End of the Year Slide Show

We have had an amazing year in our classroom.  We hope you enjoy watching our year in review.

Click on the image or the word below to see our video

Cub Cadet Year in Review

Make It Move Unit 8 Week 3&4 June 5-9 June 12-16

Make It Move  Unit 8 Week 3 and 4

Unit Books: Gilberto and the Wind
                            The Wind Blew

June 9: Burlington Science Presentation by Sean Musselman:
Forces and Motions

Weekly Question and Vocabulary Words:
How does wind make things move?
(float, twist, umbrella, burst, blur, pinwheel, sailboat, balloon)

Literacy Small Groups

Rhyming Bingo

We will continue to practice rhyming.  This week, we will focus on producing our own rhyming words.  While playing a round of rhyming bingo, children will need to produce a word that rhymes with a picture on their mat to cover that space.  They will work to get five in a row to win.

Rhyming Race

We will work as a team to blow a ball to the finish line with a fun rhyming game.  After flipping a card, each child will get a chance to produce a word that rhymes with that picture.  When they do, they will  use a straw to help blow the ball  If they cannot, a new card will be drawn.  We all win when the ball reaches the finish line!

Special Letter Writing

We will review our special letters using magna doodles, chalkboards, salt trays, etc.  We will rainbow write these letters as well.

Journal Writing

In next week’s story, Gilberto and the Wind, we will read about many different things we can do on a windy day.  We will write about what we like to do on a windy day.  We will add finger spaces to separate each word in our sentence and carefully sound out each word to hear sounds.  We will use details and lots of color to illustrate our ideas.

Gilberto Letter Sound Book

We will review objects that were found in our unit book Gilberto and the Wind. We will then listen to the beginning sounds in the objects. We will then match them with their matching letter. Then we will rainbow write the letters to complete the book.  

Sailboat Letter Matching

We will look review the letters in the alphabet by singing the ABC song.  Then we will cut and then sort our sailboats in the correct order to create a sailboat alphabet.

Rhyming Book
We will be creating and then reading a rhyming book.  The title is Hat on a Cat.

Lego Building Letter Game
In this game a teacher will say a consonant sound.  Then each child will find the corresponding letter to match the sound.  When we all fill up our boards, we will then use the legos we placed on the letters to build a group creation.

Math Small Groups

How much does it hold?

Using cubes, we will compare how much different size cups could hold.  First, we will predict the amount that would be needed to fill the cup to the top.  Then we will count how many cubes are needed for each and write the number.  We will compare quantities and circle the cup that holds more cubes.

Family Order

We will compare heights of our family members.  We will think carefully about who is tallest in our family and continue until the shortest member of our family. We will make a family portrait with each member of our family in order from tallest to shortest.

Cup Fulls of Sand

We will fill buckets with sand to recognize and compare how much sand fits in different sized containers. Using the same size cup, we will fill each bucket with sand and count how many we used to fill each.  We will compare the size of each bucket with the amount we used to fill them. The bigger the bucket, the more sand we need.  The smaller the bucket, the less sand we need.

How much can I hold?

We will recall how in our unit book The Cool Pool how someone used scoops to fill empty objects.  We will use our hands as scoopers to pull out counters from a container.  We will record how many counters each friend collect will collect,  We will then compared who collected the most, least, and if any amounts were equal.  

Spin and Write Numbers

We will spin a spinner then write the number it lands on. We will compare which numbers we land on the most, least or equal.

Will the Wind Blow it?

We look at a variety of objects. Then we will make predictions to see if the objects will blow in the wind. After we make our predictions will use "wind" to see if the objects move. Next, we will record what happened and talk about why.

Which is heavier?
We will be comparing a variety of different objects by using vocabulary words such as lighter and heavier. We will be discussing why some objects are heavier than others. We will then record some of our results in a book.

Centers

Art Table- kite creations/windsocks/pinwheels

Sensory Table- boats with a fan nearby to create movement/Water wheels (water movement)
Book Area- Exploring Books about wind
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table-What moves in the wind? What do you like to do in the wind?
Dramatic Play- Airport/Post Office
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Floor Puzzles
Rug- Tents to build
Block Area- blocks

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
-Air, land, water movement
-What blocks move in the wind experiment
-Measuring Capacity
-Filling Containers
-How does the wind feel?
-Push, Pull, Go Book

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 a
way"
(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"
5. When you want something from a teacher or friend, say "Excuse Me" to get their attention
6. When you want something from a teacher or friend, say "Excuse Me" to get their attention and then use your asking words(ie. May I have a turn?)

Songs, Word Plays, and Language

-Our Good Morning Chant
-Vowel Bat
-Big Pig
-Windy Weather song

-Alphabet Chant using sign language
-Letter Sounds 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 behavior

Make It Move Unit 8 Week 2 May 30-June 2

Make It Move  Unit 8 Week 2

Unit Book:  A Little Bit More

Weekly Question and Vocabulary Words:
What can we do to make things move?
(push, pull, roll, weigh, heavy, light)

Literacy Small Groups

Pushing and Pulling Sounds

This week, we have been learning that we can move things by using force to push or pull them.  Using magnetic letters, we will experiment with words by pushing away the beginning sounds to find out what’s left in the word.  Then, we will push the beginning sound back to say the word together again.  For example, if we pull away the c in the word “cat,” we are left with the word “at.”  When we push the letter c back into the word we have “cat” again.  Practice playing with words at home by taking away the beginning sounds to find out what’s left.  

I’m a Big Kid Journal

We will discuss how we have changed as we have grown from a baby to a big kid! We will write and illustrate what we were like as a baby and what we are like now.  We will say each word carefully and listen for the sounds we hear.  We will also use details to illustrate how we have changed.  

Journal Writing

This week, we will learn that we can move things by pushing or pulling them with our muscles.  In our journals this week, we will write about what else we use our muscles for.  We will continue to practice slowly saying words to hear each sound and writing the letter that makes that sound.  Remember, it is perfectly okay that your child writes any sound he/she hears, even if it is not the perfect spelling of a word.  He/She will learn the rules of spelling in future years.  

Math Small Groups

Comparing Equal Lengths

We will compare lengths of cube towers and work to make their lengths equal.  We will work with towers that have a set number of cubes and cannot be broken.  We will use sets of green and red cubes to make towers that are the same lengths as the taller yellow towers.  We will record our work on our sheets.

Going to New Heights

We will continue to use cubes to measure lengths that are equal to the lengths of the characters from our story this week.  We will make towers that are the same lengths as cut outs from our story and count the number of cubes we used for each.  

Roll a Tower Partner Game 

Working with a partner, we will roll dot dice to build towers with that number of cubes.  After each round we will compare which tower was tallest.  We will record our work and circle the taller tower  in each round.
The Counting Game
We will place a game piece on our paper around a numbered bingo board. As a group, we will take turns rolling a number cube and move around the bingo board. When each child lands on a space, they will count the dots on the space. Then they will find the numeral in the bingo board they counted.

Centers

Art Table- car track painting

Sensory Table- Construction Site
Book Area- Exploring Books about movement
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table-Building a playground
Dramatic Play- Vet (measuring and weighing animals)
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Weighing Station
Rug- Doll houses
Block Area- blocks to measure with

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
-Push and Pull
-Starting Line (where we start when measuring)
-Taller and Shorter
-Working Together

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 a
way"
(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"
5. When you want something from a teacher or friend, say "Excuse Me" to get their attention
6. When you want something from a teacher or friend, say "Excuse Me" to get their attention and then use your asking words(ie. May I have a turn?)

Songs, Word Plays, and Language

-Our Good Morning Chant
-Vowel Bat
-Big Pig 

-Letter Sounds

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 behavior