Family Unit Week 3 November 7-11 and 14-18

Reminders:
November 8: No School -Election Day
November10: No School-Teacher Professional Development Day
November 11: No School Veterans Day

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.   

-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. We will journal about how we help our family.

-Guided Reading- We will introduce the concept of "reading" with a book called It is Fall. We will use 1:1 correspondence to count words, identify spaces between words, and use 1:1 correspondence to read along to the story. We will make connections regarding the picture and the text as well. We are not expecting students to be "reading" however exposing them to the concepts that are the prerequisites to reading.

-Compound Words- We will be pretending to be chefs as we put two words in a pot in order to create a new word. We will then draw a picture of the newly created compound word. (Sun and flower "mixed" together makes sunflower)

Handwriting/Letter Groups
-Handwriting Without Tears Program-We will learn what the uppercase and lowercase letter Ss and Jj looks like.  We will sort magnetic letters to find matches for Ss and Jj.  Then 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.

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?-(Inside/Outside)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.   

How many Upstairs and Downstairs?- We will reinforce counting items up to 10. Each child will be given a mat that has a ten frame upstairs and a ten frame downstairs. We will take a number out of bag and then place the number in the upstairs 10 frame. We will repeat this with the downstairs. Then we will compare upstairs to downstairs using math terms such as more, less, and equal.

-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
-Compound Boogie
-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.