Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Our Visit to The Burlington Science Center

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









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Friday, September 24, 2010

Families Unit- Week 2 September 28- October 1

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

Friday, September 17, 2010

Families Unit - Week 1 September 20-24

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:
Oonga Boonga by Frieda Wishinsky
Peter's Chair by Ezra Jack Keats

Small Groups:
(Please note that some of our small groups will carry over to Monday)
-Writing/Storytelling- Children will be encouraged to draw pictures in blank books and write letters or words for their illustrations

-Letter Matching- Children will match uppercase letters in small groups.  Teachers will discuss the sounds for the matching letters.

-Book Browsing- Children will look through theme related books. They will also discuss vocabulary/picture cards for the unit.

-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.

Centers
-Dramatic Play- Taking Care of Babies
-Sensory Table- Water Movement using squeeze bottles and funnels
-Art Table- Making tissue paper collages
-Writing- Writing my name with letter stampers
-Blocks- Block Play
-Math-Sorting buttons by color, shape, and number of hole
-Library- Books about families

Songs, Word Play, and Letters
-Five Green and Speckled Frogs
-Dr. Jean Alphabet
-Stand Up
-Down by the Bay
-If your name starts with ____ raise your hand

Friday, September 10, 2010

September 13-17

We are having fun and learning in the Cub Cadet classroom.  Please enjoy the pictures we took on Friday.  We sang "I'm a little raccoon" using the masks we created. We will continue to discuss The Kissing Hand along with some new books next week.  Below is activities we will enjoy next week.
Books This Week:
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin
Silly Sally by Audrey Wood

Small Groups:
-1 to 1 coorespondence game- Using a number cube, each child will roll the cube to see what number the cube will land on.  They identify or count the number on the cube.  Then using dot markers, each child will dot that many hands on their paper.

-Tally Charts- Using a spinner with pictures from our story The Kissing Hand, each child will record and color the same picture on the spinner. We will discuss which picture came out the most and least.

-Memory Game- Using pictures from The Kissing Hand, we will play a memory game.

-Number Book- Each child will create a sticker number book inspired by The Kissing Hand.

-Using Scissors- We will be working on using scissors to follow a  "trail."  These samples will be saved and placed in our portfolios.

Centers
-Dramatic Play- Housekeeping
-Sensory Table-Sand and sand toys
-Art Table- Painting our hands to create our names in a "Kissing Hand"
-Blocks- Cars on tracks
-Math- Hi Ho Cherry-O
-Library- Books about school
-Table Activity- Pinching clothespins on number cards. Children will count how many kissing hands are on a board and put a clothespin on the correct number below.
-Writing Center- paper and markers available as an open ended writing activity

Songs, Word Play, and Letters
-I'm a little raccoon
-If your happy and you know it
-Head, shoulders, knees, and toes
-Take your little hands

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

First Day

First Week of School
We will be getting to know each other and exploring our new classroom.  This week we will focus on learning the new routine of the classroom and learning more about each other.

Books This Week:
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
DW's Guide to Preschool by Marc Brown
Small Groups:
-Visual Discrimination Game- We will roll a number cube and visually match the numbered pieces to create a picture from our story The Kissing Hand.
- Art- We will create a raccoon mask for the character in our story.  We will use these masks for a raccoon song during music.
-Each child will create a self portrait for their portfolio.
-Sequencing- Each child will cut and glue an AB pattern using pictures from our story The Kissing Hand.
-Math- We will use blocks to measure how long a street is.

Centers
-Dramatic Play- Housekeeping
-Sensory Table-Sand and sand toys
-Art Table- hand prints for Kissing Hand project
-Blocks- Cars on tracks
-Math- pop beads
-Library- Books about school

Songs, Word Play, and Letters
-I'm a little raccoon
-If your happy and you know it
-Head, shoulders, knees, and toes
-Take your little hands