We miss Tucker! His three friends at school kept asking about him, thinking he was going to walk through the door at any moment. Hope his mom had 'fun' running the marathon in D.C. this past weekend. We are looking forward to seeing Tucker tomorrow and hearing about his trip to D.C.
I was able to work on curriculum based assessment today with one child at a time as Ms. Carol worked with the other two children. The kids worked on pumpkin patterns, a maze, writing their name, matching upper and lower case letters, and lacing yarn through a big paper tooth. I noticed that there were times the kids were working more independently than I have seen up to this point!
The mystery box was a great way to introduce our weekly theme of dentists which is part of our monthly theme of community helpers. I described what was in the box using our chart: they can be many different colors, they are skinny, part of it feels hard and part of it feels rough, you can find it in a bathroom, you brush with it, and we all should use it. After the kids guessed that it was a toothbrush, they each got one and we sang the 'hello song'. Each child asked the person next to him what he had, where do you find it and what do you use it for. We quickly put the toothbrushes into plastic bags with the plan to practice brushing our teeth tomorrow.
We introduced 'community helpers' by brainstorming all of the different kinds of jobs we could think of together. Using an idea web, we put pictures of 10 different jobs around the words 'community helpers'. After the chart was all done, we asked each other 'who' and 'what' questions about each helper.
Since this week we are focusing on the dentist, we started our science experiment about teeth. Our science questions were "Which liquid will make our teeth strong? Which liquid can hurt our teeth." Using hard boiled eggs and pretending that each one was a tooth, the kids put the four eggs into cups of either milk, water, juice, or Coke. They each made a hypothesis by circling one of two pictures for each of the different kinds of liquids. I mentioned that we would be able to see the results on Wednesday, and someone asked, "What are results?". I love that the kids are asking questions about the new words they are hearing. The activity prompted another child to tell us about the eggs, milk and juice they have at home. It's great when the kids are making connections with their life outside of the immediate activity!
We finally finished our paper bag jack-o-lanterns! Evan started to tell us about his jack-o-lantern, giving it a name. Well, we didn't want to miss that opportunity. So, quickly pulling out paper and marker, the kids dictated answers to 'who, what, where, when' questions about their jack-o-lantern. I will turn these into books and the kids can read them to the preschoolers, with their jack-o-lantern sitting right there beside them. I love my job:)
Monday, October 31, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Day 37: Jack-O-Lantern and Pumpkin Pie
Did your child tell you about taking our jack-o-lantern into the restroom? That sounds strange!
We finished carving our jack-o-lantern this morning and put the battery powered 'candles' inside. Since the room wasn't dark enough, Beau suggested that we take it to the restroom where we could turn the lights off and have it very, very dark. So, that is what we did! Took me back to a long ago time! We read Halloween books and had a great time.
We hid little 'lima bean' ghosts in the pumpkin spice play doe and had our friends find them, counting how many they found.
Our big project was making a very simple pumpkin pie with pudding, pumpkin, and little graham cracker pie crusts. I think that I may have introduced a wonderful taste treat to your kids when I brought out the canned whipping cream. Since they hadn't seen it before, I put a smidgen on their finger to lick off. Ooooooh..lala...their eyes got very wide with excitement as they exclaimed, "Wow, this is good!" They had a blast squeezing it onto the little pumpkin pies, but alas only one child was interested in the pie itself. We gave Mr. Jimmy and Ms. Carol a pie for their Friday treat.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Day 36: Pumpkin Patch Fun
I hope you have a chance to hear about the 'pumpkin patch' from your child this afternoon! It was such a beautiful day today and we enjoyed being able to got from pumpkin to pumpkin in the sunshine. After looking at and touching each pumpkin (or nearly every pumpkin!), we picked out our favorite pumpkin. The kids also got to choose a small gourd to bring back to school so we can explore them.
Our walks during 'Out and About' are getting easier! I think the kids are gaining endurance as we walked between 6-8 blocks today with a good deal of energy. Thanks to Ms. Tiffany's mom who drove all of the gear back to the school for us. We did take the classroom pumpkin to the park. I cut the top off and we explored all the inner workings of the inside of the pumpkin. "Oooooh! This is gross!" was a common response while the kids dug the seeds out and put them in a bowl. We did learn the word 'pulp', but somehow the word was changed the minute we stopped practicing it. Ask me if you want to knows! We plan to carve the eyes, knows and mouth tomorrow and put a little light inside. Our plan is to read Halloween books by the glow of the jack-o-lantern!
The kids loved playing at the park after the pumpkin activity. Up and down and all around! Running, chasing, climbing, sliding, peeking, swinging! Lots of great gross motor action going on!
Lunch is always quiet after our long walks. However, the kids were alert during show and tell as they waited for their promised treat bags. Evan handed his treat bags to all of his friends. It was SO hard to wait to open them until they were in the car with mommy. Thank you, Evan!
Dress the kids warmly tomorrow as the temperature is dropping. It might be a bit cool in the room and we sure would love to get some exercise on the playground too!
Our walks during 'Out and About' are getting easier! I think the kids are gaining endurance as we walked between 6-8 blocks today with a good deal of energy. Thanks to Ms. Tiffany's mom who drove all of the gear back to the school for us. We did take the classroom pumpkin to the park. I cut the top off and we explored all the inner workings of the inside of the pumpkin. "Oooooh! This is gross!" was a common response while the kids dug the seeds out and put them in a bowl. We did learn the word 'pulp', but somehow the word was changed the minute we stopped practicing it. Ask me if you want to knows! We plan to carve the eyes, knows and mouth tomorrow and put a little light inside. Our plan is to read Halloween books by the glow of the jack-o-lantern!
The kids loved playing at the park after the pumpkin activity. Up and down and all around! Running, chasing, climbing, sliding, peeking, swinging! Lots of great gross motor action going on!
Lunch is always quiet after our long walks. However, the kids were alert during show and tell as they waited for their promised treat bags. Evan handed his treat bags to all of his friends. It was SO hard to wait to open them until they were in the car with mommy. Thank you, Evan!
Dress the kids warmly tomorrow as the temperature is dropping. It might be a bit cool in the room and we sure would love to get some exercise on the playground too!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Day 35: What glorious messes we made today!
What a grand time we had today making orange messes! The kids painted their paper bag pumpkins with as much orange paint as I would give them! Even through this activity Ms. Cortney and I gained insight into how each child approaches a task and completes it. We have to wait until tomorrow to make the pumpkin into the jack-o-lantern since the bags need plenty of time to dry!
The kids were all surprised when they came back from cleaning their paint brushes to find individual trays of shaving cream and orange paint! Some kids loved the sensory experience and some gradually warmed up. Ms. Cortney and I showed the kids letters which they made in the shaving cream and told us what sounds they made. The kids got to have a turn being the teacher and telling us what to write! We were able to work on 'after' and 'before' by drawing a letter or number and asking the child to write the letter/number that comes after or before the ones we drew! We really all enjoyed working on sound-symbol association this way:)
To back up a little, we left the touch and feel pool to find different letters on each of our chairs. We sang the 'hello song' by asking each other what letter he/she had and the sound it made. Some kids even thought of words that started with their letter! Finally we match the lower case letter to its upper case letter.
We tried something different for circle time in which each child had their own job. Each child was given a chart and pictures for their job to do independently at first. Beau was in charge of the weather chart. Joseph worked on the season chart. Tucker put the days of the week in order to tell us yesterday, today and tomorrow. Evan counted all of the numbers on the calendar with me and then told everyone the date (October 26, 2011). After each child was finished, they told the group what they did and we made changes if needed.
The kids were spell bound as Ms. Cortney read our book, "The Little Old Woman Who Was Not Afraid of Anything!". There was clomping..... wiggling..... shaking.... nodding....and one more! Oh, my gosh what was it? We will have to find out tomorrow! Each child will have a turn bringing this book home to read to their family. Your child can sequence what happened in the book as they describe the how the little, old woman saw a pair of shoes, some pants, a shirt, a pair of gloves, and a hat that did not scare her at all. BUT....then she saw something that scared her! What happened next? I bet your child could tell you!
Ms. Angela brought her soccer balls again today! We were so busy having fun with our story that we (well....I) lost track of time and missed half of the activities. The kids did get to kick and trap the soccer ball though!
Thanks for having your kids bring something for show and tell that relate to the theme this week. Joseph did a great job telling us about his costume, which I want to call "Captain Miracle", but I may need him to remind me again tomorrow. Tucker brought a ghost! He started out by saying "I brought a ghost." and then added one more detail all on his own. Little by little, all of the kids are improving in their ability to tell us about their show and tell without depending on teacher questions. I also noted today that the kids asked several questions without any prompting. Yeah!
At the end of show and tell, the kids earned a Halloween pin to wear is they 1. sat on their bottom, 2. sat 'criss cross', and 3. listened quietly. Thanks to Tucker's mom, we had a pumpkin for the kids to reach into and pull out their prize! The wife of Mr. Gary, a church staff member,
made these pins for us!
OKAY! Tomorrow is our 'pumpkin patch' day! Meet you there!
The kids were all surprised when they came back from cleaning their paint brushes to find individual trays of shaving cream and orange paint! Some kids loved the sensory experience and some gradually warmed up. Ms. Cortney and I showed the kids letters which they made in the shaving cream and told us what sounds they made. The kids got to have a turn being the teacher and telling us what to write! We were able to work on 'after' and 'before' by drawing a letter or number and asking the child to write the letter/number that comes after or before the ones we drew! We really all enjoyed working on sound-symbol association this way:)
To back up a little, we left the touch and feel pool to find different letters on each of our chairs. We sang the 'hello song' by asking each other what letter he/she had and the sound it made. Some kids even thought of words that started with their letter! Finally we match the lower case letter to its upper case letter.
We tried something different for circle time in which each child had their own job. Each child was given a chart and pictures for their job to do independently at first. Beau was in charge of the weather chart. Joseph worked on the season chart. Tucker put the days of the week in order to tell us yesterday, today and tomorrow. Evan counted all of the numbers on the calendar with me and then told everyone the date (October 26, 2011). After each child was finished, they told the group what they did and we made changes if needed.
The kids were spell bound as Ms. Cortney read our book, "The Little Old Woman Who Was Not Afraid of Anything!". There was clomping..... wiggling..... shaking.... nodding....and one more! Oh, my gosh what was it? We will have to find out tomorrow! Each child will have a turn bringing this book home to read to their family. Your child can sequence what happened in the book as they describe the how the little, old woman saw a pair of shoes, some pants, a shirt, a pair of gloves, and a hat that did not scare her at all. BUT....then she saw something that scared her! What happened next? I bet your child could tell you!
Ms. Angela brought her soccer balls again today! We were so busy having fun with our story that we (well....I) lost track of time and missed half of the activities. The kids did get to kick and trap the soccer ball though!
Thanks for having your kids bring something for show and tell that relate to the theme this week. Joseph did a great job telling us about his costume, which I want to call "Captain Miracle", but I may need him to remind me again tomorrow. Tucker brought a ghost! He started out by saying "I brought a ghost." and then added one more detail all on his own. Little by little, all of the kids are improving in their ability to tell us about their show and tell without depending on teacher questions. I also noted today that the kids asked several questions without any prompting. Yeah!
At the end of show and tell, the kids earned a Halloween pin to wear is they 1. sat on their bottom, 2. sat 'criss cross', and 3. listened quietly. Thanks to Tucker's mom, we had a pumpkin for the kids to reach into and pull out their prize! The wife of Mr. Gary, a church staff member,
made these pins for us!
OKAY! Tomorrow is our 'pumpkin patch' day! Meet you there!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Day 34: Practice, Practice, Practice!
Our poem book for "The Ten Little Pumpkins" let us work on the following skills:
We reread our story about Dora and then the kids took turns retelling parts of the story using a 'big book' I made with all the important pictures. Somehow, wearing our magic glasses makes it even more fun!
Evan brought a great book today titled, "Pumpkins"! I am going to remember this book for next year. We saw big pumpkins, little pumpkins, green and yellow and orange pumpkins, flat pumpkins and round pumpkins. Best of all, the pictures of the life cycle of the pumpkin were great. Think I will add an activity tomorrow about the life cycle!
We started making our pumpkins out of paper bags today. After stuffing paper bags with a TON of paper towels, we made a stem by wrapping a green pipe cleaner around the middle of the bag. Tomorrow, we paint and then make it into a jack-o-lantern!
Fall leaves were the vehicles for Ms. Michelle's activities today. The kids used crayons on their sides to make leaf rubbings which helps to work on hand strength. After gathering leaves in their decorated bag, the kids glued the leaves onto their picture. Then.....Ms. Michelle brought out the enormous (our new word today) bowl of cooked spaghetti! We dug our hands in and different objects. Oh, it was sticky and delightful! In all honesty, some kids dove right in and some needed to be coaxed, but EVERYONE became involved!
- counting with one-to-0ne correspondence
- counting backward from 10-0
- identifying and saying rhyming words
- 'reading' from left to right and top to bottom using the pictures and words
- identifying and reading sight words ('the')
- identifying and saying the letter 'p' and its corresponding sound (upper and lower case)
- formulating complete sentences
- waiting patiently while we wait for our turn to count or read without interrupting someone else (a tough one!)
- saying the syllables to words while clapping for each syllable
- just having some 'language fun'!
We reread our story about Dora and then the kids took turns retelling parts of the story using a 'big book' I made with all the important pictures. Somehow, wearing our magic glasses makes it even more fun!
Evan brought a great book today titled, "Pumpkins"! I am going to remember this book for next year. We saw big pumpkins, little pumpkins, green and yellow and orange pumpkins, flat pumpkins and round pumpkins. Best of all, the pictures of the life cycle of the pumpkin were great. Think I will add an activity tomorrow about the life cycle!
We started making our pumpkins out of paper bags today. After stuffing paper bags with a TON of paper towels, we made a stem by wrapping a green pipe cleaner around the middle of the bag. Tomorrow, we paint and then make it into a jack-o-lantern!
Fall leaves were the vehicles for Ms. Michelle's activities today. The kids used crayons on their sides to make leaf rubbings which helps to work on hand strength. After gathering leaves in their decorated bag, the kids glued the leaves onto their picture. Then.....Ms. Michelle brought out the enormous (our new word today) bowl of cooked spaghetti! We dug our hands in and different objects. Oh, it was sticky and delightful! In all honesty, some kids dove right in and some needed to be coaxed, but EVERYONE became involved!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Day 33: Pumpkin Poems, Pumpkin 'Hello Songs" and Pumpkin Books!
Yes, the theme this week is 'Pumpkins and Halloween'!
Before we sang our 'hello song' today, the kids had to guess what was in the mystery box. I gave clues using a chart and they all guessed that there were little pumpkins in the box. I will send the chart home with the kids tomorrow for you to keep at home. The clues were: It's a kind of vegetable. It is orange. You can make pie with it. It grows in a garden. A farmer grows it. You can make a jack-o-lantern with it. The ones in here are little.
We used many of the same clues to describe a pumpkin using pictures on our pumpkin web, which was sent home today. After the kids put the pictures on the web, they each had a chance to tell us about a pumpkin using sentences and good articulation. We wore our magic glasses to help us point to each picture.
Today and tomorrow we will be reading the book, "Dora and the Perfect Pumpkin", which tells us about Dora and her friend, Boots, finding the perfect size pumpkin for her grandma to make pumpkin pie. Before they could cross the bridge to get to the farm, the grumpy old troll asked them what season it was. When they could tell the troll that it was Fall, Dora and Boots found the pumpkin patch. The first pumpkin was too big. The second pumpkin was too little. And, of course, the last pumpkin was just right. Using pictures that depicted the events in the story, the kids retold the story as a group. Tomorrow, they will have their own book to bring home and tell the story to you!
We had planned to open up different kinds of squashes today and compare them to a pumpkin, but when we came to school today we saw something wonderful! Three of our seeds had grown into sprouts. We looked at the sprouts and dictated sentences which I wrote down. The kids took turns reading their sentences to each other before we replanted the sprouts into the worm house. (Yes, we still have the worm house!)
Oops! I forgot to tell you about our pumpkin poem, "The Ten Little Pumpkins"! Using a book with a different number on each page, we read and reread about different Halloween characters taking one pumpkin away at a time. We not only worked on counting backward, but worked on identifying numbers, reading left to right and top to bottom, and rhyming words! I will be able to send two copies of these books home each day and then we can rotate. They will be added to our book basket for the kids to check out in the future.
Using the numbers from our pumpkin poem, we matched rhyming words to the numbers on a big board. The pictures could be added or taken off as we discovered what rhymed with what!
Using lima beans as ghosts, the kids each opened a small container with the ghosts. After counting their ghosts, they found the corresponding number. We traded our containers and passed them on so every one could count different numbers.
So, I am 'pumpkin-ed out' for the day!
Before we sang our 'hello song' today, the kids had to guess what was in the mystery box. I gave clues using a chart and they all guessed that there were little pumpkins in the box. I will send the chart home with the kids tomorrow for you to keep at home. The clues were: It's a kind of vegetable. It is orange. You can make pie with it. It grows in a garden. A farmer grows it. You can make a jack-o-lantern with it. The ones in here are little.
We used many of the same clues to describe a pumpkin using pictures on our pumpkin web, which was sent home today. After the kids put the pictures on the web, they each had a chance to tell us about a pumpkin using sentences and good articulation. We wore our magic glasses to help us point to each picture.
Today and tomorrow we will be reading the book, "Dora and the Perfect Pumpkin", which tells us about Dora and her friend, Boots, finding the perfect size pumpkin for her grandma to make pumpkin pie. Before they could cross the bridge to get to the farm, the grumpy old troll asked them what season it was. When they could tell the troll that it was Fall, Dora and Boots found the pumpkin patch. The first pumpkin was too big. The second pumpkin was too little. And, of course, the last pumpkin was just right. Using pictures that depicted the events in the story, the kids retold the story as a group. Tomorrow, they will have their own book to bring home and tell the story to you!
We had planned to open up different kinds of squashes today and compare them to a pumpkin, but when we came to school today we saw something wonderful! Three of our seeds had grown into sprouts. We looked at the sprouts and dictated sentences which I wrote down. The kids took turns reading their sentences to each other before we replanted the sprouts into the worm house. (Yes, we still have the worm house!)
Oops! I forgot to tell you about our pumpkin poem, "The Ten Little Pumpkins"! Using a book with a different number on each page, we read and reread about different Halloween characters taking one pumpkin away at a time. We not only worked on counting backward, but worked on identifying numbers, reading left to right and top to bottom, and rhyming words! I will be able to send two copies of these books home each day and then we can rotate. They will be added to our book basket for the kids to check out in the future.
Using the numbers from our pumpkin poem, we matched rhyming words to the numbers on a big board. The pictures could be added or taken off as we discovered what rhymed with what!
Using lima beans as ghosts, the kids each opened a small container with the ghosts. After counting their ghosts, they found the corresponding number. We traded our containers and passed them on so every one could count different numbers.
So, I am 'pumpkin-ed out' for the day!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Day 32: "Out and About" to the grocery store
Before venturing out to Harris Teeter today, we worked on soccer skills with Ms. Angela! The kids took turns trapping the ball with their hands and then their feet. Ms. Angela had them use a big ball first, then a medium ball and finally a real soccer ball. In order to have their turn, the kids needed to be sitting or standing on their colored circle. Following directions and being part of a group follows our kids where ever they go!
Everyone had a turn to be the kicker and then the goalie like in a real soccer game. Lots of smiles and "I did it!" were seen and heard during this activity. With this activity, the kids were asked to line up in a 'straight' line before the activity, wait their turn, and then return to the end of the line. These are such important skills for the kids to practice in preparation for next year.
The balance beam has seemed to become a favorite of the kids. They each walked on the balance beam, jumped off and kicked a soccer ball into the net. I think I need to find a soccer ball for our outside time!
With our raincoats on and a smile on our faces, we opened the door to walk to Harris Teeter and saw the rain. The weather did not dampen our spirits and we walked the 4 blocks to take a close look at the vegetables and fruit! The kids were great about following the direction that if they wanted to touch something, they needed to ask an adult. We touched all kinds of vegetables and fruits, comparing colors, sizes, texture and weight. Luckily the store wasn't too busy so we would sit right down in front of a display and take our time exploring together. Much to our surprise there was even a treat bag for each of the kids that the folks at Harris Teeter put together. They had seen us at the store and put the bag together on the spur of the moment. The kids were very excited!
The walk back was free of rain, but not of puddles! It's fun to see which kids avoid the puddle at all costs and those that make a bee line for any puddle they see. I remember when my two sons were the age of your boys. They loved to find that puddle and jump! I miss those years and am very blessed to be able to share my day with your kids. They make me smile.
I am looking forward to seeing you at conferences!
Everyone had a turn to be the kicker and then the goalie like in a real soccer game. Lots of smiles and "I did it!" were seen and heard during this activity. With this activity, the kids were asked to line up in a 'straight' line before the activity, wait their turn, and then return to the end of the line. These are such important skills for the kids to practice in preparation for next year.
The balance beam has seemed to become a favorite of the kids. They each walked on the balance beam, jumped off and kicked a soccer ball into the net. I think I need to find a soccer ball for our outside time!
With our raincoats on and a smile on our faces, we opened the door to walk to Harris Teeter and saw the rain. The weather did not dampen our spirits and we walked the 4 blocks to take a close look at the vegetables and fruit! The kids were great about following the direction that if they wanted to touch something, they needed to ask an adult. We touched all kinds of vegetables and fruits, comparing colors, sizes, texture and weight. Luckily the store wasn't too busy so we would sit right down in front of a display and take our time exploring together. Much to our surprise there was even a treat bag for each of the kids that the folks at Harris Teeter put together. They had seen us at the store and put the bag together on the spur of the moment. The kids were very excited!
The walk back was free of rain, but not of puddles! It's fun to see which kids avoid the puddle at all costs and those that make a bee line for any puddle they see. I remember when my two sons were the age of your boys. They loved to find that puddle and jump! I miss those years and am very blessed to be able to share my day with your kids. They make me smile.
I am looking forward to seeing you at conferences!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Day 31:
Ms. Michelle brought loads of sensory goodies today! Two words....bubble wrap! What a great invention for kids to walk, run and jump on. The popping noises were great incentive for the kids to jump with two feet at a time as high as they could. Next,the kids found jewels while digging through a box of beans to put inside a treasure box. In another station, there was a box of 'moon sand' which I so enjoyed. The kids rolled small objects into balls with the moon sand and had their friend find the object. I just loved squishing it in my hands! The final activity of painting orange pumpkins on a piece of black paper with orange paint mixed with glue and shaving cream was a huge hit. Luckily, there is a place to wash off outside the church!
Today ended up being more of a review day, with a lot of time spent identifying seasons and what we do in the Fall, counting with one-to-one correspondence, figuring out yesterday, today and tomorrow, along with telling Ms. Courtney how we made vegetable soup yesterday. Using the sequencing board with pictures helps the kids put things in order as they retell and event.
We wrote in the writing journals today using a picture of Joseph and the dirt dessert he brought last week. All of the kids picked up their pencils and wrote something without any prompting, which is different than a month ago. Some kids were saying their words and sentences out loud as they made lines and squiggles. Ms. Courtney and I facilitated longer, more complex sentence structures and recalling what happened using details through the dictation.
Beau had a great time showing his friends several toy trains from "Thomas the Train". I believe one of them was "Gordon". I obviously need to start watching the shows that children watch so I can keep up with what is new! Ms. Courtney and I encouraged the kids to ask questions of the speaker to facilitate communicative exchanges.
Tomorrow is a full day with Ms. Angela and then going to the grocery store!
Today ended up being more of a review day, with a lot of time spent identifying seasons and what we do in the Fall, counting with one-to-one correspondence, figuring out yesterday, today and tomorrow, along with telling Ms. Courtney how we made vegetable soup yesterday. Using the sequencing board with pictures helps the kids put things in order as they retell and event.
We wrote in the writing journals today using a picture of Joseph and the dirt dessert he brought last week. All of the kids picked up their pencils and wrote something without any prompting, which is different than a month ago. Some kids were saying their words and sentences out loud as they made lines and squiggles. Ms. Courtney and I facilitated longer, more complex sentence structures and recalling what happened using details through the dictation.
Beau had a great time showing his friends several toy trains from "Thomas the Train". I believe one of them was "Gordon". I obviously need to start watching the shows that children watch so I can keep up with what is new! Ms. Courtney and I encouraged the kids to ask questions of the speaker to facilitate communicative exchanges.
Tomorrow is a full day with Ms. Angela and then going to the grocery store!
Monday, October 17, 2011
Day 30: Vegetable Soup Day
With a three day week for school, we have a lot to accomplish in a short amount of time! Since our 'out and about' trip to the grocery store is Wednesday, we are concentrating on vegetables and fruits today and tomorrow.
To start the day, we found some new songs on 'youtube' to help us practice our months of the year and the sounds for the different letters of the alphabet. If you would like to sing the songs with your child, go to 'kids123tv' on 'youktube' and type in 'months of the year' and 'sounds of the letters song'. Not only will you find these fun songs, but a whole lot more! We ended up finding a song about the seasons, which worked out well because we read a book about seasons this morning. We made a picture chart to depict things that happen in the Fall, which we will review each morning.
The kids were excited to explore the box of vegetables that I brought in today. For our 'hello' song, we sing a greeting to each child and then one person asks, "What do you have?". We named all of the vegetables and told something about the one we each had. I must be rubbing off on the kids because when Beau told us that he had the cabbage, Tucker didn't miss a beat and said, "Tell me something about your cabbage."! The kids are learning to make eye contact and face the person of whom they are asking the question. Tying the theme into our 'hello' song is a fun way to start out the day. Plus, the kids are working on formulating questions, responding in complete sentences, and social communication.
As we read our book, "Growing Vegetable Soup", by Lois Ehlert, the kids found pictures that corresponded to the vegetables in the book and paired them with the real vegetables. Some new vegetable vocabulary included cabbage and zucchini. The carrots, potatoes, green pepper, corn, onions, peas and beans were old hat to the kids. We clapped out each syllable while saying the vegetable words to help us hear each part of the word and all of the sounds. To work on categorization skills, you might have your child label which foods are vegetables at your dinner table and then say the name of the vegetable.
The kids loved making vegetable soup today with some of the vegetables that we held and smelled and looked at this morning. The tasting part didn't go over as well! We used a simple recipe that is called, "The Counting Soup". Six different kinds of chopped vegetables were put into bowls with a number in front of the bowl to indicate how many spoonfuls of vegetable each child should put into the pot. (We sneaked the skills of number identification and one-to-one correspondence into our soup making!) After adding the beef broth and some star noodles, Ms. Carol cooked the soup. The aroma of the soup simmering (OK...that is an exaggeration as the soup cooked for 6 minutes) had church staff coming to see what was cooking! The kids'
responses ranged from 'no way', to 'I'll try the noodle', to 'Mmmm, this is good!".
To work on sequencing and formulation of complete sentences, we used a chart with pictures of the different steps to put in order. And, then our day was done!
Vegetables are fun, but let's see what happens with the fruit tomorrow!
To start the day, we found some new songs on 'youtube' to help us practice our months of the year and the sounds for the different letters of the alphabet. If you would like to sing the songs with your child, go to 'kids123tv' on 'youktube' and type in 'months of the year' and 'sounds of the letters song'. Not only will you find these fun songs, but a whole lot more! We ended up finding a song about the seasons, which worked out well because we read a book about seasons this morning. We made a picture chart to depict things that happen in the Fall, which we will review each morning.
The kids were excited to explore the box of vegetables that I brought in today. For our 'hello' song, we sing a greeting to each child and then one person asks, "What do you have?". We named all of the vegetables and told something about the one we each had. I must be rubbing off on the kids because when Beau told us that he had the cabbage, Tucker didn't miss a beat and said, "Tell me something about your cabbage."! The kids are learning to make eye contact and face the person of whom they are asking the question. Tying the theme into our 'hello' song is a fun way to start out the day. Plus, the kids are working on formulating questions, responding in complete sentences, and social communication.
As we read our book, "Growing Vegetable Soup", by Lois Ehlert, the kids found pictures that corresponded to the vegetables in the book and paired them with the real vegetables. Some new vegetable vocabulary included cabbage and zucchini. The carrots, potatoes, green pepper, corn, onions, peas and beans were old hat to the kids. We clapped out each syllable while saying the vegetable words to help us hear each part of the word and all of the sounds. To work on categorization skills, you might have your child label which foods are vegetables at your dinner table and then say the name of the vegetable.
The kids loved making vegetable soup today with some of the vegetables that we held and smelled and looked at this morning. The tasting part didn't go over as well! We used a simple recipe that is called, "The Counting Soup". Six different kinds of chopped vegetables were put into bowls with a number in front of the bowl to indicate how many spoonfuls of vegetable each child should put into the pot. (We sneaked the skills of number identification and one-to-one correspondence into our soup making!) After adding the beef broth and some star noodles, Ms. Carol cooked the soup. The aroma of the soup simmering (OK...that is an exaggeration as the soup cooked for 6 minutes) had church staff coming to see what was cooking! The kids'
responses ranged from 'no way', to 'I'll try the noodle', to 'Mmmm, this is good!".
To work on sequencing and formulation of complete sentences, we used a chart with pictures of the different steps to put in order. And, then our day was done!
Vegetables are fun, but let's see what happens with the fruit tomorrow!
Friday, October 14, 2011
Day 29: A Quiet Friday
Today was quiet and peaceful and we all enjoyed it! The kids were excited to see Ms. Carol again and I happy to have her back!
While the kids worked on activities with Ms. Carol, I spent some one-on-one time with each of them to complete reading and math assessments. Between hearing a story about apples, writing in their journal about a personal experience, playing a game using positional concepts, and using language applications on the IPad, they were all quite busy.
Joseph's grandpa joined us for lunch today! It's really fun to have family members visit, so don't hesitate to let me know when you would like to come visit.
To end the day, we had an apple taste test with four different kinds of apples. Each child received a piece of a red apple (red delicious), yellow apple (golden apple), red and yellow (honey crisp), and green apple (granny smith) to taste. They each decided how much they liked each apple by marking off the green dot (a lot!), yellow dot (it was OK), or red dot (yuck!). We talked about how apple trees grow in the dirt, just like corn and need water, sun and air to live and grow.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
While the kids worked on activities with Ms. Carol, I spent some one-on-one time with each of them to complete reading and math assessments. Between hearing a story about apples, writing in their journal about a personal experience, playing a game using positional concepts, and using language applications on the IPad, they were all quite busy.
Joseph's grandpa joined us for lunch today! It's really fun to have family members visit, so don't hesitate to let me know when you would like to come visit.
To end the day, we had an apple taste test with four different kinds of apples. Each child received a piece of a red apple (red delicious), yellow apple (golden apple), red and yellow (honey crisp), and green apple (granny smith) to taste. They each decided how much they liked each apple by marking off the green dot (a lot!), yellow dot (it was OK), or red dot (yuck!). We talked about how apple trees grow in the dirt, just like corn and need water, sun and air to live and grow.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Day 28: Our Blog for the Day in Pictures!
A busy morning at Lowe's exploring the garden tools, flowers, plants, trees and, or course, a trip down the Halloween aisle!
Our walk back to school went very well! Minimum rain! Four big, strong boys walking up a very long hill on the way back.
When we got back to school, the kids were starving so we ate our lunches early. We then gathered in our learning circle and shared what we had seen at Lowe's. The kids read a sentence, "I saw a ____", with their word at the end of the sentence. They pointed to each word while they read. "I" and "saw" will be our sight words for a couple of days and then we can add more words.
We ended the day with a lot of glue and seeds! The kids' seed pictures will be sent home tomorrow to hang on your refrigerator.
Day 28: "Out and About" at Lowe's: A quiet moment after discovering the rake and shovel!
There was so much to explore at Lowe's. Digging with a shovel and raking are important parts of
gardening!
'Out and About' to Lowe's: Flowers, Plants, and Trees!
As we learned this week, there are many things that grow in dirt. We saw all kinds of flowers today, along with different kinds of plants and
trees.
'Out and About' to Lowe's: Vegetable Seeds
We didn't find any carrot seeds
at Lowe's, but we foundpeas, beans and turnips!
Each child chose their
'favorite' vegetable seed, then we sat right there on the floor and described to
each other.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Day 27:
After playing with seeds in the 'touch and feel' pool, we incorporated the seeds into our 'hello' song. As we sing 'hello' to each friend, we asked him what kind of seed he had in his hand. Each friend described his seed, and then we looked at it through a magnifying glass. Someone suggested putting the seeds in order from biggest to smallest. Since this worked so well, we taped the seeds in order on paper and wrote/dictated what we knew about seeds. The kids identified the first sound in the word, 'seed', and practiced writing an 'S' on their journal page.
During science, the kids each picked their favorite seed and planted it in a tray. We made sure to label where each child put their seed. We'll be observing and keeping a record of what grows. Speaking of observing science projects, the worms have dug down deep into the dirt because they like it damp and dark. Nothing has happened with the carrot experiment yet, but we needed to add more water to the tops of the carrots.
We have another assistant, Ms. Courtney , who will be helping out on Wednesdays. She is a part of the group now and the kids really enjoy her! Ms. Courtney read the book, 'The Enormous Carrot', to the kids in which two rabbits plant a carrot seed and a HUGE carrot grows. They try to pull the carrot out of the ground, but it won't come out. One by one, their animal friends come to help pull the carrot (cow, goat, chicken, dog, cat), but still it won't come out! Finally, a little mouse comes to help and that carrot comes right out of the ground. This was a great book for sequencing, very similar to the book, "The Enormous Turnip". It would be a great one to read at home.
The kids made their carrot idea web and then took turns describing a carrot using the pictures as cues. "The carrot is a vegetable. A carrot is orange. A carrot needs dirt. A carrot grows in a garden. You can eat a carrot." Their idea web will be added to their 'Down on the Farm' book.
Balancing was the name of the game with Ms. Angela today. The kids had a relay race, in which they had to balance a bean bag on top of their heads while walking. A little tricky, but everyone was able to do it with some coaching. A balance beam of different colors wound around the floor inviting the kids to walk on it. Two kids at a time stood on the balance beam and Ms. Angela told them to walk to another color. Sometimes, they walked forward and sometimes they needed to walk backwards to get to the right color. At end of their turn on the balance beam, each child stood onto a 'spinner' (I think there is a real name for it!) while Ms. Angela held their hands and spun them around. They think spinning is absolutely wonderful!
Tucker brought a picture album for show and tell. The pictures of Tucker were absolutely darling and he was excited to tell us what he was doing in each picture. To add to our theme, Joseph brought a 'dirt dessert' to share that he and his mom made together. The dessert was in a pot with worms and a plant in the middle. Hmmm...should we really eat it? Yes, indeed! We scooped the oreo and chocolate pudding into cups and put a gummy worm on the dirt. How fun!
I hope that you have all put in a request for nice weather tomorrow! We will meet you at Lowe's in the morning........
During science, the kids each picked their favorite seed and planted it in a tray. We made sure to label where each child put their seed. We'll be observing and keeping a record of what grows. Speaking of observing science projects, the worms have dug down deep into the dirt because they like it damp and dark. Nothing has happened with the carrot experiment yet, but we needed to add more water to the tops of the carrots.
We have another assistant, Ms. Courtney , who will be helping out on Wednesdays. She is a part of the group now and the kids really enjoy her! Ms. Courtney read the book, 'The Enormous Carrot', to the kids in which two rabbits plant a carrot seed and a HUGE carrot grows. They try to pull the carrot out of the ground, but it won't come out. One by one, their animal friends come to help pull the carrot (cow, goat, chicken, dog, cat), but still it won't come out! Finally, a little mouse comes to help and that carrot comes right out of the ground. This was a great book for sequencing, very similar to the book, "The Enormous Turnip". It would be a great one to read at home.
The kids made their carrot idea web and then took turns describing a carrot using the pictures as cues. "The carrot is a vegetable. A carrot is orange. A carrot needs dirt. A carrot grows in a garden. You can eat a carrot." Their idea web will be added to their 'Down on the Farm' book.
Balancing was the name of the game with Ms. Angela today. The kids had a relay race, in which they had to balance a bean bag on top of their heads while walking. A little tricky, but everyone was able to do it with some coaching. A balance beam of different colors wound around the floor inviting the kids to walk on it. Two kids at a time stood on the balance beam and Ms. Angela told them to walk to another color. Sometimes, they walked forward and sometimes they needed to walk backwards to get to the right color. At end of their turn on the balance beam, each child stood onto a 'spinner' (I think there is a real name for it!) while Ms. Angela held their hands and spun them around. They think spinning is absolutely wonderful!
Tucker brought a picture album for show and tell. The pictures of Tucker were absolutely darling and he was excited to tell us what he was doing in each picture. To add to our theme, Joseph brought a 'dirt dessert' to share that he and his mom made together. The dessert was in a pot with worms and a plant in the middle. Hmmm...should we really eat it? Yes, indeed! We scooped the oreo and chocolate pudding into cups and put a gummy worm on the dirt. How fun!
I hope that you have all put in a request for nice weather tomorrow! We will meet you at Lowe's in the morning........
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Day 26: What grows in the dirt?
Starting out with the touch and feel pool, carrots and dirt were explored! Tiny carrots with green stems and leaves and big, fat carrots with not tops.
During our story time, we read "The Carrot Seed" about a little boy who plants a tiny carrot seed. His mom, his dad and his brother all said that his seed wouldn't grow, but the little boy never gave up. He pulled the weeds and water the seeds for many days. Finally, a huge carrot grew just like he thought it would. After reading the book once, we read it again while pretending to be the different characters. I love the way the kids were just mesmerized by the story when I read it the first time...it was quiet, their eyes were on the pictures, and they were all leaning forward!
After we read our book, each child held a big, fat carrot while they dictated sentences about a carrot while I wrote the words down. Joseph: A carrot grows in dirt and a garden. Tucker: A carrot is orange. Evan: You can eat a carrot. Beau: My carrot broke! We will make our carrot idea web to put in our "Down on the Farm" tomorrow.
I read about an experiment in which you hollow out the top of a carrot and put water in it, then wait to see what grows. We have all of our hollowed out carrots in a jar together, with the kids' initials on them as it is VERY important to which one belongs to which child. We doing what scientists do by asking a question (What will happen when we put water in the top of the carrot?); making a hypothesis and recording our results with pictures and words. I think we will all be surprised at what happens as I have never done this experiment before.
.
Due to Mr. Emmanuelli's efforts, the kids watched the videos of their two plays ("I Can Do It" and "The Three Little Pigs"). They were so excited while they watched themselves! ("That's me!" , "That's you ____!") Their faces lit up, especially when they saw themselves as the wolf.
We all read our '100 Days of School' entry together today as time was running short and then wrote in our writing journal. The kids either copied or traced the 'C' letter since it was the first sound in carrot. I modeled how to draw a carrot and the kids drew their rendition.
Today was "Ms. Michelle Day"! I was able to get a few pictures of the kids acting out animal movements and crawling through a tunnel. I really need to get a tunnel! They split into two groups, with one group coloring and one group pounding pegs into a 'board'. Ms. Michelle told me that this activity worked on hand strength, strength of the radial portion of the hand (thumb and two fingers), as well as bilateral integration. All of these help our kids to hold a pencil, increase pressure on a pencil, button up those buttons, and use scissors. A big tub of packing foam pieces hid a bunch of little objects that they got to find and describe.
We ended the day with our show and tell time. Beau had his 'Lightning McQueen' car and he showed us how it changed colors in cold and warm water. It was magic!
Tomorrow....."The Enormous Carrot" book! That should be fun acting out!!
Monday, October 10, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)