Looking Eyes, Listening Ears, Quiet Mouth. What Do You Hear?

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

NOTE:  We only sing the first verse and clap for every letter H-E-A-R-T.  We usually repeat the verse twice when we sing it in the classroom.

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  looking, eyes, listening, ears, quiet, mouth, farm animals, zoo animals, environmental sounds, What questions, Can you questions, Where questions, loud/quiet, same/different.

This week, Miss Carrie taught us a new game.  We were going to listen to animal sounds and guess what animal the sound came from.

First everyone said together "Looking eyes, listening ears, quiet mouth", while pointing to our eyes, ears, and mouth.  This reminded us to be very quiet so we could hear the sounds.

Miss Carrie had two apps on her iPad called Soundtouch 1 and Soundtouch 2

When you touch the picture icon, a photo appears and you hear the animal sounds.  Each icon cycles through 4  or 5 different photographs with sound so you get a different sound if you touch the icon again.

Miss Carrie touched the picture icon without showing us what it was.  We listened to the sound and guessed what animal it could be.  Then Miss Carrie turned the iPad around to show us the picture.  We talked about where we had seen the animal before.  We tried to make the animal sounds. 

There were easy sounds like cow, dog, cat, pig, and horse.  There were hard sounds like frog, zebra, bat, and camel.  Sometimes the sounds were very different. Owls make a lot of different sounds.  So do frogs.

This was a very fun game.  The everyone was practicing their listening skills.

DO THIS AT HOME:   Look at a book of animals or vehicles together.  Talk about the sounds they make.  When  you are out and about, if you hear a siren or a train, narrate what you hear to your child. "I hear a fire engine?  Where is it?  A fire engine is big and red.  It has a long, white ladder.  Where is the fire engine?  There it is.  I see it!"

Drum Those Drums

 Transition Song: The Color Song by Imagination Station

Vocabulary and basic concepts: box, drum, drumming, loud/quiet, fast/slow, stop/go, hear, listening, pattern, rhythm, hands up, wait, experiment.

Miss Carrie brought something black to school today.  It looked like a rectangle.  Then she put it together,  It was a box. But, if you flip it over, it became a drum.

First we had to learn the rules.  When Miss Carrie called out "HANDS UP!", everyone put their hands up in the air, and used their looking eyes and listening ears to look at Miss Carrie and wait for directions.

First, she played the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey.  We waited with our hands up until it was time to drum. Then we drummed loud and fast.  That was fun!

We listened to another song with a lot of drumming at the beginning.  We talked about if the music was fast or slow. Was it loud or quiet?  We tried an experiment where we drummed really loud and tried to hear what a teacher was singing.  We discovered we couldn't hear them!  We tried to hear them again while we drummed quietly.  We realized that we could hear them.  So, if we use loud voices at school, we may not hear what the teachers are saying.  But if we use quiet voices, we can hear and understand the teachers.

We listened to big band, jazz, classical, Disney, and Piano Guys.  We found other ways to drum instead of flat hands. We talked about if we liked it or didn't like it.

DO THIS AT HOME: Pick something to drum with such as boxes or pots.  Talk about loud and quiet, fast and slow, go and stop.  Talk about when it is okay to be loud and when you need to be quieter.

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.