Weekly Updates/ Some of Our Favorite Things
Week of September 5th- Red, Yellow, Blue
This week in our classroom we having been practicing and learning about the colors red, yellow, and blue.
The children have enjoyed making a red mural to put on our wall, as well as painting at the easels with yellow and bubble painting with blue. All of these projects are posted around the classroom.
We have also been practicing our Color Songs. The words for our red, yellow, and blue songs are listed below. Feel free to practice the songs with your child. We will be singing them throughout the school year. :-)
Our RED Song
R-E-D R-E-D
I can spell red. I can spell red.
Fire Trucks are RED.
Stop signs are too.
R-E-D R-E-D
Our YELLOW SONG
(Sung to 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star')
Yellow, yellow is the sun.
Shine on me so I can have fun.
Y-E-L-L-O-W
Y-E-L-L-O-W
Yellow, yellow is the sun.
Shine on me so I can have fun.
Our BLUE Song
(Sung to 'Are You Sleeping')
B-L-U-E B-L-U-E
That spells blue, that spells blue.
The color of the sky, the color of the sky.
B-L-U-E B-L-U-E
This week we have also read the books Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Little Yellow Leaf, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?
We have also begun to sing our alphabet everyday. This week we practiced the letter B (for blue) in sign language.
The entire sign language alphabet can be found at Dr. Bill's ASL finger spelling and hand shape art : http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/fingerspelling/abc-gifs/index.htm
Week of September 12th- Green, Orange, Purple
This week in our classroom we practiced the colors green, orange, and purple. We mixed the colors blue and yellow to make green. We used stamp pads to make orange prints and we used dot markers to make purple pictures.
Week of September 19th- Healthy Habits
This week we discussed things that we healthy, such as exercise and good foods. We practiced stretching and running around the playground. We also enjoyed reading Mercer Mayer's book Good for Me and You.
Week of September 26th- Fire Safety
This week in class we discussed the many aspects of fire trucks and fire safety. We practiced skills such as dialing '911' and using 'Stop, Drop, and Roll'. We discussed things that are hot and not okay to touch. We also added several fire trucks into our play centers at school.
One of our favorite activities this week was making Tasty Fire Trucks. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients: graham cracker, red frosting, three pretzel sticks, one chex square, two vanilla wafers, one gumdrop.
Use a spoon to spread the red frosting over your graham cracker. Place the vanilla wafers at the bottom to make two wheels. Use the chex square to make a window. Break one of the pretzel sticks in half. Use the pretzel sticks to make a ladder on the back of the truck. The gumdrop goes on top to make the fire siren/light.
Week of October 3rd and October 10th- Pumpkins
This week our class began exploring the season Fall and pumpkins. We discussed how a pumpkin grows and we went on a field trip to Boggio's. The field trip went very well!!
We will be continuing our pumpkin exploration this week as well. We will be cutting open a pumpkin to investigate what is inside. We will also be working on a pumpkin art project and a 'How does a Pumpkin Grow' book.
Week of October 17th- Scarecrows
Week of October 24th- Not-so-Scary Monsters
Week of October 31st- Halloween/Nocturnal Animals
Thanks to everyone who helped make our first classroom party a success!! All of the children looked wonderful in their costumes!
This week we also discussed nocturnal animals. We read books about red foxes, raccoons, and bats. We also talked about the meaning of the word nocturnal.
We also worked in a few activities with opposites (push/pull, night/day). We read a Mat Man Opposites book and a book by one of my favorite authors- Tana Hoban.
Week of November 7th- Families
This week we discusses the differences and similarities in our families. We drew pictures of of our families. We made a graph about siblings (who has a sibling) and we started our family bulletin board. We are featuring a board of family photos- Thanks to Everyone who sent in family pictures for us to see!
Week of November 14th- Nursery Rhymes
This week we worked on rhyming activities with Nursery Rhymes. We enjoyed reading Hey Diddle Diddle, One Two Buckle My Shoe, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Mary had a Little Lamb, and Humpty Dumpty.
Week of November 21st- Thanksgiving
This week we read The First Thanksgiving and Who Will Carve the Turkey this Year. We also worked on making beautiful hand print turkeys.
Week of November 28th- Gingerbread Fred
This week we read The Gingerbread Man and Gingerbread Girl. We also started sending Gingerbread Fred home. He had a wonderful time on all of his visits. We also had a gingerbread hunt in our classroom.
I also want to thank everyone for coming out to our Gingerbread House night! All of the Gingerbread Houses looked wonderful!
Week of December 5th- Holiday/Review
Week of December 12th- Holiday/ Review
Week of December 19th- Holiday/ Review
On Monday, December 19th we will be having our pajama/movie/popcorn day. Have the children wear their PJs so we can curl up to watch a festive holiday movie.
On Tuesday, December 20th we will be having our Holiday Program! Morning program begins at 10:00
and afternoon program begins at 1:00!
The children have been working hard on all of our songs and we hope to see everyone at our program!
Weeks of January 2nd and 9th- Winter
During these weeks of school we have been learning about the season Winter. We have discussed what clothing we wear- hats, gloves, coats, boots. We have also read about what happens to animals in the winter. For example, we learned that snakes, bears, bats, and groundhogs will hibernate (or sleep for the winter) and we learned that birds and butterflies will migrate to somewhere warmer. We also discussed winter weather and where snow comes from (the clouds). We were also fortunate enough to be able to do a fun experiment on one of the days when it was actually snowing outside. This is also a fun and easy experiment that you can do at home:
Take a dark colored piece of paper (preferably black) outside during a snowfall. Collect various snowflakes on the paper and look at them very closely. When we did this experiment in class the children pointed out which snowflakes were the biggest, smallest, prettiest, and easiest to see. They also enjoyed trying to count all of the snowflakes before they melted.
Weeks of January 16th and 23rd- Dinosaurs
Throughout our dinosaur theme we will be discussing several fun things. We will be talking about meat eaters and plant eaters. We will be learning about fossils and volcanos (with a special Science Day that families are welcome to attend). We will also be reviewing and learning several concepts, such as sizes, colors, shapes, patterns, and letters during our dinosaur theme. We will be doing several art projects and a few science experiments as well.
Week of January 30th-February 3rd-
This week in our classroom we will be wrapping up our dinosaur unit with a few games and a counting project. The second half of the week we will be learning about Groundhogs Day! We will make a groundhog project and predict whether or not the groundhog will see his shadow!
Week of February 6th- Teeth/Dentist
This week in our classroom we have been learning about our teeth and taking care of them. We read the books I Know Why I Brush My Teeth and Going to the Dentist. We also had the dentist come visit us in our school! Some of our projects this week included sorting small teeth and big teeth and making toothbrushes with our names on them!
Week of February 13th- Valentines Day and Friendship
This week in our classroom we celebrated Valentines day with all of our friends! We played games, made adorable crafts, and passed out cards/treats for everyone!
Thank You to everyone who was able to join us at our party! The parties went really well and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves!
Week of February 20th-Teddy Bears and Friendship
This week in our classroom we will be doing several Teddy Bear themed projects as we learn about how to be a good friend. We will also be doing several activities to focus on counting and numbers.
Week of February 27th and March 5th- Pets
Throughout these weeks in our classroom we will be doing a unit on Pets.
We have already taken our field trip to the pet store. While we were there the children were able to interact with fish, guinea pigs, rats, cats, and snakes. We also saw dogs, lizards, and birds.
On our field trip we were also able to see what we need to take care of our pets-bowls, food, toys, etc.
In our classroom we have discussed pets, graphed who has a pet, and sorted out which pets have fur/don't have fur. As we continue our pets unit we will be making a book about how we take care of pets and we will be reading several pets books.
March 2nd- Dr. Seuss's Birthday
Today we celebrated a very special birthday! We read the book Cat in the Hat and made our own fun hats to wear. We even had a little birthday treat to celebrate!
