Tuesday, December 22, 2015

January Unit 4 Farms January 4-8

Happy New Year!

Unit Book:
What is a Farm

Weekly Question and Vocabulary Related to book:
What is a farm?
(barn, farmer, wool, silo, gate, map)

Literacy Small Groups
-Same Sound Bingo- We will practice identifying rhyming pairs with farm rhyming bingo.  After listening to the teacher say a word, children will repeat the word and then find a rhyming farm picture on his/her mat while working to get five in a row.

Letter L We will learn what the uppercase and lowercase letter Ll looks like.  We will sort magnetic letters to find matches for Ll.  We will also hunt for them in our names and the names of our classmates.  We will use crayons to hunt for them on our papers. Search for Ll's with your child at home- ask him/her if it is upper or lowercase.  


-We share sounds- We will be listening to sounds we hear in the beginning of words. We will match words that share the same sounds in the initial sound of each word. For example, cow and corn share the same sound. Gate and goat, wig and wagon, etc.

Letter G- We will learn what the uppercase and lowercase letter Gg looks like.  We will sort magnetic letters to find matches for Gg.  We will also hunt for them in our names and the names of our classmates.  We will use crayons to hunt for them on our papers.  Look for upper and lowercase Ggs at home, in the car or out and about!

-Journal Writing-We will be writing in our journals. We will be writing about our the foods we eat from the farm. We will focus on the directionality of our writing (staring at the left and continuing to the right of the page) and continue our  practice turtle talking and listening for sounds in our words.  Remember, writing is a developmental skill and we are all working at our own pace and improving each week. (I like to eat........). We will discuss foods that come from the farm to brainstorm.

Handwriting/Letter Groups
-Handwriting Without Tears Program-Straight Line Letter Books

Math Small Groups
Stack and Take Down 5 (Subitizing to 5)- We will use farm pictures to sort by number.  Using the skill of subitizing we will recognize quantities in dots and fingers.  We will decide quickly whether there are 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5.  We will work to be sure this skill is automatic.  The more practice we have with this the more automatic our responses will become


All the Ways to 5-We will play a game and try to show different ways to make 5 such as 2 fingers, 2 dots, or the number 2 are all different ways to show 2. We will play a game to demonstrate this skill up to the amount of 5.

Subsitizing Cube Tracing Activity- We will work more on our subitizing skills (the ability to quickly identify the number of items in a small set without counting) while also practicing numeral writing skills.  We will roll a dice to instantly recognize the quantity and trace that number on our papers.


Take A Stack and Roll- We will use a new tool called a part/part/whole mat to better understand numbers through five. We will use farm counters to break down numbers into parts.  For example, to make 5 (the whole number) we can use parts such as 1 and 4 or 2 and 3.  The two parts make the whole.  We will experiment using different numbers by placing our animals on the parts of our mats.   
Centers
Art Table- Barn animals for a farm mural
Block Area- farms
Sensory Table- Corn kernels (feed for hungry chickens)
Book Area- Exploring Books about community
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table- Upper Case and Lower Case Letter X coloring
Dramatic Play-Taking Care of Animals
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Letters in a room hunt using clipboards
Science -
Rug- legos

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
-Farm Food Sort
-Animal Differences (2 legs/4 legs animals, animals that lay eggs/not lay eggs)
-Farm to Store process
-Farmer To Do List: What would be on the list?

Preschool Life Skills 
- We will be focusing on our curriculum of Preschool Life Skills during this time to help us transition into our new classroom.
1. When I call your name, stop what you are doing, look at me, and say ,"Yes".
2. When I give you an instruction, do it "right away"
(Ask your child what do you do when your teacher tells you to do something.  They should reply "I do it right away." You can reinforce this at home too.  "Put your legos away and do it "right away""
3. When I give you  instructions, do them "right away" (multi-step directions)
4. When something is too hard say "Help me please"

Songs, Word Plays, and Language
-Our Good Morning Chant
-Farmer in the Dell
-Growing Sound (Things that grow)
-Listening to Rhythm in music

Classroom Motivational System
We will be learning classroom routines and expectations within our new classroom.  In order to create a successful and rewarding environment, each child will have a motivational system. Our classroom system promotes positive classroom behavior through positive peer modeling and teachers providing positive reinforcement for desired behaviors. 

Gingerbread Musical Pictures




Thursday, December 17, 2015

December 14-23 Gingerbread Unit

Our Family Musical Performance: 
Tomorrow
Friday December 18 at 10:45 promptly.

Unit Book:
The Gingerbread Man
The Gingerbread Boy
The Gingerbread Girl
Vocabulary Related to book:
(catching, decorating, bakery,oven,dough, frosting)

Literacy Small Groups
-Sequencing Story- We will review the story elements from the The Gingerbread Man  Then discuss and look at pictures from the story.   Finally we will cut up to 6 pictures and placed them in sequential order to retell the story.  We will retell the story to a peer.

-Rhyming Pairs- We will review how rhyming words "sound alot alike" such as bat and cat. Then we will discuss rhyming words from our books such as cow and sow. Then we will match rhyming pairs in a chart.

-Thumbs Up- We will identify rhyming and non-rhyming word pairs. We will listen to two words and give a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Then we will cut and sort word pairs based on if they rhyme or do not rhyme. 

-In the Story/Not In the Story- We will discuss characters from our stories. Then we will color and cut the animals and sort them into two categories; In the Story and Not In the Story

-Journal Writing-We will be writing in our journals. We will be writing about our favorite character from our stories about gingerbread. We will focus on the directionality of our writing (staring at the left and continuing to the right of the page) and continue our  practice turtle talking and listening for sounds in our words.  Remember, writing is a developmental skill and we are all working at our own pace and improving each week.

Creating Lists- We will be creating lists of who were the characters in each of our stories. We will discuss characters that were the same in the stories and characters that were different.

Handwriting/Letter Groups
-Handwriting Without Tears Program
-Visual Discrimination Puzzle of a Gingerbread- We will

Math Groups
-How many long are objects? We will use a gingerbread ruler to measure how long objects are. For example, a marker is 6 gingerbread long and a book is 8 gingerbread long. We will compare by using more, less, and equal vocabulary words.

-Gingerbread spinner tally game- We will spin a spinner than record each time we land on a color. We will continue until we have a set of 10 colors. Then we will see which color had the most, least or if any results were equal.

-Subsitizing Card Game- Children will take turns being a "teacher". They will show a card with an amount on it. Then the other players will show a card that shows the same amount but in a different ways. (For example, 4 fingers, 4 dots, number 4, 4 lines, etc).This will be done without using 1:1 correspondence to know how many.

-Gingerbread Counting- We will color and cut a variety of gingerbread men in sets. Then we will place the sets in sequential order. Then we will write the number for each set

Centers
Art Table- Painting with cinnamon, Gingerbread man painting
Block Area- blocks
Sensory Table- tinsel of gold and silver
Book Area- Exploring Books about gingerbread
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table- Writing paper/Playdough
Dramatic Play-Bakery Shop with Gingerbread Cookies
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives-puzzles
Rug- legos

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
-Good Choices
-Take Away Story Telling (Taking bites of cookies)
-How animals move (run, fly, swim,.....)

Preschool Life Skills 
- We will be focusing on our curriculum of Preschool Life Skills during this time to help us transition into our new classroom.
1. When I call your name, stop what you are doing, look at me, and say ,"Yes".
2. When I give you an instruction, do it "right away"
(Ask your child what do you do when your teacher tells you to do something.  They should reply "I do it right away." You can reinforce this at home too.  "Put your legos away and do it "right away""
3. When I give you  instructions, do them "right away" (multi-step directions)
4. When something is too hard say "Help me please"

Songs, Word Plays, and Language
-Thumbs Up to rhyming and non-rhyming pairs
-Syllable Sound Off, Compound Boogies
-Our Good Morning Chant
-5 Little cookies in the bakery shop
-Songs for our musical

Classroom Motivational System
We will be learning classroom routines and expectations within our new classroom.  In order to create a successful and rewarding environment, each child will have a motivational system. Our classroom system promotes positive classroom behavior through positive peer modeling and teachers providing positive reinforcement for desired behaviors. 

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Unit 3 Week 4 Community December 7-11

Unit Book:
The Ugly Vegetables
Weekly Question and Vocabulary Related to book:
What kinds of communities do people live in?
(neighborhood, vine, stem, sprinkle, neighbors, aroma)

Literacy Small Groups
-Sequencing Story- We will review the story elements from the The Ugly Vegetables  Then discuss and look at pictures from the story.   Finally we will cut up to 6 pictures and placed them in sequential order to retell the story.  We will retell the story to a peer.

-Rhyming Bingo- We will review how rhyming words "sound alot alike" such as bat and cat. Then we will play a game of bingo by listening to a word then finding the picture that rhymes with the word we heard.

-Thumbs Up- We will identify rhyming and non-rhyming word pairs. We will listen to two words and give a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Then we will cut and sort word pairs based on if they rhyme or do not rhyme.

-Letter Nn- We will learn what the uppercase and lowercase letter Nn looks like.  We will sort magnetic letters to find matches for Nn.  We will hunt for them in our names and the names of our classmates.  We used crayons to hunt for them on our papers too.  

-Journal Writing-We will be writing in our journals. We will be writing about our favorite vegetables to relate to our story The Ugly Vegetables. We will focus on the directionality of our writing (staring at the left and continuing to the right of the page) and continue our  practice turtle talking and listening for sounds in our words.  Remember, writing is a developmental skill and we are all working at our own pace and improving each week.

Handwriting/Letter Groups
-Handwriting Without Tears Program-Mat Man-Draw a person reinforcement

Math Small Groups
-How Tall Can It Be? We will combine foam cubes to build new shapes. After exploring the cubes, we will stack the cubes on top of one another to see how tall it can be. Then we will record on a data sheet how tall the tower became. Then we will identify which number was the most, least, and if any were equal.

-Stack, Roll, or Both? We will experiment with 3 dimensional blocks to determine if they roll, stack or do both.  Spheres roll.  Rectangular prisms stack.  Cylinders both roll and stack! Discuss geometrical shapes you find in your home and ask your child to predict if they will roll, stack or do both!

-Shapes from Shape-We will use 3 dimensional shapes to duplicate creations we see in a picture.  We will discuss the shape and positions of our blocks as we build.  Some of us will even try to draw our creations!

-Building A Cooperative Community-The Kinderstars and Cub Cadets will join together to build the Burlington  Community.  Using 3D shapes, children will work in teams to create community buildings  such as Shaws, Town Hall, CVS and Dunkin Donuts.  We will discuss the shapes we used and how we positioned our blocks to build our creations.  

Centers
Art Table- Painting with Cars (rolling cars in paint)
Block Area- blocks and community people
Sensory Table- Garden (Dirt, shovels, seeds, seed packets)
Book Area- Exploring Books about community
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table- Upper Case and Lower Case Letter X coloring
Dramatic Play-Shoe Store
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Letters in a room hunt using clipboards
Rug- legos

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
-Soil (What is it and what is in it?)
-Describe a garden
-Food We Like to Eat

Preschool Life Skills 
- We will be focusing on our curriculum of Preschool Life Skills during this time to help us transition into our new classroom.
1. When I call your name, stop what you are doing, look at me, and say ,"Yes".
2. When I give you an instruction, do it "right away"
(Ask your child what do you do when your teacher tells you to do something.  They should reply "I do it right away." You can reinforce this at home too.  "Put your legos away and do it "right away""
3. When I give you  instructions, do them "right away" (multi-step directions)
4. When something is too hard say "Help me please"

Songs, Word Plays, and Language
-Thumbs Up to rhyming and non-rhyming pairs
-Syllable Sound Off, Compound Boogies
-Our Good Morning Chant
-Compound word break up game song
-Neighbors Chant
-Songs for our musical

Classroom Motivational System
We will be learning classroom routines and expectations within our new classroom.  In order to create a successful and rewarding environment, each child will have a motivational system. Our classroom system promotes positive classroom behavior through positive peer modeling and teachers providing positive reinforcement for desired behaviors. 

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Pep Rally Today!!


Unit 3 Community Week 3 November 30- December 4


No School on December 3rd
Book Orders Due December 3rd
Unit Book
The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza
Weekly Question and Vocabulary Related to book:
What can you do in our community?
(delicious, ingredient, lovely, sip, delicatessen, hardware store)


Literacy Small Groups
-Compound Chef- We will each receive a word. Then each child will cut the word into two parts. We will say each part of the word in isolation then put them back together. Then we will draw a picture of each word.

-Letter Matching Card Game- We reinforced letter pairs.  We will then play a matching “go fish” game where we had to make matches.  Some children will match uppercase to uppercase letters and other groups will match uppercase letters to their lowercase partners.   

-Say the Sounds-Little Red Hen Vocabulary Words Letter Books- We will identify pictures as targeted vocabulary words.  Then we will say the first sound and sort them to create a sound book.

-Journal Writing-We will be writing in our journals about in the style of a fairy tale. For example, We will use a sentence starters such as: Once upon a time........  We will focus on the directionality of our writing (staring at the left and continuing to the right of the page) and continue our  practice turtle talking and listening for sounds in our words.  Remember, writing is a developmental skill and we are all working at our own pace and improving each week.

Handwriting/Letter Groups
-Handwriting Without Tears Program-Mat Man-Draw a person reinforcement

Math Small Groups
-Transform! -We will use play dough to form geometric shapes. For example, can you make a cube that looks like mine.  Other shapes we will try to make using playdough are cylinders, spheres, rectangular and prisms.


-Geometric Sorting- After reviewing geometric shapes, we will sort real world geometric shapes.   

-Pizza Counting Book- We will be counting toppings to create a pizza book. We will reinforce 1:1 correspondence and tracing numbers to match the quantities.

-Cube Hunt
We will use clipboards and search our classroom for cubes.  Every time we find a cube we will record it on our clipboards

Centers
Art Table- Painting Pizzas with toppings
Block Area- blocks and community people
Sensory Table- Mixing bowls/spoons/Cups
Book Area- Exploring Books about community
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table- Making Lists
Dramatic Play-Pizza Shop
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Letters in a room hunt using clipboards
Rug- legos

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
-Mixing Ingredients
-Shopping Lists
-Healthy Choices
-Sorting solid shapes

Preschool Life Skills 
- We will be focusing on our curriculum of Preschool Life Skills during this time to help us transition into our new classroom.
1. When I call your name, stop what you are doing, look at me, and say ,"Yes".
2. When I give you an instruction, do it "right away"
(Ask your child what do you do when your teacher tells you to do something.  They should reply "I do it right away." You can reinforce this at home too.  "Put your legos away and do it "right away""
3. When I give you  instructions, do them "right away" (multi-step directions)
4. When something is too hard say "Help me please"

Songs, Word Plays, and Language
-Syllable Sound Off, Compound Boogies
-Our Good Morning Chant
-Compound word break up game song
-Neighbors Chant
-Make a Pizza song

Classroom Motivational System
We will be learning classroom routines and expectations within our new classroom.  In order to create a successful and rewarding environment, each child will have a motivational system. Our classroom system promotes positive classroom behavior through positive peer modeling and teachers providing positive reinforcement for desired behaviors. 

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Unit 3 Community Weeks 1 and 2 November 16-25

November 25 Half Day (Dismissal 11:30)
No School November 26 and 27 (Happy Thanksgiving)
Unit Book
The Two Promise Walk
Weekly Question and Vocabulary Related to book:
What is our community?
(bridge, traffic, restaurant, airport, forget, remember
Unit Book
A Day in the Life of a Firefighter
Weekly Question and Vocabulary Related to book:
What do workers in our community do? 
(firefighter,emergency, equipment, protect, community helper, rescue)

Literacy Small Groups
Monday through Friday Small Groups (Nov16-20)

Onset and Rime: We will practice blending the onset and rimes of spoken words.  The onset is the beginning part of the word and the rime is its entire ending.  For example, in the word “hat,” /h/ is the onset and /at/ is the rime.  We will use our community theme to guess school and fire station words the teacher segments and glue them to our buildings.  

-Letter Pp- We will learn what the uppercase and lowercase letter Pp looks like.  We will sort magnetic letters to find matches for Pp.  We will hunt for them in our names and the names of our classmates.  We used crayons to hunt for them on our papers too.

-Segmenting Park Words- Students will practice segmenting words by onset and rime. Using park words, students will take turns segmenting words by their beginning sound and remaining ending sounds and blending them back together. Try this activity at home.

-Letter Jj- We will learn what the uppercase and lowercase letter Jj looks like.  We will sort magnetic letters to find matches for Jj.  We will hunt for them in our names and the names of our classmates.  We used crayons to hunt for them on our papers too.

-Journal Writing-We will be writing in our journals about our favorite place in our community.  We will focus on the directionality of our writing (staring at the left and continuing to the right of the page) and continue our  practice turtle talking and listening for sounds in our words.  Remember, writing is a developmental skill and we are all working at our own pace and improving each week.

Monday through Wednesday Small Groups (Nov23-25)
-Picture Perfect Pairs- We will learn how some words begin with the same sound and some words do not.  We will then identify pictures on two cubes.  Then each child will roll the two cubes and named the two pictures.  We will identif if the pictures had the same sound in the beginning or not.  For example, mouse and map are the same.  Duck and nest are not the same. 

 -Letter Dd- We will learn what the uppercase and lowercase letter Dd looks like.  We will sort magnetic letters to find matches for Dd.  We will hunt for them in our names and the names of our classmates.  We used crayons to hunt for them on our papers too.

-Letter Kk- We will learn what the uppercase and lowercase letter Kk looks like.  We will sort magnetic letters to find matches for Kk.  We will hunt for them in our names and the names of our classmates.  We used crayons to hunt for them on our papers too.

Handwriting/Letter Groups
-Handwriting Without Tears Program-Colors and Shapes Books

Math Small Groups
Monday through Friday Small Groups (Nov16-20)
-Positional Word Train-Students will work to use positional terms to move a train around a train station scene based on a teacher’s directions.  We will practice words such as above, over, below, behind, next to, in between, in front of and beside.  Then we will challenge a partner to follow directional terms while using positional words to place the train.  

-From Home to School- Students will work to use location words to make a map of three landmarks they see on their way from home to school.  After drawing a  picture of each, they will describe their walk or ride to a friend.   

-Turkey Math- We will practice the ability to take away or subtract numbers through math stories.  Using a turkey template and feathers, we will take away a set of feathers to find out how many were left.  Use the math mat and feathers sent home to extend this learning with your child.

-Take Away- We will use the skill of taking away to feed a hungry boy some cookies.  Using playdough, students will feed the boy a given amount of cookies to tell how many cookies the baker had left.  

Monday through Tuesday Small Groups (Nov16-20)
-What’s in the bag?- We will reach into a bag and felt a variety of geometric shapes.  We will discuss the terms cube, sphere, cylinder, cone.  We will discuss the attributes of each shape.

Geometric Sorting- After reviewing geometric shapes, we will sort real world geometric shapes.

Centers
Art Table- red, yellow, and orange paint(fire colors)/ syllable roads
Block Area- blocks and community people
Sensory Table- Squirting water on "fire numbers"/Shaving Cream
Book Area- Exploring Books about community
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table- Creating Money /Fire Equipment Lists
Dramatic Play-Airport/ Taco Restaurant
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Letters in a room hunt using clipboards
Science - We will be saying goodbye to our gerbils from the science Center
Rug- tracks and roads with trains

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
-Take Away Stories
-Locating things in our neighborhoods
-Giving Directions
-Safety in our neighborhoods
-Prisms
-Jobs in our community

Preschool Life Skills 
- We will be focusing on our curriculum of Preschool Life Skills during this time to help us transition into our new classroom.
1. When I call your name, stop what you are doing, look at me, and say ,"Yes".
2. When I give you an instruction, do it "right away"
(Ask your child what do you do when your teacher tells you to do something.  They should reply "I do it right away." You can reinforce this at home too.  "Put your legos away and do it "right away""
3. When I give you  instructions, do them "right away" (multi-step directions)
4. When something is too hard say "Help me please"

Songs, Word Plays, and Language
-Syllable Sound Off, Compound Boogies
-Our Good Morning Chant
-Compound word break up game song
-Neighbors Chant
-Firetruck Song
-Nursery Rhymes: Hush Little Baby, Hickory Dickory Dock

Classroom Motivational System
We will be learning classroom routines and expectations within our new classroom.  In order to create a successful and rewarding environment, each child will have a motivational system. Our classroom system promotes positive classroom behavior through positive peer modeling and teachers providing positive reinforcement for desired behaviors. 

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Family Unit Week 4: Nov.9-13

Important News!!
-No School on Tuesday (Teacher Professional Development)
-No School on Wednesday for Veteran's Day


Unit Book
Antonio's Birthday Fiesta
Weekly Question and Vocabulary Related to book:
What do families do together for fun?
(guest, celebrate, decorate, musician, instrument)

Literacy Small Groups

Syllable Take-Away- We will play a game to practice taking away syllables in words.  Using a mat with two syllable Thanksgiving pictures, we will to guess the teacher’s word after she takes away one of the syllables.  We will use magnifying glasses to spot her word!  Practice taking away syllables in words with your child at home.  For example, say the word “party” and clap it together.  Then ask your child to take away the “par.”  What’s left?  “ty!”

-Letter Ss- We will learn what the uppercase and lowercase letter Ss looks like.  We will sort magnetic letters to find matches for Ss.  We will hunt for them in our names and the names of our classmates.  We used crayons to hunt for them on our papers too.

-Letter Ii- We will learn what the uppercase and lowercase letter Ii looks like.  We will sort magnetic letters to find matches for Ii.  We will hunt for them in our names and the names of our classmates.  We used crayons to hunt for them on our papers too.

Handwriting/Letter Groups
-Handwriting Without Tears Program-Colors and Shapes Books

Math Small Groups
-Ways to Make 5- We will focus on the many ways to compose the number five.  First, we will use our fingers to show different ways to make 5.  For example, 4 fingers on one hand and 1 finger on another hand makes 5!  Then, we will use colored cubes to find out how many different combinations make the number 5. (Last week we did this skill with 4)

-How Many Cubes are Left?
Students will practice taking away quantities with a cube game.  Using 5 cubes, students will take away the amount the teacher told them to.  They will say how many are left by coloring the remaining cubes on their paper.  To extend this activity, we will play a guessing game where the teacher uses a stack of five cubes and hides some behind her back.  Students will guess the number of cubes hiding based on the remaining cubes.

Centers
Art Table- Pinata construction
Block Area- blocks
Sensory Table- Confetti with Letters
Book Area- Exploring Books about families
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table- Draw a picture of your family and things you like to do with them
Dramatic Play-Birthday Party
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Letters in a room hunt using clipboards
Science -Gerbils from the science Center
Rug- dollhouse and families

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
-Take Away Stories
-Going Away on vacations
-Celebrations of other cultures

Preschool Life Skills 
- We will be focusing on our curriculum of Preschool Life Skills during this time to help us transition into our new classroom.
1. When I call your name, stop what you are doing, look at me, and say ,"Yes".
2. When I give you an instruction, do it "right away"
(Ask your child what do you do when your teacher tells you to do something.  They should reply "I do it right away." You can reinforce this at home too.  "Put your legos away and do it "right away""
3. When I give you  instructions, do them "right away" (multi-step directions)
4. When something is too hard say "Help me please"

Songs, Word Plays, and Language
-Syllable Sound Off, Compound Boogies
-Our Good Morning Chant
-Compound word break up game song
-If your a girl/If your a boy direction song
-Nursery Rhymes: Hush Little Baby, Hickory Dickory Dock

Classroom Motivational System
We will be learning classroom routines and expectations within our new classroom.  In order to create a successful and rewarding environment, each child will have a motivational system. Our classroom system promotes positive classroom behavior through positive peer modeling and teachers providing positive reinforcement for desired behaviors. 

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Family Unit: Week 3 How does everyone in the family help?

Unit Book
Kevin and His Dad
Weekly Question and Vocabulary Related to book:
How does everyone in a family help?
(chore, clean, inside, outside, tidy, slippery, dust)

Literacy Small Groups
-Break a Word- (Compound Word Puzzles)We will use blocks and pictures of compound words to practice segmenting and blending syllables.  We will push the pictures together to say the compound word and then break the blocks apart  to say each syllable.  We will practice saying words without one of the syllables.   
-Letter Tt- We will learn what the uppercase and lowercase letter Tt looks like.  We will sort magnetic letters to find matches for Tt.  We will hunt for them in our names and the names of our classmates.  We used crayons to hunt for them on our papers too.
-Family Project: Children will be discussing their family projects.  We will be encouraging them to speak to the class and answer questions their friends ask.  They will sit in the teacher chair too which is always a treat.
-Journals- We will write more about our families.  We will write about something special we do with our family.  We will reinforce "turtle talk" to help use write letters for words. At this point we are hoping the children write letters and we are not looking for correct spelling in any way.
-Letter Aa- We will learn what the uppercase and lowercase letter Aa looks like.  We will sort magnetic letters to find matches for Aa.  We will hunt for them in our names and the names of our classmates.  We used crayons to hunt for them on our papers too.

Handwriting/Letter Groups
-Handwriting Without Tears Program-Colors and Shapes Books

Math Small Groups
-Ways to Make 4 and 5- We will focus on the many ways to compose the number four.  First, we will use our fingers to show different ways to make 4.  For example, 3 fingers on one hand and 1 finger on another hand makes 4!  Then, we will use colored cubes to find out how many different combinations make the number 4.

-Counters in a Cup (4): We will use two-toned counters to tell about the number 4.  We will use 4 counters in our cups.  After dumping  out the counters we will tell how many of each color we had and how many counters altogether. Students will tell a story about their counters such as, “I have 3 red counters and 1 yellow counter.  I have 4 in all!”
-How Many in the House?-We will use house mats and people counters to act out math stories. Partners will take turns telling stories about a number of family members that were in the house and some joining the group. They will show these problems with their counters and tell how many altogether.   
-Finding Sets- As a large group, we will read a story about how objects come in threes. Then we will talk about how things can come in sets such as we have 2 ears. We will go on a hunt of things in our school that are part of a set.

Centers
Art Table- Paper Airplane Decorating and Constructing
Block Area- House and families 
Sensory Table- washing dishes with bubbles (related to story)
Book Area- Exploring Books about families
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table- Draw a picture of your family and things you like to do with them
Dramatic Play-Laundromat
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Letters in a room hunt using clipboards
Science -Gerbils from the science Center
Rug- dollhouse and families

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
-House Chores? What are they? How can we help?
- How to take care of pets?
-We all need food. Why?  
-How many are hiding? (5 objects all together, hid your eyes, cover 2 objects and ask how many are hiding)

Preschool Life Skills 
- We will be focusing on our curriculum of Preschool Life Skills during this time to help us transition into our new classroom.
1. When I call your name, stop what you are doing, look at me, and say ,"Yes".
2. When I give you an instruction, do it "right away"
(Ask your child what do you do when your teacher tells you to do something.  They should reply "I do it right away." You can reinforce this at home too.  "Put your legos away and do it "right away""
3. When I give you  instructions, do them "right away" (multi-step directions)

Songs, Word Plays, and Language
-Syllable Sound Off
-Our Good Morning Chant
-Compound word break up game song
-If your a girl/If your a boy direction song
-Nursery Rhymes: Hush Little Baby, Hickory Dickory Dock

Classroom Motivational System
We will be learning classroom routines and expectations within our new classroom.  In order to create a successful and rewarding environment, each child will have a motivational system. Our classroom system promotes positive classroom behavior through positive peer modeling and teachers providing positive reinforcement for desired behaviors. 

Harvest Parade Pictures

Today was our Harvest Parade. 
We visited Central Offices for our Harvest Dress Up Parade.

Dr. Conti and Louise D'Amato gave us stickers and bracelets.
It was an awesome day! 

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Meet BOO-BOO JACK

After reading the book The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything, we created a life sized scarecrow.  We brainstormed some names with the class.  Then after narrowing it down to two names we took a vote.  More people chose Boo-Boo and less people chose Jack.  We decieded that our scarecrow needed a last name so Jack was chosen.  
Boo-Boo Jack








Friday, October 16, 2015

Unit 2 Family October 19-23

Unit 2 My Family





Unit Book
Quinito, Day and and Night
Read Aloud:A Family is a family
*We will also have a special reading of The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything to go along with seasonal happenings

 Weekly Question and Vocabulary Related to book:
Who is in my family?
(Family, messy, neat, busy, hush, sticky)

Literacy Small Groups
-Clap Your Name. We will be creating a class book based on how many claps are in our names.  We will clap our names and compare them to our friends.
-The Name Game- We will clap the syllables in our family members’ names.  We will draw a picture of each member of our family then color in a square for each syllable in their name.
-Letters in Our Names-We will learn what the uppercase and lowercase letter Mm look like.  We will hunt for them in our names and the names of our classmates.  We will use crayons to hunt for them on our papers.
-Journal- We will writing about our families in our new journals.  We will draw a picture about who is in our family and tell a teacher our words.
-Letters in Our Names-We will learn what the uppercase and lowercase letter Mm look like.  We will hunt for them in our names and the names of our classmates.  We will use crayons to hunt for them on our papers.

Handwriting/Letter Groups
-Handwriting Without Tears Program-Colors and Shapes Books


Math Small Groups
-How many? We will be working on the skill of recognizing quantities without counting (fancy term: subitizing.)  We will play a game where students had to quickly tell how many objects were hidden under a plate once the plate was removed.  After guessing with our words, we will play another round where students had to slap the quantity 1, 2, or 3 quickly when they recognized the quantity under the plate.
-Let’s Make Sets- After practicing the ability to instantly recognize groups of 2, 3, & 4 with flashcards, we will sort pictures of those quantities and tried hard not to count them one by one but instead recognize the quantity in the group.
-Let's Compare- We will use bagged sets of objects to compare sets of 1, 2, 3, & 4 quantities without counting. We will look to find out which had “more” and which had “less.”  As a follow up activity, we will play a fun memory game where we instantly recognize quantities and tried to find matches.

Centers
Art Table- Family Portrait Frames
Block Area- House and families 
Sand Table- leaves
Book Area- Exploring Books about school
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table- ABC stamps
Dramatic Play- Lemonade Stand
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Letters in a room hunt using clipboards
Science -Gerbils from the science Center
Rug- trains

Science/Social StudiesCircle Concepts
Food Groups/Everyone Has A Home

Preschool Life Skills 
- We will be focusing on our curriculum of Preschool Life Skills during this time to help us transition into our new classroom.
1. When I call your name, stop what you are doing, look at me, and say ,"Yes".
2. When I give you an instruction, do it "right away"
(Ask your child what do you do when your teacher tells you to do something.  They should reply "I do it right away." You can reinforce this at home too.  "Put your legos away and do it "right away""



Songs, Word Plays, and Language
-Nursery Rhymes: Hey Diddle Diddle / Mary Had a Little Lamb
-Our Good Morning Chant
-Number Rock by Steve and Greg
-If your a girl/If your a boy direction song
-Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything Song
-Sing and Move- We will sing a song that has the word friend and together.  Each child will have one word and one instrument.  When they hear their word they will play their instrument.

Classroom Motivational System
We will be learning classroom routines and expectations within our new classroom.  In order to create a successful and rewarding environment, each child will have a motivational system. Our classroom system promotes positive classroom behavior through positive peer modeling and teachers providing positive reinforcement for desired behaviors. 

Friday, October 9, 2015

Friends Unit 1 Week 4 How Do Friends Get Along? October 13-16

Back to School Night 
Next Wednesday October 14th at 6:30-7:30
Presentation starts at 6:30 for parents

Unit 1 Friends Are Special





Unit BookMatthew and Tilly
Read Aloud:We Are Friends
-We will reenact the story of Oscar is Cold with props


 Weekly Question and Vocabulary Related to book:
How Do Friends Get Along?
(happy, apologize, argue, accident, sad, mad)


Literacy Small Groups
-Syllable Segment:We used this week’s story, Matthew & Tilly to clap and sort pictures by their number of syllables.  We sorted by 1,2, & 3 syllables.  Have fun clapping syllables at home.
-Is it Big? Is it Little? We used magnetic letters to make our name using an uppercase letter at the beginning and lowercase letters for the rest.   Then we cut the letters of our name and sorted them by uppercase and lowercase letters.
-Journal Writing-We used our journals to write about how we get along with our friends.  After the teacher modeled a page, students tried their own writing.  It is perfectly okay if their writing is simply drawings, symbols or just a few letters at this stage.
Matthew and Tilly- We will cut and sort pictures from our unit book Matthew and Tilly to retell the story.


Handwriting/Letter Groups
-Handwriting Without Tears Program-Colors and Shapes Books
-October Self Portraits

Math Small Groups
-Remember, Remember-We used pictures from this week’s story, Matthew & Tilly to play a memory matching game.  We had to pay close attention to which pictures in the group were the same and which were different.
- Sort It Out- We used a number of new manipulative to sort objects by one attribute.  First, we sorted objects only by size and then by color.  We played the Guess my Rule game again for more practice.
- 10 Frame Trains: We will spin a spinner. Then will count how many cubes we need to place on our 10 frame trains. The goal is to fill every child's trains.

Centers
Art Table- Chalk drawing
Block Area- blocks
Sand Table- Searching in colored rice for uppercase and lowercase letters
Book Area- Exploring Books about school
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table- ABC stamps
Dramatic Play- Ice Cream Stand
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Finding Letters in a room hunt using clipboards
Science -Gerbils from the science Center
Rug- city toys (signs/cars/people/buildings)

Science/Social StudiesCircle Concepts
Sorting and Classifying Animals

Preschool Life Skills 
- We will be focusing on our curriculum of Preschool Life Skills during this time to help us transition into our new classroom.
1. When I call your name, stop what you are doing, look at me, and say ,"Yes".
2. When I give you an instruction, do it "right away"
(Ask your child what do you do when your teacher tells you to do something.  They should reply "I do it right away." You can reinforce this at home too.  "Put your legos away and do it "right away""



Songs, Word Plays, and Language
-Nursery Rhymes: Hey Diddle Diddle / Mary Had a Little Lamb
-Our Good Morning Chant
-Friendship song involving words to identify.  They will play their instrument when they hear their word
-Number Rock by Steve and Greg
-Shake Breaks (Go Noodle)
-Oliver, Oliver Twist Song
-Sing and Move- We will sing a song that has the word friend and together.  Each child will have one word and one instrument.  When they hear their word they will play their instrument.

Classroom Motivational System
We will be learning classroom routines and expectations within our new classroom.  In order to create a successful and rewarding environment, each child will have a motivational system. Our classroom system promotes positive classroom behavior through positive peer modeling and teachers providing positive reinforcement for desired behaviors.