Week six 2008

We missed a few friends during week six as some of our families are traveling. Come home safely! We miss you…

Theme: The Alphabet

Focus: Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr - Numbers, 4, 5, 6

Classical composer: Chopin

Table Activities: This week for table activity, we colored and cut the numerals 4, 5, and 6. The cutting is really progressing and the kids are using their helper hand with gusto. You may want to ask your child what their helper hand is called. A few of the students enjoy using scissors that open spontaneously from spring mechanisms. Other table activities included making paper diamonds, painting frames (prep for an upcoming art lesson), and rainbow paddles & flashlights. These are translucent paddles in rainbow colors. When stacked the paddles change color, especially when a light is shown underneath.

Music: You may have heard your child refer to Chopin as being sad. We discussed poor Frédéric’s health woes and the kids learned that he had “sick lungs”. Even though he died young (age 39), Chopin was widely known for his piano virtuosity and compositions. Activity Songs & Finger Plays: “Jack in the Box”, “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt ” with shaky eggs, “I am a Pizza” (building a cardboard and felt pizza to the song lyrics), “Popcorn Popping”, “The Raindrop Song” (with lots of Pretend Puddle Jumping).

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Handwriting and Reading: We are working on handwriting and reading in two groups. One group is receiving lots of instruction in uppercase letter recognition and stroke order. This group is also focused on recognizing beginning sounds of words and placing the letters of their first name in order. Activities with this group included finding pictures “hidden” around the room and placing them on the slate with the beginning sound written on it. We also used the wood pieces to create the focus numbers and letters. The other group practiced writing the uppercase letters on gray block paper with focus on using their helper-hand, correct pencil grip, starting each letter at the top left or top center and correct stroke-order. We also encourage going all the way from the top to the bottom (bump!). Each of these skills takes a lot of practice, reinforcement and encouragement and we are positive with each child and praise their efforts and improvements. This is the most difficult and focused work we do, so it is done in very small bits of time to avoid too much intensity. The atmosphere stays light and fun. This group pulled pictures out of the (stuffed-toy) Monster’s Mouth and sorted them by beginning sounds. We used both the hard K (kick, kiss) and soft K (knot, knife) sounds. Then they pulled the printed words out of the monster to use reading clues such as beginning and secondary sounds, one word or two, to figure out which picture they named. This group was also given specific instruction in each letters’ lowercase formation for recognition purposes only. As per the HWT curriculum, we will work to master writing the uppercase letters before we begin writing the lowercase letters. Both groups had fun using their pencils as missiles to hit points on stars or flowers and then scribble. We also drew big-line stems on the flowers and big or little-line legs on several different farm animals. Theme: We had lots of fun with alphabet themed crafts and movement this week. We practiced all sorts of Jumping skills over wide and tall obstacles. We had an Obstacle course with balance beam, crawling under the bench, somersaulting through hoops, etc…License plates were a fun way to practice ordering our first or last names. We also created a Mouse Mess collage and a friendship Quilt. Each child created a unique square and we put them together to form our classroom quilt.

Storybooks: K is For Kissing a Cool Kangaroo, Mouse Mess, Caps for Sale (for the mmmonkeys), Pair of Protoceratops, Princess Pigsty, Planting a Rainbow.

Math: Small group work included: Reinforcing counting by ones and twos, 4-sided shapes (square, rectangle, diamond, trapezoid)-recognizing attributes, similarities & differences. Then we did some more work with attributes using small, medium, and large squares, circles and triangles in the three primary colors. We talked about sorting them by size, shape and color and each child made their own matrix. Finally, we looked at 6-legged insects and the children drew legs on ants and bees.

Free-Play Fun: Flashlights were just too fun for one table activity, so they also made an appearance during free play. We also had lots of fun looking at alphabet books and playing with Play-doh (a great hand and finger work-out for those fine-motor skills.)

Who knew they were getting a work out while having free play fun? Also, the reading loft continues to be a big hit and the students are all enjoying looking at books independently. This is an exciting skill and passion for us to see them developing!