The Gingerbread Man

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.   

Ring the Jingle Bells

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 each got a turn to decide how we were going to ring the jingle bells.  We sang the following song while we rang the bells.... 

(to the tune of She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain When She Comes)

We will ring the jingle bells (behind our back, way up high, very loud etc..)

We will ring the jingle bells (behind our back, way up high, very loud etc..)

We will ring them (behind our back, way up high, very loud), we will ring them (behind our back, way up high, very loud).

We will ring the jingle bells (behind our back, way up high, very loud etc..)

We could think of a way to ring the bells  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 clapping, on our toes and back and forth!! 

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

For the month of December,  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.  

Yummy Yucky

This week for Large Group, we read and talked about the Yummy Yucky story by Leslie Patricelli.  This story is about a boy who likes to eat some things, but thinks other things are yucky.  

We helped teacher Heidi read the story by giving her a "thumbs up" if the thing the boy wanted to eat was yummy and a "thumbs down" if it was yucky.  Some of the "yummy" things were spaghetti, hamburgers, eggs and sandwiches.  Some of the "yucky" things were worms, sand, earwax and boogers!!!

We helped Teacher Heidi feed some yummy food for her friend Ned.  We chose items out of her shopping bag and if they were "yummy" we fed them to Ted.  If they were "yucky" we threw them in the garbage can.

You can watch a reading of the story by searching "yummy yucky book" on YouTube.

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.

November Words of the Month

The core vocabulary words that we will be emphasizing for the month of November are want and more.  You can emphasize the word want throughout the day as your child makes requests for toys or food.  You can emphasize the word more in play or at meal and snack times.  As your child requests more things to eat you can emphasize the word more.  You can also emphasize the word more in play while building with blocks, playing with legos or doing an activity that your child will want to continue.  You can emphasize this by asking, "Do you want more?".

"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

Monster Games

Who's Behind the Monster???

We have been busy the past two weeks.  Here are the large group activities we have done this week and last week.  Two weeks 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....(to the tune of Farmer in the Dell)

"Who's behind the Monster?  Who's behind the Monster?  Who's behind the Monster? Who's behind the Monster?

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. 

This past week in Large Group, we played the game Monster in the Middle.  We talked about what the word "middle" means.  We stood on the edge of the rug and in the middle of the rug.  We also talked about what it meant to "follow" someone.  Teacher Heidi showed us a monster hat that she brought to class.  We took turns wearing the monster hat and being the "monster in the middle" of the rug.  When it was our turn to be the "monster in the middle",  we could choose how we wanted to move and the other kids in the class followed our actions.  

We sang a song while we did our actions.  The song goes like this...

There's a monster in the middle, just because we're gonna do what the little monster does.

Follow monster, follow monster, follow monster.

The monster in the middle takes a bow, there's a new little monster gonna show us how.

Follow monster, follow monster, follow monster.

We did some fun things.  We hopped, jumped, swung our arms, shrugged our shoulders, touched our toes, did jumping jacks, spun around, moved our knees and kicked our feet.

You can do this same activity at home by playing following the leader.  You can play with a group of friends or with family.  Choose a leader, let the leader choose what action they want to do and have everyone follow.  

If You're A Monster and You Know It

This week for Large Group, we looked at 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 talked about the parts of our bodies and identified our own eye, nose, mouth, teeth, ear and hair as we were reading the story.  When we were finished reading the story, we stood up and sang Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes using a "monster" voice.  We also sang the song fast, slow, in a loud voice, in a whisper voice and with no voice.

We learned another song called If You Ever See a Monster.  When we sang this song we made some scary faces and said the word "BOO" at the end.

You can sing this song at home with the following words to the tune of Did You Ever See A Lassie:

If you ever see a monster, a big ugly monster.

If you ever see a monster then here's what you'll do.

Make this face (make scary faces) and that face and this face and that face.

If you ever see a monster, make sure you say BOO!

"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.

October Words of the Month

Our core vocabulary words for the month of October are the words "in" and "on".  

 We will be doing some Large Group activities that focus on these words, as well as concentrating on intentionally providing many opportunities for students use of these words in class.  

You can use both of these words at home when making requests or comments.  When you are playing you can emphasize the word "in" by putting things "in" containers, "in" a castle, "in" a dollhouse or "in" a truck.  You can emphasize the word "on" in play by stacking blocks "on" top or putting a toy doll's clothes "on". You could also emphasize the word "on" by singing the song Ten Little Monkeys Jumping ON the Bed.   You can also give your child commands to put things "in" or "on".  

Some books that you could read together that focus on these words are:

The Mitten

There Was An Old Lady That Swallowed A Fly

King Bidgood's In the Bathtub

The Napping House

Froggy Gets Dressed

What Will Fat Cat Sit On?

Hop On Pop

Bunnies Bouncing on the Bed

This week for Large Group we continued to work on using the "b" sound by playing the game Bunnies Bouncing on the Bed.  This activity helped us work on math because we counted how many "bunnies" (kids in the class) were bouncing on the bed.  We also used math to determine how many bunnies were left after one fell off the bed. We also got to wear some special bunny ears while we played the game. We worked on answering "wh" questions and using "ing" words in phrases.  We also were given opportunities to make choices by choosing what action the bunnies were going to do on the bed.  We didn't just bounce, we jumped, ran in place, marched, clapped, shrugged, skipped, twirled and hopped.  We each had a turn to choose an action.  If we couldn't think of one on our own, we used the GoTalk to help us.  

After we fell off the bed, we got to help the doctors tell Mama,  "No more bunnies jumping on the bed."  If we weren't able to say the whole phrase, we could use the Big Mac switch to help us.

You can play the Bunnies Bouncing on the Bed game at home with family or friends.  The bunnies don't just have to bounce on the bed, they can twirl or hop or skip.  You can take turn choosing the action. You can help your child with math skills by having them count how many bunnies are bouncing and how many are left when one falls off the bed.  You can also help your child use short phrases by having them repeat the words of the game.  

Who Took The Baby From The Baby Bed???

This week for Large Group, we continued to work on recognizing and using our names and our classmate's names.  We also worked on saying the "B" sound in words and phrases and answering yes/no and "wh" questions.

We sang the song Baby Blowing Bubbles.  We learned some actions to do with our hands while we sing the song.

We played the game Who Took the Baby From the Baby Bed?  Teacher Heidi told us that when she came to school today, she noticed that someone had taken her baby from the baby bed.  We played a game where we closed our eyes and teacher Heidi hid the baby behind one of us and when we opened our eyes, we guessed who took the baby.  We tapped our knees to the beat while we chanted...

"Who took the baby from the baby bed?"

We took turns guess who we thought was hiding the baby.  If we couldn't say the name of our classmate or if we forgot, we used our picture board with our class pictures on it and pointed to the person we thought might have the baby.  We then tapped our knees to the beat while we chanted...

"Heidi took the baby from the baby bed."

If we had the baby, we would say "Yes, I have the baby."  If we didn't have the baby, we would say "No, I don't have the baby."  We had a lot of fun guessing who had the baby and at the end of the activity, we finally returned the baby to her bed so she could take her nap.

You can work on asking and answering questions at home by playing the game or a variation of it with your child.  You can also work on answering "wh" and "yes/no" questions by asking your child questions about things they see while on walks, at the store or in pictures when reading books. 

Who's Behind the Door??

This week in Large Group we played Who's Behind the Door?  This game helps us work on learning the names of our school friends, answering "wh" questions, answering yes/no questions and using 2-3 words in a phrase.

Teacher Heidi brought a door that was just the right size for us to hide behind.  We each got a turn to hide behind the door and the class tapped their knees while we sang....

"Who's behind the door?  Who's behind the door?

Who, Who, Who?

Who's behind the door?"

We guessed "who" was behind the door.  The person behind the door would answer yes or no.  If we had guessed right, we said the name of the person behind the door together and then the person behind the door would tell us something about them....like if they were a boy or girl or something about their shirt or shoes.  

Bumble Bee Bumble Bee

Bumblebee Bumblebee Will You Say Your Name to Me?

Last week in Large Group, since it's a new school year, we worked on learning our names and our classmate's names.  We also worked on saying the "B" sound in words and phrases and using our core vocabulary words "me " and "you" in phrases.

We played a game where Teacher Heidi showed us pictures of the friends in our class and asked, "Who is this?".  Whoever was in the picture would answer saying, "That's me.".  The whole class would then say the person's name while tapping out the syllables on our knees.  This activity helped us learn the names of our classmates and helped us practice answering "wh" questions and using the word "me" in phrases.    

We met Teacher Heidi's friend Mr. Bumblebee.  Mr. Bumblebee wanted to learn the names of the kids in the class.  We played a game where we passed Mr. Bumblebee around and tapped our knees while we chanted,   

"Bumblebee, Bumblebee will you say your name to me?"

The person that was holding Mr. Bumblebee would then tell the class what their name was.

We played another name game where we were able to get up and move.  We also took turns choosing how the rest of the class would move.  We sang a song to the tune of If You Are Happy and You Know It, but we used the following words....

If your name is Heidi clap your hands.

If your name is Heidi clap your hands.

If your name is Heidi.

If your name is Heidi.

 If your name is Heidi, clap your hands.

We were given opportunities to choose who in the class we were going to sing about and what action we were going to do.  If we couldn't say or remember the name of our classmate, Teacher Heidi let us point to a picture.  Since we are just learning, we have pictures of all of our friends on a board so we can choose if we forget a name.  We chose to clap, march, twirl, shrug our shoulders, wiggle, run in place, blink our eyes and touch our toes.  

It was fun being able to move our bodies while learning the names of our friends in class. 

To practice saying the "B" sound in words and phrases, we ended our Large Group by singing I'm Bringing Home A Baby Bumblebee.

You can work on the "B" sound at home by singing the song Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee. Have your child show you the actions we use when singing this song.  Try not to get stung!!

You can also help your child learn to recognize and say his name by playing a "Simon Says" game at home with siblings or friends.  Ask a specific child to do an action by saying..."Simon Says Heidi should touch her nose."  You can also have your child be Simon and use the names of siblings or friends to tell them to do an action.