Pre-Literacy:Trace
the Letter T.“Top to Bottom.Now Back to the Top.Left to Right and now we STOP.”Talk about words that have the /t/
sound.Tongue, Teeth, Toes, Turkey,
Tomato. Tickle, Two. Does anyone have a name with the /t/ sound?
Materials required:Laminated
Letter T, Gobble Gobble Picture Binder
Concepts:tongues,
oral motor skills, mirror, Who/What/Where questions
Transition activity:Song:Gobble Gobble (What Does The Turkey Say) by
Nooshi.
Discussion: Let’s talk about Teeth!Who has teeth?How many teeth do you have?Use your tongue to count your teeth. Can you put your tongue in front of your teeth? Can you put your tongue in back of your teeth? That is where we make the t-t-t sound.
We use teeth to chew our food.Chewing food makes food easier to
swallow.Some foods are crunchy and need
a lot of chewing.Some foods are soft
and don’t need a lot of chewing.
Look in the mirror at your teeth.What color are they?Let’s practice brushing our teeth.Pretend with your finger. What color is your toothbrush? Who brushed their teeth this morning?
Song:Signing Time’s
Brushing Teeth. Raffi's Brushing Teeth. Jim Gill's Hands Are For Clapping (it has a verse "Teeth are for brushing....".
The American Academy of Pediatrics has released new growth charts for children with Down syndrome. Due to advances in health care overall, our children with Down syndrome are gaining more weight and growing taller, which is reflected in the new growth charts. The new study included 637 children with Down syndrome up to the age of 20.
I plan on printing the article and making sure that my family doctor has a copy.
I'm grateful for all of the researchers who continue to ask questions and seek answers concerning the Down syndrome population. I don't think you hear it often enough. So, from this mother and SLP, thank you.
It's a new month which means new songs, new sounds, and new activities!
Large Group Activity
Date: November Week 1
Title:Tongues
Phoneme: /t/
Pre-Literacy:Trace
the Letter T.“Top to Bottom.Now Back to the Top.Left to Right and now we STOP.”Talk about words that have the /t/
sound.Tongue, Teeth, Toes, Turkey,
Tomato. Tickle, Two. Does anyone have a name with the /t/ sound?
Materials required:Laminated
Letter t, Pictures of foods typically served at Thanksgiving, Gobble
Gobble Picture Binder, laminated place mat, fork, knife, spoon, cup, plate, napkin, rhythm, choral recitation, sequencing.
Concepts:yummy/yucky,
tongues, oral motor skills, Who/What/Where questions
Transition activity:Song:Gobble Gobble (What Does The Turkey Say) by
Nooshi.
(This song is a great warm up to talking about new foods and familiar foods at your Thanksgiving table. Stuffing, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, rolls). It's also a great start to talk about gratitude (I'm thankful for my family and all my friends, our freedom, and our country).
Discussion: Who has a
tongue?What can you do with your
tongue?Can you do this?We can taste with our tongue.“Taste starts and ends with the /t/
sound!We can move our tongues.Put your tongue on the left corner of your
lips, now right, now back and forth.Can
you like your lips with your tongue?Pretend your tongue is a vacuum and vacuum the bottom of your mouth, the
inside of your cheeks, and the top of your mouth.Let’s walk the vacuum upstairs and do it
again.
What do you like to taste?Let the children name foods.Look
at pictures of foods typically served at Thanksgiving.What tastes good?Do you like turkey?Stuffing?Sweet potatoes?Mashed
potatoes?Rolls? Pie?
Can you roll your tongue like a hot dog bun?Look in the mirror to see.
Let’s set the table.
(Choral recitation with repetition).
Give each child a part of the place setting. Put the place mat in the middle. Parents Magazine has a great printable place mat that let's your child see exactly where to set each piece. I printed them and laminated them to use for this Large Group segment and then put the extras in the kitchen area for the kids to play with during Work Time. You can print your own place mat from Parents Magazine here.
Get a beat on your knees for this.
Time to eat? (repeat)
No, not yet. (repeat)
What do we need? (repeat)
A ________(fork, knife, spoon, plate, napkin, cup)
Put it on the table (child holding specified place setting
puts item on the place mat)
(repeat until all items are on the place mat)
Time to eat? (repeat)
Look! (point to place mat)
Yes! (everybody cheers)
(Can speed up or slow down as needed.Allow child to take over as lead voice when
ready.)
We had a fun Halloween party in all four classes. Everyone wore costumes (I forgot to take a photo of me in my costume. Drat!)
We decorated Trick or Treat bags.
We participated in Ghost Bowling.
The ghosts were howling at the indignity of it all.
The teachers got into the fun, too.
We read Halloween books.
There were lots of books to choose from.
We played pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern.
After the fun we went trick or treating to the front office and two classrooms. Then we went into two more classrooms just to show off our costumes. Huge thanks to the 5th graders and their teachers who cheered for our costumes. The older students were absolutely wonderful with our preschoolers.
We had a great time. Our teachers put a lot of time and effort into this party. Thanks, teachers!
Have you heard of the Teal Pumpkin Project? Ever since my daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease, we've been excited about this. My daughter cannot eat many of the typical Halloween treats she receives from Trick-or-Treating. There are many kids with allergies that put them in the same predicament. There are also children who are unable to consume anything by mouth. So, the Teal Pumpkin Project is a movement where non-food treats are made available for those children who cannot have the typical treats.
This year, my house will have a Teal Pumpkin by the door with a sign saying that we have non-food treats along with the typical treats. It doesn't take a lot of effort and makes a big difference. Learn more about the Teal Pumpkin Project along with non-food treat ideas here.
Monday and Tuesday we are repeating Week 3 in Miss Jeana's class. But, on Wednesday and Thursday (when I normally conduct Large Group for Miss Julie's class) we're doing Halloween activities and going Trick or Treating around the school. Do you have your costume ready? I'm going to be a witch! This is a good time to practice the phrase "Trick or Treat". If needed, shorten the phrase to "Treat, please!" or just work on simple 1-word phrases("Hi", "Bye", "Please", "Thanks.")
Since my daughter has Down syndrome, I get asked questions about health and what to expect for children with Down syndrome. This is my go-to resource. The American Academy of Pediatrics came out with a clinical health report for recommendations in 2011. It is very helpful. I often print out the entire report and take it to my daughter's doctor. Be sure to check out Appendix 1 for a chart on what to have checked at certain ages. You can find the link at:
