The Popper is On!!

The Popper is On!!!

This week for Large Group, we pretended to pop popcorn!  We played a game with the parachute where we pretended to put popcorn (scrunched up paper) in the popper and then shake the parachute until it all popped off!  We practiced using words in phrases and using the /p/ sound in words by saying the following rhyme while we shook the parachute:

"Popcorn, popcorn, hot, hot, hot.

Popcorn, popcorn, pop, pop, pop!

We worked on listening and following directions.  Teacher Heidi told us that we could not start shaking the parachute until we heard her say, "The popper is on".  When she said, "The popper is off", we could stop shaking and help her gather up all the popcorn that had popped off the parachute and put it back in the middle of the parachute.  We also played a game where we practiced counting.  We would choose a number and count to that number by shaking the parachute that many times.  When we reached the number we had chosen, we would run under the parachute.  We loved going under the parachute!!!  We laughed and jumped under the parachute.  We worked on understanding the words on, off, middle and under. 

You can work on following directions and understanding prepositions and basic concepts at home by having your child place on object on, in, off, next to, under, in front of or behind something. You can have them hold the object up high and down low.  You could also play a game where your child is a robot and they can move like a robot when you turn then "on", but then they have stop when you turn them "off".  

"P" is for "Popcorn"

This week for Large Group, we introduced the "P" sound.  We practiced saying the "P" sound by itself and in the beginning of words.  We tried to think of words that started with the "p" sound. We thought of penguin, pop, popcorn, pan and pencil.  We also talked about how the letter "p" makes the "p" sound.

Teacher Heidi told us a story about a boy named Buster who had a popcorn party.  The story is based on the book Popcorn by Frank Asch

This story is so funny.  It is about a boy named Buster.  He wants to have a party so he calls up all his friends and invites them over.  All of the friends that come to the party bring popcorn.  One of Buster's friends, Betty has an idea that they should go in the kitchen and pop all the popcorn.  Buster gets a big pot and fills it with all of the popcorn.  Soon, it begins to pop and it keeps popping!!!!  The popcorn spills over the side of the pot and onto the kitchen floor.  The popcorn fills up the entire kitchen then moves to the living room, soon filling the whole house.  Buster and his friends had to get rid of the popcorn so they crunched and munched and munched some more until it was all gone.  They all felt so sick!!!  Buster's friends went home and Buster went to bed.  When Buster's mom and dad got home, they told him they had brought him a treat and guess what it was????  POPCORN!!!

We loved the story and and thought it was so funny.  We talked about the story and what happened.  We talked about how Buster and his friends felt.  We talked about what we would do if that happened at our house.  

If you want to watch the popcorn story at home, you can find it by googling "frank asch popcorn flash" and then clicking on the link.

When we finished with the story, we played a game where we pretended like we were popcorn popping in a pot.   We crouched down on the rug and with Teacher Heidi we said....

Popcorn, popcorn popping in a pot.

(someone's name) got hot and he/she went pop!

 We had to turn our ears on and listen for our name because when Teacher Heidi said our name we got to jump up like we were popping.  This game helped us work on  using the "p" sound in words and phrases, following directions, recognizing our name and using correct pronouns in phrases.

"P" the Popping Sound

This month we are working on the "P" or the popping sound.  To make the "p" sound you bring your lips together and releasing air to say "p".  The visual cue for the "p" sound is made by bringing your fingers together to make a fist and releasing them out when you say "p".

Listed below are some activities you can do to work on the "p" sound in words:

-Blow bubbles in the room.  Have your child pop the bubbles saying "pop" for each one.
-Make popcorn.  Have your child say "pop" for each piece they eat.
-Pretend to make soup or stew.  Have your child repeat the phrase "in the pot" for each item you put in the pot.
-Play with stuffed animals and have your child repeat the word "pet" as they pet their animal.
-Play with toy cars or trucks and have your child repeat the word "push" each time they "push" the vehicle.
-Play store with your child.  Have them say the word "pay" for each item they want to buy.

Some good books to read that help work on the "p" sound are:
If You Give a Pig A Pancake by Laura Numeroff
Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Little Green Peas by Keith Baker
1-2-3 Peas by Keith Baker
Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
ANY Pete the Cat BOOK by James Dean

There's A Monster On My......

This week for Large Group we worked learning our body parts and understanding prepositions with a Monster Game.  We used some monster finger puppets and took turns choosing what part of our bodies we wanted to put the monster on.  When we chose the body part, we would sing the following song to the tune of Farmer In The Dell....

There's a monster on my nose, a monster on my nose.

Yes there is, oh yes there is a monster on my nose.

We incorporated prepositions into this activity by putting the monster under an arm, behind our back, in our hand, next to our ear, in front of our eyes, over our head etc...

We put the monster on our eyes, nose, next to our side, on our chin, our neck, our elbow, ankle and wrist.  We talked about a lot of body parts that we knew and some that we didn't know.  

You can do this at home by asking your child to show you their pointer finger and then have them put their finger on different body parts and sing the song too.