Little Mouse, Little Mouse

This week for Large Group, we played a game where we had to guess what color house little mouse was hiding in.  We closed our eyes while Little Mouse hid in a house and then we all had a turn to guess which color house little mouse was hiding in.  We used our hands to tap our knees while we said, "Little Mouse, Little Mouse are you in the red house?"  Little Mouse was good at hiding, sometimes it took us a lot of guesses to figure out where he was.  This activity helped us practice asking questions, practice using yes/no to answer questions and practice using the word "not" to make a statement.  It also helped us work on identifying colors and use our hands to tap out a beat.

Kitty Kitty in Your House

This week for Large Group, we played Kitty Kitty in Your House.  To play this game, Teacher Heidi was the mouse and all the kids were the kitties.  We talked about how cats like to chase mice.  We talked about different ways we could move our bodies to chase the mouse in our class (Teacher Heidi). We played a game where we sang a song about a kitty in his house and asked him how he would move to chase the mouse.  The song goes like this and it is to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star;  Kitty, Kitty in your house, how will you move to chase that mouse?  We all had a turn to choose how we all should move our bodies to chase the mouse.  We marched, stomped, twirled, jumped, hopped, galloped, wiggled, waved etc...  Playing this game helped us learn how to answer questions, use our words to describe actions, follow directions and move our bodies.

Musical Chairs

This week for Large Group, we played musical chairs with a twist.  Before we played, we looked at some pictures that start with the /k/ sound.  We practiced saying the names of the objects.  We put the pictures under our chairs and turned the music on.  We got up and danced around in the middle of the rug.  We talked about how when we dance we can move different parts of our body.  We also talked about how we can move our bodies fast or slow.  When the music turned off, we found a chair to sit on.  We talked about how it was ok it we sat on a different chair each time.  We picked up the /k/ picture under our chair and practiced using /k/ in words by telling the person sitting next to us what object was on our picture.  We then turned the music back on and did it all over again!

Fat Cat

This week for large group, we read and talked about the book, What Will Fat Cat Sit On? by Jan Thomas.  Fat Cat likes to sit and relax.  Fat Cat sometimes wants to sit on things he shouldn't.  As we read the book, we talked about the pictures and what we thought the animals were thinking and feeling based on the expressions on their faces.  We also talked about the words "no" and "not".  

After we read the book, the kids got to meet my friend Fat Cat.  We talked about how Fat Cat spends most of the day trying to find a place to sit.  We talked about how Fat Cat wanted to sit somewhere in our classroom.   We played a game where we would close our eyes while Fat Cat found a place to sit in the classroom and then we would have to find him.  Some of us helped Fat Cat find a place to sit and then some of us helped find him. When we found where Fat Cat was sitting, we used our words to tell the class where he was.  We found Fat Cat on things, under things, behind things, in front of things, in things and next to things.  

Stomping Dinosaur Sound

This month we will be working on the "k" or the stomping dinosaur sound.  We make this sound in the back of our mouths with our tongue down in the front, but up in the back.  As we say the /k/ sound, we tap our palms on our knees like our hands are dinosaur feet stomping across the ground.  

During large group, we practiced saying the stomping dinosaur sound.  We looked at objects that started with the /k/ sound and practiced saying them.  We also tried to think if we could think of anything that started with the /k/ sound.  

We sang a song that gave us a lot of opportunities to practice saying /k/ in words and syllables.  The song we sang was Happy Birthday Cake and Cookies.  We learned how to say happy birthday using our hands, in sign language.  Ask your child to show you how they can say happy birthday with their hands.  

To work on the /k/ sound at home,  you can do the following activities:

-Play with a farm set that includes a cow, a cat and a rooster.  Have your child say "cow", "cat" or "cock-a doodle-do" each time they play with the  cow, cat or rooster. 

-Let your child play with various keys in various locks.  Have your child say "key" with each one that they try.

-Play cars on the floor.  Model using the word car as you are playing.  Encourage your child to use the word car as they play too.

-Play ball and have your child say "catch" each time they catch the ball or "kick" each time they kick it.

-Have cookies for a snack and have your child request using the word "cookie".

-Play house and pretend to "cook" a meal.  Model the word cook and encourage your child to use the word too.  You can also do this with the words "cup", "cut", "can" and "cake".