Blog Archives - Miss Gray's Group

Miss Gray's Group

Everybody Has An "E"

4/29/2016

Ask me about the letter, "E". Ask me about the sound it makes, words that start with "E", and how to write the letter.

We learned many words that started with "E" using Starfall, and by getting our wiggles out to Storybots "Everybody Has An 'E'".

We read AlphaTales', a story called "The Enormous Elephant Show".
With this AlphaTales' books, we identified many rhyming words!

"E" is for Elephant! We strengthened fine motor muscles while practicing mathematical understanding and skills such as numeral identification, one-to-one correspondence, counting, and quantity, while working with elephant links.

We learned how to write the letter, "E".
We continued to increase our understanding of letter formation.
We always start our letters at the top (we look for Smiley)!
We make sure we are holding our writing utensil correctly
(thumb is bent, pointer points to the tip, tall mall uses its side)
and we try our best!

To make the letter "R":
-Big line down
-Jump back up
-Little line
-Little line
-Little line

Practice writing "E" at home using this HWT language.

Review and use the links below,
for additional practice at home:

Storybots "Everybody Has An 'E'"

Every Day is Earth Day

4/29/2016

Ask me about Earth Day.

Earth Day is a day that we celebrate the Earth!
We discussed how important it is to take care of the Earth by keeping it clean. We learned that when we clean the Earth we can sort the items into plastic, paper, or glass.

We practiced this sorting on Starfall's "Every Day is Earth Day".
Try it at home, here:

Every Day Is Earth Day

We also used this understanding in a hands-on approach at the sand table. We needed to clean the 'Earth', before we could play!

Another way to help take care of the Earth is to plant new plants! We planted sunflower seeds, and will continue our discussion of plants - their parts and what they need to grow - as we observe them next week!

Purple

4/28/2016

Today, we colored in pictures purple.

We are learning to:
-recognize and identify basic colors
-recognize familiar 2-D shapes
-listen to oral directions to attend to a simple task
-respond to simple questions
-learn words linked to content being taught
-use helping hand to stabilize objects and papers
-use same hand consistently to hold crayons
-use fingers to hold crayons

Spanish Enrichment

4/24/2016

Preschool participates in Spanish with Senora Ruiz twice a week.

As our third and final enrichment cluster, we further integrated Spanish activities within our daily schedule. We made various crafts that represent significant items and/or clothing that Spanish people use and/or wear, as well as learned how to identify farm animals in Spanish, as this aligned with our Thematic Unit of Studies.

We made maracas! Maracas are a musical instrument that Spanish people often use while making music during song, chant, celebrations, and/or ceremonies.

We made sombreros! Sombreros are a type of hat that Spanish people wear. "Sombrero" refers to 'shadower', as Spanish people wear sombreros to help 'shadow', or provide shade, from the sun.

We made ponchos! Ponchos are a type of clothing that Spanish people wear. Ponchos are a blanket-like cloak with a hole in the center for a person's head and the poncho lays over a person's shoulders. The poncho helps a person keep warm and protect the body from harsh weather conditions while still having the freedom of movement to continue working comfortably.

We made Spanish fans!
We used various colors to decorate our fans with lines, dots, zigzags, and some drew pictures of rainbows, flowers, family, and animals.

We made pinatas! Spanish-speaking people often have pinatas at all different types of celebrations and/or ceremonies. It is a festive decoration that they use and enjoy.

First, we had to paper mache. Thank you Mrs. Ferrell for all your help!
Then we had to paint the pinatas. Thank you Mrs. Torizzo for all your help!
Last, we added colorful tissue paper to our pinatas to give them more detail!

Last, but not least, as a literacy component to our Spanish Enrichment cluster, and in alignment with our Thematic Units of Study, we learned to identify farm animals in Spanish! We practiced with Senora Ruiz during Spanish, and we also made our own "Los Animales De La Granja" (The Farm Animals) book during center time!

When working in our "Los Animales De La Granja" (The Farm Animals) book, we tried our best to stay inside the lines when coloring; we made sure to 'pinch' our finger - thumb is bent, pointer points to the tip, tall man uses it's side; we used colors that 'made sense' and tried to add 'detail' by using various colors (e.g., a dog with black and brown spots, and a pink collar). Some friends then traced the names of the animal in Spanish or some friends copied the names. Some friends even went back and labeled the pictures in English using what they know about letters and their sounds.

Dinosaur-Themed Centers

4/15/2016

Ask me about some of the centers I participated in this week!

We participated in dinosaur-themed centers.
We were paleontologists at the sand table where we 'dug up' dinosaur bones, skeletons, and eggs.
We made imprints or fossils of dinosaurs at the play dough center.
We built mountains or ledges in the block center
for the dinosaurs to climb on.
We also enjoyed playing "Roll A Dinosaur" which helped build pre-mathematical skills such as subitizing, understanding of quantity, counting, and one-to-one correspondence.

I Use "I"

4/15/2016

Ask me about the letter, "I". Ask me about the sound it makes, words that start with "I", and how to write the letter.

We learned many words that started with "I" using Starfall, and by getting our wiggles out to Storybots "I Use 'I".

We read AlphaTales', a story called "Iguana on Ice.
We then identified and found all the words that start with "I".

We learned how to write the letter, "I".
We continued to increase our understanding of letter formation.
We always start our letters at the top (we look for Smiley)!
We make sure we are holding our writing utensil correctly
(thumb is bent, pointer points to the tip, tall mall uses its side)
and we try our best!

To make the letter "I":
-Big line down
-Little line
-Little line

Practice writing "I" at home using this HWT language.

Review and use the links below,
for additional practice at home:

Storybots "I Use 'I'"

Shape-O-Saurus

4/14/2016

Ask me about my "Shape-O-Saurus".
Ask me to name the shapes I see in my dinosaur!
Ask me to count all the shapes!
Ask me to figure out how many of each shape my dinosaur has!

Try "Y"

4/8/2016

Ask me about the letter, "Y". Ask me about the sound it makes, words that start with "Y", and how to write the letter.

We learned many words that started with "Y" using Starfall, and by getting our wiggles out to Storybots "Try 'Y'" or with Have Fun Teaching "Letter Y Song".

We read AlphaTales', a story called "The Yak Who Yelled Yuck".
We then identified all the words that start with "Y" on the smartboard using our document camera.

We learned how to write the letter, "Y".
We continued to increase our understanding of letter formation.
We always start our letters at the top (we look for Smiley)!
We make sure we are holding our writing utensil correctly
(thumb is bent, pointer points to the tip, tall mall uses its side)
and we try our best!

To make the letter "Y":
-Little line
-Big line

Practice writing "Y" at home using this HWT language.

Review and use the links below,
for additional practice at home:

Storybots "Try 'Y'"

Have Fun Teaching "Letter Y Song"

Using Our Five Senses To Tell About Objects

4/6/2016

The Five Senses Song

Ask me to tell you about an object using my senses!

Today, we took turns picking an object and telling about the object using four of our five senses - touch, sight, smell, hearing.

When working and playing at home, ask me:
What does that look like? How do you use your sense of sight?
What does that smell like? How do you use your sense of smell?
What does that feel like? How do you use your sense of touch?
What does that taste like? How you use your sense of taste?
What does that sound like? How do you use your sense of hearing?

Five Senses with ABCYa.com

4/5/2016

Ask me what our five senses are.

We have begun to learn about our five senses - sight, touch, taste, smell, hearing - and how they help us understand and explore the world around us.

Today, we played ABCYa.com's "Five Senses" to help reinforce our understanding.