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.