The World of Music

So you probably guessed, today we learned about our sense of hearing! What a great and noisy classroom we had today!! It's so fun to explore with sounds!

We decorated our own rhythm sticks so the children could go home and have so much fun showing their families all the great music they can make!!

I just bought big dowels and cut them into the same size of pieces and sanded the ends.

WA LA!!

We also made our own shaker bags. I usually use paper plates but to my dismay this morning we were out. Serves me right for not checking the night before (I thought for sure I had some - oopsie!!). So I compromised and made paper bag shakers which turned out great because they have a handle when you roll them up and make a great sound - hmmmm, I might have to make those again!! We were able to go on a listening walk and we heard things like, an airplane, dog barking, bee buzzing, footsteps, tree shaking, and more - I love to teach the children that when we listen we learn more about everything around us!! They get so excited to start listening better (even if it's just for that first minute after I tell them :) For snack we had squeaky cheese - yummy! I'm surprised every year I have a couple of kids that don't like it....but it does have a little different taste to it. Remember to try and keep it at room temp. or a little warmer if you want to really hear it squeak!! Happy noise making!!

Painted Toast

We LOVE painted toast in preschool!! We read the book "Mouse Paint" and then enjoyed painting with the primary colors on our own pieces of toast!! This was a great way to end our day of our Sense of Sight!! If you haven't ever read "Mouse Paint", it's a must and a classic! The 3 mice get mixed up in paint and it shows in a fun way how the primary colors mix and can make new colors. The children were begging to read again after we were done.

So for painted toast, just toast your bread, get 3 bowls of milk and add your food coloring. Give each child a food paint brush, toast, a plate and let them enjoy painting their toast. Yes this sounds kind of disgusting, but seriously, it's a preschool favorite!!

You HAVE to try it!

Tupperware Madness

For our messy table on our sense of sight day we added LOTS of dried beans and tupperware. This was tricky and took thinking skill to match up the lid to the right piece of tupperware. The children enjoyed pouring, filling, and even started sorting the beans (I was quite excited to see this taking place, I didn't even think of it!)

One child was determined to find the lid to a particular tupperware piece. He had them all matched up (or so he thought). I watched him as he continued to figure out which lid was incorrectly placed. I love watching the wheels turn in their smart little heads. Happily, and with much excitement he finally figured it out!! Boy do I love preschoolers!!

Eye Doctor

What would be more appropriate in the dramatic play area in our sense of sight day than.........an Eye Doctor!! The children enjoyed not only checking each others eyes, but also doctoring each other up. I had to set out a few doctor tools along with the eye tools so we could explore a little outside of the box! The kids were bandaged, knee tapped, and shotted up by the end of the day (what kind of preschool do you have your child in again?? :) Some cute things said today...... "What letter am I pointing to?" "M." "No, it's a 'K', I guess you need glasses after all!" (I am still cracking up about this, knowing the child who was the patient is still working on letter recognition! It's so dang cute) "Where do you hurt miss?" "All over." "Miss Chelsea, I think we need lots more bandages!" Happy playing!!

Sun Catchers

If you didn't guess, today we are learning about our sense of SIGHT!! Our suncatchers were so cool to make and watch in front of a window. You can use transparency paper (which would probably be the best to use) or use what you have on hand like me and use plastic paper holders.

I basically set out permanent markers and the plastic paper holders and the kids did beautiful art work on these. I was really amazed at some of their drawings!! Then just hook a string to the already punched holes and hang them up in front of the window for the sun to shine in on them. It's fun to see the sun get caught on the paper and be blocked out where the drawings are.

Sweet Smelling Shaving Cream

OK, so don't you think shaving cream smells so good? I sure do!! So what a great sensory experience to add to our sense of smell day!! Not only do the kids LOVE to feel this stuff, but they get to smell it at the same time. Believe me, our classroom was super aromatic today (AAACHOO!)

We are also discovering more about the letter Aa this week, so I did some teacher guidance with the letter Aa in the shaving cream. The kids thought it was totally cool how you could make letters and pictures appear in the shaving cream. The children who know how to write their name had a grand old time with the letters in their names. It was also great practice to assist the kids who are still catching onto their name writing!

Clean Babies

To go along with our smelling sense.......what better to do then make babies smell good!! This is always a preschool favorite - washing and dressing babies!

I don't think the couple of baby dolls we had out were put down the entire time of choice time today!!

Happy cleaning!!

Sniffable Art

We are learning about our five senses the next couple of weeks......and today we talked about SMELL!!

I wanted to do a bit more with this project, but I could NOT find any scratch and sniff stickers!! So we compromised.......we used smelly markers (you know the kind you can sniff - yummy!), perfume/cologne and then regular markers and crayons.

The kids went to town on creating their pictures and choosing the perfume (the teacher was in charge of spraying:) to go on their masterpieces. It was fun to see what the scents made them think of (lots of fruits and different foods).

We are also discovering more about the letter 'Aa', so I also sat out some A's they could color and practice writing if they wanted. Most of the kids chose to work on the Aa's. It's so fun to try something new as a child.

HAPPY SMELLING!!

Gotta Be Me - Day 8

MY SENSE OF TASTE

Morning Circle (AM 9:00-9:30..PM 12:30-1:00)

1. Song Can

2. Calendar

3. We'll learn about the letter Bb through song, movement, actions, and writing. We'll talk about words that begin with the letter Bb and more!!

4. We'll have fun tasting things as we explore different tastes. We'll pass around a plate of pickles and discuss how they taste. A plate of vanilla wafers, and discuss how they taste, and a plate of potato chips and discuss how they taste. We'll compare the different tastes and talk about how taste buds on our tongue distinguish tastes for us. We'll take a look at our own taste buds in mirrors.

5. Story

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15..PM 1:00-1:45)

* Creative Art: RECIPE DICTATIONS - The children can draw pictures of their favorite foods and the teacher will help them dicate the recipes of how they think it is made!

* Messy Table: WHEAT - What an interesting sensory experience - wheat!! Not only are they fun to feel, but we will discuss how it is ground and used to make flour for bread which we eat.

* Cut and Color Table: FAVORITE FOOD PICTURES - The children will be invited to use different collage materials to create their favorite foods to glue onto paper plates. The teacher will write what their favorite foods are.

* Dramatic Play: RESTAURANT - The Dramatic play area will be set up like a restaurant today and the children will be encouraged to roll play, prepared, serving, eating, and buying food at a restaurant. Complete with menu's, tablets to write down orders, a table with flowers and table cloth to give the feeling of a restaurant.

Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)

* PEANUT BUTTER PLAYDOUGH - We will get to make peanut butter playdough today to make, feel, and eat! Peanut butter playdough is so fun to experience because it's food you can actually play with AND eat!! Check out the recipe list to find the recipe!!

Outside Play (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)

Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)

* Story

* We'll talk about each of our favorite foods and why we like them. What foods don't we like and why?

* Music and Movement - 'Make Myself Som Cookies' - from I Am Special by Thomas Moore

* We'll learn more about the letter Bb again today and discuss different words and things that start with that letter!

Gotta Be Me - Day 7

MY SENSE OF SIGHT

Morning Circle (AM 9:00-9:30..PM 12:30-1:00)

1. Song Can

2. Calendar

3. We'll learn about the letter Bb through song, movement, actions, and writing. We'll talk about words that begin with the letter Bb and more!!

4. We'll discuss things we saw on our way to school today and make a list as we go. We'll talk about things the children would miss out on if they were asleep or blindfolded.

5. Story - "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" by Bill Martin Jr.

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15..PM 1:00-1:45)

* Creative Art: VISUAL PAINTING - Well, isn't all painting visual!! The children will be able to express theirselves while painting with colorful tempera paint.

* Messy Table: SORTING FISH - The messy table will be filled with lots and lots of plastic colored fish and some water. This will be a great visual, sensory experience for the children to look at the different fish and sort them.

* Cut and Color Table: MAGNIFIED PICTURES - The children will be encouraged to draw pictures while looking through a magnifying glass.

* Dramatic Play: OPTOMATRIST - The dramatic play area will be set up as an eye doctor's office. Complete with doctor coats, stethascopes, eye charts, eye scopes, etc! The children will enjoy roll playing getting their eye checked.

Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)

* COLORED GOLD FISH - Today we will eat colored goldfish and sort them into different colors. We'll talk about favorite colors, etc.

Outside Play (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)

Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)

* Story - "Take Another Look" by Tana Hoban

* We'll play 'Pin the Tail on the Donkey' and discuss how much harder it is to do things while not being able to see.

* We'll read 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' one more time and then make our own book, "Preschooler, Preschooler, What Do you See?" The children will draw their pictures and the teacher will dictate for them. It will be fun to see our own class book made and have each child take their own copy home after it is bound.

* We'll learn more about the letter Bb again today and discuss different words and things that start with that letter!

Gotta Be Me - Day 6

MY SENSE OF SMELL

Morning Circle (AM 9:00-9:30..PM 12:30-1:00)

1. Song Can

2. Calendar - Celebrate Elliot's and Talia's birthday (AM class)

3. We'll learn about the letter Aa through song, movement, actions, and writing. We'll talk about words that begin with the letter Aa and more!!

4. We will pass a cut in half orange and grapefruit around the circle. I'll ask one child to close his/her eyes and smell one of the fruits and identify it. "How did you know?" "What other things do we smell each day?" We will try and identify a few different familiar smells in film canisters.

5. Story

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15..PM 1:00-1:45)

* Creative Art: SMELLY ART - Different jars with different smells will be placed at the table to today. With smelly markers and other markers, the children will be able to draw what they think they smell. The teacher will dictate it for them and they draw all different types of pictures.

* Messy Table: SCENTED PLAYDOUGH - Playdough made with a few different scents will be placed in the messy table today. Different extracts or oils will be used to scent the playdough. You can also substitute massage oil for vegetable oil which works good also. Koolaid, pumpkin spice or other smells are great things to use for smells. The teacher will try and guide discussions at the messy table about what they smell and what they can make that might smell like that.

* Cut and Color Table: SCRATCH AND SNIFF - The children will be able to use wet cotton swabs to spread flavored, powdered gelatin on paper. After this dries, the children can scratch and sniff to smell what they made!!

* Dramatic Play: RESTAURANT - The children can roll play restaurant as they cook, eat, buy and smell the food they make.

Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)

* POPCORN: Today we'll get to watch, smell, hear, see, and taste our popcorn that we make at our Closing Circle. We will discuss how we can use all five of our senses to experience the wonderful taste of popcorn! Popcorn has such a distinct smell, who can resist it!

Outside Play (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)

Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)

* Story - "Smell" by J.M. Parramon

* We'll pop our own popcorn for snack and discuss all of the five different senses we are using, but especially our sense of smell!!

* Music and Movement - "Popcorn Popping" We'll sing and do the actions to this song.

* We'll learn more about the letter Aa again today and discuss different words and things that start with that letter!

Gotta Be Me - Day 5

MY SENSE OF SOUND

Morning Circle (AM 9:00-9:30..PM 12:30-1:00)

1. Song Can

2. Calendar

3. We'll learn about the letter Aa through song, movement, actions, and writing. We'll talk about words that begin with the letter Aa and more!!

4. We will have a variety of musical instruments to explore. We will take turns playing the instruments and compare the different sounds they make. We will discuss how we are able to hear the differences in sounds.

5. Story

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15..PM 1:00-1:45)

* Creative Art: TAMBORINES - Today we'll make shaker Tamborines out of paper plates and beans. The children will get to decorate the plates with markers and stickers and the students will get to staple and stuff the plates with beans. What fun it will be to listen to the music they made all by themselves!!

* Messy Table: WATER JARS - In the messy table there will be glass jars, water, and spoons. The students will be able fill the jars up to different levels and listen to the different sounds they make. Teacher will guide them into making up their own songs and figuring out what sound they want to come out of the jar!

* Cut and Color Table: JINGLE BRACELETS - Pipe cleaners and jingle bells will be provided for the children to make their own bracelets. They'll be able to walk around and listen to their own new instruments.

* Dramatic Play: MUSICAL BAND - Different instruments will be avlailable to explore with in the dramatic play area. The children will be able to explore with these different instruments and listen to the different sounds they make. They can try making their own music like they are part of their very own band! Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)

*SQUEEKY CHEESE - Today for snack we will enjoy the tasty and noisy experience of squeeky cheese. This cheese squeeks best when it is slightly warmed up in the microwave. The teacher will encourage the children to eat quietly and listen carefully for the squeeks while they chew!

Outside Play (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)

Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)

* Story - "The Listening Walk" by Paul Showers.

* We will go on our very own Listening Walk around the neighborhood. We'll discuss how we will just walk and listen as carefully as we can. If we hear something raise your hand and quietly tell the teacher what you heard. The teacher will write down everything that was heard. When we get back into the classroom, we will read and discuss all of the different sounds.

* Music and Movement - We'll play our homemade instruments to the beat of different songs we'll sing!

* We'll learn more about the letter Aa again today and discuss different words and things that start with that letter!

Gotta Be Be - Day 4

MY SENSE OF TOUCH

Morning Circle (AM 9:00-9:30..PM 12:30-1:00)

1. Song Can

2. Calendar

3. We'll learn about the letter Aa through song, movement, actions, and writing. We'll talk about words that begin with the letter Aa and more!!

3. I will bring in several objects with different textures (satin, sandpaper, net, cotton, etc). We will discuss how each item feels and also describe how they feel. How do we know the difference in materilas? I will encourage the children to understand that we use our hands to touch and feel.

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15..PM 1:00-1:45)

*Creative Art: TEXTURED FINGERPAINTS - Mix fingerpaint or tempera paint with sand, sawdust or salt. I will invite the children to fingerpaint with textured paints and encourage discussion about how it feels and how it feels different then other fingerpaints.

*Messy Table: DRY AND WET SAND - There will be dry and wet sand in the messy table for the children to explore their sense of touch with.

*Cut and Color Table: HAND BOOKS - We will trace our hands out of paper and make the different pages into books. On each page the children will be encouraged to draw pictures of things they like to touch and the teacher will dictate it for them. This not only gives them their very own book they can read by themselves (because they wrote it), but it also encourages literacy and writing as the students watch the teacher write what they want to say.

Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)

PEANUT BUTTER AND RAISIN SANDWICHES: Today we will be making our snack during Closing Circle. The children will spread their own peanut butter and drop on their own raisins to make their own Peanut Butter and Raisin Sandwiches. We will discuss the different textures of each food. The bread is squishy and soft, the peanut butter is sticky and wet, and the raisins are wrinkly dry.

Outside Play (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00) Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)

* Story - "I Can Tell By Touching" by Carolyn Otto

* Make and eat our Peanut Butter and Raisin Sandwiches.

* Music and Movement - We'll sing and do the actions to "Where is thumbkin" and discuss the different things our fingers like to touch.

* Practice and discuss more about the letter Aa!!