Harvest Unit Week 1 October 2-6

Special Visitors: As a surprise to our classroom, we will be going to the Burlington Science Center and bringing back gerbils for our classroom.  We will be observing them during our harvest unit.  

Week 1

Books This Week:

Eddie’s Garden

Farmer Duck

Concept Questions For This Week:

-What is a garden?

-What cares does a garden need?

-What is a farm?

-What work needs to be done to grow food?

-Why do farmers have animals?

Literacy /Math Small Groups This Week:

Is it a Letter or Not a Letter?- We will be naming symbols, numbers, letters, etc and discussing if they are letters or not letters.  Then we will cut and sort.

Sequence the life cycle of plants- We will color, cut, then sequence 4 pictures to show the life cycle of plants.

Five Frame Farm Animals - We will be focusing on five frames and reinforcing 1:1 correspondence using manipulatives first then we will use paper animals that we can bring home

Bingo Game- Our bingo boards will have tools that can be found on a farm. (rake, tractor,hoe, shovel, sickle,.....)

Letter / Handwriting Small Groups (Letters this week are Ll and Ff)

Letter Activity: We will learn what these uppercase and lowercase letters look like.  

We will sort magnetic letters into groups of uppercase and lowercase groups for each letter.

We will hunted for them in our names and the names of our classmates.

We will use crayons to hunt for them on our papers.  

Handwriting Without Tears Books: We will be using a hands-on approach(ie. sand, colored chalk, shaving cream) to reinforce correct letter formation.  In addition, we will be incorporating tasks to improve hand strength(ie. Pulling theraputty, squeezing sponges, opening clothespins)  Then we will practice in our Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) books

Centers

Art Table:Cow mural using our hands and Farm Animal Books(We will work on these books for the entire unit)

Block Area:blocks and farm animals

Sensory Table:acorns and fall leaves

Book Area: books about farms and growing

Writing Table: creating seed packets

Dramatic Play: flower shop

Puzzles and Manipulatives: farm related puzzles

Science Table: Observing our new gerbils from the Science Center

Science/Social Studies Circle

- 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".

-Discussing how we sit and listen in a group (our community classroom)

Preschool Life Skills

Every week we will be reinforcing previous skills and introducing new skills. Some weeks we will spend more time with a previous skill before moving to a new skill.

PLS 1: "When a teacher calls your name, you stop, look at the speaker, and say "yes".

PLS 2:  "When I give you an instruction, do it right away."

Social Thinking Curriculum

During the course of the school year, we will be using a series of 6 books.  

Book 1:  Thinking Thoughts and Feeling Feelings.

Concepts Include:

What is a thought?

Your brain is a thought maker

What is a feeling?

Your heart is a feelings keeper

A feeling is something that happens in your body

First Weeks of School (September 25-29)

Bring A Stuffed Animal to School Day -Friday, September 29
-See the notice in your child's folder coming home soon
Please be sure the stuffed animal can fit in your child's backpack.

First Weeks of School
We will begin our school year getting to know each other and establishing classroom routines. During the month of September, we will be focusing on developing classroom expectations, routines, and getting to know each learner. Our books for the first several weeks will pertain to transitioning to school and feelings about coming to school.
We will also use these books to have the students become familiar with our curriculum approach which is to use books to build on our classroom activities.

Books These Weeks:

Corduroy
Thinking Thoughts and Feeling Feelings (Social Thinking Curriculum)

Small Groups:
Literacy Small Groups
-Letters in our Name Partner Circles- We will be cutting the letters of our name with a partner and comparing the letters that are different and the same
-My name/Your name- We will be tracing our names and our friends' name.  We will then draw a picture of ourselves and our friend.  We will discuss things we have in common
-Sequencing Corduroy- We will discuss the events in the story and then cut and place in order the events on a strip.  We will reinforce left to right progression as well.
- We will be Sorting the letters Ff and Ll.  We will be sorting uppercase letters from the lowercase letters in groups. Then we will use rock crayons to color on our papers the uppercase letters and lowercase letters we can find.  

Math Small Groups/Fine Motor Small Groups
-Corduroy Lacing- We will be coloring then lacing bears

-Sorting by size, shape, and color- Using sorting circle, we will sort a variety of buttons on the rug

-Corduroy Math- We will be focusing on creating a set of 5 objects in a small group activity. Look for a paper to come home in your child's folder for you to reinforce what they learned in school. Have Fun!

-Counting and Sorting Buttons- We will color a set of buttons with 2 or 4 holes. Then we will sort them in groups into a chart

-My stuffed animal Journal paper- We will be using our stuffed animals at small groups and draw a picture of what they look like. We will discuss what color our animal is and trying to match the colors we see on our papers.

Centers

Art Table- piggy banks with water bottles and tissue paper

Block Area- block, bears, and blankets (to make a bed for Corduroy)

Sensory Table- Button sorting buckets
Book Area- Exploring Books about school
Writing Table- crayons and paper
Dramatic Play-Shoe store (using dolls and baby shoes to match and measure for dolls in the area)
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Pattern Blocks
Rug- Legos

Science/Social Studies Circle
- 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".
-Discussing how we sit and listen in a group (our community classroom)

Social Thinking Curriculum
During the course of the school year, we will be using a series of 6 books.  
Our first book is Thinking Thoughts and Feeling Feelings. 
Concepts Include: 
What is a thought?
Your brain is a thought maker
What is a feeling?
Your heart is a feelings keeper

A feeling is something that happens in your body

Songs, Word Plays, and Language

-Action Bingo Song:

There was a class that had a boy/girl, and _____was his/her name-o

(Each child chooses an action for others to follow)

Jump, Jump, (name), Jump, Jump, (name), Jump, Jump, (name),

We're glad you're in school today.
-If your happy and you know it.
-Here we are together at school
-Our Good Morning Chant
-The Cub of Day, Who will it be?

-ABC Rock by Steve and Greg

-Number Rock by Steve and Greg
-Dino Stomp

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.  This system can be explained more thoroughly in a tab on this blog.  

First Weeks of School (September 18-22)

First Weeks of School
We will begin our school year getting to know each other and establishing classroom routines. During the month of September, we will be focusing on developing classroom expectations, routines, and getting to know each learner. Our books for the first several weeks will pertain to transitioning to school and feelings about coming to school.
We will also use these books to have the students become familiar with our curriculum approach which is to use books to build on our classroom activities.

Books These Weeks:

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Boom
The Lion and The Mouse

Small Groups:
Literacy Small Groups

-Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Bowling- We will roll a "coconut" to knock down bowling pins with letters on them.  We will stamp on our bowling recording sheet which letters we knocked down.

-Uppercase and Lowercase Sorting Coconut Trees- Each child will cut and sort a variety of uppercase and lowercase letters.

-Letters in our names class book- We will be cutting the letters in our name and counting how many letters are in our name. We will find the number and stamp it on our paper. This will become a book to share at home.

-Coconut Flipping- We will be presented with brown foam circle with letters on them "coconuts" and flip them using a pancake flipper. In order to flip on our turn we need to name the letter we see.
-Sounds At Home- We will be learning how to listen for sounds. Using an ipad, a teacher will play sounds that you can hear at homes such as running water and a door closing. Listening to sounds is the first step to listening to sounds in words.

Math Small Groups/Fine Motor Small Groups

-Roll a Dice Coconut Trees- We will roll a number cube. We will identify the number then find the same number on our papers then color it.

-Visual Discrimination Coconut Tree- We will follow a step by step visual model to build a coconut tree like in our story.

-Number Arch- We will be given a number arch. We will find the first number and the last number in the arch. Then we will take turns pulling numbers from our bag to match with the numbers 1-10

-Number Sequence- We will color and cut numbers up to 5 and match or place them into order

Centers
Art Table- Water colors to create a name card

Block Area- blocks, green felt and letters to create a Chicka Chicka boom boom tree

Sensory Table- Beans "coconuts" with letters and trees
Book Area- Exploring Books about school
Writing Table- crayons and paper
Dramatic Play- taking care of babies
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Pattern Blocks
Rug- Legos

Science/Social Studies Circle
- 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".
-Discussing how we sit and listen in a group (our community classroom)

Social Thinking Curriculum
During the course of the school year, we will be using a series of 6 books.
Our first book is Thinking Thoughts and Feeling Feelings.
Concepts Include:
What is a thought?
Your brain is a thought maker
What is a feeling?
Your heart is a feelings keeper

A feeling is something that happens in your body

Songs, Word Plays, and Language

-Down by the bay

-Our Good Morning Chant
-The Cub of Day, Who will it be?

-ABC Rock by Steve and Greg

-Number Rock by Steve and Greg
-Dino Stomp

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.  This system can be explained more thoroughly in a tab on this blog.  

First Week of School (September 11-15)

First Weeks of School
We will begin our school year getting to know each other and establishing classroom routines. During the month of September, we will be focusing on developing classroom expectations, routines, and getting to know each learner. Our books for the first several weeks will pertain to transitioning to school and feelings about coming to school.
We will also use these books to have the students become familiar with our curriculum approach which is to use books to build on our classroom activities.

Books These Weeks:

The Kissing Hand
Starting School

Small Groups:
Literacy Small Groups

-Kissing Hand Bingo- We will be matching uppercase letters on our bingo boards
-Kissing Hand Memory- Using vocabulary from the Kissing Hand, we will take turns playing a memory game
-Feeding Chester Letters- We will be cutting a set of letters.  Students will glue the letters of their name in order on a strip.  The letters that are not in their name they will feed to Chester raccoon
-Story Sequencing-After listening to our story, we will discuss events that happened.   Then we will cut pictures from the story then place in order to retell the story to reinforce left to right progression.  Students will verbally retell the events.


Math Small Groups/Fine Motor Small Groups
-Graphing- We will spin a spinner that has pictures from our story.  Then we will record by coloring one box to show which picture the spinner landed on. We will then count to see which picture we recorded the most and least.
-Roll a Dice- We will roll a number cube. We will identify the number then find the same number on our papers then color it.
-Number Recognition Roll and Cover- We will roll a number cube with the numbers 1-6.  Each child will roll the cube and place a cube on the number they rolled onto their recording sheets.
-Copy My Lines Roll a Cube Game- We will roll a cube with a variety of lines (3 straight lines, 1 curved line, 1 circle, etc) We will copy the lines we see on our cube on our paper by copying what we see or tracing the lines.

Centers
Art Table- Tissue Paper Collages for the first letter in our names/Raccoon Masks

Block Area- blocks with forest animals (like in our story)

Sand Table- Sand with sand toys
Book Area- Exploring Books about school
Writing Table- crayons and paper
Dramatic Play- dishes, cookware, and food (making breakfast role play)
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Pattern Blocks
Rug- Legos

Science/Social Studies Circle
- 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".
-Discussing how we sit and listen in a group (our community classroom)

Social Thinking Curriculum
During the course of the school year, we will be using a series of 6 books.
Our first book is Thinking Thoughts and Feeling Feelings.
Concepts Include:
What is a thought?
Your brain is a thought maker
What is a feeling?
Your heart is a feelings keeper

A feeling is something that happens in your body

Songs, Word Plays, and Language

-Action Bingo Song:

There was a class that had a boy/girl, and _____was his/her name-o

(Each child chooses an action for others to follow)

Jump, Jump, (name), Jump, Jump, (name), Jump, Jump, (name),

We're glad you're in school today.
-If your happy and you know it.
-Here we are together at school
-Our Good Morning Chant
-The Cub of Day, Who will it be?

-ABC Rock by Steve and Greg

-Number Rock by Steve and Greg
-Dino Stomp

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.  This system can be explained more thoroughly in a tab on this blog.