This week we had a wonderful time learning about ourselves and our families! We discussed our families and made a web of what makes up a family! After reading the book We Are The Same/ We Are Different, the students figured out how our 2 stuffed hippos were the same and how they were different. We then figured out how Ms. Ginny and Ms. Saba were alike and how they were different.
Throughout our week we shared each child's family page. It was fun to see all the family members and pets and learn about each others' family traditions. They all loved sharing about their families! This activity targeted language, confident behavior in front of a group, voice volume, and respecting others by listening to their friends.
On Wednesday we listened to the Mat Man song from our Handwriting Without Tears program. The song told us how to build our friend, Mat, by using strips. We also read some books about Mat Man. During center time the children drew a self portrait for their collage using Mat Man. They are so cute!! They also built Mat Man during center time on the carpet!
During class we signed in to the question, "What color is your hair?" This activity worked on recognizing names, one to one counting, and recognizing and comparing numbers. Center activities included the sensory table filled with cups and moon sand, playdoh with bear cookie cutters and materials to make a face (fine motor), counting the number of members in their family and letters in their names (meaningful counting and recognizing numbers), sorting and weighing bears, using a variety of materials to fill in face cards (making decisions independently), building with magnets shapes, legos and blocks (fine and gross motor), singing the Hokey Pokey song (gross motor, listening), dressing wooden people with magnetic clothes (fine motor, making decisions, taking turns), putting opposite puzzles together after reading, Mat Man Opposites, answering questions about our stories, making the alphabet letters into robots (fine motor, recognizing letters), and playing with trains, cars, tools, the farm and the doll house (taking turns, resolving conflict if it arises, being respectful, appropriate voice volume, developing friendships with peers), etc.
The hippos have been doing a great job with the morning routine, schedule, and classroom transitions. We are encouraging teamwork as we clean our room each day. Everyone is participating in centers. Some are led by us, and others involve the children working together to create, pretend, and take turns.
This month's character word is RESPECT! We read a book about respect and recalled ways the children were respectful in the story. We then sang our RESPECT song in class and in music class. Before the day ended, we played a thumbs up/ thumbs down game. I would say some scenarios and the students had to decide if it was respectful behavior or not (listening to directions, participating as a member of a group, showing respect).
Our 2nd Steps lesson went over paying attention using an attent-o-scope. We make this with our hands and placing them on our eyes resembling binoculars. An attent-o-scope helps us focus our attention on the teacher and others we want to listen to.
Books we read:
Families
Mat Man Shapes
Books we read:
Families
Mat Man Shapes
Mat Man Opposites
We are Alike / We are Different
Sylvie
Things to Practice At Home:
Self help skills: Continue to practice getting backpack on by themselves/ zipping backpacks/ practice getting shoes on by themselves.
Same/different concept: How are we alike and how are we different? How are toys/objects alike and how are they different.
Questions to Ask:
1. Have 2 family members stand next to each other and ask your child what is the same and what is different about them.
2. What job did you do this week?
3. Count how many letters are in your name.
4. How many people are in your family?
5. Tell me about Mat Man. (he has one head, one nose, two ears, etc.)
We are Alike / We are Different
Sylvie
Things to Practice At Home:
Self help skills: Continue to practice getting backpack on by themselves/ zipping backpacks/ practice getting shoes on by themselves.
Same/different concept: How are we alike and how are we different? How are toys/objects alike and how are they different.
Questions to Ask:
1. Have 2 family members stand next to each other and ask your child what is the same and what is different about them.
2. What job did you do this week?
3. Count how many letters are in your name.
4. How many people are in your family?
5. Tell me about Mat Man. (he has one head, one nose, two ears, etc.)
6. What color did Sylvie the flamingo turn? (all colors)
Reminders:
Below is all the fun we had learning and playing together.
Reminders:
9/18 School Pictures
9/18 Please send to school 5 apples, preferably different colors for sorting
9/20 Parent Open House 5:30-6:30
9/28 Wear Your Favorite Color Day
10/11 Vision screening during school
10/16 Parent Teacher Conference week
10/18 & 11/2 Hearing screening during school
Next Week:
Friendship
Friendship
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| We sorted by color. |
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| After reading about families, we made faces using a variety of materials! |
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| Playdoh and bear family cookie cutters |
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| It was fun to sort and weight bears! |
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| Each student made their face! |
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| We used a mirror to see what color to make our hair. |
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| The students completed this web about families! They contributed to the group and raised their hands! |
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| We signed in to what was your hair color. The students found their names then placed it under the correct colored hair. |
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| We are building Mat Man by listening to the song! |
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| Everyone enjoyed the people magnet puzzles with all the different clothing! |
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| Sorting by shapes! |
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| Look what I checked out! |
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| Our first time checking out books!! |
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| After reading, Mat Man Opposites, we put oppositie puzzles together! |
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| We filled in our hair color and eye color! |
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| How many people are in my family and how many letters are in my name! We are using one to one to counting and we are practicing recognizing numbers. |
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| Here the students came up one by one to tell the class about their family page. We practiced voice volume, confident behavior and being respectful by listening to others. |
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| We had so much fun with a stretch band in music!! |
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| We counted and compared what color hair we have in class. We then practiced counting the names, recognizing the number, and deciding which columns had more and less. |
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| Show and Tell |
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| Show and Tell |
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| Show and Tell |
