C is for Cookie

Today our read aloud was titled The Gingerbread Man.  The children listened to this story on a CD.  I must say that they truly enjoyed the readers use of different voices for each character in the story.  This week we are learning about the letter "C."  We can't talk about the letter "C" without talking about cookies.  Each day this week we will read a different version of the story The Gingerbread Man.  Through our discussions we will compare and contrast the characters in each story, the problem, and the solution in the story.  

Today for centers the children made gingerbread dough.  During this lesson the children learned what ingredients are, why we use a recipe, the difference between wet and dry ingredients, and how they don't like the smell of vinegar, ginger, or cloves.  We also worked on the beginning sound and letter that started each ingredient's name.

Today when the children entered our classroom they found that it was transformed.  Our classroom now looks like Santa's Workshop.  In the writing center the children can make cards for loved ones, write a letter to Santa using words from our word wall, or by sounding out the word and writing what they hear.  They can also color Christmas tree ornaments or string beads on a pipe cleaner to make ornaments for our class tree. 

T is for Thanksgiving

This week we did a favorite activity of the children, which is called, "Find What's Missing."  I first showed the children a picture of a turkey.  They looked it over carefully.  Then I showed them another picture that had something missing.  The children then took turns identifying what was missing.  I have included a few pictures for you to give it a try.  

Over the last few days the children made a turkey art project out of the coffee filter that they experimented with last week.  The children also journaled about what they are thankful for.  At another center the children made a story titled Where is Turkey?  This story worked on position words.  The word beside was very tricky for the children.  You may want to incorporate this word into the directions that you give your child.  For example you may say, "Put the fork beside the plate."

May the spirit of Thanksgiving
Bring you love, laughter,
And a warm heart!

I hope your family has a wonderful holiday.
Mrs. Meyer

T is for Taste

Today our sensory experience started during snack time.  The children were each given a tongue cutout.  The tongue was broken into different sections based on the areas that the tongue uses to taste different types of food.  The children were given lemon slices to put in the sour sections.  Pretzels to put in the section that tastes salty foods.  Gummy bears for the sweet section, and dark chocolate for the bitter section.  The children then tasted each food item and decided which one they thought tested the best.  We then graphed our results.  Both classes liked sweet foods the best.

The children also used their sense of smell today.  The painted pictures with Kool-Aid.  I also started assessing for Trimester 1.  I will assess your child on colors, numbers 0-15, capital and lowercase letters, and I will have them count for me.  

5 Senses

Today at my center the children experimented with hearing by using plastic eggs that were filled with various items.  The children took turns shaking the eggs and predicting what was making the sound that they herd.  The children recorded their findings on a recording sheet.

At another center the children used their sense of sight.  They used the binoculars they made on Tuesday to go on a hunt around the classroom looking for letters.  Once they found a letter they recorded it on their recording sheet.  Using the world around us to teach letters is very effective, for they are everywhere.  This activity also encourages the children to take notice of their environment.

T is for Touch

This week the children will be learning about their five senses.    To help us learn our senses each day we are adding one at a  time to our class potato head.  Our story for today was titled Lucy's Picture.  Vivacious Lucy's entering school skipping through the school room, announcing her Grandpa's coming to visit. Her teacher, Mrs. Kelley, tells her it's time to paint. However, the colored paints that the other children are using will not do for Lucy. Instead she tells Mrs. Kelley she wants to make a collage. Mrs. Kelley then seats Lucy at a table by herself and she has so much fun going through the box of scraps Mrs. Kelley presented on the table for Lucy when she told her teacher she needed to paste items on her picture.

In fact, it was even better when Lucy closed her eyes to feel the different textures. You see, Lucy's grandfather is blind. Lucy's making a collage out of fabric, paper, twigs, leaves, feathers, sand and even a piece of her own hair.

During recess she collected the twigs, sand, leaves, feathers in a cup and made trees and a path of glue with sand spread over it. She wrinkled fabric for flowers from a piece of paper and made a dog and used a piece of her hair for the fur representing her Grandpa's dog. She used the feathers for bird wings 

When school ended there was Lucy's Mom and Grandpa with his seeing eye dog,Honey waiting outside for her. Lucy gives Grandpa her picture. Lucy explains some of the subjects in her picture "these are hills and here's the road" she says as she is guiding Grandpa's hand. Grandpa is delighted with the picture. Grandpa touched the picture carefully"a tree, a bird and what's this?" It feels like your hair Lucy." "That's Honey" says Lucy smiling. "How clever! and what a wonderful surprise!" "It's the best picture I've ever seen" said Grandpa.

During one of the centers today the children made a touch picture of their own.  At my center the children used their sense of touch to make a book titled My Hands Can Hold.  We read the words on each page and used the descriptors to help us decide what object to glue on each picture.  We touched things that were soft, rough, bumpy, and smooth.

The Three Little Pigs Continued

Today we read another version of the book The Three Little Pigs.  After reading the story we compared and contrasted it to the story that we read on Friday.  When children compare two stories we say that they are making text-to-text connections.  

At one of the centers the children cut out pictures from the story and sequenced them in the correct order.  At another center the children played the "Huff Puff" game.  Each child received a game board.  Some children worked on 0-10 while others worked on 0-20.  The children took turns picking a card from a basket and identifying the number on it.  They then marked it on their recording sheet. 

During play time the children had lots of fun acting out the story of the three little pigs with the masks and houses that they made.

The Three Little Pigs

Todays' read aloud was titled The Three Little Pigs.  At one center the children chose to make a pig or a wolf mask.  The children really enjoyed making a mask.

Today the children also had the opportunity to make a straw house, stick house, or a brick house.  This weekend I picked up some large boxes from local stores.  We worked to make the boxes look like houses.  For the next week we will use the boxes and the mask that we made to act out the story of The Three Little Pigs.  The best part of this activity was learning to be creative, and learning to get along with others as a team in order to complete a task.

Both classes also enjoyed buddy time today.  The morning class is buddies with third graders, and the afternoon class has second grade buddies.  The buddies read us stories and play learning games with us.  Both the 4K child and the older child gain a lot from this experience.  We are all a community at Zielanis, thus working together is key.

Dinofours

This week we will be discussing ways to be a good friend.  We will read a variety of Dinofours books.  These books are about dinosaurs who are four and are starting out in school.  The books will teach us how to say sorry and mean it, how to help people feel better when they are sad, and how to be a caring friend. 

Today during centers the children cut out the outline of a person.  They then colored it to look like themselves.  They also cut pieces of yarn to glue on for hair.  They turned out very cute.  Then the children dictated an ending to the sentence, "I am a good friend when I ......."

At another center the children played a "Friendly Letter Fun" game.  They took turns rolling a die and identifying the letter they rolled.  They then recorded it on a recording sheet.  

Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Jar?

Yesterday our read aloud was titled Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Jar?  This book was a great lead into making predictions.  Some children looked at the cover picture and used the clues to predict that the sister did it.  Some children said the dog did it.  Besides lending itself to prediction this story, was also a counting book that subtracted one from each page, and it was a rhyming book.  On the second to last page the author wrote, "I was hiding in this shoe, when I noticed there were two, stealing cookies is very bad!  So it must have been ......"  At this point the children shouted out DAD, because bad rhymes with dad.  Sure enough it was dad who stole the cookies in the end.

During one of our centers the children were given a strip of letters from either their first or last names.  They then had to sort them from letters that are in their names and letters that are not it their names.  

At another center the children were given a piece of paper.  They looked through a tray of letters to find the ones that are in their last name.  They then glued the letters in order on their papers. 

This week the children also visited the app Jump Start Preschool.  They made the letter N page for their ABC book.  We also completed a journal page about things that they like.  In both classes we made a new friend.  In the morning class a student named Page will help us twice a week.  In the afternoon class Raven will be in to help us each day.

Have a great weekend!!

Name Practice

 At one center today the children worked on writing their last name.  The children looked at their name.  Traced their name. Wrote their name, and then stamped their name.

At another center the children used dotters to dot the letters in their last name.  If you would like to have your child practice name writing at home I have included a link that you can use to make handwriting practice pages http://tools.atozteacherstuff.com/printable-handwriting-practice-worksheet-maker/ or may may try http://handwritingpractice.net/handwriting/index.html

N is for Name

This week the children will be working hard on identifying and writing their last names.  When you work on writing at home please make sure your child is using their pincher fingers to grasp the pencil and that they are starting at the top when they write their letters.

Today during centers the children made name bracelets.  They practiced writing their name in shaving cream, which was lots of fun.  We also graphed how many letters are in our names.