{january: week three}

Some highlights from our week:

Ms. Carlie bought an awesome new high frequency word chart that the students really enjoy reading every day we have class.  This month we focused on "the" and got really good at reading the poem by ourselves.

We wore our "the" necklaces around and tried to find the word in other places throughout the day.

We talked about each emotion on our cards and tried to decide what each one looked like.  We sand the song, "If You're Happy and You Know It" but exchanged our emotion cards for the word happy each time and the students chose how we could act the emotion out.  We talked about what is okay and what is not okay when experiencing these feelings. {Source:The Education Center, The Mailbox Preschool Yearbook 2009-2010, page 57}

Word Family Chunk: -ine

Click here to order your own copy or just to download the first 3 rhymes free!

Alphabet Letter P

We played a few fun games focusing on hearing the sound and recognizing the letter P. 

Pepperoni Pizza, Please

This idea was taken from the Education Center's Circle Time from A to Z.  Each student received a couple slices of  "pepperoni" and  if the picture started with a "p", then they could add the slice to the pizza. We all called out "Put it on the Pizza" a once the class determined if it would work.  I had a pizza box from Smart Cookie, so the box was very clean. {I highly recommend the Lemon Drop cookies.  They are so delicious.}  No pizza grease.  I was able to just draw my crust and sauce.  My students were concerned that there was no cheese on our pizza.  I will have to add some next time. :)

Pea Soup

This idea was taken from the Education Center's Circle Time from A to Z.  Each student received got to choose about 3 "peas" as we each too turns.  If the letter was a "p" then the student added it to our pot of soup and we  said, "Put the pea in the pot. Stir the soup till it's hot."  I have included the peas if you want to make your own.
 

Popcorn in a Pan

This idea was taken from the Education Center's Circle Time from A to Z.  We put all of our popcorn pieces on a pillowcase and the class held on to each corner and in between.  We "popped" the popcorn  and when we set the "pan" down, each student picked up a piece of popcorn.  We removed any visible popcorn that didn't belong {the popcorn labeled with a letter other than "p".  We put the popcorn back that was labeled correctly.  I included my popcorn below if you wish to make a set.

Pigs on the Loose

This idea was taken from the Education Center's Circle Time from A to Z.  Each student received several pigs that had "escaped" while the farmer was away.  Each student then placed them in the correct pigpen - uppercase or lowercase.  We helped each other when we noticed a pig in the wrong pen.

Pass the Peanuts

This idea was taken from the Education Center's Circle Time from A to Z.  We pretended that we were all hungry elephants and we passed the peanuts to our neighbors each time Ms. Carlie said a word that started with the letter "P".  We all said "Pass the Peanuts."  Or we were supposed to.  It is still hilarious to see preschoolers try to pass something to their neighbor the same direction with any sort of haste.  Needless to say, we didn't do so good with this activity but we had lots of fun!  I didn't take any pictures since I was playing, but here are the peanuts I compiled.

Handwriting Practice: P

We learned how to form a letter P and practiced writing it on our chart.  We practiced on the white board and on our handwriting sheet, too. Writing it is shaving cream on our desks was awesome!

Number of the Week: 8
We practiced forming an 8 and added another pom pom to our jar.  We counted  groups of 8 items.

Art Project: White Dog {using fluffy, unrolled cotton balls}

Update:

Word Study: Words Their Way

Sort #10a - How Many Syllables Can You Count?  {one and two syllable words}

I was surprised at how easily counting syllables came to my students after the first day that I introduced it.  We clapped them, and I showed them how to "clap" with their fingers so they could count the number of fingers they were holding up.