Shadows and Reflections Week 3 (April 29-May 3)

Shadows and Reflections Unit Week 3

Unit Book:  Raccoon on his own

Weekly Question and Vocabulary Words:
What is a reflection?
(silently, scatter, shiny, reflection, mirror, dull)

Small Groups

Letters-  We will practice the lowercase formation of the letters h and b using a variety of mediums.  This may be in the form of Magna doodles, chalkboards, salt trays, etc.  We will rainbow write and practice the letters h and b as well.

Snake Cube Letter Sounds- We will roll a letter cube with the letters in the word snake. Then each child that landed on the letter will say the letter name, its sound and a word that begins with that letter.  We will chart them by tracing the letter and compare which letter was rolled the most, least, and/or equal.

Journal Writing

This week, we will recount the events of Raccoon’s journey down the river.  In our journals, we will draw and label all the animals Raccoon saw on his journey.  We will do our best to put them in sequence and say each word slowly to hear as many sounds as we can.  We are becoming wonderful writers!

Snake Patterns- In Raccoon on His Own, raccoon comes across a snake on his journey down the river. We will review patterns and shapes using shapes to make our very own pattern snake.  First, we will use blocks, then we will use paper shapes to create our snake.  

Alligator Greater Books- We will compare numbers and quantities to make a fun alligator book.  We will use alligator chompers to emulate the <,> symbol.  After carefully counting fish we will move our chompers so the alligator eats the greater quantity.

Number Formations

Using the Handwriting Without Tears program as a guide, we will continue to practice forming numbers 1-10.  This week, we will practice number 9 and 10. Then we will review all the numbers.

Reflective /Not Reflective Sorting- We will sort a variety of materials by identifying if the materials reflect light or image or do not reflect light or an image.

Light Table Letters- Using a light table and transparent letters, we will find letters to match basic words. When we find all of the letters and place them in the correct order we will record our results on our papers.

Superflex and Rock Brain Activity with Kate- We will continue to create a social thinking book to develop our "flexible" thinking.

Centers

Art Table- "a secret" project

Sensory Table- reflective tinsel with swamp animals
Book Area- Exploring Books about shadows and reflections
Writing Table-Writing the room using vocabulary words
Dramatic Play- Eye Doctor (pretend glasses and letters)
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives-Blocks with colored glass and flashlights
Rug- Animals
Block Area- blocks with mirrors (building by looking at reflection in mirror)

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
-Floating Boats
-Moving Circles
-What am I? (shape clues)
-Reflections all around us

Songs, Word Plays, and Language

-Our Good Morning Chant

-Someone sitting by the pool reflection song
-Alphabet Chant using sign language
-Letter Sounds

Shadows and Reflections Week 1 April 8-12

Shadows and Reflections Unit Week 1

Unit Book:  Whistle for Willie

Weekly Question and Vocabulary Words:
Why do we see shadows? 
(dark, light, shadow, practice, errand, whirl)

Small Groups

Matching Words with Same Sounds- We will be listening to the beginning sounds in words and comparing the sounds with other words. Then we will match the sounds that are the same. (For example: wind, Willie and whistle)

Rhyming Bingo Game- We will be reinforcing how rhyming words are words that "sound a lott alike at the end"

Journal Writing- In this week’s story, Peter wished he knew how to whistle.  We will make a personal connection to the story and write and draw about what we want to learn to do.  We will practice turtle talking (slowly saying our words to hear their sounds) and adding spaces between our words.  We are also working on our detailed drawings to correlate with our writing.

Fill Up the Frame Game- In pairs, we will roll a number cube and subitize the amount of dots we see.  Then each child will place the amount of dots of the cube.  We will identify how many dots each child has and how many empty spaces there are.  The goal is to fill up a ten frame.  

Number Formation Practice- Using the Handwriting Without Tears program as a guide, we will continue to practice forming numbers 1-10.  This week, we will practice numbers 3 and 4 using wooden sticks, chalkboards or magna doodles and in our letter formation books.

Shape Shadow Corner Sorting- We will be looking at shapes in a different way. We will be counting corners or shapes. We will be comparing shapes and then sorting them based on the number of corners each shape has.

Sharing Beads- With a partner, we will be given a bag of beads to share equally. We will record our results using dot stickers. We will then count each group to make sure they are equal.

Centers

Art Table-Chalk on black paper

Block Area- blocks with flashlights to create block shadows

Sensory Table- whistling station(role playing how Peter learned to whistle)
Book Area- Exploring Books about shadows and reflections
Easel-Markers and paper
Writing Table-Paper and words to trace
Dramatic Play-Movie Theater
Math, Puzzles, and Manipulatives- Waffle Blocks with Dogs (building boxes for Willie)
Rug- Legos

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
-Shadows and Shapes
-How to change the shape of shadows
-Using blocks and light to make shadows
-Shape attributes

Songs, Word Plays, and Language

-Our Good Morning Chant

-Shadows Letter on smartboard
-I see shadows (tune of frere jacques)
-Letter Sounds

Shadows and Reflections Week 1 (April 22-26)

Shadows and Reflections Unit Week 2

Unit Book:  Moonbear's Shadow

Weekly Question and Vocabulary Words:
What makes shadows change?
(wide, noon, short, long, cast, deep)

Literacy Small Groups

Lowercase Letters- We will practice the lowercase formation of the letter l and t a variety of mediums.  This may be in the form of magna doodles, chalkboards, salt trays, etc.  We will rainbow write and pencil practice the letter l and t as well.

Fishing for Rhymes- Using a boat in our house area, we will get in the boats with magnetic fishing rods.  Then we will catch fish on the ground until we find pairs of rhyming words. Then we will take our fish to the table and draw the rhymes we caught.  

April Self Portraits- We will be continuing our monthly self-portraits and name writing samples.

My shadow art projects- We will be recreating a shadow of ourselves. Each child will receive a person to draw as themselves. We will also get a shadow and a sun. Then each child will show how the sun above them creates a shadow on the other side of their body.

Short/Long Shadows- We will talk about how shadows can get bigger and smaller like in our unit book Moonbear's shadow. We will place the sun on the correct side then put shadows in size order. We will reinforce the concept of short and longer, shorter and longer as well.

Number Formations- Using the Handwriting Without Tears program as a guide, we will continue to practice forming numbers 1-10.  This week, we will practice numbers 7 & 8 using chalkboards or magna doodles and in our letter formation books.

Shape Hunt- We will use our clipboards and go on a shape hunt. We will try to find 2 D shapes around our school and record the shapes we find on our papers.

Superflex and Rock Brain Activity with Kate- Kate will join us again to review how we can be flexible in our thinking and not get stuck on ideas to avoid getting frustrated.

Earth Day Celebration- For Earth Day we cleaned up the "trash" on the playground and then at choice time we turned off the lights to conserve electricity. It was a fun way to experience choice time.

Centers   

Art Table- Shadow art project (To reinforce the word cast and shadow)/Silouttes of our heads

Sensory Table- fish
Book Area- Exploring Books about shadows and reflections
Writing Table-Long/Short paper collages
Dramatic Play- Fishing for letters in a boat
Rug- We will use a large box to go into and use a light projector to explore shadows and light
Block Area- blocks with flashlights to create block shadows
For an experiment: (IN THE DARK) WE WILL TURN THE LIGHTS OUT FOR A FUN WAY TO EXPLORE OUR CENTERS. 

Science/Social Studies/Math Circle Concepts
- Do we need light to make shadows?
- How can we change the shape of shadows?
- Discussing shape attributes (How many corners/side does each shape have?)
-Comparing length? (short, long sorting)