Letter B Day

Friday was letter Bb Day


                                                                 Building with Widgits

                                                                   Nuts and Bolts

Beans and Bears

                                                             Finding the letter B

                                                              Building with Blocks

Our Feelings Day

Feelings Day....


                               Folding red paper and cutting out a heart for someone we love

Spelling Happy in shaving cream

spelling the feelings that we have with our letter tiles

Dancing Raisins

             Dancing Raisin Day
On Mondays I have Art, Music, and Movement. It is a chance for me to add fun activities in there week and also cover some standards.

                               Yesterday we had dancing raisin day. 

          Class learned what a recipe was used for and how to read one.

                         Start with 1 cup water. Then a 1 tbs of vinegar.

                                           Then add 5 raisins

                               last add a tbs of baking soda and swirl





                     Then the activities.......

The class used baking soda to draw designs in. The backing soda had a different texture and  the kids seemed to like it better than the sand.

                         Standard 9.1c: Production and Performance: Visual art
                  *Represent common themes and patterns in visual art

This actually was very cool.... I used Youtube to find 3 different versions sung by the California Raisins (remember back to the 80's). I found " I Heard it Through the Grape Vine" sung by Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, and Marvin Gay. We the discussed how the versions were different. The kids loved to dance to the Michael Jackson version.

Other discussions that came out of watching those commercials were...
*Raisins were dried grapes
*healthy snacks vs. junky snacks
*that grapes come from a vineyard

Magnatabs

Wonderful New Writing Tool!!!!!

                        Magnatabs

On Friday the class had an chance to use the schools brand new Magnatabs. They were recommended O.T. that helps a student here at Almost Home. The pen is a magnet and when you touch the letter the barrings pop up. Then the child can push them down when finished.

I recommend this activity for all my students. There is a capital letter pad, lowercase letter pad, numbers, and a drawing pad. Amazon is the cheapest I found and I posted the link.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=magnatab&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=7655024625&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=595665&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11851915591886513581&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&ref=pd_sl_3f2qycgtao_b

Wet Dry Try

Wet Dry Try...


                                  I start with a blank board.

                   I write the letter I want the child to practice

                         Child uses a wet blue sponge to trace.

                 Then she uses a dry pink sponge to trace again.

                    Then the child writes the letter with chalk.

                     

All About Me - What We Can Do With Our Hands

It Is All About Me Week. 

Today we read stories about our body parts.

I decided to focus on our hands and what our hands can do.

Our hands can pick up

                                   Our hands can weave

                                      Our hands can cut

                          Our hands can put puzzles together

We can even talk with our hands

Real Life Very Hungary Caterpillar

On Monday morning the class had 2 little visitors....

I watered our classroom plants on Monday morning and noticed something didn't look right. Big chunks were missing from the spider plant.

I found this little guy first. I actually couldn't believe he was there.

                    Then I found this one on the other side.

Who would of thought 2 Caterpillars would be found inside... I let the class take a look at them and then I removed them and put the caterpillars outside.  

Friday - Color and Shapes

           COLOR AND SHAPES

Friday was color and shapes day. I put out activities that hit many learning areas. The children had the opportunity to review the colors and shapes. We did our first science experiment, mixing colors in bottles to show how to make purple, green and orange. I then filled the 6 bottles with beads, sequins, glitter, and marbles turning them into shaking bottles. The class to explore and have fun while playing.

Small Motor activities from Thursday

Activities From Thursday....

On Thursday we Read a story called Friends at school. The activities I chose were small motor activities that they could do with their friends in the classroom. 

               Using tweezers to pick out letter beads in the cereal table.

                         pinching or rolling play dough on letter mats

                             Putting marbles on a suction cup mat

                                    painting at the easel 

Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum 

Chrysanthemum is a story about a little mouse with an extraordinary name. The story points out that it is important to love who you are and that it is ok to be different. 

On Wednesday we worked on learning our name. practiced many ways to spell and write it.

I posted the video so you can watch it with your child.

  

Here are some pictures of the activities we did...

Took a closer look at a mums plant

writing names with legos

using clothing pins to spell our name

Dot paint our names

CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Day

Today was a wonderful day full of alphabet activities. We read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and listened to the story on the Ipad.  I also introduced Mat Man today. We sang the Mat Man song and  learned how to put him together.

Here is pictures of a few activities we did today....

We also went on an alphabet scavenger hunt, used letter cookie cutters with play dough, played with the alphabet eye spy pillow, and have a letter match game on the white board.

The class had to cut out the trunk... everyone cut it on there own, pick 4 leaves, glue them on the orange paper and choose letters to put on the tree.

They had a chance to retell the story using magnet letter on the refrigerator.

This is Mat Man... 4 students still have to draw a Mat Man, we ran out of time today. I was so impressed how well the did. Tomorrow the ones that didn't get a chance will in the morning.

It was an awesome first week!!! 


I enjoyed having all your children this week and I can see its going to be a wonderful year. Thank you for all the mommy and daddies who brought back the information sheet and a picture of your child. If you didn't get a chance to last week, its ok to bring it in this week.

I will have another letter for you to read this week. It will be explaining Handwriting Without Tears and Whole Brain Teaching in a little more detail. 

I only had 2 days this week with your children. Basically we got to know each other a little bit. The main way your children will learn this year is by having hands on experiences and a lot small motor activities. This week  I used four fun activities that your children enjoyed.

         In this picture I am teaching the children how to write their name in salt. They all enjoyed writing in it. I will give them many different opportunities to learn the way to write their name this year. 

Not all my students can identify their numbers. In this exercise they can count the number of buttons to see what the number is. They will have some kind of practice learning their numbers everyday.

This is my hole punching center and it will be available in the art center. It helps strengthen their grip which helps in handwriting skills and it is a lot of fun.

Last... The play dough center, also found in the art center. 

Small motor activities helps to strengthen grip for preparation of handwriting, increase hand and eye coordination, teaches practical life skills, and helps develop concentration.

This year your child will be...

1. Pouring
2. Sorting
3. Building
4. Lacing
5. Grasping
6. Arranging
7. Picking-(Not buggies)
8. Shaking-Discovery bottles
9. Marking
10. Cutting
11. Squeezing
12. Rubbing-With Crayons
13. Pinching
14. Crumbling
15. Hammering
16. Stringing
17. Tracing
18. Tearing
19. Stacking
20. Screwing-Nuts and bolts
21. Twisting-Lock and keys
22. Folding-Clothes and paper