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.

Article: Children't Shouldn't Flip Flop Their Way Through Summer

We (Miss Jeana, Miss Jen, and I) are concerned with safety on the playground.  We've noticed that flip flops are not supportive and can lead to increased injuries on the playground.  Not to mention that they are constantly falling off little feet when playing.  Here is a great article that explains the reasons.  Click on the title below to access the article.

Children Shouldn't Flip Flop  Their Way Through Summer

The READ Board

Every year our school does something I love.  The teachers all feature a book, add props, and take a portrait for the main hall at school.  Our pre-K students who ride the bus see it every day.  I wanted to make sure that all of our families saw the pictures. Show your children and then come to school and try to find our pictures on the board.

Miss Jeana

Miss Jen

Miss Carrie

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.

Aug/Sept Week 1: Bouncy, Glitter, and Germs

phoneme: /b/

Transition Song: Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy by Rachel Arntson Vocalmotion

(Note: we do not bounce on bouncy balls, but we do bounce our legs, knees, elbows, noses - that is hard! -, shoulders, heads, and whole body.  The children pick what to bounce next.)

Materials: music, laminated letter B, glitter, sheet, sanitizer, hand washing items

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: clean/dirty, top/bottom, up/down, front/behind, First and Next, fingers, thumbs, rub, wash, rinse, bounce, knees, shoulders, toes, head

Pre-literacy: Let's look at the letter B!  First we found the top and the bottom of the letter be.  We noticed straight lines and curved lines. We practice the bouncing sound b-b-b-b-b-b.  We shared words we knew with the /b/ sound: banana, baby, bubble, Boston Baked Beans (seriously, one of our preschoolers threw that one out there!), bounce, bathroom, back, behind.  Then we practiced tracing the letter B with our fingers.  Miss Carrie handed everyone a letter B to practice.  "Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and bounce around."

Practice this at home.  What objects can you find that have the /b/ sound?

Next we talked about germs.  Germs are like little bugs, too tiny to see.  They get on our hands if we put them in our mouths, if we sneeze or cough into our hands, or if we use our hands to pick or wipe our noses.  We did an experiment to see how germs spread.  Miss Carrie pretended to sneeze and her hands were covered with glitter!  We pretended that the glitter was germs.  When Miss Carrie high-fived everyone, the glitter spread to their hands.

Then we learned how to wash our hands.  We practiced with hand sanitizer and washed the tops and bottoms of our hands (the backs and palms of hands), in between our fingers, and then rubbed them all over.  Afterwards we practiced with soap: FIRST wash hands with soap all over.  NEXT put hands under the water to rinse germs away.

Miss Carrie DOES NOT want to get sick so it is important to learn to wash our hands.  Miss Jen and Miss Jeana do not want to get sick, either.  We learned a song to the tune of Frere Jaques:

"Tops and bottoms

tops and bottoms

in between

in between

rub your hands together

rub your hands together

now they're clean

now they're clean."

And just for fun, here are some of the activities chosen during Work Time, which is really play time.  For children play is work.  Learning through play is the interesting topic for another time.

 Playdough

 Building car ramps

 Gluing, cutting, and drawing

 Building tall structures

The sensory table is very popular in Miss Jeana's room. Right now it is full of beans.

Playing house is serious business.

We have a lot of animals.

Someone decided to make a dinosaur zoo.

Miss Jen wanted to demonstrate to the children what could happen if they ran in the classroom.  She planned and performed the most glorious, epic prat fall ever seen.  Unfortunately, her demonstration did cause an injury.  So if you children are talking about Miss Jen's owie, it wasn't serious but still painful. 

Back To School

I don't remember what Miss Jen said.  

But I can tell you right now......this is going to be a great year!

Back To School Night

Tuesday August 22, 2017

5:30-7:30 p.m.

Back To School Night

Come meet your Teachers and Speech-Language Pathologist.

Come look at your classroom.

Come play with the toys!

Please be aware that all students and parents will be here at the same time.  Miss Jeana, Miss Jen, and I will do our best to speak to each one of you.  I will be bouncing between two rooms, so if you don't see me, stay put!  I will be there soon.