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! 

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

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. 

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. 

Newest Members of the Cub Cadet Room! Nibble and Crunch

Meet the Newest Members of the Cub Cadets:

Nibble and Crunch 

Two gerbils visiting us from the Burlington Science

Unit 1 Week 2 Friends: How Do Friends Help Each Other? (October 5-9)

Unit 1 Friends Are Special

Unit Books
Oscar is Cold

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 Help Each Other?
(listen, arrive, exclaim, share, help, shiver)

Literacy Small Groups

-Syllable Segment:We used dot markers to keep track of the different parts we heard in words.  Using compound words, we made one dot for each part of the word and then said the words altogether.

-Blend and Break: We used our hands to clap compound words and hear their parts.  For each part we heard, we moved one cube on our paper and colored in squares to record our work.

-Sequencing The Story Oscar is Cold
-Constructing New Words- We will take 2 words and create a new word (compound words) We will cut then assemble a compound word chart to reinforce the blend and break concept.
-Journal Writing.

Handwriting/Letter Groups

-Handwriting Without Tears Program-Colors and Shapes Books
-Mat Man 

Math Small Groups

-What is my rule? We will create a rule and sort by that rule.  For example, if it is red, it goes in the circle: if you can eat it, it goes in the circle.  We will use props then completed a fine motor task with this skill.
-Who’s First? We will learn about ordinal numbers (1-5) by using dot cards to line up in order of our cards.  Then we  will use animal counters to and dot cards to line up our animals by ordinal numbers as well. Then we will draw the animals in their order.
-Count my number- We will reinforce counting to 10.  A teacher will show a dot number card and then have children show that amount on a ten frame mat? Discussing how many more we need to make 10? Count empty spaces. If we put one more on how many will will have? ....

-Discussing ordinal position in a Big Book called Armadillo's Picnic Countdown.  In small groups, we will read this book and count up close items in the book and discuss.

Centers
Art Table- Color color painting (blue shades)

Block Area- blocks

Sand Table- water with Artic animals and icebergs
Book Area- Exploring Books about school
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table- My favorite stuffed animal writing
Dramatic Play- Fall Farm Stand
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Finding Letters in a room hunt using clipboards
Science -Living and Non-Living
Rug- tracks and cars

Science/Social Studies Circle Concepts
What keeps us warm?
Living and Non-Living

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)
-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.