Shadows and Reflections March 23- 27/ March 30-April 3

Theme – This is our first week of our new unit, Shadows and Reflections. During this unit students will explore shadows and reflections, using observations, experiments and books to learn what makes a shadow and a reflection. Through Story Time books, children hear about a girl playing by a still pond, a puppy who thinks he is a kitten, a crocodile collecting reflections in a pail, a sleepy boy who sees a shadow save a cat, and a raccoon who has an adventure with only his reflection for company.

Theme Concepts:
Reflections are images thrown back from a shiny surface.
There must be light or there is no reflection.
Mirrors and still water reflect light well; dull surfaces do not.
If water is moving, its reflections are blurry or crooked.
Objects are opaque, translucent, or transparent.
Shadows are the dark areas made when an object blocks light.

Stories:
March 23-27

Play with Me by Marie Hall Ets 

Raccoon on His Own by: Jim Arnosky
March 30- April 3
The Puddle Pail by Elisa Kleven
Play with Me by Marie Hall Ets
Raccoon on his own

Small Groups:
March 23-27
-Motor Monday-Letter chart of beginning sounds of animals for the book Play with Me 

-Technology-Interactive Shadow Activity on Touch It Board

-Math–Number Go Fish Game and/or Uppercase to Lowercase Letter Go Fish Game

-Manipulatives- Creating 2 different types of patterns. Then we will use 1:1 correspondence to count how many red, how many yellow, and how many in all.
-Games- Animal Memory
March 30- April 3
-Motor Monday-Making Collections- We will sort a variety of animals.  We will count then show how many is in each "collection"  We will reinforce concepts of smallest, largest, equal and sorting.
- Art/ Science-We will be looking at unit books and discussing the animals we have read about.  Then we will create a pet we would like to have out of clay. We will wait for it to dry then paint our pet.  The last step will be to draw a picture of our pet and describe our pet in another small group next week.
-Math-  We will be sequencing pictures of shadows from shortest to longest.  We will reinforce the concept of where the light needs to be to cast a shadow.
-Science- Mirror Play- We will discuss the what a refection is.  Then we will use mirrors to try to reflect objects in flat mirrors, concave mirrors, and triangle shaped mirrors.  These mirrors will be at the science table during the week to explore independently.
-Book Browsing- Using a chart, we will compare the animals found in 3 unit books.  We will discuss our finding (ie. a raccoon is in 2 stories just like the snake)

Choice: -

-Easel – Painting meadow, pond, and stream animals/Cloud Paintings
-Sensory–Bubbles and mirrors (looking for reflections in bubbles)/Plastic Lid Boats
-Dramatic Play – Eye Doctor (eye charts/ literacy)Pet Shop
-Art – Reflective-Paper Collages/Exploring Glitter in Art work
-Writing Center – Drawing and writing about animals
-Puzzles – Animal Puzzles (Raccoons, crocodiles, grasshoppers, and fawns).
-Blocks –Blocks/ Reptiles Zoo
-Science Center- Mirrors and Reflection Exploring
Independent Center- Magic C Letter Books (HWT)/ Sequencing Animal Pictures

Let's Talk About It
March 23-27
-How Animals catch mosquitos(related to swamp books)
-Different Turtles
-Mirror Exploration
March 30-April 3
-Good and Poor Reflections
-Making Collections(What do you collect?, stamps, stickers,)
-Imaging Things in clouds(What animal does this cloud look like?)
-What is a shadow? Discussing sharpness of edges
Songs, Word Plays and Letters
Five Green Frogs
Compound Words
Bingo – with the word Snake
Whose Reflection is in the Pool?  (Smart board Activity)
The Turtle
Five Little Fishies

Handwriting
 -Reviewing Magic C Letters  We will review "Magic C" letters.  I will have a "magic" black hat and a special rabbit to help me write our magic C letters.   They are magic C letters because they can change. If you make a C it can change to a G, O, and Q.  We also have a fun song to sing about Magic C letters.

Preschool Life Skills
We are continuing to review our previous skills 1-7.
1-When a teacher calls your name, stop, look and say, "Yes".
2-When a teacher tells you to do something, do it "Right Away".
3-When a teacher tells you to do 2 things, do it "Right Away".
4-When something is too hard, first try then say,"Can you help me please?"
5-When you something from a teacher or a friend and they are doing something, say, "Excuse me" to get them to look at you.
(6and 7 are join together)
7-When someone is in your way or has something that you want, say "Excuse me" to get their attention, and then say"May I_____?" to get what you want.
8-When an adult tells you to wait say, "Okay", and your waiting words. (Waiting Words= "When I wait quietly, I get what I want")
 New Skill:
When a friend tells you to wait say, "Okay", and your waiting words. (Waiting Words= "When I wait quietly, I get what I want")

We also have been learning:
"Checking our Body" - This is to remind us how to sit during large group activities. We will talk about how to "check" our bodies to get ready to listen. This is a important skill as we transition into kindergarten.