The Mitten in the Snow

This week for Large Group, we played a game using a BIG mitten and the animals from the book The Mitten.  We talked about the names of all the animals and we reviewed the sequence of events from the book.  We all took an animal and sang a song as we added each one to the mitten.  When all the animals were inside, we did a BIG sneeze and our mitten came apart and the animals went flying everywhere.  You can sing the song at home with your child while you read the book.  The song is to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell.

The mitten in the snow, the mitten in the snow;

Help us please so we don't freeze, 

The mitten in the snow.

The (name of animal) squeezes in, the (name of animal) squeezes in;

Help us please so we don't freeze,

The (name of animal) squeezes in.

To work on the "t" sound, we met my friend Tiny Tony and sang a song about him.

We sang about his teeth, his tongue, his nose, his tail, his tummy and his toes.

The Mitten

This week for Large Group we read the book The Mitten by Jan Brett.  This is a book about a boy named Nicki who wants his grandma to make him mittens that are as white as snow.  It isn't long before Nicki loses his white mitten in the white snow and it becomes a warm home to some animals.  The story ends with the bear getting tickled by the mouse's whiskers and letting out a HUGE sneeze.  This sneeze sends the animals and the mitten flying through the air.  When Nicki finds his mitten it has been stretched and pulled and is bigger than his other mitten.

We all loved this story.  We learned that if you look on the side of each page, there is a picture that gives us a hint of what will be happening next.  We talked about the animals in the book and used descriptive words to describe them.  We made predictions as to what we thought would happen next and we even drew some conclusions about what happened based on the pictures we were looking at.  We talked about mittens and how they help us.   

We also talked about the "t" or the ticking sound.  We talked about things that start with the "t" sound and practiced saying them.  We talked about how the word mitten has the "t" sound in the middle.  We talked about how when you say the "t" sound, you move your tongue up to the top of your mouth.  We sang a song called tongue tip time where we practiced saying sounds and words by moving our tongue up to the top of our mouths.  

You can read the book The Mitten at home by checking it out from the library or you can watch an online version by going to YouTube and searching Online Storytime: The Mitten.

"T" is the Ticking Sound

This month we are working on the "t" sound or the ticking sound.  We will be practicing using this sound by itself and in words and sentences.  There is a visual cue for this sound that is made by putting your hand in a fist and then flipping your pointer finger up when you say "t".  This visual cue is to remind us that when we say "t" our tongue goes up.

Some things you can do at home to work on the "t" sound are:

-Play the "tip toe game".  Walk around on your "tippy toes" saying "tip toe" as you walk.

-Get some toothbrushes and pretend to brush the teeth of stuffed animals or dolls and practice saying "t" while you brush.

-Make and have an afternoon "tea" with dolls and stuffed animals.

-Build some block towers and repeat the words "my block is on top" as you add new blocks to the tower.

-Count your toes saying "1 toe, 2 toe etc....".

-Talk about and point to body parts that start with "t", like teeth, tummy, toes and tongue.

-Make some art and use tape.  Have your child use the word "tape" to request it.