Letter Y, Yell "Yes" for our Senses

Daily Question: Do you know your five senses?

Toys: Play Kitchen, play foods, wooden food puzzles, and Wooden cookie set, (Hungry, Hungry Hippo games, Operation, and Dr. Drill and Fill).

Snack Time: Popcorn, clementines, and chocolate Zingers

I explained that today we are making microwave popcorn because we are studying our Five Senses--hear, touch, taste, see, and smell. We had fun hearing the popcorn, smelling it, seeing it, touching it, and then tasting it! Yum!



We read about our five senses and played several games.

Seeing: We sang "Do what I'm doing" and the children got a turn leading. Everyone had to use their eyes to see what to do!

Hearing: We had many Easter eggs filled with different items. We listened to the items and guessed what was inside. It was hard! We only got one right (including me!)

Touching: we had a bag filled with random items. Each child got to stick their hand in the bag and describe what they felt. They then guessed what item it was. 

Smelling: we used our noses outside! 

Tasting: snack!

We reviewed X the Fox who had to get x-rays
and Y the Yak who liked to play with a yellow yo-yo.

They were very good at coming up with Y words!

X the Fox and Y the Yak pages will be completed and put in our ABC books.

Show and teach!

We miss our classmate Raegan and drew her pictures to send her in the mail!

"Fire" by Harris

"It is a house being torn down" by Zakai

"It's a mailbox getting sucked a different place: by Tanner

"Raegan and Lena" by Lena

Ben--house?

"Raegan and Eva" by Eva

Anna drew a picture of herself as "Elsa" and her Castle.  
Five Senses Books:
David Smells by David Shannon
Hooray for Hands! (Begin Smart Book)
The Eye Book by Dr. Seuss
The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss
My First Book About the Five Senses (Sesame Subjects) 
Hands Can by Cheryl Willis Hudson and John-FrancisBourke 
You Need Your Nose (PowerPhonics) by Kevin Sarkisian
My Feet by Aliki
My Hands by Aliki
My Five Senses by Aliki
Who Has These Feet? by Laura Hulbert and Erik Brooks
Wow! (Mysterious You) The most interesting....five senses. Romanek and Cowles.
Sense-Abilities; Fun Ways to Explore the Senses by Michelle O'Brien-Palmer

Y Books:
Yikes!
Yo! Yes? by Chris Raschka  (This fun, simple, colorful story uses only 34 words to help two different boys strike up a friendship.)
Yoko by Rosemary Wells

Months (Seasons) Book:
Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months by Maurice Sendak

Songs:
ABCs

Class Field Trip to a Doctor's Office

Field Trip to Dr. Matt Clayton's Pediatrics Office:

After studying about Alex visiting X the Fox (Doctor) who ordered X-rays, we visited a Pediatrician's Office.  Dr. Matthew J. Clayton, Provo, was kind enough to let us come and tour his office and "see" what a Kindergarten Physical was like.

Look what we found!  We said the alphabet together aloud.

X-Rays, Doctors, Professions and Letter X

Have you ever had an x-ray?   
Maelo says he has. Eva has had several x-rays and Liam too. 

Toys:  Play Doh Dr. Drill N' Fill, Operation, Buckaroo, and Dinosaurs with Earth Mat

Snack: Pretzels, animal crackers, and Crasisins..

Circle Time: We had a fun time reading The Big Book of Me and talking about Careers today.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

We also talked briefly about the letter Xx and the sound that it makes. X is curious. It sounds like "Z" at the beginning of a word (xylophone) and "Ks" at the end of a word (like ox).



We enjoyed talking about Earth Day today and ways in which we can help protect and clean up and take care of our Earth!  We took a brief Earth Day walk and picked up trash and learned about recycling.
Career Books:
When I'm Big by Nila Aye and Tim Drury (Scholastic)
When I Grow Up by Jean Bethell, Ill. by Ruth Wood (Wonder Books, Easy Reader)
Who Are You, Sue Snue? (Random House/Jim Henson)
On the Job (PowerPhonics) by Lynn Metz
If I Were...A Book of Make-Believe (Gymboree)
Someday by Eileen Spinelli and Rosie Winstead 
When I Grow Up by Tina Louise and Oliver Corwin

Xx Books:
Fox in Socks; A Tongue Twister for Super Children by Dr. Seuss
Foxy Fox by Barbara deRubertis, Ill. by Eva Vagreti Cockrille

Songs:
Janeen Brady "I Want to Be a Mother"

Earth Day

Are you excited about Earth Day? (Tomorrow on April 22)

Toys: (New) Endangered Big Cat Floor Puzzle, Animal Progressive Puzzles, Dinosaurs, Animals, Earth Mat, and  FP Village.

Villagers converge!

Dexter and Luke take the School Bus to the Farm.

What happens when jungle animals meet Jurasic ones?

Zakai and Ben--ultimate puzzlers!

Circle Time: Earth Day
Years ago (1970) people were concerned about our earth and what was happening to it.  There was oil spills off the coast of California that poisoned fish and waterfowl, coal and fossil fuels were being used up, and a Senator Nelson suggested that we create an "Earth Day" on April 22 each year.  The first year united 20 million Americans and brought thejm out to clean up the streets, parks, and our environment.  Also, the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Act was set up. We are looking to new ways of making "clean energy." (I drew a windmill on the board and we talked about harnessing the wind to make "clean" energy verses digging up and burning coal with leaves soot and residue making it a dirty form of energy.

What is Earth Day about?
Harris:  We clean up our earth!
Tanner:  My sister's birthday is tomorrow!
Maelo: Why do cars need fuel?  Not all cars use fuel (or gasoline).  Some cars run on batteries.
Zakai: That means they are electric!
Anna: (I saw a Curious George On Earth Day).  On Earth Day, we clean up our world, our house, and throw away the trash to make all the world clean!

Snack: Carrots, celery, and Hummus.

Recess and Our Earth Day Walk! 

We walked down below to look for earth, rocks, flowers, living creatures (birds, squirrels, insects and butterflies), and any  thing "man made" that should not he there (paper litter and trash). 

We are raising our hands if we have or can "spy" any trash to clean up!

Ben spies a flower! (Can you see the dandelion?)

 Showing you our trash. We cleaned up our earth!

 Good friends!

Finger Painting our Earth Day sign. 

Messy fun!

We talked about our 3Rs: REDUSE, REUSE and RECYCLE! We can recycle paper, cardboard, plastic, and cans. 

Some Earth Day Books:

Learning with your eyes

Question: Do you remember how to tie your shoes?

Most of the children answered no, which is what was expected. We just need to keep reviewing with them!

Toys: Sweet Shop, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Don't Break the Ice game, Skeeball

Lesson: Mrs. Jessica showed the book Tuesday by David Wiesner to the children. This book only has pictures. We talked about how they could still figure out the story just by looking at the pictures. The children loved the silly book so much that we "read" it twice!

We talked about how important it is to use your eyes to figure out what is going on around you. To practice this, we played Bingo! Mrs. Jessica would pull up a bingo card and they had to use their eyes to see if there was a match!

Snack: craisins, hummus, chips, and carrots

When we came in we reviewed how to tie our shoes! The children realized they really had to use their eyes to watch to learn how to tie their shoes. We practiced this several times.

We then watched a video of the book "Good Night Gorilla." This book tells a story with just pictures and very few words. The children learned they could even figure out what was going on in a movie without hearing sound! They just have to look and learn. 

Show n teach:

Weather and Wiggly Letter "W"

Weather Day:
Daily Question:  Ww  Do you know what weather means?   
We live in the atmosphere, an enormous ocean of air that surrounds our earth.  Weather is what is happening at the bottom of the atmosphere, driven by the heat of the sun.

Toys: FP Little People Village, Wooden blocks, Cooties Game, and Skee-ball.

Circle Time: We talked about what is weather and made our own Storm*!  We enjoyed listening to several stories about weather.  (See books in bold).

Happy Un-Birthday to Eva (4/13) AND Raegan (4/21)! 
These lucky friends get to share the same birthday celebration here in preschool because today is Raegan's last day.  We will miss Raegan in our preschool and look forward to hearing about the adventures her family will have in Indiana (where her father has a new job.)

Eva celebrated her Fifth Birthday with her family yesterday.  She likes the colors purple and pink.  She wanted "balloons that float."  She has three older sisters and an older and younger brother!  Eva likes to make people laugh.  She likes Frozen, Disney Princesses, reading, writing, making cards, and eating spaghetti and candy (and fruits and veggies!)  She had a tricky birth and we are so lucky to have this little, fun lady in our family.

 is smack in the middle of two brothers!  She is good at helping her mom with her younger brother, Sawyer.  She likes to paint nails, have tea parties with her friends and dolls, and dance!  She will celebrate her fifth birthday a week from today!

Raegan's favorite colors are pink and purple, she loves everything girly. Her favorite things to do are play dress up, put on makeup, watch movies and play with her friends. Her favorite foods are strawberries, cinnamon sugar toast and tacos. She likes going on walks and picking flowers, and helping her mom make cookies. She really wants to have a baby sister
named violet. She loves preschool and will miss all her friends and her teachers Mrs julie and Jessica!

We learned about the letter W. We realized that if we held hands with a friend, we could make a W! 

Activity:  W the Worm wiggles from Washington State to West Virginia each week.  Worm forgot to check the weather and had to wiggle "wah-wah-wah" through wet mud.  Painting with chocolate pudding, repeat the W action (wiggle chest from side to side) and song.  

Snack: Graham crackers and chocolate pudding.

Weather Songs:

• It's Raining, It's Pouring

• Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree

• If All the Raindrops Were Lemondrops and Gumdrops

Janeen Brady's songbook "I Have a Song for You

If All the Raindrops If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops

Oh, what a rain that would be!

Standing outside, with my mouth open wide

Singing La la la la, la la la, la la la, 

If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops

Oh, what a rain that would be!
 

If all the snowflakes were candy bars and milkshakes

Oh, what a snow that would be!

Standing outside, with my mouth open wide

Singing La la la la, la la la, la la la, 

If all the snowflakes were candy bars and milkshakes

Oh, what a snow that would be!
 

If all the sunbeams were bubble gum and ice cream

Oh, what a sun that would be!

Standing outside, with my mouth open wide

Singing La la la la, la la la, la la la,

If all the sunbeams were bubble gum and ice cream

Oh, what a sun that would be!

*Our Class Rainstorm:  Our class simulated a rainstorm by patting pants (like rain)--slow than faster, some students snapped, some clicked their tongues, some students clapped, and some students hit shoes on the ground.  It was fun to listen to the storm we created with our hands and feet!

Weather Books:

Rain Drop Plop (Audio CD) by Wendy Cheyette Lewison and Pam Paparone

Chicken Soup with Rice; A Book of Months by Maurice Sundak.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi & Ron Barrett

The Biggest Boy by Kevin Henkes and Nancy Tafuri

Weather by Seymour Simon

The Big Storm by Bruce Hiscock

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (DVD, Scholastic)

Sky Tree:  Seeing Science Through Art by Thomas Locker

Arty Facts: Weather and Art Activities (Crabtree Pub.)

 Water, Ice, and Steam (Rosen Real Readers) by Ira Wood

Nature's Fury: The Power of Weather (Parents Choice Award) Readers Digest Childrens

We're making a storm!

Weather Words: umbrella, snow, rain, rainbow, clouds, smog, fog, ice, rain coat, rain boots,  sun shine, sleet, blizzard, thunder, lightening, wind, kite, hurricane, tornado, tsunami,

Season Reveiw: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer.

 

The weather has been "April Foolin'" us today!  First it was rainy, then sunny, then overcast, and then sunny again! 

What time is it Mr. Raindrop? This is a fun game to play outside. You can change the name to suit any theme. The children all line up against a wall or fence. And one child, Mr. Raindrop or the teacher faces away from the children, a good distance away from the children. The children yell, what time is it "Mr. Raindrop"? Mr. Raindrop answers 1 o'clock, and the children all take one step toward Mr. Raindrop. 
The children yell again, what time is it "Mr. Raindrop"? Mr. Raindrop answers (fill in the blank) o'clock, and the children all take same number of step toward Mr. Raindrop. 
This continues until all the children are very close to Mr. Raindrop, then Mr. Raindrop will answer,"It's midnight!," and chases the children back to the fence or wall that they started at. 
The first person Mr. Raindrop touches will be the new Mr. Raindrop.

Freeze Tag with Jack Frost, , and the Sunshine Fairy. Frost "freezes" the children and Fairy "melts" them.

Look what we found Popping (blooming) in the back yard--an Apricot tree!