Rockets

Today we wrapped up our Transportation theme.  We saved my favorite vehicle for last, which are rockets.  The children enjoyed listening to the story Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, I'm Off to the Moon.  In the story they were introduced to rhyming words like; blast and fast, space and place, and rover and over.  Please practice the skill of rhyming at home by reading books with rhyme, saying silly rhymes like house zouse, and reciting nursery rhymes.

At an independent center today the children cut out a cow, wrote their names on it, and colored it all on their own.  During outside play time today I recited the rhyme Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cows with the letter "c" may jump over the moon.  The children had to see if the letter I said during the rhyme matched one in their names.  If it did they jumped over the moon.

Grace's Mom also came to our classroom today.  Some of the children played the game Rocket to the Moon.  To play the game the children picked a card, identified the color on it, and moved their counter to the correct colored star.  Even if your child knows their colors the reason I chose this game was to learn turn taking, sportsman ship, and the fact that everyone can't win.  All of which are hard lessons at this age.

Smart Board Fun

Each day we use our smart board to write a daily message.  To start I draw a picture of one thing that we are going to do during the morning.  The children guess what they think we are going to do.  I then confirm their response and write a message to go along with it.  Usually our message starts with, "We are going to ________________."  We talk about how the message ends with a dot that we call a period.  We also discuss how some words are short and some are long.  The area between words is called a space.  We even clap the syllables in some of the words that I write.  After I write the message I pick sticks for children to come up and circle focus letters.  Today I showed the children how to make a letter "e" and the children then came up and circled them.

This picture shows how one student tried writing their own message during play time.  It just goes to show the importance of modeling behaviors that you want your child to to.

Today we also used the smart board to sort forms of transportation by those that travel on land, in water, and in the air.

Soaring High

Today our centers revolved around airplanes.  At one of the independent centers the children were given clouds(Ziploc bags with paint in them) and q-tips.  They used the q-tips to practice writing their names in the clouds.  The purpose of using q-tips is to increase the children's fine motor abilities.  By making their fingers stronger they will be better able to grip a pencil, crayon, or marker, and cut with a scissors.  When the children were done practicing their names they could write letters in their cloud or draw pictures with the q-tip.

At Miss Sue's center the children were given airplane mats with numbers programed on them.  They then counted the correct number of passengers on the plane.  The children who are beginning this skill practiced counting 1-6, while the children who are more secure in this skill counted out 7-15.  You don't need fancy counters like we have to practice this skill at home.  You can have your child give you 8 leaves from a pile, count out 7 forks for the table, or take 5 pieces of apple from a dish.  The possibilities are endless.

At my center the children cut out an airplane and glued it to a piece of paper.  They then glued on cotton balls for clouds.  Lastly, they drew an illustration of what they would see from their plane.  I then recorded their responses.


At the fourth center the children played the Milk Cap game.  Each child was placed with a partner.  They each had a set of six milkcaps labeled with the numbers 1-6.  The children took turns rolling a die and turning over the corresponding number.  The objective of this game was to teach number recognition, learn how to work with a partner, and how to be a good sport.

Blue Day

The children truly enjoyed "Blue Day" today.  The liked sharing the objects that they brought in from home, as well as their blue clothing.  During snack today we even tried blueberries.  Some children loved them while others decided to just that a no thank you bite/nibble.

To review shapes today we played Math Motion.  Each child received a shape on a stick.  They identified which shape it was.  Then we sang the following song;

Triangle, triangle, triangle is the shape I see.

If you have a triangle, please show it to me.

Stand up and turn around.

Show your triangle and then sit down.

One of the centers today had the children practicing letter identification.  The children were given a train recording sheet.  In each boxcar a number was written.  The children took turns rolling a die and dotting the corresponding number on their sheets.  

For the first time this year we also journaled.  Journaling in 4K is a lot different from the older grades.  Right now the children are asked to draw a picture.  They then dictate to me what their picture is of.  In some cases I write the sentence that they say, while others had me label objects in their pictures.  As the year goes on the children will start to write the letters for the sounds that they hear in their words.



All Aboard the Learning Train

Today we continued to focus on our theme of transportation.  Our day revolved around trains.  The two stories that we read were Freight Train and I Love Trains.  We learned that the word freight means the goods(stuff) that the train is carrying from one place to another.  The goods can include cattle, grain, coal, and even food.

During centers today the children were given a plastic baggie with a train engine, train cars with the letters of their names stamped on them, and a caboose.  The children formed their train by putting the letters of their names in order.  Then they traced on top of them.  Lastly, they added a tack for their train to run on and wheels. 

In our independent centers the children played a roll and cover game or with play doh. To play the roll and cover game each child was given a transportation game mat, a die, and wheel pasta.  The children rolled the die and placed that many pasta pieces on their mats.  When each form of transportation was covered the game ended. Today I modeled for the children how to make play doh snakes.  I then showed them how to turn the snakes into letters with our letter charts. 

The children were also partnered up with a classmate to cooperatively make a Mat Man.  Each pair of students was given one dry erase board to share.  One student drew a circle face with the dry erase crayon and then pasted it to their partner.  The partner then added the eyes.  Then past the crayon back.  In the end by working together they were able to create wonder drawings of people, as well as learned to share.

We did not have time today to play on the playground, but we did have enough time to take a stroll on the walking trail.  We were able to listen to birds singing, and observe the changes in the season. 

My Name

Today at one of our independent centers the children used Do-a-Dots to dot the letters in their names.  The children are doing a wonderful job of recognizing their names when mixed with other names.  Our focus now will be on helping the children to write their names correctly. 

Young children learn best when they are taught using a multisensory approach, involving as many senses as possible. Try a few of these hands-on letter formation and name writing activities for beginning writers and your child will have all the skills she/he needs as a beginning writer

Air Writing. Have your child write letters in the air first. These large muscle movements will help your child process what she is writing and make it more likely to stick. As she writes the letter, have him/her say the letter name or the directions for writing the letter. For example, for the letter T, you might say, “Start at the top, go straight down. Pick up your pencil and cross it.”

Foamy Fun. While your child is in the tub, spray a bit of shaving cream on the side of the tub or wall. On a hot day this is also fun to do outside, and your patio table will sparkle when you're done! Allow your child to practice writing letters, then erase and try another set. A playful challenge will get your child even more excited to write.

Kitchen Tracing. Pour a small amount of sand or salt In a cake pan or baking dish. Allow your child to practice tracing letters without the pressure of more permanent writing utensils such as markers and crayons. If she/he makes a mistake, she/he can simply erase what she/he wrote and try again.

Paint Practice. For a non-messy alternative to finger paint, put a bit of finger-paint inside a quart or gallon zipper bag. Remove the air, seal the bag and double the seal with some masking or duct tape. Your child can practice tracing letters on the outside of the bag, manipulating the paint with no mess or cleanup!

Puzzle Practice. Make a name puzzle by writing your child’s name in large letters on a sheet of paper. Cut the letters apart and have your child reassemble the letters of her name in the correct order.

Sand Writing. Write the letters of your child’s name on a sheet of sandpaper. Allow  him/her to trace the letters with his/her finger for a tactile name experience!

Learn Your Letters. When he/she is ready to move to paper, give him/her large sheets of paper and show him/her the strokes to make different letters. If you can give the letters human characteristics, it will be even more fun! (For example, a letter E is a straight line with a hat, a belt and a shoe.)

 

How to Practice Preschool Letter and Name Writing

 

By Traci Geiser

Does it sink or float?

Going along with the theme of transportation today we talked about boats.  Our story today was titled Who sank the boat?  In the story a cow, donkey, sheep, and pig get on a boat.  Then a little mouse gets on the boat and the boat sinks.  As a class we had to use our background knowledge to figure out who sank the boat.  After some discussion we concluded that it wasn't the mouse who sank the boat, it was the weight of all of the animals together that sank the boat.

During center time the children used a meat tray to make their own boats.  They then floated their boats in our sensory table.  This week our sensory table also has pieces of foil by it.  I modeled for the children how to make a foil boat.  They then can use the small rocks and play people in the sensory table to experiment with how much weight their boat can hold before it sinks.

During outdoor play time today we inquired even more about sinking and floating.  The children were placed in groups of three.  Each group was given a bucket of water.  Then each child was given an object to test if it sank or floated.  We tested a feather, penny, plastic spoon, metal spoon, toy car, craft stick, crayon, bouncy ball, and Lego.  We concluded that objects that are heavy sink and objects that are light float.