Hippos

Hello Hippo Families!

We had a wonderful week with your children in the Hippo room!  We are learning and practicing the the classroom routine, working on transitions, being safe on the stairs and going over the class rules. We are also learning our daily schedule. It is posted on our white board and we check it each day as well as discuss or show pictures of the expectations involved.  (goals: responsibility, accepting transitions, listening, following rules and routine)

In the hippo room, we encourage self help skills.  It begins by following the morning routine when entering the classroom.  When the children need help with anything, we ask that they try it first by themselves.  The students practice unzipping and getting their snacks out as well as packing up to go home.  We have the hippos put their backpacks on the floor, unzip their backpacks, check their cubbies for papers, load their belongings and zip up their backpacks. (self help skills, responsibility, fine motor) 

Our theme this week was "Hippos".  We learned a few hippo facts, practiced some "Hippo" songs, watched a video of real hippos and even learned how to spell hippo to the tune of "BINGO".  We discussed the letter H is the beginning letter in the word Hippo, Harry and Harrison.

The hippos went to art for the first time with Ms. Tara! We learned some rules in art, watched a video about lines and then drew different types of lines with oil pastels.  Art provides many opportunities for fine motor practice, making decisions and using language.

The children really enjoyed learning about Fiona, a hippo from the Cincinnati Zoo.  During snack, we watched a video from when she was a little baby. The doctors took such good care of her so she could then be reunited with her parents.  During story time we also talked about real hippo books and make believe hippo books. 

This week in our 2nd steps social/emotional skills curriculum, we met Sammy and Susie, our puppets.  Susie was very excited to start school.  We talked to her about the listening rules and then she was ready to learn.  We practiced singing the listening rules and using hand motions to help us remember.  In addition, our school participates in the Heggerty program. This program works on letters, sounds, listening and rhyming. This week we tried to guess different sounds with our eyes closed. We also made the sound of the beginning letter in our names. (listening, following directions, letters and letter sounds)

Our centers included: playing with hippos and scoopers in moon sand(sensory), going on a Hippo word hunt for the word HIPPO (recognizing letters, word, matching, fine motor), playing with hippos in playdoh, painting our hippo masks (fine motor, making decisions), using props to go with the book, You Can't Move a Hippo (comprehension, sequencing), playing with hippos and the doctor toys based on the book,Dr. Hippo (pretend play, taking turns), cutting grass which hippos eat- green yarn and construction paper (cutting, holding scissors correctly, using helper hand), counting pretend chocolate chip cookies based on the book, Chocolate, Chippo, Hippo, painting with hippo footprints and answering where the hippo tracks took them to...(sensory, following directions, using language), making spots using daubers on the letter H (recognizing the letter H), making pretend gum out of model magic and a pink marker that was the spot in the book, Hippospotamus. (fine motor, strengthening fingers, sensory), matching cookie shapes (learning shapes), playing Hungry Hippos game (taking turns, waiting patiently, fine motor), using plastic hippos to practice positional concepts and playing with cars, trains, tools, doll house, legos, etc. (taking turns, using language, resolving conflict when it arises)!  We were busy hippos this week!!!

During gym class we pretended we were hippos, gathering food, using bean bags and scooters. The bean bags had shapes on them so we practiced saying our shapes! (goals: gross motor and shape recognition)

Books we read:
You Can't Move a Hippo
Hippospotamus
Here Comes Dr. Hippo

Chocolate Chippo Hippo

Song: (tune to BINGO)
There is a class at LECC
and Hippo is its name oh
HIPPO, HIPPO, HIPPO
and Hippo is its name oh
(take a letter away and clap)

Hippo Song: (tune..Are You Happy and You Know It)
Oh, I wish I was a hippopotamus! (clap, clap)
Oh, I wish I was a hippopotamus! (clap, clap)
I'd jump and I'd dive,
do a happy little jive
Oh, I wish I was a hippopotamus! (clap, clap)


Questions to ask your child:
1.  What new special did we go to this week? (art)
2.  Ask your child what job he/she did this week.
3.  When do hippos eat, during the day or at night?  (at night)
4.  How long can hippos hold their breath underwater?   10 minutes or 5 minutes? (5 minutes)
5.  What do hippos eat?  (plants and grass)
6.  What did you do in the garden?
7.  In the book, You Can't Move a Hippo, what did the mouse say to get the hippo to move off the             bridge? (he said please)


Things to Practice At Home
Please practice self help skills at home. Self help skills contribute to independence and self esteem. Have your child practice unzipping their backpack, loading their own snack and zipping it up by themselves so they are ready for school. It is easier for them to do this when the backpack is on the floor.

Coming up next week:

All About Me and Family Traditions

Important dates:

Picture day at school on Tuesday, September 9th

Enjoy our busy hippos!!!  

      

The students practice tracing over a person.

We introduced the sensory table this week.

We painted our hippo masks gray.

Hungry, Hungry Hippos was a hit!

After reading, Chocolate, Chippo, Hippo, the 
students matched the shape to the correct cookie.

Hippos and blocks!

Fun with connectors. 

Look what we made out of the connectors.

We used props for one of our stories. The students played
with them during center time.

Sorting shapes

We pretended to cut green grass, because real hippos eat
grass and plants.

After we painted the head, we decorated the face using watercolors.

We met Sammy and Susie puppets.

We worked at finding our names and deciding if we liked hippos or not. 
We then counted the number of yes/no responses and compared the numbers.

After reading, Hippospotomus, we made spots using daubers
on the letter H for Hippo.

"Hippospotomus" had a spot on her "bottomous."
It was a piece of gum. We made gum out of model magic 
and pink markers.

After reading, Hippospotamus, we made our own
bubble gum spots on the hippos.

In gym class, we pretended to be hippos gathering food using
scooters and bean bags.

Look at our cute hippos!

"Where do your hippo tracks take you?"
We used hippos to paint tracks then answered the question.
Some hippos were light while others were heavy.

The students went on a hippo word hunt in the classroom.

Scissors and slime!

Happy 4th Birthday, Cailin!!