Shadows and Reflections Week 2

Theme – This is our first week of our new unit, Shadows and Reflections. During this unit students will explore shadows and reflections, using observations, experiments and books to learn what makes a shadow and a reflection. Through Story Time books, children hear about a girl playing by a still pond, a puppy who thinks he is a kitten, a crocodile collecting reflections in a pail, a sleepy boy who sees a shadow save a cat, and a raccoon who has an adventure with only his reflection for company.


Theme Concepts:

Reflections are images thrown back from a shiny surface.
There must be light or there is no reflection.
Mirrors and still water reflect light well; dull surfaces do not.
If water is moving, its reflections are blurry or crooked.
Objects are opaque, translucent, or transparent.
Shadows are the dark areas made when an object blocks light.

Frog Update-We have eight tadpoles that are swimming in our tank.  We have a bubbler in the tank. This makes the tadpoles active and happy. The children are looking forward to starting to see legs grow next.

Stories:
Play with Me by Marie Hall Ets
Raccoon on His Own by: Jim Arnosky
Puddle Pail by Elisa Kleven

Small Groups:
-Writing- Students will choose a favorite animal from the books we have read in this theme.  They will create a page for a class book by drawing an illustration for their favorite animal.
-Science-Hand Held Mirror Exploration-Students will hold child safe mirrors and explore reflections of themselves and classroom objects.  We will also be using flashlights and put the light into mirrors and try to make the light reflect to the other side of the room.
-Animal Memory Game-We will be playing memory with animal pictures from our story books this week.

Choice: -
-Easel – Painting meadow, pond, and stream animals
-Sensory– Sand (then making it wet to mold)
-Dramatic Play – Dress Up with mirrors 
-Math-Using swamp animals to measure objects (For example, the chart is 6 frogs long; my hand is 3 lizards long)

-Art- making turtle reflections

-Writing Center – Drawing and writing about animals

-Puzzles – Photographs of Animal Puzzles (Raccoons and crocodiles)

-Blocks – legos

Songs, Word Plays and Letters

Change, Change, Rearrange (using the word cat, we change the beginning
   sound to make new words such as hat, bat, mat, sat)
Whose Reflection is in the Pool?
Little Letter/Big Letter Chant
Sammy (a movement song that you can move like various animals)
Five Green FrogsEentsy, Weentsy Spider
Bingo – with the word Snake
The Turtle
Five Little Fishies

Reminders:
This time of year the sun is beginning to get warmer. As we love to play outside, you may want to add sun block to your child’s face and arms before sending him or her to school.

Posted by Lisa at 5:08 AM 0 comments

Shadows and Reflections Week 1

Shadows and Reflections – Week 1

Theme – This is our first week of our new unit, Shadows and Reflections. During this unit students will explore shadows and reflections, using observations, experiments and books to learn what makes a shadow and a reflection. Through Story Time books, children hear about a girl playing by a still pond, a puppy who thinks he is a kitten, a crocodile collecting reflections in a pail, a sleepy boy who sees a shadow save a cat, and a raccoon who has an adventure with only his reflection for company.

Theme Concepts:
Reflections are images thrown back from a shiny surface.
There must be light or there is no reflection.
Mirrors and still water reflect light well; dull surfaces do not.
If water is moving, its reflections are blurry or crooked.
Objects are opaque, translucent, or transparent.
Shadows are the dark areas made when an object blocks light.

Frog Update-One of our tadpoles has hatched. We will be observing it today.

Stories:

Play with Me by Marie Hall Ets

Raccoon on His Own by: Jim Arnosky

Small Groups:

-Language – Book Browsing and Letter chart of beginning sounds of animals for the book Play with Me

-Math–Number Go Fish Game

-Fine Motor Activity- Pinching "leaves" on our trees for spring

Choice: -

-Easel – Painting meadow, pond, and stream animals
-Sensory– Sand (then making it wet to mold)
-Dramatic Play – Dress Up with mirrors
-Art – Reflective-Paper Collages
-Writing Center – Drawing and writing about animals
-Puzzles – Animal Puzzles (Raccoons, crocodiles, grasshoppers, and fawns).
-Blocks – Construction Zone

Songs, Word Plays and Letters
Open Shut Them
Five Green FrogsEentsy, Weentsy Spider
Bingo – with the word Snake
Whose Reflection is in the Pool?
Little Letter/Big Letter Chant
The Turtle
Five Little Fishies

Reminders:
This time of year the sun is beginning to get warmer. As we love to play outside, you may want to add sun block to your child’s face and arms before sending him or her to school.

Frogs eggs have just arrived

Our class has just received frog eggs for our classroom from the Science Center in the high school.  We have the eggs in a container in our class and we will be observing them.  We are hoping some of the eggs are going to hatch into tadpoles. 
Our first observations were they are black and are in the shape of little balls.  We have a chart next to the container to show the life cycle of the frogs.
We will keep you informed if any change into tadpoles so you can discuss with your child what they observed.

World of Color Week 6

World of Color - Week 6
Theme – This is our last week of our color unit. During this unit students will interact with colors explore topics such as color mixing, stains, fading, camouflage, and color patterns. Students will learn that color can be found in nature, that color can carry information, that paints and dyes are used to color things, colors can be mixed to make new colors and that sun and washing can make colors fade.
*Please note that we will not have school on Friday

*Also, we are planning ahead for our upcoming unit. If you have any “beautiful junk”, we would appreciate it. Here’s what we need: shiny gift wrap, metal jars, plastic screw top container lids (peanut butter, coffee jars, etc), small metal cans, transparent and opaque jars or containers.

Favorite Color Day
Please have your child wear their favorite color on Thursday. 
Stories –
A Letter To Amy by Ezra Jack Keats
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
Small Groups
- Language – We will be creating a book based on our paper-fading experiment.  We will be making observations about our paper we put in the sun for 1 week and 3 weeks.  We will record our observations through dictating to teachers.
-Math–We will be creating color patterns in a "frame"
- Games- Alphabet Go Fish
Choice: -
- Easel –Mixing primary colors
-Sensory table-using spray bottles with colored water to spray on paper
- Dramatic Play – Post Office and buying stamps and envelopes with money
-Art Table-color collages
-Writing Center – Writing letters to friends
-Library- Books about colors
-Fine Motor- play dough
- Blocks –Colored building blocks

Let’s Talk About It (oral language development)
-Observing and discussing colors in signs we see (example: stop sign, school crossing, traffic lights...)
-What is your favorite color? What color do more friends like? What color do less friends like?

Songs, Word Plays and Letters
1)Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
2) Down By the Bay
3) Five Green and Speckled Frogs
4) Green grass
5) What are you wearing?
6) Can you think of words that rhyme with__?
7) Rhyming words for books (thorn, horn; stamp, ramp)
8) Hands

World of Color Week 5

World of Color - Week 5

Theme – This week we will continue our Unit 4 of the Owl, World of Color. During this unit students will interact with colors explore topics such as color mixing, stains, fading, camouflage, and color patterns. Students will learn that color can be found in nature, that color can carry information, that paints and dyes are used to color things, colors can be mixed to make new colors and that sun and washing can make colors fade.

*Also, we are planning ahead for our upcoming unit. If you have any “beautiful junk”, we would appreciate it. Here’s what we need: shiny gift wrap, metal jars, plastic screw top container lids (peanut butter, coffee jars, etc), small metal cans, transparent and opaque jars or containers.

Orange is the color of the week.
Please have your child wear the color Orange or bring in an Orange item on Thursday.

Stories –
The Lion and the Little Red Bird by Elisa Kleven
Chickens Aren’t The Only Ones by Ruth Heller
A Letter To Amy by Ezra Jack Keats

Small Groups
- Language – We will discuss how animals are different colors and patterns. We will create a chart and sort animals that have stripes and animals that have spots
- Book Browsing –We will be looking through some of our familiar books from our color unit. We will be discussing our favorite characters and favorite parts in each story. We will compare our responses with each other.
- Positional Book- We will be creating a positional book based on our book The Lion and The Little Red Bird. (Terms: above, below, on, next to, between)

Choice: -
- Easel –Coloring The Lion and The Little Red Bird
-Sensory table-Color Sorting using tongs to promote fine motor skills
- Dramatic Play – Post Office and buying stamps and envelopes with money
-Art Table- making orange hats for Thursday
-Writing Center – Writing letters to friends
-Library- Books about colors
-Fine Motor- color sorters
- Blocks –Colored building blocks

Let’s Talk About It (oral language development)
-discussing distinctive colors in animals
-appreciating others (related to how the little red bird and the lion helped each other)

Songs, Word Plays and Letters
1)Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
2) Down By the Bay
3) Five Green and Speckled Frogs
4) Green grass
5) What are you wearing?
6) Can you think of words that rhyme with__?
7) Stand Up
8) Hands

World of Color Week 4

Theme – This week we will continue our Unit 4 of the Owl, World of Color. During this unit students will interact with colors explore topics such as color mixing, stains, fading, camouflage, and color patterns. Students will learn that color can be found in nature, that color can carry information, that paints and dyes are used to color things, colors can be mixed to make new colors and that sun and washing can make colors fade.


*Also, we are planning ahead for our upcoming unit. If you have any “beautiful junk”, we would appreciate it. Here’s what we need: shiny gift wrap, metal jars, plastic screw top container lids(peanut butter, coffee jars, etc), small metal cans, transparent and opaque jars or containers.
*Also if anyone would like to donate an extra box of tissues we would greatly appreciate it.

Green is the color of the week.
Please have your child wear Green on Thursday.

Stories –
Dear Juno by Soyung Pak
The Lion and the Little Red Bird by Elisa Kleven
Mouse Paint by Ellen Walsh

Small Groups
-Science –Color Mixing on Paper Towels.We will be observing how colors mix.
-Math- Remove One- counting straws and removing straws to introduce simple subtraction problems.
-Language- Naming and Labeling Paint Colors-We will be matching color words and colored materials. We will be focusing on beginning sounds of each letter as we sort.

Choice: -
- Easel – Ice Cream Paintings
-Sensory table-sorting colored objects. We will be using fine motor tweezers and putting items into colored trays.
- Dramatic Play – Cub Cadet Ice Cream Shop.
-Art Table- mixing primary colors for a class book
-Language- creating green collage headbands and writing the word green on them
- Library-Books about colors
- Blocks –Colored building blocks

Music:
1) Clap Your Hands
2) Bingo
3) Five Green and Speckled Frogs
4) Green grass
5) Down By the Bay
6) Bananas
7) Five Little Monkeys

Poems: Hands on Shoulders, Stand Up

World of Color Week 3

Theme – This week we will continue our Unit 4 of the Owl, World of Color. During this unit students will interact with colors explore topics such as color mixing, stains, fading, camouflage, and color patterns. Students will learn that color can be found in nature, that color can carry information, that paints and dyes are used to color things, colors can be mixed to make new colors and that sun and washing can make colors fade.


Yellow is the color of the week.
Please have your child wear yellow on Thursday.

Stories –
Dog’s Colorful Day- Emma Dodd
The Lion and the Little Red Bird-Elisa Kleven
Mouse Paint Ellen Walsh

Small Groups
-Science –Color Mixing-Students will be observing and exploring colors and how they blend and mix to create new colors. We will be mixing foam paint to try to create new colors and observe our results.
-Math- How Many Different Ice Cream Cones? Students will create different combinations of ice cream cones in small groups using three different flavors.
-Writing- We will use Dog’s Colorful Day as an inspiration to our own personal books. Each child will create their own retelling of this class book.

Choice: -
-Easel – Dog’s Colorful Day painting with bingo dobbers
-Sensory table -colored water with funnels and bottles to fill
-Dramatic Play – Cub Cadet Ice Cream Shop.
-Art Table- finger painting and mixing colors (encouraging using words to describe new colors, ex, green grass, yellow lemonade)
-Language- creating yellow collage headbands and writing the word yellow on them
-Library-Books about colors

-Blocks –Colored building blocks

Music:

1) Clap Your Hands

2) Bingo

3) Five Green and Speckled Frogs
4) Green grass
5) Down By the Bay
6) Bananas
7) Five Little Monkeys

Poems: Hands on Shoulders, Stand Up, Pease Porridge Hot