Our first unit in our Literacy curriculum is on Families. In this unit, children will be exploring & talking about families and the many ways that family members relate to and help one another. Through story time books, children will hear about a boy who helps his family take care of his baby sister (Oonga Boonga), a boy who realizes how much he has grown when a new baby arrives (Peter's Chair), a girl who behaves badly when she wants attention (Noisy Nora), and a lonely stuffed bear who finds a new friend (Corduroy). Besides listening to stories, children will begin to recognize initial sounds i words & identify rhyming words. |
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 Kat works a the Block Area telling a story of her family's trip apple picking and then builds a home for all of them to go to when they return from the orchard.  After reading the book, Let's Make Music, we made our own bottle shaker instruments. Theo works on his bottle shaker at the Art Studio, adding beads to the bottle until he thinks the sound is just right when he shakes it!  Max adds stickers and ribbon to his beautiful bottle shaker!  Sienna and Michelle finish up their bottle shakers. We are almost ready for our parade!  Making beautiful music with 22 bottle shakers!  Shawn'ae, Nolan, Janeudy and Mia are feeling the music!  We have been talking about the care of babies and how family members help to care for babies. Iyanna and Osawese care for their babies in Dramatic Play.  Adams and his family of Sarah, Janeudy and Ethan are in an R.V. here. Adam says, "Yeah, it's good for an RV because you can take everything with you in the car - the sink and the stove and the crib!"  At the technology center, Calum and Jonathan visit a literacy website to play a game that builds letter production and letter recognition...and it's fun!  After several reads of Peter's Chair, the children act out the roles from the story.  Adam and Sienna take their babies for a walk with the baby stroller.  Cassie and Sarah feed, burp and dress their babies. Such busy moms in Dramatic Play!  Kat uses a cookie cutter to shape her dough before "baking".  Cookies are ready and Michelle gets the oven mitt to take out the "hot" tray.
 Summer points to the tube she is predicting the marble will come out if she puts it in the top of the yellow tube.  Adam and Seamus explore the how the marbles travel from every angle!  Jayden & Caroline work at mixing paints at the easel.  Adam takes a photo of Caroline's structure at the Block Area! |
 Theo shares some memories that he made with his family on their trip to Spain!  Osawese, Ethan and Seamus work on their instruments, adding decorations to the outside of their bottles.  Calum gives his bottle a shake to hear the sound. We noticed that if we added too many beads and paper clips, the noise was louder and lower. IF we had less beads and clips, the sound was lighter.  On our way to the gym to begin our Bottle Shaker Parade!  A joyful noise inspiring some marching dance moves!  Room 107 musicians!  Janeudy helps to cook some dinner for Sarah in Dramatic Play.  Ethan shows me the key that he uses to start the RV's engine.  Jayden works on a letter matching game during OWL groups.  Ethan plays Peter, and just like in the story, he does not fit into his baby chair anymore.  Caroline follows the recipe to shape the dough and make cookies at the Art Studio.  Shawn'ae uses the spatula to take her cookies off of the cookie sheet.  Michelle checks on her cookies in the oven after baking them for as long as the recipe says.  In the story Noisy Nora, Nora knocked over a can of marbles to get attention from her parents. We thought it might be fun to explore marbles and marble ramps in our classroom. Sienna & Summer use the marble ramp to see how a marble will travel. Summer is wondering why her marble doesn't travel from the top of the yellow tube and come out on the side through the yellow tube. Instead, it comes out from the green tube at the bottom!  Sienna & Summer experiment with the marble and decide that the marble goes through a straight line even though you can't see it inside the box and even if the tube is a different color at the bottom! The marble comes out from the end of the same tube that is painted green at the bottom.  Calum tries the Bean Game. He transfers small beans from one cup to another with a pair of tweezers. This helps to develop hand muscles for fine motor control. The children love to play this game and it helps to develop their finger grasp when writing with a writing utensil. Calum transferred every bean without moving the cup!  Adam watches Mrs. Shields photograph children at work at the centers and decides to make a camera from linking cubes to help her record everyone's work! |
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