Over, Under Around, And Through The Obstacle Course

 Transition Song: Wake Up! Daily Routine by Dream English

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: over/under, around, through, in/out, up/down, step, jump, jog, crab walk, jumping jacks, balance, stretch, hop, squat, circle arms, touch toes, reach, walk, Who/What. grammatical markers -ing and -ed.

This week, Miss Carrie set up hoops, action squares, tunnels, stairs, and tents.  She made an obstacle course!  We had to remember two rules:

1. Walking feet.

2. Go in and out of the tunnels and tents.  We can't stay inside.  Other friends want to come in and out.

We could choose where to go and what to do.  The action squares had pictures on them of what to do.  If we weren't sure, we could ask a teacher for help.  Miss Carrie took pictures, then showed them on the screen.  We talked about Who was in the picture and What they were doing.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Either make your own obstacle course with table, chairs, cushions, pillows and stairs

 

-OR- 

head to the park.  Use your announcer voice and narrate what your child is doing.  Use action words, (EX: walking/walked, jumping/jumped),  opposites (EX: up/down, in/out, over/under), descriptions (EX: fast/slow, high), and label items you are using.  Take pictures.  Then, later with all the family, look at the pictures and talk about Who is in the picture and What they are doing.

Exercise: You want to do HOW MANY?!

 Transition Song: Wake Up! Daily Routines by Dream English

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  Who/What questions, How many?, in front/behind, up/down, fast/slow, high/low, loud/quiet, jump, spin, sway, dance, balance, hop, step, run, push up, sit up, lift, stretch, arm, leg, feet, ankle, hand, wrist, neck, head, 1, 3, 5, 10. Plural-s, progressive -ing, and past tense -ed.

This is our last week for exercising.  This week, we had to decide What to do and HOW MANY to do.  The kids were in charge of planning it all.  We turned on instrumental exercise music with a fast beat.  Everyone had multiple turns to decide what to do.  We jumped, we balanced, we danced, we stepped.  We decided what to do.  There is always more than one child who wants to do 10 pushups.  There is always one who wants to jump like a superhero or jump and then freeze in a superhero pose.  There are always many who want to balance.  We had no shortage of ideas of what to do.  Some of it may not have looked like typical exercises, but we certainly got in a good workout with a lot of repetitions of counting to 10. We labeled what we were doing (EX: jumping, jumps, jumped). Then we turned on calm yoga music and had a cool-down stretch.  We practiced breathing deep.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Turn on some exercise music, gather your family, put your child in charge, and work out together.  It may be only 10-15 minutes.  Use your narrator voice and narrate everything your child wants to do.  Everyone counts out loud together.  Finish up your activity with a cool down stretch and a healthy snack.

Plan A Pose: Preschool Yoga

 Transition Song: Wake Up! Daily Routines by Dream English

(Remember, we do actions differently than this song shows.  Ask your child to show you while you play the song.)

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: high/low, slow, stretch, lion, dog, cat, snake, frog, butterfly, mountain, Who-questions ,What-questions.

This week, Miss Carrie read the book You Are A Lion And Other Fun Yoga Poses By Taeeun Yoo.

 In the book, we read about different poses and tried to guess what animal we were.  We stretched up tall, or stretched on our hands and needs with our back up and head down.  We pretended to be a lion, a frog, a butterfly, a cat, a dog, a snake, and a mountain.

Miss Carrie turned on calm music and we practiced breathing through our nose and out our mouth.  Then we took turns coming up with our own poses. We tried to be a crab, a giraffe and a mouse.

DO THIS AT HOME:  turn on calm music and see what kind of poses your can come up with together as a family.  Put your child in charge.

Make A Plan: First, Next, and Last

 Transition Song: Wake Up! Daily Routines by Dream English

(Our actions to this song are very different from the original.  Your child might know them.)

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  Who-questions, What-questions, first/next/last, plan, exercise, action + ing, action + ed, body parts, counting, wake/woke up, 

First, we sang our transition song.  Then Miss Carrie asked these questions:

Who woke up this morning?

Who washed their face this morning?

Who brushed their teeth this morning?

Who combed their hair this morning?

Who ate breakfast this morning?

Who came to school this morning?

I did!  Everyone had a chance to answer the questions.  

OH, NO!!!! Who exercised this morning?  Miss Carrie forgot to exercise this morning!  Quick, we have to come up with a plan.  We planned what to do first, what to do next, and what to do last.  Miss Carrie wrote the plan on the board.  Everyone talked about what we were doing and counted.  Then we looked over the plan again to make sure we covered everything for first, next, and last.  Everyone came up with more than one plan so we could make sure we got enough exercise.

(Can you recognize what we did for one of our plans?  First, we jumped up and down.  Next, we jumped with our legs out and then jumped our legs in.  Last, we ice-skated from side to side.)

DO THIS AT HOME:  Get some paper and come up with a plan.  Let your child take the lead on what to do first, next, and last.  Have them draw with as much independence as they can, or have them tell you what to draw.  Complete each movement while labeling them first, next, last.  Then go over the plan on the paper to see if  you completed first, next, and last.  It doesn't have to be exercise.  It could be a trip to the store, followed by time at the park, and then home to make dinner.  It could be folding socks, eat lunch, and then play with cars.  This is also a great way for your child to have a visual reminder of what is going on that day.

COLOR DAY!

 Hi, Friends!  Today, we have TWO books I am going to read about colors.  And a color song.

Now, look around your house?  Do you see any colors?  Let's go on a color hunt! I wonder what colors you will find?  Hmmmm.

You could choose to take pictures or draw a picture of all the colors you find. Have your grown ups email them or bring your picture to school when you come back.  We can talk about the colors you find and see if we can find them in our classroom, too.

Happy color hunting!

I Want To Build A Fort

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

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  Who/What/Where, hot/cold, snow, more, fort, play, tall/taller/tallest, blanket, pillow, table, help, problem solving

This week, Miss Carrie showed the pictures that our friends sent in of the Big Snow Day.  There were pictures of friends playing in the snow outside and building forts in their house.  While we looked at the pictures, everyone wanted to build another fort inside the classroom.

What could we use to build a fort? Hmmmmmm.  We had to  look around.  We had blankets, pillows, and tables.  Someone decided a cardboard tube could be a spyglass.  One friend insisted we needed to draw up plans first so he started designing. We needed to build a fort big enough for everyone.  So we built forts.  During Work Time, a friend decided to build another fort. There was a lot of problem solving going on as we tried to figure out how to make the classroom materials work.

(He invited me to come see the fort he built.  It required crawling under the table.)

DO THIS AT HOME:  If you've already built a fort, your child now has an idea of how that process works.  Do it again, give your child the lead, and work on some problem solving.