Who's Behind the Big Monster????

This week for Large Group, we talked about prepositions.  We practiced putting our hands next to us, above us, behind us, under us and in front of us.  We played a game with Big Green Monster where someone was hiding behind him and we had to guess who was behind Big Green Monster.  

We closed our eyes while someone hid behind Big Green Monster and when we opened our eyes,  we sang a little song that goes like this....

"Who's behind the Big Monster?  Nobody knows but me.  Who's behind the Big Monster?  Nobody knows but me.  I won't tell you, you will have to guess.  If your guess is right, I will say YES."

We took turns guessing who was behind Big Green Monster.  If we guessed right, the person hiding behind Big Green Monster would say "YES".  If we guessed wrong, the person that we guessed would say "NO", I'm NOT behind Big Green Monster.  

We had a lot of fun hiding behind Big Green Monster.  We worked on answering "wh" questions, understanding prepositions, answering "yes/no" questions and using the word "NOT" in sentences.

If you want to work on these concepts at home, you can play the game with your family.  You can use a blanket or a box and hide under or behind it.  You can use "wh" and "yes/no" questions to figure out who is behind/under the blanket. 

If You Are a Monster and You Know It

This week for Large Group, we read the book If You're A Monster and You Know It by Rebecca and Ed Emberley.  We practiced snorting and growling, smacking our claws, stomping our paws, twitching our tails, wiggling our warts and giving a roar.  We stood in a circle and sang the song If You're A Monster and You Know It.  While we sang the song we acted out all the monster actions.  When we were finished with the song, we took turns choosing how we would move if we were a monster. We chose to march, twirl, jump, crawl, scratch and shake our shoulders.  We worked on answering "wh" questions and following directions as we made our choice and followed the action that was chosen.  

You can sing the If You're a Monster and You Know It song at home by copying the link below and pasting it into your browser.  If that doesn't work, just google  If You're a Monster and You Know It song.

http://www.scholastic.com/browse/media.jsp?id=1358

Go Away Big Green Monster

This week for Large Group, we read the story Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley.  As we read the story about Big Green Monster's eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth and hair, we pointed to our own eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth and hair.  We helped teacher Heidi read the story by telling Big Green Monster's body parts to "go away".  When they had all gone away, we told Big Green Monster to "go away" and not come back until we said so.  We made Big Green Monster disappear.  

We had our own Big Green Monster in our class and we took turns putting the parts on his face and then telling them to "go away" and taking them off.  

We also met our friend Mario Monster.

Mario likes to eat, but he will only eat things that start with the "M" sound.  We took turns feeding "M" things to Mario and practicing saying the "M" sound as we fed him.  We fed him a mop, money, a mug, a mouth, a monkey, a mouse etc...  When we were finished his tummy was so full and he thought the food we fed him was "mmmm" good!!

You can read Big Green Monster at home and have your child "help" read the story by saying "go away".  You can check the book out from the library or if you search "go away big green monster ed emberley" on YouTube, you can watch a reading of the book.

"'M" the Monster Sound

In the month of October, we will be working on the "M" or Monster Sound.  To make the "M" sound we press our lips together and use our voice to say "M".  The visual cue for the "M" sound is to move our pointer finger across our lips while saying "M".

In October, we are going to have a lot of fun with Monster Activities.  We will be reading the book, Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley.  We will also be talking about other books by Ed Emberley like If You're A Monster And You Know It, There Was An Old Monster and Glad Monster, Sad Monster.

Some other fun books about monsters are:

Five Little Monsters Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow

Frank Was A Monster Who Wanted to Dance by Keith Graves

My Monster Mama Loves Me So by Laura Luck

Some things you can do at home to practice saying the "M" sound are:

-Have a good treat and practice saying "mmm".

-Ask your child questions that can be answered by using the word "me".  For example:  Who's is (child's name)?  Who is wearing a (color) shirt?

-Share a small snack.  Give the child some but then hold the rest in view.  Encourage your child to use the word "more".

-Play with farm animals, have your child say "moo" for the cows and "meow" for the cats.

-Have your child help you make something. Use the word "mix" as you do it.

Bug Under the Rug

This week in Large Group, we played the game Bug Under the Rug.  Before we played the game, we went around the circle and had everyone tell us their name.  We also talked about how bugs are very quiet and we practiced being as quiet as a bug.  When Teacher Heidi told us to be as quiet as a bug, we covered our eyes and put our heads down and we were SOOOO quiet.  Teacher Heidi put a rug (a sheet) over one of us.  When we opened our eyes and sat up, we tapped our knees while we said, "Bug under the rug, bug under the rug, who's the bug under the rug?"  We then guessed who we thought was hiding under the rug.  We worked on answering questions with yes/no and using the word "not" as we made guesses.  If we guessed someone that wasn't under the rug, that person would say, "No, I'm NOT under the rug."  If we guessed the right person, that person would sit up and say, "Yes!  I'm the bug under the rug."  This activity helped us learn our classmates names, it helped us learn to say our own names, learn to understand the preposition "under" and it helped us learn to follow directions.  We had a lot of fun pretending to be as quiet as a bug and guessing who was under the rug.  

You can work on some of these concepts at home by playing the name game.  Have everyone in your family state their name by saying, "My name is.....".  You can also work on understanding prepositions and following directions by getting a small object like a stuffed toy and asking your child to place the object in, on, under, behind, next to or in front of something or someone.  You could also ask them to hold the toy up high or down low.