Groundhog Day (Seasons/Shadows)

Daily Question: Have you ever seen a groundhog?

Toys: Dress Ups, Buckaroo, Puzzles, Puppet Theater, Magnets...

Here is the Ice Princess (Lambie), 

her friend Fairy Princess, and her Knight Protector!

Snack: Cheddar twists cheese sticks and pretzels.

Show N' Teach:  Our Silly Class! 

Circle Time: We had a fun discussion on the Four Seasons.
 

We read and talked about a story called Winter's Song. What does Winter sound like? (Soft, quiet snow, snowplows, sledding, snow plows, snow ball fights, dripping melted snow, etc.).  

What would Spring, Summer, or Fall sound like?

We talked about where do (and which) animals go in the Winter? 

We liked listening to Hibernation Station again during snack time and talking about the many different types of animals that hibernate in the Winter.

We talked about habitat (animals home environment), hibernation (animals sleeping in dens through the Winter) and migration--when birds an butterflies go south for the winter.

Science:  What makes a shadow?

A shadow is a dark area or shape made by an object something in between light and a surface (like a body in between the sunlight and sidewalk).  We stuck objects in front of a flashlight and watched the different shadows made and talked about the earth (sun and moon).   

On Groundhog Day (February 2), Phil the Groundhog comes out of his hole after a long winter's hibernation. If he sees his shadow, he is thought to return to his hole (some people think this is an omen of six more weeks of bad winter weather). If he doesn't see his shadow (i.e., if it is cloudy), he is thought to stay above ground (some people think of this as a sign of mild weather to come).

What do you think, can a groundhog predict the weather?
*Update*  On Sunday, Phil saw his shadow and predicts six more weeks of Winter!

I See a Little Goundhog (Tune: I'm a Little Teapot)

I see a little groundhog, furry and brown,
He's popping up to look around.
If he sees his shadow, down he'll go.
Six more weeks of winter--oh, no!

Recess Time: Shadow Hunting outside. We had bright sunshine until it was time to play Shadow Tag and then it was more difficult to find our shadows!
 

Shadow Tag
If it's sunny outside and body casts a shadow, play shadow tag. Instead of touching a person, whoever is It must step on someone's shadow.

Activities: We had fun making a groundhog picture (out of shapes--rectangle and heart) and drawing Spring or snow outside.

 Kayson was excited for me to take his picture with his groundhog/shadow drawing.






He is apprehensive when his twin brother, Ethan, jumps in the picture!

 Ethan yells, "Groundhog!" (Photobomb!)
 --Fun to see these two and their very different personalities.






Definitions of today's vocabulary words: Habitat: The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism. Hibernation: The resting (sleeping) state of some animals in Winter. Den: A wild animals lair or habitation (home). Migration: To change location periodically, especially by moving seasonally from one region to another. Season:One of four divisions of the year (spring, summer, autumn, and winter) demonstrated by particular weather patterns and daylight hours.

Books Read and Discussed Today:  
Winter's Song by Claire Daniel, ill. by Leslie Bowman  
Round and Round the Season's Go by Rozanne Lanczak Williams, Ill. by Roseanne Litzinger  
Hibernation Station by Michelle Meadows and Kurt Cyrus (audio)
Silly Lilly and the Four Seasons by Agnes Rosenstiehhl
Animals in Winter by Henrietta Bancroft & Richard G. Van Gelder, Ill, by Helen K. Davie
Footprints in the Snow by Cynthia Benjamin, Ill. by Jacqueline Rogers (HR, 1)

GorgeousWake Me in the Spring by James Preller, Ill. by Jeffrey Scherer (HR, 2) cartoon hibernation  The Magic School Bus Sleeps for the Winter (Scholastic Reader, 2) 

Letter P and Numbers (0-10)

Daily Question:  Can you count from 0-12?

Parents, you can see how we are coming along with our name practice.  Please work at home on this!

Toys: (So many begin with the letter P) Polly Pockets, Littlest Pet Shops, Pirates, Puppets/Puppet Theater, Puzzles, Play Doh, Play House, etc.

 


Letter P Activity: We talked about P the Pelican who popped popcorn "p-p-p" and picked up pop for his pals. We listened to  popcorn popping and repeated "p-p-p." Then we enjoyed eating copious amounts of the fluffy stuff while trying to glue it to an uppercase and lowercase P.

We had fun watching our popcorn popping and saying, "pah, pah" for letter P.

  

 Our Counting Jars:  We have begun a new activity involving exploring numbers and our "Counting Jars."  We will be exploring numbers 0-12 and today we began with "zero--our hero."  This also helps us practice our name and also early writing skills here at school

Counting Books We Read Today:

Number Farm

Ten Outof Bed by Penny Dale

Do You Have A Hat by Eileen Spinelli

One Baby Boy: A Counting Book.

Piggie Under the Blanket Game: 

One student waits while another student hides under the blanket--"Piggie under the blanket, tell us your name?" "Oink, Oink!"

!

Modern Day Heroes

Modern Day Heroes

Daily Question: Do you know a Modern Hero?  We got lots of fun answers to this question: Batman, Wonderwomen, Spiderman, etc.  The best answer was little Brody who said, "ME!"  We are talking about being brave, men and women who changed our world for the better, and what we can do about it today.

Toys: (New) Trains, City Blocks and Town Rug, and Dress Ups.

Eleanor, the Ice Queen, praised Ethan--"That's my fearless knight!  He's protecting me!" (...from his twin brother, Kayson?)

Snack: Banana wheels, Animal crackers, and mini carrots.

In Circle Time, we saw and talked about many books of Modern Day Heroes/Heroines. We learned that after the start of America, people in Africa were kidnapped and taken by boat to America to work as slaves on plantations that grew tobacco and cotton. We talked about how the slaves (People from Africa who became African Americans or were sometimes called Blacks or Coloreds) were treated poorly--not allowed to vote, hold a paying job, use the same water fountain, or marry. We talked briefly about the US Constitution, the Civil War and President Lincoln (whose birthday is celebrated in Feb.), Segregation, Civil Rights, "Separate but Equal," Martin Luther, Coretta Scott, and Rosa Parks, and Montgomery Bus Boycott. We also talked a little about Helen Keller, one of my personal Heroines.

Share & Teach:

Brody: Transformer to "play with."

Dade: Stuffed ghost and Yak.

Eleanor: Thundercats Sword

Ethan: Lego Fireman (Modern Day Hero)

Eva: Toy to "p

Kayson: Lego Police Officer (Modern Day Hero)

Seth: Glowpet

William: Spiderman (Hero)

Heroes/Heroines Book:
Martin Luther King, Jr. A Dream of Hope by Alice Fleming (Sterling Biographies)--PCL copy, use for pictures--too advanced for preschoolers.
What's So Great About...? Rosa Parks by Jim Whiting (A Robbie Reader) PCL
Helen Keller by Sean Dolan (Rookie Biographies) PCL
Bio-Graphics Abraham Lincoln (Graphic Planet, Red Wagon) written by Joe Dunn, ill. by Rod Espinosa
The Bus Ride That Changed History; The Story of Rosa Parks by Pamela Duncan Edwards, Ill. by Danny Shanahan
Coretta Scott Poetry by Ntozake Shange, Paintings by Kadir Nelson

Opera and Talents

 Opera and Talents

Daily Question: Oo Ostrich sings opera.  Do you like to sing?

It tickles me to see the children sign in now. They are no longer self conscious or worried they "can't" write their name. I remind them that we are learning how and doing it by practicing. Writing his/her own name is a Kindergarten prerequisite. Our class is really learning!

*Karina, William's mother, mentioned that his Grandparents ARE Opera singers!

Toys: (New) Fisher Price Construction set, Airport and Airplane, and FP Village, puppet theater, and hand puppets.

Students enjoyed listening about O the Ostrich whose occupation was singing opera in front of other ostriches, "O-o-o" (students put hands together in front of them and sing oah, oah, oah).

We "painted" O the Ostrich feathers with food dye and corn syrup. This was a lot of sticky fun and left a somewhat tacky but neat looking letter. 

 





This painting fascinates me--the textures as the children pull the blue dye into the corn syrup really do give a "feather like" appearance to the paintings.








 

Talents: We enjoyed reading Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman and talking about the little black girl who loved to listen to and re-enact stories. She believed she could be (or portray) anyone and so she won the part of Peter Pan in a play. Children named talents: soccer, ballet, singing, drawing, painting, or serving others. Some of these come more easily to us and some talents require us to take classes, learn the rules, and work hard at it/them.

Circle Time Discussion:  Ostrich likes to sing.  What do you like to do?  What would you like to learn?  What do you think you will do when you grow up...?
Ethan:  A fireman (or a Knight).
Seth:  Spiderman!
Kayson:  A doctor.
William: A good pirate! 
Dade: A bad guy!  
Brody: Iron Man and a bad guy!  
Eva: A Princess!  
Miss Nikki:A Teacher (and a Mother!) 
Miss Julie:  A Mother (and a Teacher !)

Reading When I'm Big in Circle Time.

 "O" Spotting--We went outside to search for the letter Oo and also to spot any zeros/circles we could find.

Books on Talents:
*Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
Something Special
You Are Special!
You are Special by Max Lucado
When I'm Big by Nila Aye and Tim Drury

Knowledge and our Bodies

Daily Question:  Do you know what your cranium is?  The cranium is your skull (bone that covers your brain).

Toys:  Puppet Theater (Boy and Girl Puppets), Operation Game and Go Fish! Game.


Snack:  Carrots, Ritz crackers, and fruit snacks

Nutrition Discussion:  Do you know what snacks are healthy for your bodies?  Students suggest: carrots, grapes, ...

I Spy K words (or sounds); Kite, Kayson, kick, kangaroo, knee,


 Other "K" words we thought of as a class: kitty, kite, Kayson, Karate, kids, kicks, Kindergarten, etc.  (We talked about how K is a tricky letter because it can sound like copycat C in some cases.)

K the Kicking Kangaroo Art Activity:
We worked on our Kicking Kangaroos art project. K is a Kangaroo who practices Karate and says "k-k-k" while kicking. This was a fun letter to work on because it used a brad and had moveable parts!

*Parents, please help your students practice cutting (with confidence) with scissors.

Cute Quotes from today:
"When Jesus made me--I was little-a baby!" Dade
"I love my body!" Ethan
"My friend can touch his brain through his ears."  Really?!  "My mom says, 'not really'."  Dade 

What is Christmas?
"Trees and plugs!" Eva
"It's freezing and there's ice."  Eleanor
"When it's Christmas, a guy gives presents, it's snowing, when I'm sleeping reindeer come, Santa brings presents..."
"Santa comes to red robin, too."  Ethan
"My mom, my dad, my sister, and my brother have their own trees." Brody
"It is when you celebrate baby Jesus, when he was born."  William
"You can sled and put on boots to slip on the ice."  Seth

We had an indoor recess where we learned several action songs: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes and a new one called "Tony Chestnut (Toe-knee-chest-nut-nose-I love you)."

Books About Our Bodies: 
From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
Hooray for Hands! (Begin Smart)Books
The Hair Book by Graham Tether, Ill. by Roy McKie
The Eye Book by Dr. Seuss (Theo LeSieg), Ill. by Joe Mathieu
The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss
The Tooth Book by Theo LeSieg (Dr. Seuss), Ill. by Joe Mathieu
Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins, ill. by Eric Gurney
The Shape of Me and Other Stuff by Dr. Seuss
Giggle Belly (A Rookie Reader) by Page Sakelaris, Ill. by Richard L. Torrey
Dr. Frankensteins Human Body Book: The Monstrous Truth About How Your Body Works (DK)
Parts by Tedd Arnold
Even More Parts by Tedd Arnold
All About You (With Inspector McQ from World Craft--Childcraft)
Wonderful You! by Linda and Alan Parry
Ouch! How Your Body Makes it Through a Very Bad Day (DK--CD Rom)
The Human Body (Reader's Digest, Pathfinders, Large book).  

Other Books:
We read and talked about a simple book called,Giving, and learned that we can give someone a smile, make Mom or Dad a picture, give/share apple slices, etc.

Jamming With Sea Animals

Jamming With Sea Animals 

Daily Question: Do you like jelly fish?

Snacks: Grapes, pretzels and cheese cubes.

Toys: ABSeas, Sea Creature Stencils,Cranium Under the Sea Memory Game.

We learned about J the jellyfish who liked to jiggle her arms and say "j-j-j" (jah, jah, jah) as she danced at the Jellyfish Jamboree in June. 

Christmas Counting Chain Craft

Seasonal Books

Sea Animal Books:
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
Wish for a Fish; All About Sea Creatures by Bonnie Worth and Aristides Ruiz
Down at the Bottom of the Deep Dark Sea* by Rebecca C. Jones, ill. by Virgina Wright-Frierson
(*Book deals with a boys fear of water)
Look Inside the Ocean (A Poke & Look Learning Book)
Gilbert the Great by Jane Clarke and Charles Fuge (audio CD)
Let's Go Swimming with Mr. Sillypants by M. K. Brown
What's Up, What's Down? by Lola M. Schaefer, Ill. by Barbara Bash
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Phister

Our Thanksgiving Feast!

Do you know why we celebrate Thanksgiving?

There were some cute responses to this:  "Yes! It's because we eat chicken and share chicken!"
"The pilgrims got washed away to the Indian Island!" Ethan informed us.

Toys: Potato Heads, Color Puzzles, and Foam Blocks.

 Ethan has his "pirate face" on!

 Cute turkey bum!

Snack: ( In the place of our snack, each student brought a part of our feast!  Thank you Moms for your support.)  "We all brought things for our class feast--that makes us friends!"

We had fun singing songs today:
Janeen Brady's, "The Pilgrims and the Indians"
It's Autumn-Time
and the storybook/song, "I'm a Turkey" by Jim Arnosky.

Show N' Teach:

William--"I'm thankful for my Star Wars guys!"
Brody--Thankful for Nursery Rhymes
Eva--Turkey shirt!
Kayson--"I brought a Cat's Thanksgiving; I like the cats chasing the mice and making pies (parts in the book)."
Ethan--"I brought a turkey because the Indians brought wild turkeys."
Dade--10 Fat Turkeys

On Thanksgiving Day
By Rochelle Nielsen-Barsuhn

 
I put rolls in a basket,
crisp and warm,
stirred the gravy,
buttered the corn.
I watched the turkey cook golden brown.
I mashed the potatoes while Mom sat down.
In fact,
I was such a big help today that before we bowed our heads to pray,
Mom whispered, "I'm thankful for you."

We reviewed the First Thanksgiving. You can find and print out pilgrim and Indian pictures here (click on the purple link) or here: http://printables.scholastic.com/printables/detail/?id=28485

Indian Corn helped save the Pilgrims after their first crops did not grow. Samoset, Chief of the Massasoit Indians, and Squanto, an Indian who had traveled to England and spoke English well, taught the Pilgrims many things and helped them survive after the first harsh winter*. (Some credit him and the Indians for saving the Pilgrims and being sent by Heaven). Squanto taught them how to tap the maple trees for sap, differentiate plants were poisonous and which had medicinal powers, and how to plant the Indian corn by heaping the earth into low mounds with several seeds and fish in each mound. The decaying fish fertilized the corn. He also taught them to plant other crops with the corn.
*Over half of the 102 Pilgrims died the first Winter in America. There were four women alive in the spring and most of the fifty people remaining were the children.

Our Feast: Popcorn, Corn-meal Muffins, Yams,
Turkey, Craisins, Fruit Salad, and Pumpkin Pie with cream.

Eva offered a prayer and we ate up our feast!



During our feasting we passed around a glitter turkey and played the Grateful Game counting all the things we were thankful for.


Ethan said during the feast, "This is the BEST feast!"
 













Today was a special preschool because we worked together to prepare for our feast and remember 
the First Thanksgiving between the Pilgrims and the Indians (Native Americans--especially Chief Massasoit, Squanto, and Samoset ).

We missed Eleanor, Seth, and Theo and hope to see them on Tuesday!

Thanksgiving Books:
The Most Thankful Thing by Lisa McCourt, Ill. by Cyd Moore (Scholastic)
The Story of the Pilgrims by Katherine Ross, Ill. by Carolyn Croll
Arthur's Thanksgiving by Marc Brown
It's Thanksgiving by Jack Prelutsky, Ill. by Marilyn Hafner
Thanksgiving With Me by Margaret Willey, Ill. by Lloyd Bloom
The Night Before Thanksgiving by Natasha Wing, Ill. by Tammie Lyon
The First Thanksgiving Feast by Joan Anderson, Phots by George Anacona
The First Thanksgiving by Jean Craighead George, Ill. by Thomas Locker
Thanksgiving Day by Anne Rockwell, Ill. by Lizzy Rockwell
Sarah Morton's Day; A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl by Kate Waters, photos by Russ Kendall
The Pilgrims of Plymouth by Marica Sewall
Brother Eagle, Sister Sky Ill. by Susan Jeffers
I Am The Turkey (I Can Read! 2) by Michelle Sobel Sprin, Ill. by Joy Allen
I'm a Turkey! by Jim Arnosky
10 Fat Turkey's by Tony Johnston, Ill. by Rich Deas
All the Places to Love by Patricia Maclachlan, Paintings by Mike Wimmer
Thank you, Grandpa by Lynn Ploude, Ill. by Jason Cockcroft
Grandad's Prayers of the Earth by Douglas Wood, Ill. by P.J. Lynch

Online fun--Thanksgiving Websites:

• Hubbard's Cupboard--The First Thanksgiving
• Scholastic page on The First Thanksgiving (great wealth of information and pictures)
• First School--Alphabet Printable Activities, "Turkey"