Saturday, November 26, 2011

Tues Nov 22- Thanksgiving celebration

Downstairs, the students did a name practicing activity and then played with animals, transformers, star wars figures and links. Before we started with learning about the first Thanksgiving, we finished coloring some Brown Turkey pages from our book. Through a felt story, we learned all about the first pilgrims and Native Americans. How the pilgrims came to American and why and how they got help from their new friends. I showed the students on the globe where the Pilgrims came from and where they lived when they got to America. I had a little finger play about Ted the Turkey and the students helped me with 10 little Indians song. We also had to help Mr. Turkey’s colorful feathers that were hidden all over the room. The kids loved this activity. We also looked at some books of what real Pilgrims and Native Americans would have looked like at the time of the first Thanksgiving- their houses, clothes and how they had to live. At the end of class, I made each of the kids a pilgrim hat and I had to take some group pictures. I hope that you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving bread! This was the best shot of the girls I could get- they were being silly!
 
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Mon Nov 21- gratitude

At table time, we worked with our names then upstairs we played with animals, transformers, star wars, links and puffs and tweezers. I practiced the letter J with each of the students. Our star helped with our circle time activities. We did jumping jacks up to 30 which tired us all out! We met our letter friend- Jenny Jellyfish. He hangs out in a jar drinking her juice and also plays with her jack in the box. We practiced its sound and the sign for the letter. The class wiggled, ate snacks and Gage shared his show and tell then we colored another page to our Brown Turkey book. I hope you enjoyed seeing your child’s book. Our class time was all about gratitude and what we are grateful for. I asked each student what they were grateful for and added it to a class list. Then we went over to the table and colored a thankful turkey and I had each child tell me what things they are grateful for and we put them on our thankful turkey’s feathers. We also read some books on gratitude-“Thanks for Thanksgiving” and “Thank You, Thanksgiving”. For “J” time, we talked about some things that start with J. We practiced our sound and sign and each child got their J stamps. We reviewed our names downstairs and we were finished for the day. AM Class-
 

 
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Fri Nov 18- #6 day

Downstairs, we worked on the letter M and stamped the letters. I had beads, the train set and an alphabet mitten match game. While the kids played, I practiced the number six with each of them and then had to find the number six on various flags and they had to color them. Our star shared their show and tell and then our class worked on another page of our Brown Turkey book and we went right into our lesson. At instruction time, we sang our numeral song making our numbers in the air. I practiced again on a white board how to make the number six and then each student practiced on the whiteboards themselves. At the table, the students colored a fish bowl and then added six fish stickers to the bowl. For “M” time, we practiced the sound and sign of the letter and then I read “The Mitten” story to the class. We observed the beautiful art work in the story and looked forwarded to seeing all the animals that fit into the mitten. Then I allowed each child to try on the Mittens from the story. Each child got the lowercase m stamp and we were done for the day and the week! AM Class-
 

 

 
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Thurs Nov 17-Square

We started the day with scissor practice and then went upstairs to play with little people and big blocks. I pulled the kids aside two times today- once to practice the letter I and all of them did it on their own and the other time to practice our shape of the day- the square. Aspen helped with circle time and we learned up to J on our ABC song. We practiced the letter I again- reviewing both sounds. We wiggled, ate snacks and Aspen shared two picture books of hers. We completed another page to our Brown Turkey book and then we started our lesson on squares. I read “What is Square?” to the class and each child had a change to find two different squares amongst other shapes in the book. After that, I had them come and decorate their square with little squares- each of their art pieces were very colorful and it was a good chance to work with glue. I had the students come back to their rectangles and we reviewed what a square it- four sides, four angles and all the sides are the same size. We then went back to the table and we completed another page about how a block can be a square and they pasted squares on top of each to look like blocks and then they colored the page. For letter time, I reviewed the sounds for the letter I and I stamped each hand with the lowercase I and a square. For the last few minutes, I had Aspen pick out a book and we read – Dora’s Thanksgiving and we discussed who we are grateful for in our lives and our class was complete!
 

 

 
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Wed Nov 16- Books, books, books!

Started our day with scissor practice and then we went upstairs to play with big blocks, little people and nuts and bolts. At circle time, we have started to countdown to Thanksgiving. We also count to thirty counting in merry and mad voices. We worked on our sound and sign of the letter “M”. We also worked on our turkey books- you will see them this week. We also celebrated Ella’s birthday in AM class- we hope she had a wonderful day! Our theme was books, books, books! It is National Book Week and I wanted the students to explore a variety of books so I brought out a whole laundry basket of different books and they loved looking at all of them. They each made a small flipbook “Take a trip with a book” and I explained that they great thing about books is that they can take you to new places or to learn about all kinds of topics- books are awesome! For our M activity, each child had to make a mosaic using yellow, green and blue and they had to find the numbers and color those squares. I finished the day by reading “If you give a moose a muffin” and giving each child a lowercase m stamp. AM Class-
 
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Tues Nov 15- #4 day

We came upstairs to work on our names and then we worked with the number 4 with Miss Alisha’s help. I had duplos, babies, Littlest Pet shop and barbies for play time. At circle time, Aspen was my star and he helped with colors, shapes and dressing our weather friend at weather time. I introduced the class to the letter I and how it has two sounds- it says its name and “i” like icky or iguana which is who we read about for alpha tales time. We practiced the sounds and I read to them some other words that begin with the letter I. After we wiggled, we ate a fun snack and cupcake for my birthday- thanks Melissa! Aspen shared her show and tell and then we colored another page to our Brown Turkey books. For lesson time, I reviewed how to make the number four on my whiteboard and then we sang our numeral song and practiced our numbers up to four in the air. I then taught them four in Spanish- cuatro and I will be practicing more of our Spanish numbers at calendar time. I had the class come to the table and we put four bees in our number jars because a bee is an insect and that starts with I. The students then colored four friends with four toothbrushes and we gave each friend one. They had to cut out the toothbrushes and paste them on. For letter time, we practiced the letter I sounds and then I stamped the capital letter I on their hands. After that, I read Iguanas on Ice and this book was in your child’s folder to extra practice reading at home. That was our day- thanks again for making my birthday so special
 

 

 

 
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Mon Nov 14- making music

We practiced tracing some lines and then the students came upstairs to play with duplos, littlest pet shop and magnetic letters and shapes. I practiced the letter “M” with each student. Our star helped me with our circle time activities. We marched to counting up to 15. We met some new letter friends- Mary and Marsha Mouse. They are twins- Mary is merry or happy and Marsha is always mad! The students practiced the sound and sign for the letter M. I did some snacks too for a birthday treat for my special day- brownies with frosting.  I had the students color a Brown Turkey page for our Thanksgiving project. Our arts theme for the day was to making music. I discussed music and we listened to what is music and what is noise. I also had the students talk about their favorite instruments and we talked about how we can even make an instrument with our voices. Then I let the kids have a chance to play all the different instruments that I have. Afterwards, we did a patterning sheet of different instruments. For the letter “M” time, we read our M story and practiced the sound and the sign for the letter. We finished the day by completing the M practice by coloring the page. I gave them an M stamp on their hand and we were done. AM class-
 
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Wed Nov 9- sharing

At table time, we practiced our scissor skills. Upstairs we played with the cars & trucks with the city mat, Mr. Potato Head, and magnets. For circle time, we talked about Veteran’s day, counted up to 20 and the star helped me with colors, shapes and our weather friend. We practiced the letter P- the sound and sign because it isn’t an easy one. We wiggled with our wiggle song and went right into snack time. For class time, we talked about sharing- where we share and why we do. I read the book- Polite as a Princess book to talk about other manners with sharing. We are working on a thanksgiving book and colored a page for it. For letter time, I read If you give a Pig a Party and then we practiced our letter “P” and stamped P’s in purple- sharing the stamps with each other. For fun, I sent home a coloring sheet of Petey Porcupine in their folder to do over the long weekend. These do not have to be returned- just for their enjoyment. AM Class-
 

 

 

 

 
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Tues Nov 8- Brown day

At table time, we worked on our scissor skills and upstairs we had brown play dough time. I sent this home with your child. I hope they enjoyed playing with it more there. I scented it with real cinnamon and it smelled great! I also had Lincoln logs and Mr. Potato Head out to play with. I took each child aside to work on printing the letter H. I also measured them and stamped their handprints for our monthly binder sheet. Chelsea was our star of the week- she helped with colors, shapes and the weather. We also learned the “H” sound- it sounds like we are hot, just ran a long way and we need a drink. For the color brown, we read our brown poem and discussed all the things that are brown. I had the first page of our Brown Turkey book ready to color at the table. I gave the students some book time so I could prep for our next activity-we colored a page of a cat in a brown paper bag and then covered the brown bag with pieces of brown paper. The kids did a great job covering all the areas of the bag. I sent home the Brown book for an activity at home on our day off. For our “H” time, we read about Hide and seek hippo and we practiced sound again of the letter H. After we read, we colored our hearts on the H practice page. I gave them their stamps and we had completed our day!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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