Aug/Sept Week 5: Bouncy Bouncy Balloons in a Box

Phoneme: /b/

Transition Song: Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy

Materials: small cardboard box, 12" balloons, laminated letter B

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: big/little, breath, blow, box, counting to 5+, high/low, big, bigger, biggest, bounce, hands, feet, predict(ing).

Pre-literacy: It was our last week with letter B.  Miss Carrie had the kids teach her how to draw the letter B.

Miss Carrie brought out a little box.  She had something in the box.  She said it was little but it would get bigger.  Miss Carrie shook the box and everyone took turns predicting what was in the box.  It was balloons!  Miss Carrie asked "How many breaths will it take to blow up the balloon?"  Everyone predicted 1, 2, 5, 10, 1000!  Everyone counted while Miss Carrie blew up the balloon.  1-2-3-4-5!  Is this big enough.  Miss Carrie tied the balloon and then brought out another balloon.  Everyone predicted how many breaths to blow up the balloon. This time it took 6 breaths.  Is it bigger than the first balloon?  Yes.  Miss Carrie brought out a third balloon.  Everyone guessed how many breaths it would take to blow up the balloon.  This time it took 7 breaths.  Is this balloon bigger than the other balloons?  It was the biggest balloon!

Next came the fun part.  Miss Carrie bounced the balloons in the air and everyone could bounce the balloons with their hands.  Miss Carrie reminded everyone to stay on their pockets so they didn't crash into their friends.  Everyone experimented with blowing on the balloons.  Did they move?  When this activity was over, Miss Carrie took the balloons outside to pop them (because some kids might be scared of the loud popping noise.)

Aug/Sept Week 4: Who's Behind The.......

phoneme:/b/

Transition Song:  Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy

Materials: Laminated letter B, poster of birthday cake

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  Who questions, behind/in front, up/down, simple pronoun - Me, birthday cake, candles, jump.

Preliteracy:  Let's look at the letter B.  I see a straight line that goes up and down.  I see two curvy lines that look like bouncing. Let's trace the letter B.  "Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and bounce around." What words have that sound?  Bumble bee, ball, basket, elbow, cowboy, rub, crab.

This week we're talking about Who questions and the concept of behind.  Who is wearing red today?  who is wearing blue today?  Who is wearing shoes today? Everyone is wearing shoes today!  Miss Carrie has a big picture of a birthday cake.  We know it is a birthday cake because it has candles on top.  Miss Carrie hid behind the birthday cake.  Then we all sang and clapped the beat or tapped our knees

Who's behind the cake?
Who's behind the cake?
Who's behind the cake?
(Everyone put their hands in the air and said loudly)
Come out now!

(Miss Jen changed the final line to counting 1-2-3-4-5! because she had some children who needed that skill.)

Miss Carrie jumped up and threw her hands in the air and said "ME!  I'm behind the cake!" Everyone wanted a turn! Everyone got a turn to hide behind the cake while the class sang.  Miss Carrie would ask "Who is behind the cake!" and everyone had a chance to jump up and say "ME!"

Hiding BEHIND the birthday cake.

Jumping up to say "It's ME!"

DO THIS AT HOME:  Start asking who questions about people in the room.  Who is wearing shoes?  Who has long hair? Who is the mommy/daddy?  Who likes spaghetti (or whatever you're having for dinner)?  Look for items around the house.  Your shoes are behind the door.  Who is behind mommy/daddy?

And now, more pictures from Small Group, Work Time, and Outside Time.

September Language Calendar

The Moog Center For Deaf Education puts out a language calendar every month that I love.  They have great ideas for language that are easy to do at home and are adaptable for every ability.  Check it out.  You can print your own copy from their site here.  Thanks, Moog!

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.