hug the pink rabbit

Lambie Pie LOVES hugs but she always asks first.

Showing off his bee puppet.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Make puppets or use toys.  In conflict resolution, everyone has to agree to the solution.  This is also a great time for children to practice yes or no. And their puppet voices are hysterical.

February Week 4: Hot Potato

Phoneme: /h/

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

Materials: 6 potatoes

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  hot, potato, He/She, same/different, Who-questions, I do/I don’t, “me”, move, hand, in front/behind, my turn, go/stop, plural -s, present progressing -ing, my turn, fast/slow

This week Miss Carrie brought potatoes into the classroom.  They weren't cooked and they weren't hot.  There were sweet potatoes and white potatoes.  She taught us a game called Hot Potato.  We had to pretend the potatoes were hot.  We practiced saying:

Hot potato, hot potato, hot-hot-hot!

Miss Carrie asked everyone to sit in a circle.  We practiced passing potatoes around the circle. (Note to parents:  In occupational therapy this is called crossing midline.  It's an important skill.)  We had to constantly be looking to see our friends passing us the potatoes.  We chanted "Hot potato, hot potato, hot-hot-hot!".  When Miss Carrie called out "STOP!", if we had a potato, we held it.  Miss Carrie would call out "Who has a potato?"  If we had one, we held it up and said "I do!".  Then Miss Carrie asked "Who doesn't have a potato?"  If our hands were empty, we held them both up and shook them while saying "I don't!"  We practiced over and over so everyone had a chance to hold a potato.  We passed in front of us and we passed behind us.  We passed left and right and sometimes both ways.  Learning negation (I do/I don't) is a step beyond yes/no.  We were laughing whether or not we ended up with the potato. We problem solved when we thought our friends were not passing the potato and trying to hold onto it.

DO THIS AT HOME:  play games!  Practice I do/I don't phrases, My turn/Your turn phrases, problem solve, and celebrate who has a good turn.  Narrate what is happening throughout the game.  Look for games where you sit and face each other and communicate back and forth. Rolling a a ball between you, a water fight, blowing bubbles, board game, passing items.  It is a great way to spend time with your child.

November Week 1: FOOD!

phoneme: /t/

Transition Song:  Gobble Gobble (The Thanksgiving Song) by Nooshi

We're learning this song without the music first so we can take it slower than the recording.  Also, we are only learning the first two verses.  This is a song that will get stuck in your head!

Materials: pictures of foods and classroom items, laminated letter T, pictures of turkey, pilgrim, and traditional Thanksgiving foods.

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: familiar and unfamiliar food items (pizza, apples, carrots, tomatoes, doughnuts, spaghetti, play dough, blocks, crayons, paint, not, like/don’t like, food/not food.

Pre-literacy:  Let's draw the letter T.  "Draw top to bottom.  Now back to the top.  Draw left to right and then we stop."  Let's make the sound /t,t,t,t,t,t,t/.  Who has a /t/ sound in their name? What else has the /t/ sound?  Top, bottom, left, right, time, table.

This month we are talking about about food and Thanksgiving.  Miss Carrie brought out a lot of pictures of foods and items around the classroom (paint, playdough, crayons, blocks) and things from outside (rocks).  We talked with our teachers and friends and Miss Carrie about the pictures.  Was the picture was food or not food?  Do you like it?  Miss Carrie likes tomatoes, broccoli, peaches, spaghetti, and fries.  Miss Carrie does not like peas.  What happens if we put Miss Jen's or Miss Jeana's blocks or crayons or playdough in our mouths?  We would have to wash the blocks.  We would have to throw away the playdough.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Talk about the foods you are eating at mealtimes together.  Do you like it?  What foods do you not like?

Miss Jen is signing 'milk'.

Other things that happened in the classroom:

We're signing a cast!

April Week 1: Fat Cat, Puppets and Prepositions

Phoneme: /p/

Transition Song: One Finger, On Thumb

(Miss Carrie's version is slower and slightly different words: "One finger, one thumb, one arm, one leg, one head, stand up, sit down, turn around, keep moving. We'll all be happy today." This is a great song for working memory and sequencing.) The children think this song is a lot of fun.  When they are used to the song, we'll change the body parts and have to memorize a new sequence.

Materials: laminated letter P, What Will Fat Cat Sit On book, puppets.

Vocabulary and basic concepts: What, Where, On/Under, animals, animal sounds, worried, mad, happy, negation (Not).

Pre-literacy:  Let's draw the letter P.  Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and draw a little around.  What sound does it make? /p-p-p-p-p-/.  Who has a /p/ sound in their name?  What words have that sound? This children came up with papa, puppy, purple princess parties, top, apple, map, happy. Miss Carrie said that her favorite snack was popcorn.

Miss Carrie read a book called What Will Fat Cat Sit On by Jan Thomas.  Fat Cat has a problem.  Fat Cat doesn't know WHAT to sit on?  Should he sit on The Cow?  The Pig?  The animals do NOT want Fat Cat to sit on them.  Finally The Mouse offers a solution that everyone agrees on.

Then Miss Carrie brought out a lot of animal/insect puppets: sheep, lion, elephant, zebra, chipmunk, bee, spider, dinosaurs, cat, dog, bears.  Everyone got to choose a puppet.  Miss Carrie showed how her lamb puppet could sit ON the floor.  She asked a friend if the lamb puppet could sit on their shoulder. (If a puppet wants to sit on someone, we must ask the friend if it is okay).  Everyone took their puppets all around the room and talked about sitting on the chair, under the chair, on the table, under the table, on the shelf.  We asked friends if it was okay if a puppet sat on their head.  It was okay to say no.  When it was time to come back to the rug, everyone had a chance to tell the class what their puppet sat on.

DO THIS AT HOME:  No puppets?  No problem.  Take a favorite toy and talk about the toy ON or UNDER something.  Let everyone get involved. It is pretty funny if mom or dad or grandma or grandpa get under the table.  Don't forget to go to the library and check out more Jan Thomas Books.

February Week 1: Hot Potato, Hot, Hot, HOT!

phoneme: /h/

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

For the song, it is sung like B-I-N-G-O.  In preschool we are singing and clapping the H-E-A-R-T every single verse.  We don't eliminate any of the letters.

Materials:  Laminated Letter H, large baker potatoes and sweet potatoes

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: hot/cold, fast/slow, I do/I don't, pass, look, stop, negation, Who questions, problem solving.

Pre-literacy:  Let's draw the letter H.
Start at the top and draw straight down saying Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha.
Go to the right and do the same saying Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey.
Now in the middle, left to right, saying Hee-Hee-Hee-Hee just like me.

What words can you think of that have the /h/ sound?  Happy, help, hop, hot, hat.

Miss Carrie brought a bag to Large Group.  In the bag were three BIG potatoes.  Two of them were white potatoes and one was a sweet potato.  We all had a chance to say if we liked potatoes and if we had ever tried sweet potatoes.

Then Miss Carrie taught us how to play the Hot Potato game.  We sat in a circle and passed potatoes while we said:
Hot Potato, Hot Potato, Hot, Hot, Hot!
Hot Potato, Hot Potato, Hot, Hot, Hot!
Hot Potato, Hot Potato, Hot, Hot, Hot!

After a while, Miss Carrie would call out AAAAANNND STOP!  We all stopped passing potatoes.  Then Miss Carrie asked "Who has a potato?"  Everyone holding a potato called out "I do!"
Miss Carrie asked "Who doesn't have a potato?"  Everyone who didn't have a potato raised both hands in the air and shook them while calling out "I don't!"

We played this again and again.  We chose if we were going to pass to the left or to the right.  We figured out different ways to pass the potatoes: behind our backs, behind our heads, in front of our eyes in slow motion, or we turned around and faced away from the circle so we couldn't see who had the potatoes until we stopped. We problem solved when we noticed that all the potatoes were ending up in one person's lap.

DO THIS AT HOME:  play a passing game, and stop to see who has the item.  Look around the house for items that have the /h/ sound in their name.

Aug/Sept Week 3: Will It Bounce?

phoneme: /b/

Transition Song: Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy

Materials: feathers, puppets, stuffed toys, small balls, big exercise ball

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: bounce, experiment, does/does not, roll(ed), float(ed), flop(ped), fell, high/low, fast/slow, What, predicting, negation (Not), squishy

We didn't have time to do our preliteracy and draw the letter B because we had a lot of things going on.  We tried an EXPERIMENT.  An experiment is what you try to see what will happen.  We wanted to know if certain items would BOUNCE.

First we tried feathers.  We predicted what would happen if we held the feathers high and let them go.  Will they bounce?  Let's see.  READY! SET! GO!  Did it bounce?  No, my feather floated. Everyone had a chance to tell the group what happened to his or her feather.

Next, we tried puppets.  We predicted what would happen if we held the puppets high and let them go.  This time, more of the children predicted that it would NOT bounce.  READY! SET! GO!  My puppet fell to the floor.  It did not bounce. Everyone had a chance to share what happened to his or her puppet.

My puppet fell.

Third, we tried stuffed toys.  They were squishy.  Would they bounce?  This time, all of the children predicted that the toy would not bounce.  READY! SET! GO!  My toy rolled.  We tried it again and this time my toy flopped. It really depended on what toy you had.  There were ladybugs, frogs, and turtles.  The lady bugs rolled, the frogs flopped, and the turtles fell flat.

Now we're trying the stuffed toys.

Last we tried.....bouncy balls!  These balls were just big enough to hold in two hands.  All of the children predicted that their ball would bounce.  READY! SET! GO!  The balls bounced and bounced.  They also rolled.  We pulled out a big exercise ball and each of the children had a turn to bounce (fast!) on it while we sang the Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy song again.

Trying out the bouncy balls.

And here are some other things that happened this week:

Miss Jen uses a Big Mac button that says "hello" as part of her greeting time.

Building a big tower.

The sensory table has colored rice inside.

The castle is always fun in Miss Jeana's classroom.

Stamping with pumpkin stamps and orange ink.