Week two 2008

Week two and the fun continues! We welcomed Caleb back from vacation and eagerly anticipate Marko joining us for week 4. Theme: All about me! Sound of the week: Ss Sight word: the Classical composer: Beethoven Table Activities: Magnet fun and fun with letters, fishing pond, foam tracks, cars, & shapes, plastic nuts & bolts in various sizes, marble mats & tongs. Music: Music terms with our fluffy friends, Pianissimo the Bunny, Forte the Lion, Staccato the Kangaroo, Legato the Swan, Presto the Cheetah, and Largo the Turtle. Treble Clef (these notes are high) & Bass Clef (these notes are low). We reinforce these terms and concepts throughout the day with our activity songs and anytime it is fun to do! Activity songs and finger plays include: “These Are Grandma’s Spectacles”, “6 Penny Song” (see lyrics below), Imaginations Movers “Jump Up!”, Beethoven classics including, “Fur Elise”, and our favorites from last week. Handwriting: HWT stroke names and wood pieces review, Mat Man, writing capital letters assessment, shaking hands song (reinforces using the right hand). Art: Miss Cristina returned with a continuation of dots. This time the kids discovered art that is made entirely of dots and tried to represent their own drawing or shape with dots. They also created dot painting to music, making fast dots to “Supercalifragelisticexpialadocious” and slow dots to “Candle on the Water” and realizing the different artistic effects being made. Their artwork is being saved for an art portfolio to be displayed at parent nights. Theme: This week focused on emotions, friendship, & hygiene: We created emotions wheels and shared pennies with our friends. Miss Cameron took us on a “Hygiene Hunt” in the style of the “Tiger Hunt” game. This time the kids learned about taking care of their bodies throughout an entire day. We have been teaching the kids that singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” while washing their hands will help them know they’ve washed long enough to get the germs away! Storybooks: Leo the Lightning Bug, The Way I Feel, Yes, We Can!, Blue and Peach, Words Are Not for Hurting, Germs Are Not for Sharing Math: ABAB patterns, 1:1 correspondence and counting/number recognition 7-12, simple addition story problems with bear counters. For example, 3 bears were playing on the playground and 2 bears came to play with them. How many bears are playing now? (write the mathmatical equation on the white board saying “3 plus 2 equals 5”). Then one bear went home. What should we do next? (take one bear away) (write the equation saying “5 minus one equals 4”) The students had their own bears to act out the story problem. A great activity to play at home with any 5 things! Reading: /m/ and /s/ sounds—children sorted pictures of /m/ and /s/ things onto a felt S and M. We became snakes and slithered around the room making the /s/ sound until we became “mmmmmmonkeys” and jumped around saying /m/. We looked at sentence strips containing the sight words “the” and “me” and the students matched their own sets of words with the ones in the sentence. It is a great activity to do at home with any story book or printed page. Have your child pick out the “the”s and “me”s! Free-Play Fun: Something we have been doing on a regular basis is a guided free-choice “recess” time after lunch. This week we played with wooden blocks, the fishing pond, Legos, wooden puzzles, Play-doh, outdoor play, and books.Social Skills: One of our favorite activities is the “6 Penny Song”. Here are the lyrics…maybe your child will tell you about the fun sharing they did. This was one of our most engaging activities this week! I have six pennies; You don’t have any; I’ll share with you. You will be happy; I will be happy When I share with you. One for you and one for me, One for you and one for me, One for you and one for me, Let’s look and see…Now we both have three! We capped off week two with a great time in the play kitchen, shopping with baskets and carts, checking out with play money at the registers, preparing meals, ”washing” and “cutting” up fruits and veggies, setting the table, “eating” food creations, and of course, cleaning it all up. Off to week three! We welcome your comments and like to hear about things your child is saying at home about their time at school.