Run, Run, Run As Fast As You Can.....

This week in Large Group, we read 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 Jingle Bell Game

This week for Large Group, we sang the song Jingle Bells and then we  used the Jingle Bells to play a Jingle Bell Game.  We stood in a circle and we shook our bells while we sand the song...

Jingle bells, will you tell how to ring our bells?

Teacher Heidi chose one classmate to tell us how to ring our bells.  We could think of an idea on our own or we could use one that was on the GoTalk.

We rang our bells high, low, loud, soft, fast, slow, in front of us, behind us, in a circle, while jumping, while hopping and even while meowing like a cat!! 

We had a lot of fun doing this activity and working on understanding prepositions, answering questions, using words to express ourselves and naming actions.

The Jingle Bell Sound

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 mouth 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.  

Who's Behind the Pumpkin

For the week of November 28th to December 2nd, we continued to work on using the "p" sound in words.  For Large Group, we played a game that helped us practice using the "p" sound in words.  This game also helped us work on answering "wh" questions and using correct pronouns in sentences.  We each took a turn hiding behind a big pumpkin while our friends in class sang a song that goes like this:

Who's behind the pumpkin?  Nobody knows but him/her (depending on if it was a boy or girl behind the pumpkin).

He/She won't tell you. You will have to guess.

While we were hiding behind the pumpkin, we chose a hat to put on.  We got to choose from many different hats.  

When Teacher Heidi moved the pumpkin away, she would as our friends in the class..."Who is it?"  We answered her "wh" question and  practiced saying the names of our friends in class by saying who was behind the pumpkin.  If we were the one behind the pumpkin, we got to tell the class who or what we were based on the hat we chose.  We were pirates, cowboys, construction workers, owls, cats, clowns, lions, football players etc...  

After we told our friends in class what we were, we would all practice saying it in a sentence.  This was done like this;

"He/She is a cat."

We then would act like a cat.

We had fun playing this guessing game, taking turns wearing different hats and moving our bodies like different people or animals would.  If we were pirates we said arrrgh, if we were a cowboy we pretended to have a lasso and said YAHOO, if we were a cat we crawled around and said MEOW and if we were a construction worker, we pretended to hammer nails.