12 - 2 - 2011

Heidi spent some time singing with the chicklets while I worked on some crafty stuff for them. They were all GREAT Reindeer!

Thanksgiving Songs and Poems

My amazing mother in law shared these fun songs and fingerplays with me and I wanted to share them with all of you because they are so fun!  If you would like to use these this month while teaching or sing them at home, it would be fun to reinforce them so that the kids are more familiar with them.  

Pumpkin (fingerplay)

I am a pumpkin big and round, (hold arms above head in circle like a pumpkin)

Grandpa came and picked me from the ground. (fists together, pull up)

Grandma cut and chopped, oh, my. (chop with hands)

Now I am Thanksgiving pie. (pretend to bring food to mouth)

On Thanksgiving Day

Sung to "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

Turkey is so good to eat, good to eat, good to eat

Turkey is so good to eat, on Thanksgiving Day

Friends and family gather round, gather round, gather round

Friends and family gather round, on Thanksgiving Day.

For all these blessings we give thanks, we give thanks, we give thanks

for all these blessings we give thanks, on Thanksgiving Day

Run, Little Turkey

Sung to "Skip to My Lou"

Run, little turkey, run away,

Run, little turkey, run away.

You'll be a dinner on Thanksgiving Day.

So run, little turkey, run away.

Gobble, gobble, you can't catch me,

Gobble, gobble, you can't catch me.

I'll run away and I'll be free.

Gobble, gobble, you can't catch me.

Gobble, Gobble

Sung to "Pop, Goes the Weasel"

A Turkey is a funny bird,

His head goes wobble wobble.

He knows just one funny word - 

Gobble, gobble, gobble.

Pilgrims (fingerplay)

The Pilgrims sailed the stormy sea 

To start a country new and free.

They met other people already there,

So they had a great party in the land they would share

Thanksgiving Day Thanks

Sung to "The Farmer in the Dell"

Thanksgiving day is here.

Thanksgiving day is here.

Let's give thanks for all we have.

Thanksgiving day is here.

For all our moms and dads,

For all our families,

Let's give thanks for all we have,

Thanksgiving day is here.

For all the flowers and trees, 

for all the birds and bees,

Let's give thanks for all we have,

Thanksgiving day is here.

This picture is too perfect not to post.  I would say that it about sums up the week.  The kids were doing well learning a routine and getting along.  An overall excellent week. There were some occasional moments when they were all caught sneaking into things at different moments. 

 I would like to entitle this:

"Caught with your pants down?!"

And yes, this is how I found him.  I love it.

Priceless.

No words necessary.

A brief summary of the week...

It was a week of: CIRCLES, THE LETTER 'M' and learning about MOODS.

Letter 'M' activities:  

-Michelle had the great idea of putting objects or pictures in a bag that started with that letter.  We found a bunch of objects that started with 'M' and the kids each pulled an item out of the bag.  

-Colored pictures of the letter 'M' from ABCmouse.com

-Made a 'Mr. Marshmallow Mouse' which was fun but definitely messy.  The kids loved the marshmallow part. :)

-Read stories that had a lot of 'M' words. Max, and Mystery of the Missing Mitten.

-Sang the song about the letter 'M' on ABCmouse.com

-Made Masks with circles.

-Ate marshmallows, muffins, milk and deli meat. (Weird combo, I know.)

MOOD activities:

-Sang:  'If You're Happy and You Know It', 'The Moods Song'

-Danced to music that had different moods and they interpreted the mood with their movement. 

-Made face changers with sticks that showed if they were happy or sad.

Routine

Here is a rough layout of the routine we are choosing to follow twice a week during the following time frame: 9:30am -11:45am

Anything with an (*) means see an additional note below.

9:30a- Kids dropped off and have unstructured playtime

9:55a- clean up and gather at a window for "What's the Weather?"*

10a- Sing Welcome Song* while kids sit on their mats

        At the end of the week we do 'Show and Tell'*

        Recite the Nursery Rhyme with some sort of movement activity to go along 

        Structured Lesson Time*: Introduce or Reinforce Letter.          

10:45a- Snack Time

11a - Unstructured Lesson Time

11:45a- Parents pick up their child.

"What's the Weather" is an opportunity for the kids to look outside and to decide what the weather is that day and then we mark it on our weather chart.  Our weather chart includes: sunny, rainy, cloudy, windy and snow

Welcome Song- Lyrics are as follows: 

'Oh here we are together, together, together

Oh here we are together in our preschool class,

There's (childs first name) and (childs first name)...etc... keep doing that until everyone is listed

Oh here we are together in our preschool class!'

Show and Tell is where the kids can bring something that displays the letter that week or the month's color, shape or theme.

Structured Lesson Time:  Things to include during the structured lesson time would be the letter, shape, numbers, color and to read a story.

Unstructured Lesson Time: Things that might fall under the unstructured time would be : Play, a craft, or coloring time

September Lesson Plan

Each month we have a highlighted color, shape, nursery rhyme, a set of numbers and over-arching theme. Each week one letter will be focused on.  September's are as follows:


Theme: All about me! My friends, family, feelings and senses.
Color: Yellow
Shape: Circle
Numbers: 0,1,2
Nursery Rhyme: Little Jack Horner
Letters: F, M, S, N

Possible Topics to talk about for each letter:
F: Friends, Family, Furry Friends
M: My moods, my feelings
S: My senses- sight
N: My senses- taste, touch, smell (highlight the nose :))

And Thus It Begins

Hello Blogging World!  We have created a blog where our preschool ideas, lesson plans, pictures and, hopefully not too often, failures are to be documented.  Please feel free to leave comments!