First Weeks of School (Sept 9-13 and Sept. 16-20)

First Weeks of School
We will be establishing routines within our first two weeks of school. Below are the small groups we will be
working on before we begin our Opening the World of Learning (OWL) and Letter Land Curriculum. We will
be assessing where each child is and planning how to best serve each child during this time.

Books:
The Kissing Hand
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Thinking a Thought and Feeling a Feeling (Social Thinking Curriculum)
Little Miss Spider Goes to School

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.

-Coconut Tree Letter Bean Bag Throwing- Each child will receive a bean bag with a letter. 
They will name the letter, then gently toss it onto a coconut tree(brown paper with green leaves on top)

-Feed Chester- We will be cutting letters both in our name and not in our name. 
Then we will use the letters in our name to make our name on our papers.
The letters not in our name we will feed to Chester Raccoon. 

-Patterning- We will create patterns using pictures from the Kissing Hand. We will be cutting and then assembling
patterns.

-Kissing Hand 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.

-Coconut Pick up- Using clothespins we picked up "coconut" pom poms and move them into cups. This will help strengthen our fingers in this fun game. 

-Theraputty with Beads- We will be using our fine motor "alligator fingers" to pinch in putty to find beads.  

-Kissing Hand 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. 

-Self Portraits and Name writing samples (We will add these to your child's portfolio to monitor the wonderful progress they will make in preschool this year)

-Playdough Pinching and Rolling to create letters to place on coconut trees

-Squeezing sponges (to develop pincer grasp) to transfer water into a cup

- Handwriting Without Tears Books (Focusing on colors and shapes)

-Letters in my name sensory sorting- We will be finding the letters of our name in colored rice.  We will then match the letters in our name on our name cards.  Then we will write our names to practice.  To extend this activity we will compare our name to a friend in our small group. (Who has a L like Lisa is their name?)

-Letters in my Name using "eyeglassess"- We will search for the letters in our name using special letter glasses.  Then we will use these letters to make our names.  To complete this acitivity we will rainbow 

Centers

Art Table- Tissue Paper Collages for the first letter in our names to make letter mosaics/Bingo Dobbers

Block Area- blocks, blocks with coconut leaves

Sand Table- Sand/ Chicka, Chicka Trees, beans(as the coconuts), and letters, Sand with containers to pour and sift

Book Area- Exploring Books about school, sharing, friends

Manipulative Table: Magnetic Tiles, Puzzles

Dramatic Play- dishes, cookware, and food (restaurant role play)

Rug- Legos, Trains

Science/Social Studies Math 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)
-Following Directions
-Watch Me count (reinforcing concepts of one: counting objects, letters, words, etc)

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.

-Our Good Morning Chant

-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.