{december: week two}

Here are the details for this week:

Field Trip: Fire Station
Tuesday we went on our field trip to the local fire station.  The kids thought it was great! Firefighter Trevor was very informative and let the kids touch almost any equipment they were interested in.  Every student had a turn sitting in the fire truck and holding the fire hose {if they were interested!}  And the Elmo video was fun to watch, too.  My girls were so happy that the fireman saved that monster in the attic!

My girls - asking if they could also hold the blue hose.

Word Study: Words Their Way

Sort #8c - Rhyming Word Cards {jar - grape - bell - plate}

Number Six

We added another pom-pom to our pom-pom jar and worked on writing the number 6.

Number Sense: Reindeer Math Mat

Each student each got to be in charge of their own reindeer math mat & die.  The object of the "game" is to count the dots on the die, count out that same number of brown pom-poms and place them on the math mat to make reindeer.  

We ran out of brown pom-poms half-way through the game, so I brought out the multi-colored bucket full to get more, but our activity quickly turned into sorting by size.  The students all worked together to group the pom-poms into similar sizes and we talked about the giant ones, the regular ones, the small ones and the teeny tiny ones.  They had a great time and since we didn't have much time for free play today, I was happy that the kids enjoyed an activity that got them to work together and talk about what they were working on - comparing the pom-poms to each other.

Alphabet Letter L

We played a few fun games focusing on the sound and recognition of the letter L.

Seeing Spots

This idea was taken from the Education Center's Circle Time from A to Z.  Each student received several "spots" with either a capital "L" or a lowercase "l" written on it.   We all took turns placing our spots onto the correct wing.

Lip-Smacking Lollipops

This idea was taken from the Education Center's Circle Time from A to Z.  Each student received a "lollipop" and was able to pretend to lick their lollipop if the word I called out began with the /l/ sound.

{Update:  I had forgotten that we sang the chorus to the Lollipop song, but my girls burst into song every once in awhile and this is one of their favorites.}

Lollipop lollipop
Oh lolli lolli lolli
Lollipop {smack your lips}

Click here for YouTube video of the Chordettes.

Lemons and Limes

This idea was taken from the Education Center's Circle Time from A to Z.  Each student received six lemons and limes {three of each} and worked on creating a pattern with their fruits.  They also counted them using one-to-one correspondence.  When they told Ms. Carlie what their pattern was I had them tell me describing in two different ways: "yellow green yellow green" etc or "lemon lime lemon lime" etc.  We practiced our /l/ sounds, counting and patterning!

What's for Lunch?

This idea was taken from the Education Center's Circle Time from A to Z.  We totally forgot to play this game, so I hope we can fit it in next week at the beginning of class as a review!

Shape of the Month: Rectangle

We learned how to form a rectangle with wiki stix {the kids informed me that we were using the wrong color - purple was last month! We'll do it again next with with green.}

It's A Rectangle - sung to "B-I-N-G-O"

There is a shape that has four sides,
But it is not a square NO!!
It's a rectangle; It's a rectangle; It's a rectangle;
It is not a square NO!!
Two sides are long; two sides are short.
They are not the same NO!!
It's a rectangle; It's a rectangle; It's a rectangle;
The sides are not the same NO!!

This Is a Rectangle - sung to "Frere Jacques"

This is a rectangle, this is a rectangle.
How can you tell? How can you tell?
It has two short sides,
And it has two long sides.
Rectangle, rectangle.

Rectangles - sung to "Jingle Bells"

Rectangle, rectangles
Have four sides.
Two are long and two are short,
(Hold hands far apart, then close together.)
Please give them a try.
(Draw rectangle in air with finger.)
Rectangles, rectangles
Have four sides,
Two are long and two are short,
(Hold hands far apart, then close together.)
Please give them a try.
(Draw rectangle in air with finger.) 

 These songs were found at StepByStepCC.com I changed a couple of typos and rhythm issues. :)

Wiki Rectangles

Handwriting Practice

We learned how to form a letter L and practiced writing it on our chart.  We practiced on our handwriting sheet, as well. And we made Wiki Ls before we practiced writing them.

My Service Christmas Tree
Each of my students received a Service Tree last week to take home and we finally had a chance to talk about serving others this week.  Each of my kids understood that helping someone else out {no matter how small} is nice and kind.  We talked about ways to serve and I hope that parents see this service at home!  Find the info on Sugardoodle's website!

And we are in charge of the snack bag at our house.  I love that the kids get so excited when it is their turn to be in charge!  My Miss B was so happy to get to bring it this week!