Last Day of School

Today is the last day of school.  Not the last day I had imagined for us!

Lizzie and the Last Day of School by Trinka Hakes Noble.  See and hear the story HERE

• A book about the last day of school and some of the emotions and feelings that go along with the day.

The Feelings Book by Todd Parr.  See and hear the story HERE

• A book about the many different ways we can feel each day.

When we return for Summer School (June 8th to July 2nd) I will be transitioning to using Google Classroom.  I will send instructions on how to access it at the end of next week.  A few of you already have access - for those that have access nothing new will be need to be done.

Stay safe, stay healthy and enjoy your beginning of summer!

Numbers, Counting, and Coloring

HERE is a worksheet that can be used for Number Recognition (1-20)

HERE are a few 'Math Mats' from our curriculum that will support counting, and introduce the concepts of addition and subtraction.

• How Many Are Left?  Use to introduce the concept of subtraction.  Example: If one ladybug flies away - how many are left?
• How Many Is 5?  Use to figure out how many more are needed to get to five (count the empty squares).
• How Many All Together?  Use to introduce addition.  Example: One tree has three apples, and one tree has two apples - how many apples do the apple trees have all together? 

HERE are two coloring pages for fun.  One to support the book 'The Little Engine That Could' and one to support 'Leo the Late Bloomer'.  No printer?  No problem! Practice drawing, and draw your own tiger or train engine.

Happy Wednesday!  Stay safe and stay healthy!

'I Can Do It!' Books

Books from our weekly theme of 'I Can Do It!'

'Leo the Late Bloomer' by Robert Kraus.  See and hear the story HERE

• An excellent book that reminds us all that we develop at different paces!
• This is an opportunity to ask predicting questions.  Example: What do you think will happen to Leo?

'The Little Engine That Could' by Watty Piper.  See and hear the story HERE

• Note: This story/video is 8 minutes long.
• A great story about the power of positive thinking!  Even when things are difficult, we just need to tell ourselves that: 'I CAN DO IT!'

'Read and Rise' by Sandra L. Pinkey.  See and hear the story HERE

• A great book!  Reading, and learning to read, allows us to learn about different experiences and learn more about the things that interest us.  As we learn to identify the letters of the alphabet, and the sounds associated with them, I remind the students that doing this will help them get ready to read!  Keep working to identify letters and practice the letter sounds!
• Questions to ask during, or after, the book.  What does each child like reading about?  How can you tell?  (Use the picture clues!)

Trying New Things and More!

Having children 'Try New Things' can be challenging.  Some children want to do everything 'perfectly', some find it challenging to break their routines and attempt new things, and others are easily frustrated by the reality that new things take LOTS (and LOTS!) of practice.

In our classroom we promote the concepts of 'you just have to try, and trying is what matters', and 'it's okay to make mistakes - this is how we ALL learn'.

Below are a few blog posts by others and videos that discuss the topic of having children 'Try New Things'.  The topic supports our weekly theme, and is a reminder of how we can support our children.

• 7 Ways to Encourage Your Child to Try New Things
• How to Encourage Kids to Try New Things
• 4 Tried and True Ways to Get a Child to Try New Things
• Sesame Street: Kids Talk About New Things
• Daniel Tiger: It Can Be Hard to Try Something New!

Review of 'Going New Places'

• Go on an interactive Road Trip with Nature Cat from PBS HERE. 
• Virtual Field Trips from PBS and Nature Cat can be found HERE.

Finally, today is National Dance Like a Chicken Day!  This is a good reminder to have fun and be silly!

A few fun dance songs/videos:

• Chicken Dance with Maximo - Go Noodle
• Perrito Feliz - Go Noodle (We do this one in class!)
• Baby Shark Dance - Pink Fong

Stay safe, stay healthy, and BE GOOD!

Fun Videos

Fun videos to support learning for this week!

Patterns:

• Banana-Banana-Meatball  - Blazer Fresh on Go Noodle
• Julia and Grover Search for Patterns - Sesame Street
• The Patterns Practice Song - Scratch Garden
• PATTERN: Words with Puffball - Sesame Studios
• Shake Break Exercise Song - Pancake Manor

Counting:

• The Big Numbers Song - KidsTV123
• Ten Little Numbers - KidsTV123
• How Many Fingers? - Super Simple Songs
• Numbers Rock
• Count and Move - Super Simple Songs

Trying New Foods.  Would you try any of these silly food combinations??!!

• Do You Like Broccoli Ice Cream? - Super Simple Songs
• Do You Like Spaghetti Yogurt? - Super Simple Songs
• Do You Like Lasagna Milkshakes? - Super Simple Songs
• Do You Like Pickle Pudding? - Super Simple Songs

Books for 'Trying New Things'

These are the books from 'Trying New Things'.

'Giraffes Can't Dance' by Giles Andreae.  Listen to and watch the story HERE.

• Gerald the giraffe feels as if he is clumsy, and doesn't want to dance in front of his friends.  He should believe in himself and 'try new things' like dancing with his friends!

'Little Bat' by Tania Cox.  Listen to and watch the story HERE.

• Little Bat is worried about 'trying something new'.  What is Little Bat worried about trying??
• Have you ever been worried about trying something new?  It's okay to be worried, but trying new things can help us find new things to enjoy.

'We're Going On a Lion Hunt' by David Axtell.  Listen to and watch the story HERE.

• A story about being brave.  It's brave to try new things!  What new things would you like to try?  Going to a new school?  Making new friends?  Or??!!!
• Also, this books reviews directional words (over, under, around, through).  This is a good time to review directional words.  Use your hands or toys as models.  Examples: I can put my hands 'OVER' my head.  The toy is 'UNDER' the table.

Also.....

HERE are some worksheets that supports this week's theme.  The worksheets include:

• Jungle Animal Cutouts.  Just something for fun!  'Giraffes Can't Dance' and 'We're Going On a Lion Hunt' both have wild animals in them - they could be used to retell the story, review the story, or whatever!  Coloring and cutting are good fine motor activities to practice.
• What Comes Next? An example of a visual to help support practicing creating patterns and filling in missing items from patterns.
• Spot the Bats.  Flash cards that are intended to be cut out.  They are used to practice identifying small quantities without counting (the same concept as last week's worksheet 'Spot the Xs').  The use of bats ties to the book 'Little Bat'.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and BE GOOD!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to you all!

I hope your families spoil you and you have an opportunity to relax and enjoy the day dedicated to you.

Going New Places

Below are links to some places we can 'visit' virtually.  Some you may have already been to, but some may be new to you!

The San Diego Zoo

• You can view live cameras of animals HERE
• You can search for you favorite animal to learn more HERE

Monterey Bay Aquarium

• You can view live cameras of exhibits HERE
• My favorite is the 'Jelly Cam'. I find jellyfish fascinating!

Boston Children's Museum

• You can view each of the museum's three floors HERE
• I think the tunnels on the third floor would be fun to crawl through!

Visit an Apple Orchard to learn more HERE

Visit a Planetarium to see stars and planets HERE

You can draw, and color, a picture of the favorite thing you saw!  Label it too, and don't forget your name!  Here is my picture of jellyfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Stay safe, stay healthy and be good!

Worksheets and National Beverage Day

HERE is a link to some worksheets that support our weekly theme.  I know not everyone has access to a printer, so I am providing a brief description of how the worksheets could be used and you could do the same without having the actual worksheet.  These are not requirements, just supplemental activities for you to consider.

• I'm Not Scared.  This is intended to address the idea of going to a new school, or classroom, next year.  Have the children draw a scared face and a calm face.  Ask them what scares them, and what do they do to stop being scared?
• Paper Doll Cutouts and Speech Balloon Cutout.  These can go together.  The purpose would be to use the picture information in the book 'Can You Say Peace?', from yesterday's post, to copy or draw different people based on one those represented in the book.  The speech bubble could be used to practice writing - the children could copy how we say peace in different languages (again, this information is from the book video that was in yesterday's post).
• Shape Cutouts.  These are intended to be colored and then sorted.  You could sort by color; you could sort by size; or you could sort by color and size.
• Spot the Xs.  These cards are intended to practice identifying small quantities (1 to 5) of objects without having to count them first.  Example:  Where are the cards with 2 Xs?  They can also be used as practice for counting.  Example: How many Xs on this one?  Let's count!  One,......
• Where Is It?  This is meant to be used to practice directional words.  Examples:  Where is the bench?  It is BEHIND the swings.  Where is the slide?  It is NEXT TO the swings.

National Beverage Day

National Beverage Day is meant to be a day that encourages you to sit back, relax, and enjoy your favorite beverage.  I encourage you to take some time to relax with you loved one and do it with or without your favorite beverage.

HERE is a link to some recipes for inspiration.

Stay safe and stay healthy!  Be good!

Books and Cinco de Mayo

Below are links to videos of books from our new weekly theme of 'Going New Places' from the unit 'Moving On'.

In Our Country by Susan Canizares

• The book covers different geographical areas of the United States.  Have you ever been to any of these areas?  Do you have a favorite?
• Want to take a virtual tour of some of these places??!!
• A tour of the Redwood  National Forest  (Note: there is a button in the upper left of the video that allows you to view a 360 of the area being shown).
• A tour of The Grand Canyon (This is my favorite place to visit!)
• A tour of meadows in Yosemite

Can You Say Peace? by Karen Katz

• A book that addresses cultural awareness.

Cinco de Mayo

• Want to know about the origins of Cinco de Mayo.  HERE is a video from PBS

Stay safe, stay healthy, and be happy!

National Mother Goose Day

Today is National Mother Goose Day.  Today would be a great day to review nursery rhymes/lullabies!

Here are links to YouTube videos for a few of my favorites:

Humpty Dumpty

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Jack and Jill


Also, coloring pages to support the nursery rhymes/lullabies can be found HERE.