Gingerbread Man Culmination

Today we read our last gingerbread story for the week.  It was titled Gingerbread Friends.  The interesting thing about this story was that the Gingerbread Baby from the story we read earlier in the week was the main character in this story too.  The problem in the story was that the Gingerbread  Baby was sad because it didn't have anyone to play with when its boy wasn't home.  He searched a bakery in the city to try to find a friend, but only ran into cookies who could not talk.  The solution to the Gingerbread Baby's problem came when Matti, the boy who baked him, baked him some gingerbread friends.

During centers today the children made a candy cane letter "c."  To do this they cut out the "c" then dipped a q-tip in red paint. They then made a turn taking pattern of red, white, red, white.  Mrs. Palmer our school speech pathologist helps in our classroom on Fridays, so she did this activity with many of the children.  At my center some of the children played a gingerbread letter recognition board game.  Other children worked on matching beginning sounds and other reading skills.  One of our state standards is that the children measure with nonstandard units.  At Mrs. Severson's center the children were given a bag of small gingerbread cutouts.  They used their counters to measure the height of a gingerbread dad, mom, and baby.  They then recorded their findings.  The children are not expected to write their numbers by the end of the year, but it is a skill we want to introduce them to.

Future Bakers

Well I must say we have some future bakers on our hands.  Today we started our day off by doing centers.  At Grandma Sue's center the children were given a Ziploc bag of the gingerbread cookie dough that they mixed up on Tuesday.  They were also each given a rolling pin.  They rolled out their dough and used a cookie cutter to cut a gingerbread man out of it.  At my center the children cut out the outline of a gingerbread man.  They then used doters to make an AA BB pattern around the edges of their man.  An example of this pattern would be red, red, blue, blue.  This is the pattern that we have been working on all month with our daily calendar. The purpose of this project was to see if the children could apply what they learned.  At the third center the children were each given a die and a recording sheet.  They rolled their die and dotted the number rolled.  A few children were given two dice and asked to add the two numbers rolled.

 

 

Today our story was titled Gingerbread Man Loose in the School.  Unlike the stories from the previous days in today's story the gingerbread man was chasing/looking for the school children, rather than being the one being chased.  After the story our cookies were cooled.  Each child took one bite of their cookie then STOPPED.  We then graphed what they bit first.  Was it the head, arm, or leg?  Lastly, I have included a picture from another Santa's Workshop play center.  At the sensory table the children are using blocks, wrapping paper and ribbons to wrap presents.  They give them to their friends and pretend that they are gifts.  Today I was given a sparkly golden bracelet as a gift(it was really a block in disguise).  I was very touched by the thought!

 

 



 

 

Mrs. Claus

A Visit With Mrs. Claus
Today the children took their e-field trip to the North Pole.  Mrs. Clause answered a few questions that the children had.  We learned that Santa will not bring a pony to our houses unless he first checks to see if their is enough room to raise it.  He will also ask our parents for permission before he brings one.  Mrs. Claus also read the story That's Not Santa to us.  When Santa cannot find his red suit, he tries on a cowboy suit, a baseball uniform, and other clothes, but none seems right for his yearly rounds.  At the end of the story Mrs. Claus gives Santa a new suit as a Christmas present.  She buys one for herself as well, so she can join in on the fun of delivering presents.  The following are the learning goals for this activity. Students will: be introduced to the idea of videoconferencing. learn how to use basic videoconferencing technology effectively. experience storytelling via videoconferencing modeled by a professional storyteller. develop an appreciation of videoconferencing. develop an appreciation of storytelling. observe how to add expression to a story by using variety in voices, facial gestures, body language, eye contact, pauses and volume. be able to ask questions about Santa Claus Today our gingerbread story was titled Gingerbread Baby.  When we compared the story to the one we read yesterday we learned that in yesterday's story the gingerbread man was eaten.  In today's story he lived happily ever after in a gingerbread house.  In today's story one of the main characters was a boy.  While yesterda's story did not have a boy in it.  Both stories did have a sneaky fox in them.   Today the children also made gingerbread dough.  During this lesson the children learned what ingredients are.  Why we use a recipe.  The difference between wet and dry ingredients.  How they don't like the smell of vinegar, ginger, or cloves.  As well as the beginning sound and letter that started each ingredient's name.

Santa's Workshop

Today when the children entered our classroom they found that it was transformed.  Our classroom now looks like Santa's Workshop.  In the writing center the children can make cards for loved ones, write a letter to Santa using words clipped to the dry earse board, or by sounding out the word and writing what they hear.  They can also color Christmas tree ornaments or string beads on a pipecleaner to make ornaments for our class tree.  Visit our blog again tomorrow to find out more about Santa's Workshop.

Today our read aloud was titled The Gingerbread Man.  The children listened to this story on a CD.  I must say that they truly enjoyed the readers use of different voices for each character in the story.  This week we are learning about the letter "C."  We can't talk about the letter "C" without talking about cookies.  Each day this week we will read a different version of the story The Gingerbread Man.  Through our discussions we will compare and contrast the characters in each story, the problem, and the solution in the story.  We will also make gingerbread cookies! 

At one of our centers today the children cut out four pictures form the story The Gingerbread Man.  They then sequenced the pictures in the correct order by what happened first, second, third, and last.  At Miss Sue's center the children sewed Christmas stockings.  Many of the children mentioned that they have never sewed before.  I must say that it did not show, for they did a super job!

Happy Thanksgving

Today the children really enjoyed the story 10 Turkeys In the Road.  The farmer was driving down the road when he saw ten turkeys in his way.  The farmer tried to beep, flash his lights, and opened his door to get the turkeys to move.  After each attempt one turkey flew away.  To interact with the story the children practiced subracting one each time by counting backwards from ten.  At the end of the story the turkeys took the farmers car to the Turkey Circus, so the farmer had to get a ride from the pigs.

Today we did another favorite activity of the children, which is called, "Find What's Missing."  I first showed the children a picture of a turkey.  They looked it over carefully.  Then I showed them another picture that had something missing.  The children then took turns identifying what was missing.  I have included a few pictures for you to give it a try.

At Grandma Sue's center the children made a turkey art project out of the coffee filter that they experimented with last week.  At Miss Sue's center the children drew a picture of what they are thankful for.  At my center the children made a story titled Where is Turkey?  This story worked on position words.  The word beside was very tricky for the children.  You may want to incorporate this word into the directions that you give your child.  For example you may say, "Put the fork beside the plate."

I hope you and your family have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Sense of Taste. Touch, and Smell

Today our sensory experiences started during snack time.  The children were each given a tongue cutout.  The tongue was broken into different sections based on the areas that the tongue uses to taste different types of food.  The children were given lemon slices to put in the sour sections.  Pretzels to put in the section that tastes salty foods.  Gummy bears for the sweet section, and dark chocolate for the bitter section.  The children then tasted each food item and decided which one they thought tested the best.  We then graphed our results.  The voting turned out perfectl,y for do to the results we were able to have a discussion on when two numbers are the same it results in a tie.

Our story for today was titled Lucy's Picture.  Vivacious Lucy's entering school skipping through the school room, announcing her Grandpa's coming to visit. Her teacher, Mrs. Kelley, tells her it's time to paint. However, the colored paints that the other children are using will not do for Lucy. Instead she tells Mrs. Kelley she wants to make a collage. Mrs. Kelley then seats Lucy at a table by herself and she has so much fun going through the box of scraps Mrs. Kelley presented on the table for Lucy when she told her teacher she needed to paste items on her picture.

In fact, it was even better when Lucy closed her eyes to feel the different textures. You see, Lucy's grandfather is blind. Lucy's making a collage out of fabric, paper, twigs, leaves, feathers, sand and even a piece of her own hair.

During recess she collected the twigs, sand, leaves, feathers in a cup and made trees and a path of glue with sand spread over it. She wrinkled fabric for flowers from a piece of paper and made a dog and used a piece of her hair for the fur representing her Grandpa's dog. She used the feathers for bird wings

When school ended there was Lucy's Mom and Grandpa with his seeing eye dog,Honey waiting outside for her. Lucy gives Grandpa her picture. Lucy explains some of the subjects in her picture "these are hills and here's the road" she says as she is guiding Grandpa's hand. Grandpa is delighted with the picture. Grandpa touched the picture carefully"a tree, a bird and what's this?" It feels like your hair Lucy." "That's Honey" says Lucy smiling. "How clever! and what a wonderful surprise!" "It's the best picture I've ever seen" said Grandpa.

During one of the centers today the children made a touch picture of their own.  At Miss Sue's center the children cut out the letter N.  They then used Kool Aid to paint their letters.  N is for nose, so they used their nose to smell the flavor paint they were using.  At my center the children used their sense of touch to make a book titled Touch and Go.  We read the words on each page and used the descriptors to help us decide what object to glue on each picture.  We touched things that were soft, rough, bumpy, and fuzzy.

I Spy

Today we focused on our sense of sight.  Both sight centers were independent centers that the children explored.  At the first center the children were given a water bottle that was filled with plastic beads and alphabet buttons.  The children moved the bottle back and forth.  When they spied a letter they used a doter to record it on their recording sheet.  Please visit the following link to learn how to make sensory bottles at home. http://www.arkansas.gov/childcare/advfortoddlers/doc/clotheswewear/Fasteners,%20Pockets%20and%20Accessories%20-%20Attachment%201.pdf

At our second sense of sight center the children colored a coffee filter with markers.  During play time the children sprayed their filter with water.  They then used their sense of sight to observe the effect of the water on the colors.

Special Person's Day

Today we had a wonderful day with the adults who visited for Special Person's Day.  The time you took out of your schedule's was definitely worth it, for the children loved having someone familiar at school with them. If you could not make Special Person's Day, but would like to visit our classroom, please feel free to let me know.

Our theme this week is based on the five senses.  Our story for today was titled Forest Friends Five Senses.  How do you use your five senses, and what do you do if something goes wrong with them? The forest friends — Hawk, Rabbit, Bear, Skunk, and Squirrel — know, and their stories show children what happens when a sense needs a little help to work better. When Hawk bumps into a mountain, Owl prescribes glasses. When Skunk catches a cold, Owl gives him syrup to help him smell again. And when Squirrel gets a paw full of thorns, Owl pulls them out and Squirrel learns to be more careful about what he touches!

Today we had two centers based on the sense of hearing.  At the first center the children played sound bingo.  Various sounds were recorded on a CD.  Miss Sue played them one at a time on our laptop.  The children listened to each sound and found its corresponding picture on their Bingo board.  At my center the children experimented with hearing by using plastic eggs that were filled with various items.  The children took turns shaking the eggs and predicting what was making the sound that they herd.  The children recorded their findings on a recording sheet.

Fantastic Friday

Each day the older children at school lead the morning announcements.  They lead us in the pledge, we recite the "Golden Rule," and they tell us what is for lunch.  On some mornings they tell us who's birthday it is. If it is a special day in history they provide us with an explanation.  Each announcement ends with a a closing like have a magnificent Monday, or have a wacky Wednesday.  Today we were told to have a fantastic Friday. So, we did.

Today our read aloud was titled Who Stole the Cookie From the Cookie Jar?  This book was a great lead into making predictions.  Some children looked at the cover picture and used the clues to predict that the sister did it.  Some children said the dog did it.  Besides lending itself to prediction this story, was also a counting book that subtracted one from each page, and it was a rhyming book.  On the second to last page the author wrote, "I was hiding in this shoe, when I noticed there were two, stealing cookies is very bad!  So it must have been ......"  At this point the children shouted out DAD, because bad rhymes with dad.  Sure enough it was dad who stole the cookies in the end.

Today during one of our centers the children were given a strip of letters from either their first or last names.  They then had to sort them from letters that are in their names and letters that are not it their names.  To end the day the children had their feet painted for a project by Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. Severson.  It was either fun or tickly because they sure did giggle!

My Name

Today we had a great day in 4K.  We read the stories I Like Myself!  and Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom.  After reading Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom I gave each child an alphabet refrigerator magnet.  Then I sang, "Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom will there be enough room for ____ and ____ up the coconut tree?"  I filled in random letters from the alphabet.  If the child was holding the letter I said they came up and put it on the tree.  If you don't already have alphabet refrigerator magnets you may want to pick up a pack at the dollar store.  They provide a cheep way to help your child practice the letters.  Also, when your child gets into kindergarten and first grade they are useful for practicing spelling words in an interactive way.

During one of the independent centers they children used play doh letter stamps to stamp their friends names.  Children have a connection to their names, that is why we use them as the first rout to teaching children letters. Besides letter identification this activity also  provided an introduction to spelling words.  At the second independent center the children colored a tree and used alphabet stickers to make their first or last name on the tree.  We will be using these pages to make a class book.  This book will have repetitive language which makes it an easier read for 4 year olds.

At Miss Sue's center the children worked on spelling their first or last name.  The children looked at their name.  Traced their name. Wrote their name, and then stamped their name.

Please enjoy some of the pictures from our week!