October Week 1: Fall Leaves

Phoneme: /g/

Transition Song: Five Little Ghost by the Kiboomers.

(Be warned: this is very popular with the kids every single year)

Materials: laminated letter G, Book: Leaf Man, Book: Fall Leaves Fall, box of fake leaves

Vocabulary and basic concepts: Fall, Autumn, Leaves, falling, colors, red, yellow, brown, green, cold/hot, up/down, throwing, catching

Pre-literacy: I see a curved line that almost looks like a circle.  I see straight lines that almost look like a square.  Let's draw the letter G.  "Draw half a circle, not a frown.  Go across the middle and then down." Who has a name with the /g/ sound?  When I put my fingers on my throat and make the /g/ sound, I can feel my fingers move.  They tickle, too.  What words have the /g/ sound? Grape, good, girl, tiger, lego, yogurt, bug, dog, pig.

This week we're reading two books: Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

And Fall Leaves Fall by Zoe Hall

We're talking about how it is getting colder outside.  That cold weather turns the leaves different colors and then they fall off the trees.

Miss Carrie has a lot of very big trees at her house.  They are starting to turn colors.

So Miss Carrie brought a box of leaves to the class.  She introduced them to one of her most favorite fall activities - playing in the leaves.  We threw them, compared colors and sizes, piled them on people, and scooped them up again.

In Miss Jeana's room:

 
 
 
 
 

 

And Miss Jen's classrooms

 

 
 

Back to Miss Jeana's class

DO THIS AT HOME: Go on a leaf hunt.  Walk around the block or around the park and collect leaves. Talk about colors, shapes, sizes, big trees, little trees, falling leaves, and if it is cold outside.  Talk about the clothes you need to wear to keep warm.

Pre-literacy: Letter and Sound Exposure

Some of you are wondering how I work on the pre-literacy section I do as part of Large Group.  I think you'll be surprised.

 

Every child gets a letter.  We explore the straight lines and curvy lines.  (by the way, Miss Jen told me that if you practice circles, triangles, and square, you'll be able to write any letter).  We look for the top of the letter, the bottom, and the middle.  Then we practice drawing the letter.  We talk about the sound(s) it makes and what words might have those sounds or whose name has that sound.

What looks like a child holding the letter upside down, from her view it is right side up.  What looks like writing the wrong way is still exposure.  The child is exploring the curves and straight lines.

According to Miss Jeana and Miss Jen, kindergarten does not require children to know all their letters.  The recommendation is knowing 10 letters.  Reading is NOT a requirement for kindergarten.

What is happening in Small Group?

Look at what we did during Small Group this week!

Miss Jeana's class read the book Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh.

Another group did playdough birthday cakes.  They put craft stick candles in them.  Then they counted them and decided who had more candles and who had less.  Of course, we had to sing "Happy Birthday" many times!

Another activity was throwing beanbag toys into boxes.  The children then counted how many landed in the box and charted totals.  They determined who had more and who had less.  

In Miss Jen's class, we fit lids onto containers and talked about big/little.  We traded sizes and problem solved to find all the lids to put on the right containers.

Another Small Group activity was looking at rocks through magnifying glasses and describing them.  Smooth or rough?  Big or little?  Same or different? What color? Everyone had fun looking through magnifying glasses.

One more picture, this one from Work Time.