J week: Plans

Here are the plans for J week:

word cards: juice, jungle, joy, juggle, jump.
poem:

J’s the Jumping Jay-Walker
by Phyllis McGinley

J’s the jumping Jay-walker
A sort of human jeep.
He crosses where the lights are red.
Before he looks, he’ll leap!
Then many a wheel
Begins to squeal,
And many a brake to slam.
He turns your knees to jelly
And the traffic into jam.

Monday: joey. A joey is a baby kangaroo. Learn about how a joey lives. What are other animal babies called?

Tuesday traffic jam. Read a book about a traffic jam, talk about what it is, and make one with his cars on his road map.

Wednesday (scriptures/Gospel): Joseph & the Coat of Many Colors. I'll tell him this story and we'll listen to some of the music from the musical.

Thursday (movement): juggle & jump. Movement to music.

Friday (art project): jelly fish. We'll make a jelly fish from crepe paper and a paper plate.

Other J words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: jungle, joy, juice, jelly beans, Jack & Jill, John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt.

I week: Wednesday

Today we didn't officially do preschool.

But we did make a Thankful Basket. And we wrote things we are thankful for on slips of paper and put them in our Thankful Basket.

Connor's thankful for trees and books and couches and Abby and Mommy. So far. We'll continue the Thankful Basket tomorrow.

(I printed the Thankful Basket from the November Friend Magazine. It's page 14.)

I week: Tuesday

Today we read Insectlopedia by Douglas Florian. It's a collection of poems and paintings of different insects. I also taught Connor what an inch is. This is not a concept for 3-year-olds, obviously, and I knew that. Kids learn to measure first by using paperclips or something as a unit of measure, not something abstract like an inch. But inch starts with I. As we read the poems about the insects, we measured the insects in the paintings. It was fun!

We also made some turkeys out of traced and cut-out hands and feet. They're going to be our Thanksgiving placecards. I love making placecards and it's even more fun to be able to involve Connor and do a craft together. I'll post pictures when we get them done.

I week: Monday

This morning was a great preschool morning. We did our computer and chart time. Connor is really getting good at "reading" the days of the week. He knows which day is which by what letter it starts with.

We read two books: The Iguana Brothers by Tony Johnston and Up Along Down Along Under Over by Diane Wilmer. I thought I had Inside Outside Upside-Down, but I don't. So we read that one instead. We didn't really talk about opposites as planned because Connor wasn't digging that idea.

So we made Thanksgiving pictures for family. I had printed a little turkey poem on cardstock and then we traced Connor's hand and drew a beak, gobble gobble, eye, and feet on each one. We made 8 of them and put them in the mail to all Connor's grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles wishing them a Happy Thanksgiving!

When we looked at the calendar and I showed him that Thursday was Thanksgiving, Connor said, "Ya! I love Thanksgiving!" I'm not sure he even remembers it, but I love his enthusiasm!

Here's the Turkey Poem:

This isn’t just a turkey
as you can plainly see,
I made it with my hand
which is a part of me.
It comes with lots of love,
especially to say,
“I hope you have a very
Happy Thanksgiving Day!”

I week: plans

Here are the plans for I week:

word cards: inside, igloo, iguana, inch, instrument.
poem:

Inchworm
by Katrina Lybbert

Inchworm, inchworm on the ground,
Crawling slowly, not a sound,
Do you wonder what you'll see,
When you pass beyond that tree?

Careful now, my little friend,
A bird is just around the bend,
Better hide inside that tree,
Where you will be safe and free!

Monday: in/out; opposites. We'll review the concept of opposites and read Inside Outside Upside-Down by the Berenstains.

Tuesday (math): inches. Introduction to measurement. Connor's seen me use rulers, we'll talk about what they're for and measure a few things in inches.

Wednesday: icky. The clue word for the letter I on The Letter Factory is "icky." We'll read Bartholomew and the Oobleck and then make some icky oobleck.

Thursday: Thanksgiving. Even though this week is about the /i/ sound (short sound of the letter I), we will just use the letter I for today. We'll say "I am thankful for..." and take turns listing things we are grateful for. We did this in the car the other day and it was good to hear what Connor appreciates in his life.

Friday: Honestly, we probably won't do preschool on Friday, but if we do, we'll play some musical instruments together and have a band.

Other I words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: iguana, insects, igloo, inchworm, inside, India, Italy, etc.

Note: This week is all about the short sound of the letter I, as in icky. Of course, it's fine to point out that words like ice cream start with I too and to explain that the I makes two sounds, short and long, but the focus of this week is the /i/ sound.

H week: Monday through Thursday

Can you tell what kind of week it's been around here? B-U-S-Y!

Monday we sent Uncle "Chihuahua" Scott an e-card and called him to sing Happy Birthday. We also did our computer and chart time and read Who Hops? by Katie Davis. It's a really cute book that has a surprising twist to it. I recommend it!

Tuesday we learned about habitats (not what I had planned). Since it didn't look like we'd have time to sit down and do preschool, and since I wanted to keep Connor awake on the way to Target and he was looking drowsy, I did an impromptu preschool lesson. We started talking about habitats and homes and the different animal homes there are. I was surprised at first that Connor kept referring to the zoo (or a fence) as a habitat. But really, that's where he sees animals. So I tried to teach him about animals in the wild, but that's pretty abstract to him. We had a good conversation for about 15 minutes about different animal habitats. It was fun.

Wednesday we did our computer and chart time as usual. We read two H books that we got from the library. We also traced our hands and colored them to look like Turkeys. Then I gave Connor the lesson I wanted to teach last week about The Golden Rule and he was pretty into it. More than I thought he'd be. To turn it into an H week thing (and make it simpler to explain, I think) I taught him that he should Help others be Happy. That made sense to him. If he's going to help Abby be happy, should he pull her down? Probably not. Should he smile and sing her a song. Sure! I tried using this phrase after our lesson and it's a good way to encourage good behavior rather than focusing on the negative behaviors.

Today we practiced hopping on one foot. It's hard for him. He's getting a little better. He also had fun exploring Starfall for a while. While his friend Annika was here he showed her how he does his calendar and the letter of the week on Starfall. It was cute to hear him "being the teacher."

H week: plans

Here are the plans for H week:

word cards: happy, hat, hair, hiccup, home
poem:

HUG O' WAR
By Shel Silverstein

I will not play at tug o’ war.
I’d rather play at hug o’ war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

Monday (social studies): Happy Birthday. We'll celebrate Uncle "Chihuahua" Scott's birthday by sending him an email and calling to sing to him.

Tuesday (nutrition): healthy foods. Alan and I have been trying to eat healthy lately and it's rubbing off on Connor. He talks about whether foods are healthy or not. We'll review this concept so that I can assess his understanding of it. We'll cut pictures of food from a magazine and sort them and glue them on paper.

Wednesday (scriptures/gospel): The Golden Rule. Doesn't start with H, but we didn't do it last week, so we'll try again this week. We can help make others happy!

Thursday (movement/activity): hopping. The doctor asked Connor to hop on one foot at his 3 year old well visit. He couldn't really do it without holding on to me. We'll practice hopping and doing other movements to some fun music. Maybe music by Hayden or something. And wearing different hats.

Friday: Happy Birthday again! We'll go to Porter's birthday party and have fun celebrating with him. (Can you tell I didn't really plan well for this week if we're doing Happy Birthday two days and Happy another day? I need to get back in preschool gear!)

Other H words that might come up or spark ideas for activities: handwashing (work on doing this really well; we sing Happy Birthday, dear clean hands while washing), homes (different kinds of homes people live in or animal homes/habitats), harvest, hippopotomus, hiccups

Weirdly, this post is not working correctly. Here's the second poem we're doing this week since it won't post at the top.

HICCUP CURE
by: Shel Silverstein

Hic…
Hic…
Hic…
Hic…
Want to cure your hiccups quick?
Stick out your tongue and bite your lip.
Hold your breath and shake one hip,
Pull back your left foot and kick up.
Now, you see, we’ve cured your hiccup.
Nothing much to it—don’t you feel swell?
Hic…
Oh well…