Tues Apr 10th- #10

Our class started with name practice and then they moved over to play with Lincoln logs, puppets and magnets. I pulled the students aside individually to work on the letter X and the number 10- teaching them how to print each one, the sound of the letter X and what the 10 is in Spanish. We also practiced counting to 10 together. Kayden helped us with our colors and shapes and then we counted like pirates looking for the x on the treasure map up to 20. After that, we counted in Spanish to 10 and did blast off counting. It was a fun date because this was the 10th and that was our number of the day! We went over the date and our calendar- we sang our songs for calendar time as well for weather time. Kayden helped us with our weather friend. ABC boogie was next followed by letter time with our new letter X! X is a difficult letter sound to make because it is two sounds blended together. We first started with a “ka” and then added a “sss”- we said them quickly together. I also read some words that start with x- the list was short and then we sang our X song again as we made our arms into the X shape. We wiggled to a song that the star chose and then we had snack. After we ate, we had book time and then show and tell with Kayden. Our class practiced Little Bo Peep- our nursery rhyme of the month and then we got into our theme of the day- #10! First we counted in English and Spanish up to 10 and then we sang “what’s inside the kitten’s jar?” She had crayons but at the table, we added 10 tropical fishes to our jars. After that we came back down to the floor and we did the numeral song. Because it only goes to 10, we did a celebration dance to the end to mark our journey of getting to 10 this year! For story time- I read “10 in the bed”, “Feast for 10” and “10 little doggies” books. These books are the big books so the kids like seeing the big pictures to the stories. We went back to the table to color 10 farmers and then we added 10 hats to help shade their faces. For letter time, we practice the sound for the letter X again and I gave the students an X stamp to help them remember what we had learned and review the sound with each child. We read the story “A Xylophone for X-Ray Fish” next. He was having a birthday party and then at present time we searched all the gifts for the one he wanted the most- a xylophone! His last present was one from his mom and he was so excited because she got him his xylophone. For our last activity, we colored the X practice page that we had printed on earlier in our day.

Mon Apr 9th- taking turns

Name practice- first and last names was our first goal of the day. The students played with Lincoln logs, puppets and magnets. I pulled the students aside to work on the letter “u” and the sight words- mad and we. I also asked them questions about the All about me page for April and took their heights. Gage was the star and he helped us to review some of our letters that we have learned this year. We counted to 20 going up and down, practiced our 10’s to 100 and did blast off counting. Days of the week and months songs were next followed by reviewing our date and holidays of the month. For weather time, we sing our spring song and then the star helps with dressing our weather friend. For letter time, first we alphabet boogied then I taught about the letter “U” and our letter friend for the week was Unger Unicorn. He likes to stand upside down and carry his umbrella. We reviewed that “U” is a vowel and is important in making many words but it doesn’t start many words. I read them many words that start with “un” and how that created new words. We practice the two sounds for “U”- like in its name and “u” as in up or umbrella. The class sang along to the “U” song and we learned the sign- our two fingers up (pointer and middle) and they have to be touching. When they are opened then they make the sign for “V”. Have your child show you what I mean. We also reviewed the words “mad” and “we”. We had our wiggle song, ate our fun snacks, sang to Cole for his unbirthday and then checked out our books. Gage shared his show and tell and then we completed our All about me page for April. After that, we went into lesson time. Today our lesson was on taking turns. We first talked about what places and times that we have taken turns. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes it is hard to take turns. I read a few stories to demonstrate this skill. The first book was “Share and take turns” which had some great ideas and ways to take turns and share with our friends. I also read “Bear in the Big Blue House-Two can share, too” book. This book was creative in the ways the friends took turns with their toys that are special to them. We discussed the books and realized the importance of taking turns with others- this class is really good at taking turns but it always good to review these skills. For letter time, we practiced our sounds and sign for the letter U and then colored the U page that we had practiced printing on earlier. For sight word time, we reviewed our new words as well as doing a practice of all the words with the class.

Wed Apr 11th- boats & ships

Our class started with scissor practice- I am getting more difficult pages for them to practice on. Our play time was with wooden blocks, magnetic dolls and little legos. Our star helped with color word cards and then we counted to 30 the way our star wanted to. We also practiced our Spanish to 18. The class sang days of the week and our months song in English and we reviewed our date. Weather time was next with our spring song and then dressing our weather friend and weather song with the other students. ABC boogie and reviewing our letter and sight words of the week were after that. We wiggled, ate snacks and explored our books in the April library. Our star shared their show and tell and then the class and I reviewed our poem of the month. For our lesson, I let each pick out one of the pictures faced down of the different boats and ships that we would be learning about. Tugboats, barges, cruise ships, sailboats, yachts, ferries, cargo ships and fishing boats were the ones we discussed. We talked about working boats and boats/ships for fun. I also explained about harbors and lighthouses. Afterwards, the students completed a worksheet that they had to find various shapes hidden in a picture of a lighthouse, harbor and a few boats. For letter time, we read a story about Umbrellabird’s umbrella. Some of the other birds made fun of him but in the end he helped them and they were all friends. We practiced the sounds and sign again as I gave them their letter stamp on their hands. For our last activity, I did individual sight word practice along with our new words and then we finished with a dot to dot U page and Unger Unicorn.

Tues Apr 3rd- Black day

For this make up day, we started with name practice and then the kids played with nuts & bolts, baby dolls, duplos and rainbow color matching. I was the star since Chelsea was absent so we reviewed our color word cards and the class and I counted to 15 bouncing like bunnies for Easter. We talked about our new month April and I talked about all the holidays and “unbirthdays” of the month. I have made April our “unbirthday” month and will be celebrating our summer birthdays this month. We reviewed our date at calendar time along with singing our songs and I dressed our weather friend for weather time. During letter time, we boogied to the ABCs and then I gave a sneak peek to our letter of the week next week- X! The class and I sang the ABC song as we sang the letters and sounds they make. I picked the wiggle song and afterwards, the class ate their snacks. We looked at books and then we had a final chance to sing Hickory Dickory Dock for me. All of them passed it off and picked their prize for doing such a great job! I introduced our new nursery rhyme- Little Bo Peep. I had the children repeat me first and then we sang the song a few times. At the table, we colored our Little Bo Peep booklets and then looked at them when we listened to the song. For black time, I gave all the students an Angry Birds sticker with the black bird on it so they could be wearing some black today. Then I ask them where their black was on their clothes. Afterwards we listened to color black song and then I showed the students pictures of black animals found in nature. The students then came over to the table and completed their color black books along with drawing a picture in black and printing their name in black. After we finished that, I read the story Bear’s Shadow and we talked about how our shadows are black. For letter time, we sang our ABCs and then I read the story- Alphabet Mystery and our letter of the week next week was the star of the book! We said the alphabet after we finished the book and then we headed out side for some chalk time the last 5 minutes of class.

Mon Apr 2nd- Seashore

We started the day with our name practice and then they played with nuts & bolts, baby dolls, duplos and rainbow color matching. Rome helped the class review letters we have learned and their sounds and then he picked out our action for counting to 20. We also did blastoff counting and counting by 10s to 100. I introduced the class to our new month-April and talked about all the holidays of the month. I have made April our “unbirthday” month and will be celebrating our summer birthdays this month. We sang our days & months in Spanish. Rome helped with weather time after we sang our spring song. During letter time, we boogied to the ABCs and then sang our ABC song and practiced our signs. Rome picked out wiggle song; we ate snacks & unbirthday cookies from Garrett and looked at our books. For our lesson, I wanted to do an introduction today to the theme this month- All about the sea and sand. We had a class discussion about the beach- the sights, sounds, smells and activities that we can do there. Some of our classmates haven’t ever been to the ocean, so I asked our friends who have what they have done at the beach. We discussed things we need at the beach, safety there and how we need to listen to the lifeguards. Afterwards I read a Clifford’s Puppy Days book- Beach day. I asked them questions throughout the story of the different experiences that Clifford was having at the beach. Once we finished the book, explored some seashells that I had and then used seashell maniputives to practice our counting. For an Easter activity, each student covered their egg shape with tissue paper squares. We went right into our –an word family booklet and the words we learned last week- writing each word on our own. We practiced our names in line and we were done for the day and the week!

Fri Mar 30th-Easter party & Easter egg hunt

This great Friday was started with W practice and students played with big blocks, animals, an Easter bunny puzzle and some Easter activities at the table. Ella helped the class review their colors and shapes and then we counted to 31 bouncing like bunnies. We also practiced our Spanish to 18 and blastoff counting. We had calendar time with Spanish days and months songs and then we finished up with our spring song and weather time. Letter time was reviewing our letter W as well as our sight words. Ella picked our wiggle song and then we ate our snacks and looked at books for a bit. For our lesson, I read the students two books- Clifford’s Little Blue Easter Egg and Easter Babies- a counting book. They enjoyed each one. We talked about some things that their families do at Easter. After that, each child wrote their names on their white paper bags to be used for our Easter egg hunt. Then I gave them a bag of stickers to decorate their bags with. I collected those for our hunt and cleaned up. After that we did completed our letter W friend- a walrus. To review our color words, the students had to read the words to know what color to color their eggs. We cleaned up and then walked to the park to for our hunt. Thanks to our parents who helped with this!! The kids had a fun time finding their eggs. After our hunt, I allowed each child to pick a cookie and color frosting to decorate with. They enjoyed these along with all of the other treasures of the hunt.

Thurs Mar 29th- Easter party & Easter egg hunt

Our class started the day with scissor practice and then the students played with big blocks, animals, an Easter bunny puzzle and some Easter activities at the table. I pulled the students aside to practice printing the letter W- upper and lowercase. Anothony helped the class review their colors and shapes and we counted to 31 wiggling like worms. The class also practiced our Spanish counting to 9. Our class reviewed the date and sang our calendar and weather time songs. At letter time we boogied to the ABCs and practiced the letter W song. I reviewed some words that begin with W and then we had our wiggle song. Snack time was fun because we had our snacks from Anthony and also they could pick out an Easter cookie and color frosting from me. After we ate, we looked at books and then Anthony shared his show and tell. For our lesson, I read the students two books- Clifford’s Little Blue Easter Egg and Easter Babies- a counting book. They enjoyed each one. We talked about some things that their families do at Easter. After that, each child wrote their names on their white paper bags to be used for our Easter egg hunt. Then I gave them a bag of stickers to decorate their bags with. I collected those for our hunt and cleaned up. After that we colored our W worksheet that we had completed earlier. We also sang our W song and I gave each child their w stamp on their hand. To review our color words, the students had to “read” the words to know what color to color their eggs. We cleaned up and then walked to the park to for our hunt. Thanks to our parents who helped with this!! The kids had a fun time finding their eggs. After our hunt, I allowed each child to pick a cookie and color frosting to decorate with. They enjoyed these along with all of the other treasures of the hunt.

Wed Mar 28th- Other garden creatures

This Wednesday started with scissor practice of curvy lines. I had foam blocks, trains and magnetic letters out to play with. Ella helped with our color word review and then the class wiggled like a worm to 31. We also counted by 10s to 100- I call it the chicka chicka 123 tree. We worked on our calendar time with singing in Spanish on our days and months and reviewing the date. Ella helped with weather time after we sang our Spring song. Letter time we reviewed the letter W and our sight words man and Nan. I went more into detail with the –an word family and all the words you can make with the ending –an. The class wiggled, ate snacks and explored the books. Ella shared her show and tell and I started our lesson about garden creatures. I read a fun book-“What can it be” and they had to guess what creature it was with a part of a picture and poem about it. We first discussed worms and if we had ever touched one or seen one before. Many of the kids hadn’t. Worms are very beneficial to the garden and I shared some facts about the worm. For the spider, we reviewed what makes an insect- 3 parts of the body and 6 legs. A spider only has two parts and 8 legs so a spider is not an insect. We discussed facts about the spider and then talked a bit about frogs and turtles. For our art project, the students went to the table to color a spider to take home. They had to cut and glue it themselves. To review, I sent home the W page with red and brown coloring and they had to find the worms. For letter time, we practiced the sound and sign for W and I stamped each child’s hand as we reviewed the sound together. Then we started with word whamming our –an word families with each child getting to pick out one letter to add to the –an ending. They had to tell me what letter they picked and its sound then we added the letter to see the word we created. For the last 20 minutes of class, we walked over to the park to let our butterflies go. The kids loved seeing them take off and start their journey in nature.

Tues Mar 27th- oval

Our class started with name practice. Please continue to practice at home with your child allowing them to write their name with or without your help as often as possible. Having this skill will allow them to work on other areas next year. I had with puzzles, littlest pet shop, lacing cards and color bears to play with. I pulled each child aside to work on our shape of the day- the oval. Anthony helped with circle time reviewing our color cards. We counted to 27 (the date) like we were swimming in “w”ater. We also practiced our blastoff counting. Afterwards we had calendar time with our songs and weather time with our spring song and help from Anthony. Letter time we talked about the letter W- its sound and how it is printed. I talked about our letter friend- Worm who pulls his wagon full of walnuts. We would get to know him better during our story at letter time. We sang the song a few times and then I talked about some words that begin with the letter W. Anthony picked the wiggle song and then we had snack time. Today the students got to explore our April books in the library area. I pulled each child aside to do oval stamping as it would be hard to keep the students together on a painting activity like this. After they all completed their page, Anthony shared his show and tell with the class. We practiced our nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock because this is the last month of the week- have to make sure we have it all memorized. For oval time, we traced ovals in the air to review how we make them. I showed them their oval art and talked to them how an oval is made. I also discussed that no matter what direction the oval is in, it is always an oval. I showed them pictures and household items that are oval shaped so they recognize that ovals are all around us. I had them come to the table and color a worksheet- an oval is a dish. After we completed that, we worked on letter time. We practiced our sound for the letter W and sang the song. I stamped each child’s hand. We read our story about Worm’s wagon. For the last 20 minutes of class, we walked over to the park to let our butterflies go. The kids loved seeing them take off and start their journey in nature.

Mon Mar 26th- ants & ladybugs

Our class started the week with practicing our first and last names 4 times and then they played with puzzles, littlest pet shop, lacing cards and pattern cards. I pulled the students aside to work on the letter W and our sight words- man & Nan. Ella was our star and she helped with letter review and then we counted to 31 like we were swimming in “w”ater. We also counted in Spanish to 18. Our class reviewed the date and sang our days of the week song in Spanish. I also taught the last 5 months of the year in Spanish and we practiced that song as well. We finished up calendar time with our spring song and reviewing the weather. For letter time, we boogied to the ABC’s and worked on the letter W- its sound and its sign. I introduced the class to Wally Walrus and how he likes to watch worms as well as ride in his wagon and eat watermelon. We sang the song a few times and then I talked about some words that begin with the letter W. Afterwards, we sounded out and reviewed the sight words of the week. Ella picked our wiggle song and then they ate and looked at our new April books. Ella shared her show and tell and then we went right into our theme of the day- ladybugs and ants. I started by reading- Grub to Ladybug and we discussed the life cycle of the ladybug as I did. We reviewed it as the students color, cut and glue the life cycle in the right order. After ladybugs, I talked about the ant and how it is different from the ladybug. I read 100 Hungry Ants- a story of different ways to count to 100. For letter time, we practiced the sign and sound of the letter W. I had the students come to the table and color the W printing page we had completed earlier. Finishing up, we practiced our sight words- man & Nan and lined up for the end of our class.