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!

It's OK to Be Different

Today our story for the day was titled It's Okay to Be Different by Todd Parr.  The story taught the children that it's OK to be in a wheel chair.  It's OK to feel embarrassed at times.  It's even OK to have big ears. 

During centers today the children worked on projects based on the theme Me and My Family.  At my center the children drew a picture of their family.  Some of the children even labeled their pictures with the words mom and dad.  With Mrs. Severson the children used pieces paper to make a collage that represented their house.  At the computer center the children listened to one of my favorite stories titled the dot.  Vashti, the main character, thinks she can't draw. No, Vashti KNOWS she can't draw! To prove her point, she jabs at a blank sheet of paper to make an unremarkable and angry mark. That one little dot marks the beginning of Vashti's journey of learning to believe in herself.

To end the day today we practiced our holiday program songs.  We also used Wiki Sticks to make the letter "M, m."  Wiki Sticks are made of yarn covered with glue.  They are sticky and bendable.  We used them to make four straight lines to make the capital M. Then we used one straight line and made two hills to make the lowercase m.  If the children can manipulate and touch the letters they are more likely to remember them verses just seeing them.



S is for Sign Language

As each week passes the children are introduced to two more letters of the alphabet.  Some children came into the school year knowing many of the letters already.  To keep them on their toes we are learning the sign language sign that goes along with each letter. This activity also helps the children learning the letters by giving them a physical movement to connect with each letter.  Below is a diagram that you can refer to if your child suddenly signs to you.

Today we read the story Spiders.  This story was nonfiction.  I discussed with the children that nonfiction means that the story is real and tells us real facts about the animal.  I asked them to listen closely to the story because when I was done reading I wanted them to tell me something they learned about spiders.  At the end of the story they told me that most spiders have eight eyes, some spiders fish for their food, and spiders have eight legs. 

During one of our independent centers today the children went on a letter hunt around the classroom.  I had them do this with a partner.  In 4k we are working on building a community.  By having children work in pairs they learn to understand the needs and feelings of others, while appreciating each others similarities and differences.