Move it!

"I like to move it, move it 

She likes to move it, move it 

He likes to move it, move it 

You like to ("move it")"

We talked about ways to move it this week, or rather, ways to get from here to there. That big word, transportation. In honor of one of our letters of the week, letter U, we made these craft stick airplanes and spelled the word UP.

 

We could choo choo, choose the correct cargo to go into our alphabet train, by putting the item that starts with the beginning letter sound into that boxcar with that letter on it. It is so fun to see them sounding our words, and trying to pick the correct letter based on the sounds! They also did a great job putting the train in ABC order.

These tricky trucks made our wheels turn. We had to look at the picture that told us what blocks to use, and figure out how to fit them in the truck. We then turned the page, and could see if we did it correctly.

For our math center, we loaded these trucks up according to the number on their hatch. I found these cute printables here.

We also filled up our key rings with all of our different colored and sized keys. We made our own patterns, along with using our pattern key strips.

 Our writing roads were the perfect pavement for our names. And, our car erasers helped us to clear the roadway for us to write again and again!

And, speaking of roads, we used our alphabet mats as our alphabet asphalt. We drove our cars over our letters, helping us to practice forming our letters correctly.

But, because not all vehicles travel by road, we had some water too! For our science center, we had different objects that we had to determine whether they would sink or float. We felt and looked at the object before we put it in the water to see if we were right.

We want to make sure that we are safe around all vehicles, so we discussed what things are safe and unsafe in vehicles and around the road. This center was filled with matching mats, and different signs to help us know what to look for when in a car or playing outdoors.

And, we had lots of fun talking about motion and testing it out with our marble madness. We used different sized and weighted marbles that we raced to the finish line! I put the foam blocks at this center too, so they could elevate and change up the track, and they added chairs and other objects to alter the track too. They were smart about thinking of different ways to try the track, using their imaginations just like we love them to do!

The Wheels on the Bus

To the Tune of Wheels on the Bus

The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round, all through the town.

The train on the track goes chug, chug, chug, Chug, chug, chug, Chug, chug, chug, The train on the track goes chug, chug, chug all through the day

The boat on the water goes toot, all through the day.

The car on the road goes beep, all through the town.

The airplane in the sky goes way up high, into the clouds.

My 5 Senses

Smell, taste, touch, see, and hear. Five senses used daily, that we often times take for granted. That's one reason that I love to teach this unit. So that we are reminded of how lucky we are to be able to utilize these senses multiple times a day.

We had fun with popcorn this week. I had a box that had the popcorn popper inside of it. I told them that we were going to use some of our senses to figure out what was in the box. I turned on the machine and they guessed vacuum right off when they heard the noise. But, as they started to smell it, they started to figure it was popcorn, and were even more sure when they could hear it starting to pop. I then took it out of the box, and we used our other two senses to touch and taste it, naturally! I also had the popper set up during center time so that they could watch it in action.

This 5 senses match up really helped the kids to see what things we do each day with our 5 senses!

For a sight and touch activity, we played with waterbeads. I try to incorporate these into a lesson each year because they are just so fun. They have the strangest texture. They are smooth, and wet, and squishy. They even bounce. We talked about empty and full, and transferred them from our sensory table to our light table. They are transparent, so it was fun to see the different look in both places.

Our writing center this week was our overhead and magnetic letters. We found each of the letters in our name, then placed them on the overhead and then traced them onto the wall. 

We talked about how sound is made. We used balloons and rice to show how it bounces off of objects, and vibrates. They had a great time bouncing rice right off of the balloon. We also had some drums and other manipulative to see what would bounce when we made a lot of noise.

T is for tearing. One letter we talked about this week, was the letter T. We used our little hands to tear our paper into small pieces to decorate our letter T. 

T is also for ten! We practiced spelling the word ten this week, and also used our magnetic wands and magnetic chips to form our number 10. When spelling words with your children, really enunciate each letter sound. That way they can see how each sound is blended together to form a word. 

We practiced counting to 10 with our pegboard number mats. This is a great sight activity for those little ones that still don't recognize their numbers by sight because they can count the pegs if they aren't sure what number is showing.

We also had a whole table filled with different sensory activities. We had balloons filled with different textures that the kids squished and tried to guess what was inside. Some items were popcorn kernals, honey, sugar, honey, and water. We also had some other textured items such as the starfish you see below. We also had some candles they could smell, and many items they could touch.

We will continue to have computer rotation from time to time. This week we played a 5 senses game where the kids matched up a picture activity to what sense they used to do that activity.

We learned this 5 senses song, that you will hear us sing at the Christmas program! 

The Five Senses Song

Tune: This Old Man

With my eyes, I can see

Robins nesting in a tree.

Chorus:

I see and hear, and smell, and taste, and touch.

With my senses I learn so much! 

  

With my ears, I can hear

Soft and loud noises, oh so clear.

Chorus:

I see and hear, and smell, and taste, and touch.

With my senses I learn so much!

With my nose, I can smell

Cookies baking, oh so well.

Chorus:

I see and hear, and smell, and taste, and touch.

With my senses I learn so much!

  

With my mouth, I can taste

Donuts which are chocolate glazed.

Chorus:

I see and hear, and smell, and taste, and touch.

With my senses I learn so much!

  

With my hands, I can feel

Bunnies soft fur, oh so real.

Chorus:

I see and hear, and smell, and taste, and touch.

With my senses I learn so much!