Preschool Speech and Language with Mrs. Hughes

This is my last post.  Thank you to those of you who used this blog to help your child develop stronger language skills.  “It takes a village” as they say.

Our story is this week is Swimmy  Click Here  This is a great story to discuss cooperation.  That is our BIG vocabulary word (5 syllables)  this week.

Instead of being afraid and hiding, Swimmy ventured out to find new friends.  They worked together (cooperated) to stay safe in the big, wide-open ocean.  Our song this week is, Baby Shark Click Here.  Be careful, this is one of those songs that you can’t get out of your head after hearing it  ;-).

Our sound is the heater sound /h/.  This has been covered twice before (September and March) so I am not adding a Language Extensions At Home page.  Bring an item that begins with /h/ and practice the poem.

Thanks for the fun year.  I had a blast!

  Mrs. Hughes

Our story this week is Dory Story.  I could not find a video of this story so you can check it out at the library if you don’t have a copy.  This book has amazing pictures and is about using your imagination (just like we did for Bark George and Best Pet of All, as well as others).  Danny lives near the ocean.  He gets in a dory (a boat) and sees amazing underwater sea life.  He becomes surrounded by sharks!  Ask your child what happens at the end. If he/she can’t tell you, tell them to finish this sentence, “Danny used his imagination to create the story while he was taking a __________.

Our Song is  Slippery Fish  Click Here

Our sound is /n/   this week.  I am not including a Language Extensions At Home Page since we have had the /n/ earlier in the year (November).  Here is the poem to practice.

Here are some fun activities to try with your preschooler for Review Week.

Letters:   All but the letter Z  CLICK HERE

Colors: red, green, blue, yellow, black, orange and white-  Try mixing colors  CLICK HERE

Shapes: circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval, star, and diamond   CLICK HERE

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

Make an obstacle course and give directions:  Walk along the line, go around the cone, jump over the line, walk across the board, crawl under the chair etc.

Have a great week!         No Surprise bags this week.  It’s review week.

Our story this week is, The Little Red Hen, a classic!  There are many renditions of this story and hopefully you can check one out in the library if you don’t have a copy at home.  Our story has a dog, a cat, and a duck as the characters.  This is a book with  repeating phrases (“Not I” said the _______, and “I’ll do it myself”).  The preschoolers will help with those lines when I read.  We will talk about the importance of ‘team work’ and how much easier and more fun things are when we cooperate and work together.  We get to look at wheat and grind some grains into flour.  It would be great if you baked a loaf of bread together.  I know it’s time consuming, but what a great accomplishment when you’re done. Check this recipe out  Click Here

Language Extensions At Home has our new sound for the Surprise Bags.

What’s a wild idea?  Have you ever thought of something crazy to do?  In our story this week, Duck on a Bike by David Shannon Click Here, a duck defies odds and rides a bike.  We will learn new vocabulary (wild idea, wobble, streamers, confidence, show off) and talk about being kind to others who are learning new things.  We will label characters and setting and make predictions.  When reading this with your child, talk about the reaction/feelings of each of the characters (cow: crazy, sheep: worried, chicken: scared etc).  What did they learn from duck once they each rode a bike? (that it was a good idea).   Sometimes things look scary to us but if we have confidence (our brain telling us we CAN), most times we can accomplish what we set out to do.

Why not take your child on a bike ride this week!  Make some streamers and tie them onto the handles of your bike.  Watch how they change as you speed up!  Talk about the things you see along the way.  When you get home, try to remember the things and recall them out loud (this is great for building short term memory skills).

Language Extensions At Home is on the right with our new sound for the Surprise bags.

Mrs. Hughes

This week we are continuing with using our imaginations.  Last week we used our imaginations when we read Bark George.  We know dogs can’t really swallow cats, ducks, pigs or cows!  We also know people don’t really eat dog food!  I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  It was a fun day with Bark George!

This week we are reading The Best Pet of All by David LaRochelle Click Here .

Our check in sentence will be, I have or don’t have a pet. This activity not only improves sentence length, but works on grammar and articulation skills.  Our song will either be, Imagination Communication Click Here or Dragon In My Wagon Click Here .

This week is a great time to talk to your child about imagination.  The book, The Best Pet of All, is also about having an imagination.  Talk about things that are true and things that are made up!  Play a game of, “Imagination or True?” and try things like:  volcanoes, true or imagination?, volcanoes erupting chocolate milk, true or imagination?, a wagon with four wheels, true or imagination? A semi truck with four wheels, true or imagination?   You get my drift 🙂

Don’t forget Language Extensions At Home to the right.  Here is where you will find Surprise Bag information too!  It’s at the bottom of the lo-o-o-o-o-o-ong list 🙂

Have a great week.

Mrs. Hughes

This week we are reading Bark George.  CLICK HERE

There is so much to talk about in this book.  Is it fiction or non-fiction? What is a vet? Clap out the syllables to veterinarian (5 claps).  Who were the characters in the story?  Where was the setting?  Who did the vet take out first, second, next, after that, and last?  Why did George say “hello?”. Look at George’s mom at the beginning, middle and end.  She goes from happy to frustrated to exasperated before she goes to the vet (good vocabulary).  Why is George’s mom frustrated.  What does she do to solve the problem?  Does George learn from his mistakes?

We will check in with the sentence:  I like dogs better than cats or I like cats better than dogs.  I will hide dog bones around the room for students to find after listening to a one, two or three step direction.  For a snack we will eat (pretend) dog food out of a bowl.  We will recite our “Hello Neighbor” and our sound poems.  I have not had a lot of participation with the poems this year.  I hope you are able to access them on the Language Extensions At Home (L.E.A H.) page and read them with your child.  By practicing, you are helping your child: learn what a word is, read from left to right and top to bottom, and  hear rhyme.  These skills are all precursors to reading.

Don’t forget to look at our sound this week in the L.E.A H. page to the right!

And BOOM, March is gone, hello April.

Mrs. Hughes

Here are some fun activities to try with your preschooler for Review Week.

Letters:   All but the letter Z  CLICK HERE

Colors: red, green, blue, yellow, black, orange and white-  Try mixing colors  CLICK HERE

Shapes: circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval, star, and diamond   CLICK HERE

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

Make an obstacle course and give directions:  Walk along the line, go around the cone, jump over the line, walk across the board, crawl under the chair etc.

Have a great week!         No Surprise bags this week.  It’s review week.

This week the class will be reading Waiting for Wings Click Here

I will be reading  The Very Hungry Caterpillar  Click Here

Both of these stories introduce the life stages of a caterpillar to the metamorphosis of the butterfly. There is a sequence of egg, caterpillar, pupa, to butterfly.  Talk about first, second, third and last. You can draw pictures of each of the stages or print off the internet, mix them up and then have your child put them in the correct order.

In the Very Hungry Caterpillar there is a sequence of food as well.  Make a fruit salad for dinner and use some of the items the caterpillar ate.  Is sausage a fruit?  Is cake a fruit?  Let’s find all the fruits and then make a fruit salad!

Our song is I’m Gonna Catch You  Click Here

Don’t forget Language Extensions at Home .

Mrs. Hughes

 

We ‘check in’ each week by finding and moving our name to one of two columns on the Smart Board and then imitating the sentence.  This week’s sentences are:  I like green beans and I don’t like green beans.  Ask your child which one she/he chose.

Jack and the Beanstalk is a fairy tale we all have read or seen as children ourselves.  It’s a great story to teach the importance of not taking things that don’t belong to you, even if you want or need them. This is a story that also allows the children to participate in the reading with the repetition of the phrase “fee-fi-fo-fum”.  The rendition I share with the kids allows them to get up and move Click Here  to  “fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman, Hey Jack get back”.

Our song is I’m Gonna Catch You  Click Here

Check out Language Extensions At Home!