Oviparous Animals

Today we learned about oviparous animals.  An animal is oviparous if it hatches from an egg.  Our read aloud today was titled Chickens Aren't the Only Ones.  We also read the book What Will I Be? This book gave us a riddle and we had to decide which oviparous animal solved the riddle.  To check if we solved the riddle correctly we had to lift a flap.   During one of our centers today the children drew an oviparous animal.  They also cut out an egg that it could hatch out of.

During play time the children played with our new play the which is a grocery store.  If you have any empty boxes or plastic containers that we could use in our story please send them to school with your child.

E is for Easter

Today the children enjoyed two great read alouds Corduroy's Easter and There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Chick.  The children also went on a Easter Hunt to look for the Easter Baskets that the Easter Bunny hid on them.  During centers today the children visited two centers.  At one they followed a rebus recipe to make bunny bait.  At another center they made the book Counting Colorful Eggs. During snack we had an Easter celebration.  I would like to thank everyone who donated items to make our celebration special!!

E is for Easter and Eggs

Today's read aloud was titled Clifford's Happy Easter.  All of our centers today related to Easter and eggs.  Each child visited two centers today. At one center the children cut out and colored an Easter egg.  They then painted it with chocolate syrup.  This technique is called a crayon resist.  The end product looks like a chocolate egg.  At another center the children made an Easter card for you.  We worked hard on sounding out words and writing the letters for the sounds that we hear.  We also worked hard on forming our letters correctly.  Please double check when your child is writing letters that they start at the top.

St. Patrick's Day

Today when the children came into the classroom they noticed that something was a miss.  Chairs were turned over and toys were spread around the room.   It must have been a Leprechaun.  He also hid shamrocks around our room that had  a small gold treat attached to them. 

Today the children visited two centers. We discussed how if you find a four leaf clover you can make a wish.    At one center the children journaled about one thing they are lucky to have.  Many mentioned brothers, sisters, and other family members.  At the second center the children made a pot of gold.  The number of gold coins they put in their pot was determined by our classroom number assessment.

I have included the link for the story The Luckiest St. Patrick's Day Ever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEH1yXZFAEo I hope you enjoy it!

Five Green and Speckled Frogs

Today the children enjoyed two  read alouds The Icky Sticky Frog and Jump, frog, Jump!.  At one center today the children were given a frog mask with a party blower attached as an Icky Sticky Tongue.  The children were also given a set of flies that were programed with the concepts they are working on mastering for their progress report.  The children spread out their flies and used their icky sticky tongue to catch them.

Today we also sang the song "Five Green and Speckled Frogs."  At the second center the children visited they made 5 frogs on a speckled log.  We worked on writing numbers, putting numbers in order, as well as strengthening fine motor skills by making speckles.

Beavers

Today during centers the children played a beaver beginning sounds board game that I created.  Board games are rich in learning opportunities. They satisfy your child's competitive urges and the desire to master new skills and concepts, such as:

• number and shape recognition, grouping, and counting
• letter recognition and reading
• visual perception and color recognition
• eye-hand coordination and manual dexterity

Games don't need to be overtly academic to be educational, however. Just by virtue of playing them, board games can teach important social behaviors, such as communicating verbally, sharing, waiting, taking turns, and enjoying interaction with others. Board games can foster the ability to focus, and lengthen your child's attention span by encouraging the completion of an exciting, enjoyable game. Your luck can change in an instant — for the better or for the worse. The message inherent in board games is: Never give up! (scholastic.com/parent/resources the Benefits of Board Games)

 

A few of my favorite children's games are:

This game is like bingo except it comes in versions that work on number recognition, vocabulary, and sight words.

 

This was one of my families favorite games to play when my daughter was young.  Even if they can't read yet, younger children can enjoy playing this great strategy-building game.

This game is on my list to purchase for our family game nights. It has received many toy awards.  The great thing is that they made versions for younger children that works on the concepts we are working on in class.

 

Dazzling Dragonflies

Today our topic again focused on animals that live by or around a pond.  Our read aloud was titled Are You a Dragonfly?  A dragonfly laid her clutch of eggs and the life cycle of dragonflies began. We watched as the little nymphs changed over time into beautiful adults who can move through the air like an acrobat.  Besides learning what a nymph is the children also learned that dragonflies can be many different colors like blue, green, and red.

Today during centers the children made a dragonfly of their own.  They picked the color that they wanted and cut out a dragonfly body along with two sets of wings.  They then taped the wings onto the body along with pipe cleaners, which resembled the veins in the wings.  They then gave their dragonfly a face and painted it with dazzling glitter paint.  

At another center the children sorted b's and d's.  Reversals of these letters are common up until second grade.  It does help to have your child know for a d the circle is first and for a b the circle is last.

Ducks

Today we read one of my all time favorite stories One Duck Stuck.  "Splish, clomp, pleep, plop, plunk, sloosh, slosh, slink, zing."  When, "Down by the marsh, by the sleepy, slimy marsh, one duck gets stuck in the muck," who comes to the rescue? Two fish, splishing, for starters. Then three moose clomping, four crickets pleeping, and so on. Still, "No luck. Still stuck." It takes a whole lot of teamwork to get this particular stuck duck unstuck from the muck.
At an independent center today the children followed a set of directions to make a duck puppet of their own.  Now until the end of the school year it is my goal to prepare the children for kindergarten.  In kindergarten they are going to have to follow multiple step directions and complete tasks independently.  We will use the puppet the children made to retell the story.

At another center the children used pudding to finger paint muck.  They then stuck their duck in the muck.  At the last center the children played a duck drop game that had them working on the concept of greater then and fewer.