A Neighborhood Map

 Transition Song: H-E-A-R-T by The Kiboomers. (Note: we don't clap instead of verbalizing the letters.  We sing and clap each letter.) We sing the song 2 or 3 times.

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: draw, down/up, animals, trees, house, windows, door, cars, street, mailbox, school, playground, neighborhood helpers, cold/hot, in front/in back, next to, over/under, What/Where questions, plural-s, past-tense -ed, counting, environmental print such as McDonalds and stop signs.

Miss Carrie showed a picture of her house.  There are A LOT of trees around her house.  We saw her mailbox, her street, and things around her neighborhood like a McDonalds.  Then we saw a map of the neighborhood around our school.  We saw the doors we go in and we saw our playground as it looks from really high.  Miss Carrie wondered if we could draw a neighborhood map.  We had to think about what our homes looked like, what was near our home, and what we saw when we were riding or walking around our neighborhoods.  We had to lay down on our tummies to draw (so good for working on trunk support).  We talked about the colors we were using, counted floors or windows or trees.  

DO THIS AT HOME:  Go for a ride or walk around your neighborhood.  Talk about the things you see.  Then go home and draw a map together of your neighborhood or even your yard.  Use your announcer voice as you talk about what is happening with your map.

Drumming! (A favorite activity of the year)

 Transition Song: The Color Song by The Learning Station

Vocabulary And Basic Concepts: loud/quiet, fast/slow, stop/go, up/down, beat, drum, experiment,  hear/hearing, speak/speaking.

Miss Carrie brought out black rectangles.  We had no idea what they were.  But when she changed the shaped, we discovered that they were boxes.  Boxes are great for drumming.  Bur first: we had to go over the rules.  When Miss Carrie said "Hands up!", everyone had to stop drumming and put their hands up, look at Miss Carrie, and listen to know what to do next.

Miss Carrie turned on the theme song from 2001: A Space Odyssey.  It was so hard to hold up our hands and wait! We started drumming loud and fast. Then Miss Carrie called out "Hands up!" When we started again we drummed slow and quiet. We noticed something.  It was easier to hear.  We tried an experiment.  We drummed loud and fast again while Miss Carrie sang something.  We couldn't hear her.  So we tried drumming slow and quiet.  We could hear Miss Carrie singing the A-B-C song.  If we're loud in the classroom, we might not hear the teacher give instructions which means tell us what to do.  We also noticed that some of the kids in our class do not like loud noises.  Now we know why we need to have quiet mouths in the classroom.  We can talk.  But we can't yell. We can be loud outside.

DO THIS AT HOME:  Pick an activity where you can explore fast/slow and loud/quiet.  Marching, singing, actions....it doesn't have to be drums.  Although pots and pans and a big spoon make a great drum.  Follow your child's lead on what to do.