We are continuing our All About Me theme this week, and discussing our families and all of the ways we are alike and different. We are graphing different answers on a chart and counting the results. Our activities are multidisciplinary, in that each activity often has many different components and encourages literacy, math, social emotional, language arts, science etc.
Literacy:
We are concentrating on writing and learning the two sounds the letter "a" typically makes. Allie Alligator says, "ahhhh" and "a" also says,"a". We used construction cut outs and wrote many lower and upper case "Aa's". When we begin our daily sign ins, we will concentrate on only capitalizing the first letter of our name. Children should learn to write the way they will speak, which is not in all caps (unless you are shouting!). :) . We have ready many books this week celebrating many different types of families, occupations, vocations, and discussed what makes us all special.
We all practiced tracing both lower and upper case letters, beginning at the top with a marked dot on each letter. We also stamped the letter "Aa" and traced our stamping. All of these literacy skills are also working on fine motor skills. I encourage you to provide many opportunities at home to have your children peel oranges, use play dough or clay, climb, do the monkey bars, use scissors etc. to work on their fine motor muscles! This class is very capable but all need to strengthen those muscles. Eye droppers and paint are fun as well, or anything where they are gripping (helping you make a bed, carrying bags, etc.).
We have read more books this week on different and similar children like us around the world. They loved the book, "Same, Same, Different", which is about two boys writing back and forth from the United States and India. The children loved that the boy in India has 20 animals in his back yard, and 15 family members living in his house. They also loved the school bus/bike the children ride in there to get to school.
We began writing in our writing center using dry erase sheets to trace letters along with using lined writing paper. This center is a great way for two children to help each other and socialize as they practice.
Fine Motor/Science:
We are painting and decorating our life size paper dolls that look like us. The children choose the colors, hair, facial expression with the smile they draw, and clothes their doll (or paper self portrait) wears. It's amazing how they really do resemble them. We are playing with water and boats in the sensory table, and using our fingers to draw in colored sand as we practice letter formation. We are discussing sinking and floating as we this will segue into our later sink and float experiments.
The children used clay to form the letters in their names.
Math/Science:
We are playing games in our Math/Sciene center where we use a group of children to make patterns. One up, two down, one up, two down, etc. We are already discussing shapes and the difference between a circle and a sphere. We will talk more about 3D shapes as the year progresses but will be sure everyone is comfortable with their shapes first.
We use many different manipulatives to count, moving each shape as we count the number for one-to-one correspondence.
Social/Emotional:
We are taking turns talking about different bedtime routines, and traditions at home. It's very interesting for children to hear how other kids get ready for bed and where they sleep, and what they do before they go to sleep etc. It helps them think outside their own world and connect with their classmates.
Have a great weekend!
Ms. Massey
