From Miss Cheryl’s and Miss Ginger’s SNP Class
LAST WEEK IN OUR CLASS
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday week. Thank you for visiting our class last week and watching our performance. Sorry so many of them experienced stage fright—they all sang it well the next day when they wanted to “practice” again. They are so cute.
I hope that you had time to watch some of a Thanksgiving parade with your child. This makes learning real and reinforces the concepts we learned. Also, I hope your child was able to help you make some of the Thanksgiving dinner. This is another way to reinforce the concepts we learned in our food unit.
OUR FOCUS THIS WEEK
This week begins our farm and healthy habits unit. We will be reading “Mrs. Wishy Washy” by Joy Cowley. This is always a favorite of the children. In the story the animals enjoy playing in the mud. This upsets Mrs.Wishy-Washy and she decides they all need a bath. The children love to see the animals get all dirty and watch how Mrs. Wishy-Washy reactions to their actions. Some of the activities we will participate in this week are making mud, having a mud snack and making muddy pictures.
The key concepts that we are focusing on this week include story sequencing; role playing and story retelling; healthy habit of taking a bath (clean and dirty); animals and their babies; sorting; prepositional words; patterns and farm animals.
Our vocabulary words are:
pig cow duck mud tub in scream roll paddle jump dirty clean
Homework:
- Look up the animals from our story this week on the internet- see the vocabulary words. Listen to the way they sound and describe how they look.
- Play the following Sesame Street game with your child on the computer. Please help them to learn how to use the mouse. This is a farm game about farm animals and the sounds they make.
- A fun counting game is also on Sesame Street. Please reinforce how the numbers look to help your child learn their numbers also.
- Another fun computer game is Old MacDonald on Sesame Street. This can be used to teach beginning letter sounds by emphasizing the name of the farm animals and pressing the key that starts the the animal’s name. It is also a science game emphasizing the animal’s sounds. You can also use this game to count by pressing the key to add the animals to the farm scene.
- Play in the mud. Every child should get to experience this activity. Describe how the mud looks, smells and feels.
- Songs, Nursery Rhymes, Fingerplays and Poems
One, Two the Cow Went Moo (tune: One, Two Buckle My Shoe)
One, two the cow went moo.
Three, four mud’s on the floor.
Five, six the duck does tricks,
Seven, eight Mrs. Wishy-Washy can’t wait.
Nine, ten the pig’s back in his pen.
Five Little Ducks
5 little ducks went out one day (hold up 5 fingers)
Over the hills and far away, (make wave with arm like over over the hill)
Mommy (daddy) duck called quack quack quack, (flap elbows like wings)
But only 4 little ducks came back. (hold up 4 fingers)
4 little ducks went out one day
Over the hills and far away,
Mommy (daddy) duck called quack quack quack,
But only 3 little ducks came back.
3 little ducks went out one day
Over the hills and far away,
Mommy (daddy) duck called quack quack quack,
But only 2 little ducks came back.
2 little ducks went out one day
Over the hills and far away,
Mommy (daddy) duck called quack quack quack,
But only 1 little duck came back.
1 little duck went out one day
Over the hills and far away,
Mommy (daddy) duck called quack quack quack,
But no little ducks came wondering back.
No little ducks went out one day
Over the hills and far away,
Mommy (daddy) duck called quack quack quack,
And 5 little ducks came wandering back
Little Boy Blue (can change words to Little Girl Blue)
Little Boy (Girl) Blue
Come Blow your horn!
The sheep's in the meadow,
The cow's in the corn.
Where is the boy (girl)
who looks after the sheep?
He's (She’s) under the haystack,
Fast asleep.
Will you wake him (her)?
No, not I
For if I do,
He's (She’s) sure to cry
- Related Literature--- Big Red Barn- Margaret Wise Brown; Barn Dance- Bill Martin, Jr; Inside a Barn in the Country- Alyssa Satin Capucilli; Rosie’s Walk- Pat Hutchins; The Little Red Hen- Paul Galdone
Pre-Academic Activities for the Full Day Students
LETTER TIME-- Letter Review-
Remember to continue to review the previous letters as we begin to progress. Don’t forget to use the chants I sent home as you practice writing. The children enjoy saying the chants or hearing you repeat the chants as they write in sand, rice or flour using their pointer finger and on an upright chalkboard with chalk or on an attached paper with a crayon on an upright board.
This week we will be reviewing the last 5 letters. I will emphasize the beginning sounds. I will send home vocabulary words for you to practice with your child to reinforce the letter sound. Try to follow the activities and strategies listed below. Please keep in mind that each child has varying abilities. I will expose your child to the standards that are age appropriate but will adjust each lesson to their individual levels and needs.
IF your child is becoming frustrated when writing his/her first name in upper and lower case letters I have chants for the lower case letters that I can give you. Please email me if you need the chants!!
Thursday- Music( full day students)- The class is going to start participating in one weekly Specials class with a kindergarten class. (What are Specials?- Music, P.E. and Art) On Thursdays we will be going to Music. I want to thank Mr. Savage for allowing us to participate in this activity as the students are only in preschool. We will start on a trial basis first to make certain they are ready to attend and participate. This will be a very beneficial activity for them.
Friday Media Center (full day students) —On Fridays we will visit the Media Center and check out one book. Please read this book with your child daily. The book needs to be returned by following Friday or your child will not be able to check out another book. Please help your child learn to respect the books he/she has brought home. Show them the proper way to handle the books and how to put them away. We practice this at school in our classroom library and they need to know the same respect and treatment of books applies at home also.
More activities for increasing letter awareness, letter sound awareness and handwriting-
- Go on a treasure hunt around your house (inside and/or outside) to find items that begin with each letter sound. (Use the vocabulary words I have sent home to help you.)
- ALWAYS practice writing their first names in upper and lower case letters—not just upper case (capital letters). At this age children only need to learn to write the upper case letters (except in the first names). They should learn to recognize both upper and lower case letters.
- Practice writing the letters.
- Look in books, magazines, etc. to find both the upper and lower case letter of the week. Always go from left to right as you do when you read. They can even use a highlighter to mark the letters they find. This is also a great review exercise for the previous letters we have learned. For those students who can recognize the letters this is a great way to start exposing them to words. Have them find and highlight the word that has the letter in it.
- READ to your child. Read a variety of books to them. Ask questions about what you are reading- use “what” and “who” questions at first. Then move on to questions that require higher thinking- where, when, how and why. Talk about the pictures. Point to the words as you are reading. All of these things increase awareness which will help them learn to read
Handwriting Strategies To Use-
- Using a shortened normal sized crayon or pencil will encourage the correct hand position when they are writing if this is needed for your child. The shortened length requires your child to have to hold the writing instrument using a more appropriate grasp. A crayon helps the writer increase pressure when writing. Pencils tend to slip easily and may not be the best instrument to use for beginning writers. Markers should not be used until they are established writers. Once your child is an established writer use regular length crayons and begin writing with pencils.
- Writing on a slanted surface such a 3 inch binder helps to keep their hand and arm in the correct position if needed.
- Writing with chalk on an upright easel encourages correct arm and hand position PLUS it increases the need to add pressure.
- While they are writing say the chants I sent home with your child will help remember the correct way to form the letters. (These will be sent home when we begin letter formation.)
- Have your child write while laying prone (flat) on his stomach. This is another way to reinforce the correct position for the arm and hand when writing.
- Roll playdoh or other modeling clay into balls first and then snakes. Use the snakes to form the letters. Use a rectangle shape such as a picture frame with no glass as a guide to form the letters. ALWAYS form the letters starting from the top to bottom inside the rectangle shape using the edges as a guide.
- Practice writing the letter shapes with their fingers on sandpaper; in rice, sand or flour; or hair setting gel in a sealed plastic bag.
Speech and Language- Miss Allison
Check out the Speech and Language page on the left side of this blog page.
Georgia Pre-K Content Standards Link
Here is a useful link to the Ga. Preschool/ Pre-K content standards. As special needs preschool educators our lessons are planned around these standards and the individual needs of each student. You may find information on this site helpful when you are working with your child at home and in your community. This site will help you as parents become familiar with the standards your child will need know or be exposed to during their preschool/pre-k years. The standards are set up according to your child’s chronological age. IF your child is older than 4 they will still be concentrating on the 4 year old standards. To access the standards click on the top address for the preschool standards or click on the bottom address for the Pre-K standards.
Preschool Standards http://decal.ga.gov/documents/attachments/GELSSection6.pdf
Pre-K Standards http://decal.ga.gov/documents/attachments/Content_Standards_Full.pdf
