Families Theme
Children will be exploring and talking about families and the many different ways families relate to and help one another. Through the Story Time books, children will hear about a boy who helps his family take care of his baby sister, a boy who realizes how much he has grown when a new baby arrives, a girl who behaves badly when she want attention, and a lonely stuffed bear who finds a new friend. Besides listening to stories, children will begin to recognize initial sounds in words and identify rhyming words as they build vocabulary and comprehension skills. They will also be participating in a variety of music, poetry, mathematics, science, and art activities during Center Time and in Small Groups.
Theme Concepts:
*Family members have role names: mother, father, sister, and so on.
*Some family members live together; some live in other places but are still family members.
*Grown-ups in a family take care of the children. Younger children need more care. Older children can help take care of younger brothers and sisters.
*Children sometimes get angry at parents and may feel that their parents don't love them as much as their siblings.
*Sometimes grown-ups in a family don't like things that children do and tell them to stop or be quiet.
*Families do things together that are fun.
Books This Week:
Peter's Chair by Ezra Jack Keats
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells
Small Groups:
-Family Portraits- We will look in the books Oonga Boonga and Peter's Chair and discuss their families. Then children will be encouraged to draw and label their own family portrait.
-Watch Me Count- Children will count objects from our unit and label each set with a number. We will be working with sets of 3, 7, and 15.
-I Touches- Children will be able to play preschool educational apps on our itouches.
-Science-Paper Fans inspired by our story Oonga Boonga. Children will be encouraged to create an AB pattern after cutting strips of paper.
-Paint Chip Matching-Children will match color chips from the hardware store. This activity is inspired by Peter's Chair.
- Peter's Chair Sequencing Activity- Children will look at the sequence of the story. Then cut out pictures and arrange them in the order of the story. We will discuss the story and encourage problem solving skills.
Centers
-Dramatic Play- Taking Care of Babies (vocabulary-burping, feeding, rocking, changing)
-Sensory Table- Water and Air Movement using funnels and containers to fill and pour and water wheels
-Art Table- Creating owl puppets for the story Owl Babies
-Writing- Using word cards to encourage children to write words and draw pictures about families(Word Card Words- Mom, Dad, Family, Baby, Dog, Cat)
-Blocks- Blocks and people to encourage building houses for families
-Music-Making music bottles and listening to the sounds. Comparing sounds with other students' bottles.
-Library/Literacy- We are changing our library into a scene from Peter's Chair. Paint chips, paintbrushes, pretend paint containers, drop clothes, and a chair will be provided for children to retell the story of Peter painting a chair with his father for his baby sister. Pictures from the story will be posted to encourage children.
Easel- Painting Peter's Chair for his sister
Songs, Word Play, and Letters
-Owl song
-Five Green and Speckled Frogs
-Dr. Jean Alphabet
-Stand Up
-Down by the Bay
-Hands
-If your name starts with ____ raise your hand
Today we walked to the Science Center inside the Burlington High School. We saw many animals inside and outside. Outside in the cage was a redtailed hawk along with two turtle in a pen. Inside we saw an alligator, snapping turtles, snakes, spiders, ferrets, birds, and guinea pigs. We came back and wrote our observations together. We will go back to visit the animals again over the course of the school year
