Week 2 The Great Outdoors

Books This Week

Just Me and My Dad
Bailey Goes Camping
Sheep on a Hike

Small Groups For This Week:

1. Math-Tug of War Bear Game. In pairs each child will roll a number cube. A bear counter will be in the middle of a number line. As each child rolls a number, they will move their bear closer to them. Who will get the bear first?
2. Language- We will play a articulation game that focuses on the sounds /t/ and /d/. We will identify if we hear each /t/ or /d/ in the beginning or end of words.
3. Art Project- Multi-step campfire activity.
***We are hoping to go outside and have another lunch picnic in the great outdoor this week, weather permitting. ***
Centers
Rug Activity- Building Tracks
Science-Ipads
Art Table: Campfire craft-Using red and orange paint and cutting brown paper to create a campfire
Blocks: blocks to build boats with
Sensory Table: floating fish and boats
Book Area: books about The Great Outdoors
Writing Table: Unit Vocabulary Words
Dramatic Play: paper tubes, red and orange tissue paper, Lincoln Logs(sticks) and white pom poms(marshmallows) to roast smores and tell campfire stories
Puzzles and Manipulative: puzzles

Songs and Word Play Activities
-Owl Hooting Game (Who's Missing) - One child covers their eyes. A child will hid and hoot like an owl. The child will have to guess who is missing.
-A camping we will go.
- Tapping sticks and other rhyme sticks songs

Snowball and Snowflake Rolling on the floor

Today Snowball and Snowflake (our gerbil friends from the Science Center) went into their exercise balls.  They rolled on the rug and we watched them quietly. We noticed one gerbil moved more than the other one.  It was so fun!

The Great Outdoors- Week 1

                                                                        Our Last Unit: The Great Outdoors

Books This Week

Just Me and My Dad
Bailey Goes Camping
The Big Bears

Small Groups For This Week:

1. Math- We will spin a spinner then record which picture is the outcome.  We will create a chart and discuss math terms such as most, least, and equal.
2. Phonemic Awareness- We will play a rhyming memory game.
3. Gross Motor- We will navigate through a river rock obstacle course in the hall. Each time we complete the course, each child will pick up a rock with a letter and say the sound the letter makes before starting again.
1. Math-Tug of War Bear Game. In pairs each child will roll a number cube. A bear counter will be in the middle of a number line. As each child rolls a number, they will move their bear closer to them. Who will get the bear first?
2. Language- We will play a articulation game that focuses on the sounds /t/ and /d/. We will identify if we hear each /t/ or /d/ in the beginning or end of words.
3. Science- Sink and Float Exploration with "canoes" and some cargo.
Centers
Rug Activity-
Science-Snowball and Snowflake are back for another visit! We will use our sense of sight to observe them. They are 2 white gerbils from the Science Center
Art Table: Campfire craft
Blocks: building "campfires" with blocks and red tissue paper
Sensory Table: fishing
Book Area: books about The Great Outdoors
Writing Table: Unit Vocabulary Words
Dramatic Play: BBQ cooking (hot dogs and hamburgers)
Puzzles and Manipulative: puzzles

Let's Talk About It

-What activities do you do outside for fun?

-Outdoor Safety

-Cooking Outside(BBQ, camping, fishing for dinner)
-Recreational activities in the water(canoe, swimming,kayaking..)

Handwriting

Camping Vocabulary Handwriting Books
We will continuing a program called Handwriting Without Tears. It's focus is on letter formation and letter awareness. This program reinforces proper grasp and trying to strengthen fine motor muscles.

Preschool Manners
-When someone comes into an area you are playing in, say "Hello" or something else that is nice.

-When someone looks hurt or is upset, ask the question, "Are you okay?"

Five Senses Week 4

Just in case you missed our last post, here is our Five Senses Symphony Performance from last week. We created instruments and sang for the other preschool classrooms. The children were very proud of themselves.

Books This Week

Princess and the Pea (Will she feel the pea?)
Stone Soup
Listening Walk

Small Groups For This Week:

1.Language Arts- We will use our sense of touch to identify lowercase letters in mystery bags.

2. Math- We will use 1:1 correspondence to count 10 different mattresses for a bed for the Princess and the Pea. Then we will put the mattresses in number order.

3. Math- Creating Staircase Patterns.- Patterns that go up and then back down. (ex-1step, 2 steps, 3 steps, 2 steps, 1 step)

 Science- Our class will go on a listening walk (inspired by our unit book Listening Walk). We will talk about all of the sounds we hear inside and compare them to outside sounds we hear.

 

Centers
Rug Activity-Instruments
Science-Snowball and Snowflake are back for another visit! We will use our sense of sight to observe them. They are 2 white gerbils from the Science Center
Art Table:scented shaving cream
Blocks: blocks
Sensory Table:oobleck
Book Area: books about senses
Writing Table: Unit Vocabulary Words
Dramatic Play: Workshop (It will be noisy)
Puzzles and Manipulative: puzzles about senses

Let's Talk About It
-How does sound travel?
-What's missing (using sound only)
-Sound Bingo
-Communicating with sounds
(alarms, dog barking, baby crying)

Handwriting
We will continuing a program called Handwriting Without Tears. It's focus is on letter formation and letter awareness. This program reinforces proper grasp and trying to strengthen fine motor muscles.

Preschool Manners
-When someone comes into an area you are playing in, say "Hello" or something else that is nice.

Five Senses Symphony Today

Today we performed a Five Senses Symphony for our preschool friends.  We have been learning our 5 senses over the past few weeks.  We all created instruments(tambourines, bongos, drums, violins, and guitars) out of items from shoe boxes, rubber bands, plastic plates, dried beans, and Popsicle sticks.  All of the classes loved watching and listening.

We also all had a chance to participate in our Sense of Hearing Show and Tell this week.  Thank you parents for helping your children send in some interesting items.  It was tricky to just use our sense of hearing to guess what the items were.

Five Senses -Week 3

Five Senses- Week 3

I have attached some photos from our 5 Senses Science Center Scavenger Hunt. We had clip boards and a scavenger hunt checklist to find animals in the science center with feathers, scales, soft fur, chirping sounds, crunching sounds, and drinking sounds. We also saw our friends Snowball and Snowflake!

Books This Week

Princess and the Pea (Will she feel the pea?)
Stone Soup
Listening Walk

One Dark Night

Small Groups For This Week:

1.Language Arts- Identifying letters and shapes through layers of cloth or blankets using our sense of touch.  This is inspired by the Princess and the Pea. 
2. Math- We will be creating stair patterns with blocks then creating our own patterns using square cubes.

3. Science- We will be conducting an experiment with "Mystery Powders." (really sugar and salt). We will try to identify the mystery powders by sight with magnifying glasses, then touch, and finally by taste. We will record our findings to bring home to share.
1. Five Senses Books- We will create 5 senses books to take home and share.

Centers
Rug Activity-Instruments

Science-Magnifying Glasses and objects to look through

Art Table:Decorating wrapping paper for a secret surprise

Blocks: blocks
Sensory Table:oobleck
Book Area: books about senses
Writing Table: Unit Vocabulary Words
Dramatic Play: Castles Building and role playing of princess and the pea

Puzzles and Manipulative: puzzles about senses

Let's Talk About It
-Playing Instruments
-What's missing
-Listening Walk book
-Communicating with sounds
(alarms, dog barking, baby crying)

Handwriting
We will continuing a program called Handwriting Without Tears. It's focus is on letter formation and letter awareness. This program reinforces proper grasp and trying to strengthen fine motor muscles.

Preschool Manners
-When someone is in your way or has something you want, say "Excuse Me" to get their attention, then say"May I _____" to get what you want.