Preschool Speech and Language with Mrs. Hughes

This book can teach us that it is okay to be different and to ‘dance to the beat of our own drum’.  Gerald the giraffe teaches us that if we listen to ourselves, and don’t give up due to others ‘pressure’, we can do amazing things!  CLICK HERE

Here is our song Click Here

Here is a good article on promoting self-efficacy  Click Here

I hope you are enjoying the information in the blog and on the Language Extensions at Home pages.

 Mrs. Hughes

 

We are reading Never Ever Shout in a Zoo.  Try to get to the library and check this one out.  This youtube video is one of the few that is posted. It’s not great but if you don’t have a copy of the book or can’t get to the library, Click here

The very first pages of this book are important.  There are no words, just a picture of a girl with her ice cream.  We talk about her eyes and how they are not looking at where she is going.  There is something in front of her, what might happen?  This book is great for making predictions.  You  can also talk about why the people end up in a cage (are the people upset with the girl? why or why not?).  We will follow 2-3 step auditory directions to find zoo animals in the room.

A fun snack idea is to frost a graham cracker, lay an animal cracker or two on the frosting and then use pretzel sticks or licorice strings as the bars of the cage.  You’ll need to dab frosting on the animal cracker so the bars will stick!

 

Letters:   All but letter Z

Colors: red, green, blue, yellow, black, orange and white

Shapes: circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval, star, and diamond-

Brown Rabbit’s Shape Book by Alan Baker
The Button Box by Margarette Reid
Shapes, Shapes, Shapes by Tana Hoban  Click here
Circus Shapes by Stuart Murphy

Vocabulary: over, under, big, small, tall, short, between, long, short, inside, outside, same different, above, below, over, under, around   Click here

Have a great week!         No Surprise bags

Click Here  for some great early literacy information.

Click Here for information on the connection between music and language

I will be reading, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? this week.  Click Here

We’ll sing, We are the Dinosaurs again since it’s so fun  Click Here 

Try these dino activities.  Dino Dig- Click Here   Dino Tracks Click Here

Check out the Language Extensions At Home for our sound this week and to read through the poem!

Have a  great week

 

For the next two weeks we will be learning about dinosaurs.  I will say, this is my least, and most favorite theme.  The ‘roaring’ gets a little old, but the kids just love dinosaurs!  Our story, Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp is fiction, Click Here.

Our favorite dinosaur song   Click Here

We will follow 2-3 step directions to find bones in the classroom.

Here is a cute way to make fossil cookies.  After the sugar cookies come out of the oven, press the feet of a plastic dino toy into the soft, warm, cookie for fossil prints. Try plastic bugs too.  An adult should do the pressing because the cookies and tray will be too hot/warm.  I’ve read you can press the fossil prints before baking too.

Click on Language Extensions At Home for our sound this week and good language building activities.

We will be reading, I Want To Be An Astronaut CLICK HERE as part of our space unit.  We will state the sentence “I would like to be an astronaut or I would not like to be an astronaut”.  Our song is Rocket Ship Run, by Laurie Berkner, CLICK HERE.  The vocabulary that might be new to your preschooler is: crew, shuttle, outer space, zero gravity, mission, satellite , ready to eat meals, factory and orbit.  There are so many fun things you can do with your child.  Just type: space, preschoolers into your browser and you’ll find a plethora of ideas!

Here is a healthy snack that looks like a rocket  Click Here

 

WELCOME BACK!  2017 will be a great year.  The next 5 months will speed by and we will wonder where the school year went.

We have talked about real and pretend or fiction and non-fiction books. This book, Man on the Moon, is a non-fiction book.  There are facts about the 1969 trip to the moon by astronauts Mike Collins, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong that the children will learn. Some of the vocabulary includes: space, gravity, astronaut, rocket, peaceful/calm and planet.  The famous quote, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” is difficult for a 3, 4, or 5 year old to understand, but a good reminder that if you put your mind to something, amazing things can happen.

I will be reading Good Night Moon  Click Here .  This is one of my all-time favorite books.  There are so many things to talk about with the illustrations in this book.  We will talk about how the pages have a pattern, (color, black and white, color, black and white).  We will talk about the things on the table, next to the bed, through the window and above the moon.  These are those important vocabulary words that teachers use when giving directions.  The repetition of phrases allows the children to “read” with you.

Here is a recipe for home made moon dough.  This is a messy but fun activity to make with your child. Spending time talking and reading  with your child are two of the best ways to develop strong language skills.  Click Here

Don’t forget Surprise Bags and check out LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES AT HOME for our sound and poem.

One last thing.  If you ant to feel good about your parenting decision to have your child in preschool, CLICK HERE This is a great read!

 

I am reading a song/story of the Gingerbread Man (GBM) instead of Gingerbread Baby.  It is a lot of fun because we get to participate by singing, “Run, run, as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the Gingerbread Man” as we run.  We will do an experiment to see why the GBM  does not want to cross the river.  We’ll put a GBM cookie in a clear cup filled with water (like the river) and wait for a few minutes.  We’ll talk about sink and float and predict what will happen.  We also get to take a bite from a GBM cookie.  Then we’ll graph what our first bite was: head, foot, or arm.  We will talk about most and least when we look at our completed graph.  If we have time we will also follow two and three step directions to find Gingerbread Men in our room.

Have a beautiful winter break.  I have so enjoyed working with you and your child in 2016.  I look forward to the next few months ahead.

Mrs. Hughes

 

Our story this week is, The Mitten, by Jan Brett  Click Here.

Our song is The Freeze, click here   We move until they say “freeze” then we stop our bodies like a statue.

What is a baba?  What do you call your grandparents?  What is knitting, yarn, needles and wool? What is camouflage?

This is a wonderful story for recall and sequencing.  Who went in the mitten first, next, after that, last?

This book is also rich in vocabulary: mole, tunneling, burrow, cozy, kickers, hedgehog, jostled, commotion, swoop, grumble, talons, badger, diggers, snug, waft, trot, drowsy, muzzle, lumbered, plumped, swelled, stretched, bulged, scattered, and silhouette.

We will re-enact the story and stuff ourselves inside a cloth, not knitted mitten.  Hopefully I will get some good photos.

Don’t forget the LANGUAGE EXTENSIONS AT HOME to the right.

Mrs. Hughes

 

It’s a review week.  Here are the letters/sounds you can talk about, draw in sand, salt or shaving cream, or even pick out when reading a story:                              

Ss, Aa, Kk, Hh, Uu, Mm, Tt, Ll, Ee, Cc, Zz, Bb, Gg, Ii, Dd, Yy, Ff, Jj, Xx, Vv, Oo, Pp, Nn.

Some of our concept words to use are:  over/under, in between, long/short, same/different, above/below, under/over, and bigger/smaller

Go back to any of the earlier posts and LANGUAGE EXTENSIONS AT HOME to listen to the music and stories I included.

Here is an interesting article on preschoolers and problem solving

Click here

Read, read, read with your child!

Mrs. Hughes