August/September Week 1: Germs and Movement

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: washing, hands, fingers, thumbs, elbows, head, arms, legs, feet, shoulders, nose, eyebrows, bounce, high/low, fast/slow, jumping, move, your turn/my turn.

In September we will start with a letter sound and specific instruction.  This week we learned all about Large Group.

In both classrooms, we started by singing Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy by Rachel Arntson.  It is a very simple song, easy to join in if you don't get there when we start singing.  The children pick which body part to bounce (arms, legs, feet, elbows, shoulders, head, nose, eyebrows, knees) and we bounce.  In between we wait (great for anticipation and looking to teachers and peers for direction) and then prep with "ready, set, GO!" to start bouncing again.

In Miss Jeana's classrooms we learned about germs aka "Please don't get Miss Carrie sick!"  Germs are little bugs that we can't see.  They get on our hands if we sneeze or cough in them.  We learned that if we touch anything else after sneezing or coughing into our hands, that the germs will get all over everything!  Miss Carrie used red glitter, pretending that the glitter was germs to show that touching her hands can get everyone''s hands messy.

Oh, no! Miss Carrie's hands are so messy!

We learned to cough and sneeze into our elbows so we wouldn't get germs on our hands.  We learned we could use tissue to wipe our noses.  If our fingers get into our noses or mouths, Miss Carrie and Miss Jeana will ask us to wash our hands because Miss Carrie and Miss Jeana DO NOT want to get sick!

We also learned a song to help us remember how to wash our hands:

First, get soap on your hands.  Don't put them under the water yet!  Now we sing as we wash our hands:
(to the tune of Frere Jacques)
Tops and Bottoms (wash tops and bottoms of hands)
Tops and Bottoms
In between
In between (wash between fingers)
Wash your thumbs
Wash your thumbs
(NOW put your hands under the water)
Now they're clean!
Now they're clean!

Everyone lined up to wash their hands.  We also wash hands before Snack Time.

In Miss Jen's class, we talked about moving our bodies.  We played Silly Dance Contest by Jim Gill (one of Miss Carrie's favorite preschool song singers and followed the directions in the song.  WE jumped, danced fast/slow, and (everyone's favorite) froze with a silly face. 

(Here is the song performed by Jim Gill to try at home)

Then we danced to Rock and Roll Preschool by The Wiggles and everyone showed Miss Carrie what they could do and she tried to copy them.  We ended with music from the album Calm Piano by Paul Cardall and tried moving slow and blowing air out of our bodies as we prepared to move to Small Group.

DO THIS AT HOME:  You can talk about washing your hands, when to wash your hands, and practice it together.  Ask your child to show you how if they remember.  Also, have a dance party and let your child lead.  Do what they do.  This is a fantastic activity for the entire family.

May Week 4: Bugs!

No phoneme this week.

Miss Carrie has a new app.  Its called VideoTouch Bugs.  She put it up on the Apple TV screen:

On the app, there is a screen with 12 bugs.  It looks like this.

We took turns choosing the bug we wanted to see and tapping on it.  Everyone watched the screen.  We saw a caterpillar change into a butterfly, ants crawling, bees and flies flying, and spiders spinning.  We saw millepedes, ladybugs, dragonflies, praying mantis, and walking sticks.

We talked about WHAT is it, WHERE it is, and if anyone saw them in their yards.  The children were fascinated watching the spider spin a web and the caterpillar turning into a butterfly.  Each icon has 5 different bug videos.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Go on a bug walk.  What bugs can you identify?  Take pictures to show other family members at home.

May Week 4: Revisit The Obstacle Course

This was such as favorite that we did it again!  We redid the obstacle course.

DO THIS AT HOME:  make your own obstacle course. or head to the park playground for a ready made obstacle course.  Label your actions and use your announcer voice.

May Week 3: Traffic Signs

Transition Song: The Circle Song by the Kibommers

(no phoneme this week)

Materials:  Laminated Traffic Signs, paper plates

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: stop/go, fast/slow, turn, one way, do not, steer, beep, negation

This week, Miss Carrie brought out traffic signs.  Many of us knew what the STOP sign was.  We practiced spelling S-T-O-P.....STOP! and G-O......GO.  She introduced arrow signs that meant turn this way (not that way).  When you see a sign that is yellow, it means caution or slow down.  Look, there is an S in SLOW and an S in STOP.  Hey, there is an O, too!  We used paper plates for steering wheels.  After a while, Miss Carrie said "Everyone STOP!".  then we could decide if we wanted to hold the signs or keeping driving.  We beeped our horns and started up again.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Make your own traffic signs and hang them around a room or rooms.  Everyone can pretend to drive.  When you're out and about, look for traffic signs.  Knowing that a sign says stop, even if your child isn't reading the word STOP yet, is reading environmental print which is a pre-literacy skill.

May Week 2: Old favorites and an art show.

This week, on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, we revisited favorite songs we've sung with Miss Carrie throughout the school year.  Favorites included Wake Up Daily Routines, Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy, Five Little Ghosts, H-E-A-R-T, One Finger One Thumb, and Must Be Santa.

On Wednesday, we went to the art show.  The show features art from other students in the school.  There were so many things to see and talk about!

There were a lot of themes featuring space.

Everyone LOVED this exhibit!  Not only did the art glow, so did our clothing!

We learned that the containers that hold flowers are called vases.

Miss Jeana and Miss Jen now have bugs encapsulated in little cubes to observe and explore.  All the children commented on these bugs and how they were like the little bugs in class.

Is it a city?  A neighborhood?

Some children observed that this was sunset.

So many liked the train pictures.

Some children liked the planets the best.

We tried to pose like an artist but the pictures were too tall for many of the kids.

These masks are made from jugs.

Frogs or monsters or aliens?

We practiced our /s/ sound while looking at the suns.

If you can find a kid-friendly art exhibit, it might be worthwhile to check it out.  The children loved to see the art and we had so many attempts at communication as well as expanded communication.

May Week 1: What Can I Make?

phoneme: /m/

Transition Song:  Circle Time Song by the Kiboomers

(This is one of the most popular songs I sing all year.)

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  on top/under/in front/in back or behind/next to, on/off, tall/short, high/low, same/different, full/empty, yes/no, make, break, build, labeling color, small/smaller/smallest, tall/taller/tallest.

Pre-Literacy: Draw the letter M:  Go up the mountain and back down.  Go up the next mountain and down to the town.  What words have a /m/ sound in them?  Who has a /m/ sound in their name?

This week, Miss Carrie brought out a lot of boxes.  Come of the boxes were small.  When we shook them, we could hear that they were full?  We opened the small boxes and there was a smaller box inside!  We shook the smaller box and could hear something inside.  It was the smallest box!  The smallest box was empty.  Miss Carrie also had bigger boxes that were empty.  Some of the boxes were covered with duck tape so we couldn't open those.  

Miss Carrie asked what could we make with all of the boxes?  We made tall towers.  Some towers were short but some were taller than we were.  The tallest tower was taller than the teachers.  If we wanted a block a friend had, we had to ask.  They could say yes or no.  If we wanted to knock down a tower, we had to ask.  Our friends could say yes or no.  We had to problem solve if a tower was knocked down or kept falling down. We discussed if the boxes looked the same or different.  We had to ask our friends to reach next to or behind them to hand us another box.

When Large Group was done, we had to put the small/smaller/smallest boxes back together.  We had to make sure the design on the lid was the same as the design on the box.  If they were different, we had to look for another box or lid.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Find some boxes that you can nestle together (they don't have to be the same shape, they just have to fit).  Or find a few boxes or bags that you can put toys or other things in.  Talk about full and empty, make a tower, or build a fort together.  Talk about full or empty as you take food out of the fridge or pantry, do laundry (empty laundry baskets, hooray!), or while your drinking or eating a favorite food (My cup is empty!).