Draw A Neighborhood Map

 Transition Song: The Color Song by The Learning Station

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: draw, up/down, dog, horse, neighborhood, street, sidewalk, windows, door, trees, cars, park, grocery store, library, firehouse, traffic lights, big/little, in front/in back/on top/under/next to, What/Where/Who questions, plural -s, possessive 's, past tense -ed, environmental print such as McDonalds, or other store names.

This week, Miss Carrie drew a map of her neighborhood.  She lives next to the park.  She lives next to a lot of horses (many kids thought she was drawing a dinosaur or a giraffe. Miss Carrie needs to practice her drawing skills).  She has big trees around her house.  There is a McDonalds down the street and past some traffic lights.

Then, Miss Carrie rolled a big piece of paper all the way across the rug.  She passed out crayons.  Everyone lay down on their tummy to draw their neighborhood.  Some people lived near animals.  Some people lived near parks.  There were big houses and small houses, rainbows, water, swings, and slides.  We talked about what we had near our houses.

 

DO THIS AT HOME:  Go for a walk or a drive around your neighborhood and talk about what you see.  Then, at home, draw a map of the neighborhood.  It doesn't need to be detailed or even accurate.  The goal is to talk about what you see.  The store, the gas station, animals, water, other homes, gardens, stop signs, stop lights. What ever you think will interest your child.   You could draw a map to a grandparents house. You could draw a map to the store.  Focus on your interaction and language with  your child.

Hot and Cold and Hot Cocoa!

 Transition Song:  Colors by The Learning Station

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: hot/cold, warm/cold, big/small, short/tall, high/low, fast/slow, heavy/light, day/night, in/out, whisper/shout, wear\k/strong, right/wrong, young/old, wet/dry, hello/goodbye, up/down, same/different, Who questions, What questions.

This week, Miss Carrie read the book Opposites by Sandra Boynton.

We talked about opposites. We knew up and down.  But some of the others were different.  We talked a lot about hot and cold.  Some of our friends sent in pictures which Miss Carrie put up on the Apple TV.  We talked about if they were in a place that was hot or cold.  If it was cold, the friends in the pictures wore coats, hats, and gloves.  Usually there was snow.  If they were warm, they were inside and weren't wearing coats.  It was so much fun to see what our friends did over Winter Break.

We had a special treat this week.  Miss Carrie made hot cocoa with marshmallows!  When asked if we wanted hot cocoa, we could say yes or no.  We talked about if we liked hot cocoa and if we drink it at home. If we didn't want any hot cocoa, we could still feel the side of the pitcher as we talked about warm and then feel the side of a chocolate milk carton that was cold.

Did you know we have child-sized pitchers?  We can pour things ourselves.  While we pour we count "One-two-three! That's enough for me!" so we know when to stop pouring.  If we spill, that's okay! We can get towels to clean it up.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Talk about hot/warm/cold.  Is the food warm or cold? Is the bathwater warm or cold?  Go on a walk out side and talk about it.  Talk about other opposites.  Mom and Dad are big and I am small.  These socks are the same, but this sock is different.

I Love My Red Shoes!

 Transition Song: Must Be Santa By Raffi. (Note: we sing the first three verses and without the music.  We sing it much slower that the music.  This is a great song for learning to answer the question Who.)

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: big/little, same/different, on/off, wet/dry heavy/light, What/Where/Who/When, labeling colors, laces, straps, buckles, slip on, velcro, cry, wear.

This week, we read Miss Carrie's favorite book Pete The Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin and James Dean.

Miss Carrie loves Pete The Cat so much, she dresses like Pete The Cat for Halloween. 

Pete The Cat with RED shoes!

We noticed that Pete's shoes looked the same but they changed to different colors. We sang the song about I Love My White/Red/Blue/Brown/Wet shoes.

Then Miss Carrie brought out a lot of shoes.  Some were big and some were small.  Some looked the same and some looked different.  Some had buckles or laces or velcro.  Some had nothing and just slipped on.  There were so many different colors.  Miss Carrie even brought her Pete The Cat red shoes!

DO THIS AT HOME:  Pull out your shoes.  Match shoes together, talk about same/different, big/small, laces, buckles, velcro, and colors.  And where do shoes go?  Practice putting shoes where they go at your house.

You can find Pete The Cat: I Love My White Shoes at the library.

Yummy or Yucky? Things We Should And Should Not Eat.

 Transition Song: The Gobble Gobble Song by Noomi

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: yummy/yucky, like/don't like, spaghetti, worms, blueberries, blue crayons, soup, soap, sandwiches, sand, cookies, cocoa, coffee, chocolate sauce, hot sauce, apple pie, mud pie, hamburgers, boogers, eggs, earwax, fish sticks, fish food, ice cream, (labeling food and toy items in the classroom), negation (no, not), descriptive words (crunchy, spicy, cold, hot, sweet).

We read the Book Yummy Yucky By Leslie Patricelli

The baby gets confused.  He puts yummy things we can eat in his mouth.  But then he puts yucky things in his mouth we shouldn't eat.  Everyone talked about what was yummy (spaghetti, soup, ice cream), and what was yucky (worms, boogers, sand).

Then we took things from around the room and talked about what we could put in our mouths (if it were real) like foods.  We shouldn't put pretend foods or toys in our mouths.  We practiced pretend eating.

DO THIS AT HOME:  talk about things we eat (foods your having for your meals that day) and things around your house we shouldn't put in our mouths (toys, shoes).