Unit 2 Friends - November 1-5

***NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS ON TUESDAY OCTOBER 2- PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY****
In Unit 2, children will be talking about friendship, how to be a good friend, and ways to resolve conflicts with friends. Through the Story Time books, children hear about the importance of being who you are, helping friends, enjoying special times together, and getting along. In addition to listening to stories, children will learn to idenify rhyming works and beginning letters and sounds in words, as they build vocabulary and comprehension skills. They will also participate in a variety of music, poetry, math, science, and art activities.

Theme Concepts:
-A friend is someone we like and want to spend time with. Friends like to do things together. They enjoy each other's company.
-We can have more than one good friend, and we might like to do some things with one friend and other things with other friends.
-Friends usually share with and help one another

.-Friends may have arguments and get mad at one another. Usually, friends work out their problems and continue to be friends.

-We can make new friends and also keep old friends.

Books this week

Road Builders

Dandelion
Hooray for Pinata

Small Groups
-Math- Matching, Identifying and Counting Money- We will be creating sets of coins and paper bills. Then we will count the sets and record how many coins we have in each set.  This is coorelate with our grocery store cash regiseter.
-Language and Print Awareness- We will be discussing environmental signs such as open signs, closed signs, sale signs, and advertisments.  We will then create an open and closed sign by cutting and matching letters to our signs.
-Book Browsing- We will be listening to a teacher's three clues and try to guess the picture card they are talking about.  The picture cards and vocabulary is related to our class stories.
-Math- Making 3D Pinatas- We will be creating and decorating pinata.  We will be working together to create and decorate our pinatas.  We will be focusing on cooperating with our peers to make decisions and relating our discussions to our class book.
-Language and Print Awareness- We will be making party invitations for our pinata party.  We will be inviting our stuffed animals to come to school to our pinata party.  I will send how a note with more details of our upcoming pinata party.  We will alsobe working on following two step directions to create folded envelopes along with addressing envelopes to invite our stuffed animal friends. 
-I Touches- We will be exploring letter apps in small groups.

***Please note that some small group activities will continue next week.

Centers
Blocks-Making a playground with props
Sensory Table-Road Construction Vehicles with sand, gravel, and roads
Dramatic Play- Grocery Store is open (this is a favorite activity)We will be adding a scale to center to promote comparing weight of foods.
Library- A variety of books about friends and construction
Easel- Primary Paints for exploration and a pinata picture
Art-Clay Pizzas with props(oven, pizza slicer, toppings,oven mitt)
Puzzles- Matching Beginning Sounds and Pictures
Writing Center- Writing Captions for a picture album

Song, Word Play and Letters
Poems- Five Juicy Apples, Songs- Come On and Join In To The Game, Down by the Bay, Head, The More We Get Together
Literacy Skills- Clap out our names(counting the syllables in our friends names), If your name starts with a __ raise your hand, Chiming in with rhyming words.

Unit 2 Friends-Week 2 October 25-29

In Unit 2, children will be talking about friendship, how to be a good friend, and ways to resolve conflicts with friends. Through the Story Time books, children hear about the importance of being who you are, helping friends, enjoying special times together, and getting along. In addition to listening to stories, children will learn to idenify rhyming works and beginning letters and sounds in words, as they build vocabulary and comprehension skills. They will also participate in a variety of music, poetry, math, science, and art activities.

Theme Concepts:

-A friend is someone we like and want to spend time with. Friends like to do things together. They enjoy each other's company.

-We can have more than one good friend, and we might like to do some things with one friend and other things with other friends.

-Friends usually share with and help one another.

-Friends may have arguments and get mad at one another. Usually, friends work out their problems and continue to be friends.

-We can make new friends and also keep old friends.

Books this week
The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza)
A Letter to Amy by Ezra Jack Keats
Matthew and Tilly by Rebecca Jones

Small Groups
-Math- How Many Dinosaurs? We will count how many dinosaurs are in a forest and in the lake. We will use basis addition to discuss our results.

-Language- Alphabet Letter Tiles and Storybook Word Cards- They will match letters to create words of familiar vocabulary from our stories this week.

- Uppercase Alphabet Memory Game using letter pumpkins

-Science- Sorting Items for Grocery Store Play

-Language and Print Manipulatives- Children will match letter tiles to picture cards.  Pictures will be theme related to reinforce books of the week.

-Fine Motor- Children will color, cut and lace a pumpkin to promote fine motor skills

***Please note that some small group activities will continue next week.

Centers

Blocks-Making a playground with props
Sensory Table-Using sand molds with modeling sand

Dramatic Play- Grocery Store is open (this is a favorite activity)

Library- A variety of books about friends

Art-Leaf Rubbings

Easel-Drawing with chalk (wet and dry)

Science Experiment- making "slime"
Puzzles- Vegetable Puzzles

Writing Center- Creating Handmade Stationary for invitations

Song, Word Play and Letters

Poems- Five Juicy Apples, Five Little Owl in an old oak tree

Songs- Come On and Join In To The Game, Down by the Bay, Head, The More We Get Together

Literacy Skills- Clap out our names(counting the syllables in our friends names), If your name starts with a __ raise your hand, Chiming in with rhyming words.

Parlee Farm Pictures

Pumpkin Picking At Parlee Farms

Corduroy Party and End of Unit 1 Celebration

Today we had fun with our stuffed animal friends.  We watched a short video of Corduroy today with our stuffed animal friends too.  We also made apple crisp together. We went to the kitchen and put it in the oven.  The children loved smelling their creation cooking.  We tasted the apple crisp during snack time. Most of us liked it and some of our friends even asked for a second helping.  At the end of the day we had music with our stuffed animal friends. We loved dancing and singing with our stuffed animal friends.

Unit 2 Friends- Week 1

     In Unit 2, children will be talking about friendship, how to be a good friend, and ways to resolve conflicts with friends.  Through the Story Time books, children hear about the importance of being who you are, helping friends, enjoying special times together, and getting along.  In addition to listening to stories, children will learn to idenify rhyming works and beginning letters and sounds in words, as they build vocabulary and comprehension skills.  They will also participate in a variety of music, poetry, math, science, and art activities. 

Theme Concepts:

-A friend is someone we like and want to spend time with.  Friends like to do things together.  They enjoy each other's company.

-We can have more than one good friend, and we might like to do some things with one friend and other things with other friends.

-Friends usually share with and help one another.

-Friends may have arguments and get mad at one another. Usually, friends work out their problems and continue to be friends.

-We can make new friends and also keep old friends.

Books this week

The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza)
A Letter to Amy by Ezra Jack Keats
Small Groups
-Science- Exploring Pizza Dough- Children will be given pizza dough to observe.  They  will use language to describe they observations such as how does it feel and what does it look like.  They will be encouraged to knead the dough and shape it just like at a pizza shop.  We will send home our pizza creations for you to bake with your child.
-Writing- Friendship Pictures- Children will illustrate a picture of something they like to do with their friends at school. They will talk about their picture in small groups. We will create a class book using the illustrations.
-How many chips? Children will use 10 or 5 two sided chips. We they will put the chips into a cup then put them on a plate.  They will sort what colors are on the chips. Then use basis addition skills to count how many.
-Math- How Many Dinosaurs?  We will count how many dinosaurs are in a forest and in the lake. We will use basis addition to discuss our results.
-Language- Alphabet Letter Tiles and Storybook Word Cards- They will match letters to create words of familiar vocabulary from our stories this week.
- Uppercase Alphabet Memory Game.
***Please note that some small group activities will continue next week.
Centers
Blocks-Dollhouses and friends
Sensory Table-Washing Dishes
Dramatic Play- Washing Dishes and Inviting Friends Over to Play
Library- A variety of books about friends
Art Table-Making Bowl Drums
Easel- Pizza Painting
Puzzles- Vegetable Puzzles
Manipulatives- Stringing Beads
Writing Center- Creating Handmade Stationary
Song, Word Play and Letters
Poems- Five Juicy Apples, Five Little Owl in an old oak tree
Songs- Come On and Join In To The Game, Down by the Bay, Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
Literacy Skills- Clap out our names(counting the syllables in our friends names), If your name starts with a __  raise your hand, Chiming in with rhyming words.

Families Week 4-October 12-15

Families Theme
This is our last week of our Family 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:
Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats
Corduroy by Don Freeman


Small Groups:
-Marble Play- Each child will be given a marble to investigate. Using a magnifying glass we will look at how every marble is different. Then children will be given a box and and tubes to experiment how marbles move. They will be able to add materials to their box to see how the marble reacts and sounds when their marble hits other materials.

-Alphabet Bingo- This game will be playing with uppercase letters.

-Name Matching- Each child will be given a board with empty boxes(the correct # of boxes for letters in their name). Then they will be given the letters of their name which they will attach to the board. As an extention, children will be asked to cut and glue the letters of their name on a similiar board.

-The Animal Game- Children will use one-to-one correspondence to compare two sets numberically.  They will count animals and use sticks find a stick that has the same number of dots on it. They will determine if they are equal or unequal.

-Rhyming Word Pictures- Children will match rhyming cards in small groups.  The rhyming words will be familiar from some of our songs. (snake/cat,frog/dog, mouse/house, cat/bat).

-Boxes and Bands- Children will create simple instruments using boxes and rubber bands. We will listen to the sounds as we strum our instruments.  We will compare how thin rubber bands sound different than thicker rubber bands.  We will compare our instruments to the instruments we saw in our books,  (Oonga Boonga- harmonica, Whistle for Willie- whistling with our mouths) along with the bottle shakers we made last week.
**Please note that some of our small groups have continued into this week.
Centers
-Dramatic Play- Dunkin Donuts Cafe- Children will role play being a cashier, a baker, and a customer.  Provide materials will be small, medium, and large coffee cups/various kinds of colored munckins(pom-poms)/money/cash register/ muffin tins).
-Sensory Table- Rubber Ducks in water. (Babies Bath Tub)
-Art Table-Character Puppets for story Corduroy
-Writing- "My Favorite Stuffed Animal"
-Blocks- Blocks.
-Puzzles/Fine Motor-"Sewing"- Lacing Cards to dress Corduroy bear
-Library-Reading Aloud to dolls
-Literacy- Matching uppercase and lowercase letters on alphabet archs
Easel- Drawing with chalk then using cotton to blend colors
Songs, Word Play, and Letters
-Sequence Story of Corduroy
-Five Green and Speckled Frogs
-Dr. Jean Alphabet
-Five Little Ducks
-Down by the Bay
-If your name starts with ____ stand up

Families Unit- Week 3 October 4-8

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
Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats
Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells

Small Groups:
Math- Which Bear Is First In Line?- Children will learn ordinal number names(first,second....) by using bear manipulatives in a hands on lesson.

-Science- Exploring Sound Cans- Children will use various materials(beads, paperclips, cotton..) and place them in metal coffee cans.  We will discuss how each can sounds and use describing words such as loud, soft, clang, rattle, muffled, banging.

-Baby Game- Each child will be given a board with various pictures of babies.  They will roll a number cube, identify the number, then count out the correct number of mini baby bottles to put on each baby. This will reinforce number identification skills along with 1:1 coorespondence.

-Marble Play- Each child will be given a marble to investigate.  Using a magnifying glass we will look at how every marble is different. Then children will be given a box and and tubes to experiment how marbles move.  They will be able to add materials to their box to see how the marble reacts and sounds when their marble hits other materials.

-Alphabet Bingo- This game will be playing with uppercase letters.

-Name Matching- Each child will be given a board with empty boxes(the correct # of boxes for letters in their name). Then they will be given the letters of their name which they will attach to the board. As an extention, children will be asked to cut and glue the letters of their name on a similiar board.

**Please note that some of our small groups will continue next week.
Centers
-Dramatic Play- Reading Aloud to Baby Dolls (board books and dolls will be provided to encourage pretend reading to babies).
-Sensory Table- We painted a box and put tubes through. We will roll marbles in the tube in the sensory table
-Art Table- Clay Dough with Baking Props
-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- Marble Runs. Child created marble runs will be provided.
-Puzzles-Fabric swatches in the shape of clothing along with paper doll cutouts will be provided. We will discuss textures and colors of textures.
-Library/Literacy- Exploring theme related books.
-Painting with marbles using various paints.
Songs, Word Play, and Letters
-Owl song
-Five Green and Speckled Frogs
-Dr. Jean Alphabet
-Five Little Ducks
-Down by the Bay
-I'm a Little Teapot
-If your name starts with ____ raise your hand