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.