From Miss Cheryl’s and Miss Ginger’s SNP Class
THIS WEEK IN OUR CLASS
I hope that all of your children had a great Halloween!! They loved our fun filled Halloween Day. I incorporated many skills we have been learning into all the fun activities we did. They did not even realize they were learning!! We made a cool ghost mask first as an introduction to our story. After the story we worked on measuring, fine motor skills, turn taking and had a total sensory experience making Monster Mash (a fruit and peanut butter treat). Then we conducted a spooky experiment using static electricity, a balloon and a tissue paper ghost to find out if it would float up and off the table! It worked and they were so amazed. Each of them participated in the experience. Finally, we went “Trick or Treating” in the classroom. We worked on safety rules and what to say when you knock on the door. And that was just Monday!! During the rest of the week we have been reading Mouse Mess. The children laughed out loud at the “messy” mouse and his antics. We have eaten and/or made many different foods such as different flavored milk (we graphed who liked the different ones), plain old corn flakes with and without milk (they thought they were “chips and liked them) and made PB and J sandwiches. We also have worked on other concepts such as pattern activities and positional words.
Our upcoming story continues this month’s theme of food and Thanksgiving. We are going to be reading To Market, To Market by Anne Miranda. This story is based on the traditional nursery rhyme To Market, To Market. In the rhyming story an old lady brings home different animals from the grocery store only to have her house destroyed and all of her food eaten. After experiencing all the crazy activities the animals carry out in her home she decides to go back to the store, buy some vegetables and make soup. So guess what we are going to make?? Vegetable Soup- of course! The children are going to discover different vegetables by using their senses plus through math concepts of weight, measurement, whole and part and ordinal numbers (first, second…). We will also introduce the concept of money in exchange for food (we are going grocery shopping in our classroom). Other key concepts include rhyming words, adjectives, parts and functions of a home, community places and graphing/sorting.
Below are some of the vocabulary words we will be exposing the children to during the week-
Animals-pig, hen, goose, trout, lamb, cow, duck, goat
Vegetables- carrot, onion, okra, cabbage pea pods, beets, celery, peppers, rice, potato, tomato
Places- home, market
Nouns- meat, fish, groceries, soup, money
Verbs- In, On, Buy
Homework
1.Take your child grocery shopping. Find and look at the vegetables found in our vocabulary word list.
Higher level thinking question -- What do people buy at the market?
2. Check out the grocery with your child. Look at the vegetable section, the seafood section, the meat section, so on.
Higher level thinking question—Why do you go to the market?
3. Let your child help pay for the groceries. If possible allow them to use some currency to buy something.
Look at coins. Match and sort them.
Higher level thinking question-- What do you use to buy things with at the market?
4.Nursery Rhyme
To Market, To Market
To market, to market, to buy a fat pig.
Home again, home again, jiggerty jig.
To market, to market, to buy a fat hog,
Home again, home again, jiggerty jog.
To market, to market, to buy a plum bun,
Home again, home again. Market is done.
5. Poem
Vegetable Colors
There are many colored vegetables-
They are good for you.
Carrots are orange, I'll l eat a few,
Beans are green, I'll eat them too.
*Keep repeating and adding different veggies.
6.Fingerplay
Five Fat Peas
Five fat peas in a pea pod pressed (hold hand in a fist)
One grew, two grew, so did all the rest. (put thumb and fingers up one by one)
They grew and grew (raise hand in the air very slowly)
And did not stop,
Until one day
The pod went POP! (clap hands together)
7.Related Literature--- Lunch- Denise Fleming; Eating the Alphabet- Lois Ehlert; Don’t Forget the Bacon- Pat Hutchins; Jamberry- Bruce Degen; Today is Monday- Eric Carle
Important Dates in November
November 8- Election Day--- NO SCHOOL
November 17- Celebrate Families Day --Thanksgiving Feast
Please join your child at lunch time for a Thanksgiving Feast. Our Family Day is November 17. This is the day for you to join your child at lunch time. You will be eating in the cafeteria with them from 11:05 to 11:35. We will go through the cafeteria line and be seated at a special table just for you, your child and any other family members with reservations. REMEMBER YOU MUST MAKE A RESERVATION TO ATTEND- please. This is a very popular and crowded event. The children love to have their parents attend! You nor your child is required to buy a lunch for this event!!!!
November 21-25- Thanksgiving Break --- NO SCHOOL
Pre-Academic Activities for the Full Day Students (Letter Oo)
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 learning letter Oo. I try to emphasize the short sounds found in the letters that are vowels (October, octagon, octopus, olive…) I will send home vocabulary words for you to practice with your child to learn 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!!
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
