This week we continued our All About Me unit by talking all about our families. The children learned that there are many different kinds of families, but that all families love one another. We read stories about families, looked at our family albums, compared our families and drew pictures of those that live in our home. Our math concept this week focused on representing and interpreting data. We created several graphs to answer questions about our families. Also, this week we continued practicing recognizing our name through a variety of art activities.
Graphs illustrating how many people live in our house and our siblings.
In order to determine how many people live in our house, the students found pictures of their family in their family album. They then used family manipulatives to physically represent each member of their household, including pets. Finally, the children counted these manipulatives and placed the correlating number of stickers onto a house. This house was then taped to a class pictograph (above).
Circle:
The students have done a wonderful job with learning and participating in our circle time routines. Daily we find the correct date on our calendar including the day of the week and date, determine the weather, complete an activity to practice math or literacy concepts and sing songs. Each day I will choose a different leader to lead these activities for the class.
Fundations:
This week we also began learning the letters of the alphabet using a program called Fundations. First we sing the ABC song or another version of the ABCs such as the ABC rock. Next, students are introduced to a new letter. Students are taught the letter and keyword to help them remember its sound. Thus far, we have practiced the letter, keyword and sounds for A and B.
Books we read this week include:
Listening Center
During free play, the children were introduced to the listening center. They listened to the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.
Dramatic Play
At the dramatic play center students made cakes, gathered presents and celebrated birthdays for one another. We have been talking about birthdays and our ages as part of our All About Me study.
Playdoh
At the playdoh center, the children rolled, cut and shaped the playdoh to make birthday cupcakes. They decorated the cupcakes and put candles inside to celebrate one another.
Literacy
Our literacy center this week involved using magnetic letters to spell family words such as mom, dad, brother, and sister.
STEM
STEM stands for Science Technology Engineering and Math. Throughout the school year the students will engage in several STEM activities related to our theme in which they are faced with a challenge and must use their own critical thinking skills along with provided materials to solve the challenge. This first challenge was to create felt faces to represent the people in your family.
A second STEM activity followed our reading of Homes from many Cultures. Students were asked to create their own home or one mentioned in the book using their choice of materials, Magnatiles, wooden blocks or Legos.
Gym
We had our first gym class on Friday. After reviewing the gym rules and routines I led the children through several stretching exercises. We then played a game called The Busy Swamp. The children were asked to sort colored beanbag animals into hula hoops that shared the same color. While doing so the children engaged in a variety of movements such as running, hopping, skipping, jumping, etc. Finally, the students tried traveling around the gym on scooters. It was a great time!
Choose to Be Nice
Our Choose to Be Nice value this month is Respect. The children were introduced to Ryan the Respectful mouse. As a class we brainstormed ways that we can show respect by being polite. Next, we read Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony in which a panda offers donuts to several animals who respond in a less than respectful manner. In the end, a lemur says, "Yes, please!" and is awarded the entire box of donuts. We will continue to talk about being respectful, but the children were already caught using great manners when asking teachers and peers to help open items during snack.
Some examples of great cooperative play:
