Move Fast or Slow

This week in Large Group, we reviewed the story of The Gingerbread Man.  We then played a game where we pretended to be The Gingerbread Man and we took turns telling our friends in the class how they would move their bodies to try to catch us.

One person threw a dice to tell us if we were going to move "fast" or "slow" and then another person threw a dice that told us how we were going to move.  We jumped, hopped, clapped, wiggled, flew and twirled.  If we didn't want to use the dice, we thought of our own way to move.  Some of us suggested skipping, waving our arms, tapping our toes and marching.  

While we were doing the movement, we said "Run (or hop, march, jump, clap) as fast/slow as you can.  You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man."

This activity helped us work on understanding the concepts fast and slow and answering questions. It also helped us work on following directions and using one or more words to make comments.  

You can play the same game at home with your child by taking turns choosing how you should move.   

The Gingerbread Man

This week for Large Group, we read and talked about the story The Gingerbread Man.  We practiced using our words as we helped Teacher Heidi tell the story by repeating some of the familiar phrases from the book like, "Run, run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man"  We also helped by sequencing who the Gingerbread Man had run away from.  

Teacher Heidi brought a pretend oven to our class that she was baking Gingerbread Men in.  When she opened the oven, the Gingerbread Men were gone!!!!  They had run away and were hiding in our class. We had to find them and help get them back in the oven.  When we put them back in the oven, we practiced saying some words that started with "j".  

We got up and ran like the Gingerbread Man.  We got to choose if we wanted to run fast or slow or even super, super fast!!

We also sang the song Jingle Bells.  When we sang the song, we all had an instrument and we played our instrument to the beat of the song.  

You can read The Gingerbread Man at home and work on sequencing by asking your child to help you recall the people or animals that the Gingerbread Man runs away from.  You can work on answering "wh" questions by asking your child what happened in the story.  You can stand up and work on understanding concepts like fast and slow by running the like Gingerbread Man and letting your child choose if you will run fast or slow.

You can watch a reading of The Gingerbread Man by clicking on the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U89dkGrsYZY

The Jingle Bell Sound

This month we are working on the "j" sound or the Jingle Bell sound.  This sound is made the same as the "ch" sound, but the "j" is voiced.  To make this sound, put your teeth together and pull the corners of your lips to the middle to make a pucker.  The tip of your tongue should rise to the top of your moth behind your front teeth as air passes through your mouth to make "j".  The visual sign for the "j" sound is made by putting your thumb at one corner of your mouth with your fingers at the other and then drawing them together to say the "j" sound.

To practice using the "j" sound in words and phrases, we are going to be singing Jingle Bells and reading and talking about Gingerbread Men.

To work on "j" at home.  You can sing Jingle Bells.  You can also read the story The Gingerbread Man.  You can also move by "jumping" and "jogging" and say "jump" and "jog" with each movement.