To go along with our beach theme, all the kids took turns making sun visors instead of playing at the touch and feel pool today. Ryan and Ethan each took his time peeling the backs off of the stickers (great fine motor task) and sticking them onto their visors. Then they chose a glitter glue color to outline their names. Their eyes should be good and protected from the sun this summer (if they actually wear them) and maybe Ethan won't get his sun sneezes either!!!!
With our end of the year party today, we followed a small change in our schedule. I again wanted to make sure that we had time for our language lesson, so after a very short morning circle, we read Corduroy Goes to the Beach by Don Freeman. This flip-the-flap story (which Ryan and Ethan love) is about a bear, Corduroy, and all of his animal friends. As we read, Ryan and Ethan learned all that Corduroy and his friends needed to get ready for the beach; and once they are at the beach, we learned all about the activities they do and the things they see at the beach.
After we finished the story, we reviewed all of the new vocabulary that we learned and finished up our beach lesson with the following short video. Ryan begged and pleaded with me to go to the beach as we walked outside to the playground, but I told him he was going to have to take that one up with his parents!
After we came in from the playground, we had a great time sharing some of our favorite morning circle songs with our moms and joining the rest of our Speech Garden friends for a few gifts and a really fun party. I can't believe our last day is already here! Where has the year gone? Ryan and Ethan have both made incredible progress this year. Please keep in touch and fill me in on all of their progress and brilliance! Feel free to call or email me anytime with any questions or concerns that you may have. Thank you for all of the very generous gifts but most of all thank you for giving me the privilege of teaching your sweet children. I have loved every school day that I have been with them.
Have a wonderful summer!
Today, we are learning about summer and all the fun activities that it brings. The touch and feel pool was busy as Ryan and Ethan played with seashells. We talked about where shells are found and how the inside of the shell felt smooth while the outside of the shell felt bumpy. We compared big shells to small shells and explained that sometimes you can hear the ocean when you put a seashell to your ear. Some kiddos put two shells together to make the shape of a clam. The shells stimulated lots of conversation about beach vacations with our families.
I wanted to make sure we were able to finish a complete language lesson today prior to our festivities at the park. So after a brief morning circle, we went straight to reading our book of the day, Mouse's First Summer by Lauren Thompson. In this book, Mouse and his friend, Minka sneak into a picnic basket in order to participate in lots of fun activities at a picnic in the park. Upon arrival at the picnic, Mouse and Minka get to taste watermelon, observe some ants, feel the green grass, look up at the blue sky, fly an orange kite, sample some lemonade, eat peanut butter and jelly on soft white bread, try to catch fireflies, and watch amazing fireworks... All fun summer activities! As always, I had vocabulary picture cards to go along with the story, so that Ryan and Ethan could help me sequence each summer activity or food that Mouse and Minka encountered as we retold the story with the help of the pictures. We talked about all of the fun things that Ryan and Ethan like to do in the summertime, and we noticed that lots of these activities were also ones that Mouse and Minka enjoyed in our book.
After our book, we headed to the art table to make our own watermelons using paper plates cut in half. The boys painted the red flesh. Then they painted the green rind along the edge. Last, they added the seeds with black paint.
Like Mouse, one of my favorite foods to eat in the summer is watermelon. Today, I brought a small watermelon to share with Ryan, Ethan, and all of our Speech Garden friends while we were at the park. First, we reviewed the color and shape of the watermelon and how it felt...heavy vs. light, smooth vs. bumpy. Second, I cut into the watermelon, and we learned about its various parts...the rind (both green and white), the seeds, and the flesh..., and last, all the kiddos thoroughly enjoyed eating the watermelons. It was a great social exercise as Ryan walked around and offered each Speech Garden friend a slice of the watermelon. We learned that watermelon is sweet; and we talked about how the sweet watermelon tasted very different than Ryan's salty pretzels.
The park was a huge success today and a beautiful day for it. I think all the kiddos (and adults :) ) had a blast playing on the playground, flying kites, playing catch, and shaking that parachute! Thank you to all the parents who joined our picnic. I can't believe that I didn't take a single picture! See you all on Thursday for our last day of school!
Wow, it's hard to believe that we are already in our final weeks of school, and I only have two more precious days with sweet Ryan and Ethan. Well, we are going to work hard and have lots of fun for those last two days! This week we continued to learn about fun activities that we can do in the springtime, specifically going fishing! Ethan and Ryan began their morning playing with beautiful gems of all colors in the touch and feel pool. We talked about all the different colors of the gems (pink, purple, blue, yellow) and tried to sort them according to color. We also counted our gems and some children told about their experiences of gem mining.
Open center time was busy, wet, and oh so fun as the boys played with squirting fish in one big tub of water. I also added some cups and teapots for them to experiment with. As they played, we talked about the fish, where fish live, and how people sometimes use fishing rods to try to catch fish. We reviewed the colors of the fish and attempted (although not very successfully) to keep the water in the tub! When the boys tired of the water play, they also had the option of coloring a picture of a little boy fishing, stringing beads on a pipe cleaner, and of course cutting corner to practice their scissor skills!
Outside, the boys engaged in their usual serious game of shopping cart races, and they also pretended to swing like monkeys saying, "ooh-ooh, aah aah!"
For language circle today we read Gone Fishing by Earlene Long. This is a sweet book about a little boy and his dad and all the things that they do and the materials that they use on their fishing days together.
After we read the book, I used picture cards glued onto paper fish that went along with the story to review what fishing is all about. I asked the boys the following questions:
1. What do the boy and his daddy use to catch the fish? fishing rod and a net
2. What kind of food do fish like to eat? worms
3. Where do fish live? in the water
4. Who went fishing? a little boy and his daddy
5. Where does the daddy keep all of his fishing tools? in a tackle box
6. When do they leave to go fishing? in the morning
7. What do they wear on their heads to keep the sun out of their eyes? a hat
After we practiced answering all of these important wh-questions, the boys got to use their own fishing rods (made with a wooden dowel, string, and magnet) to "go fishing" for all of our vocabulary words (with paper clips on each fish). As they caught the fish, they had to tell me the word on each one. These words included bait, worms, fishing rod, daddy, fisherman, tackle box, net, big fish, and little fish. The boys loved being fishermen!
We then moved to the art table to create our own fishing scene. On blue construction paper, the boys painted their hands the color orange and then made a handprint on the paper. We added a pipe cleaner as the hook and a piece of string as the fishing line connected to the hook. Finally, they glued a googly eye and drew a mouth on their happy little fish.
We summarized our morning of fishing with the following short song:
In celebration of spring and Mother's Day, the touch and feel pool was full of pictures of animal mothers and their babies. All the kiddos enjoyed looking at the pictures and then trying to match the appropriate baby animal to his mother. There were skunks, elephants, cats, kangaroos, turtles...almost any type of animal mother and baby you can imagine.
I need a mommy skunk. Stinky!
Where is the baby hippo that goes with this mama?
During open center time, I reviewed that Mother's Day comes during the season of Spring and that our families will be celebrating our moms during Mother's Day this weekend. So, we spent our open center time creating beautiful cards for our very hard working moms. In keeping with our springtime theme, Ryan and Ethan glued a stem, a leaf, and some petals to make a beautiful flower on their card and added their pictures as the center. We practiced saying, "Happy Mother's Day!" and hope that they are both successful with this on Sunday!!
During language circle we read, The Kite by Mary Packard, which explains that a kite can fly high in the sky and wonders if it will touch the trees, the birds, the clouds, the sky?
After we read the book, we learned that kites fly high in the sky because the wind blows them and keeps them lifted. Ryan and Ethan also learned about the different parts of a kite...the string and the tail.
We talked about other things that might fly or blow away. To demonstrate how the wind can blow things, I brought a hair dryer and several objects varying in weight...a cotton ball, a tissue, a feather, a block, a boat, a stapler, and a paint container. We talked about why a cotton ball, a tissue, and a feather "flew/blew" away. These objects were light and did not weigh very much, while a paint container, a stapler, and a boat were too heavy to get blown away. Both boys were a little hesitant as the loud hair dryer turned on, but once the feathers started to fly high into the sky, Ryan and Ethan were hysterical...smiling and laughing so hard. So adorable....
Feathers flying everywhere!
The stapler won't fly into the sky because it is too heavy!
After we experimented with the hair dryer, we headed to the art table to make our own kites. The boys painted the front of the kite using sponges, and then we added a string and some bows to make the kite's tail.
We then eagerly headed outside to see if we could get our own kites to fly. Ryan and Ethan had a blast and were very successful too!
As you can see, we had a really fun day with all of our kite adventures. I hope that you all have a great weekend and a very Happy Mother's Day. Thank you for giving me the blessing of your children to teach each week. Looking forward to seeing Ryan and Ethan on Tuesday as we "go fishing!"...another fun springtime activity!
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It was amazing spring weather which goes right along with our theme this week! This week we are learning about all things that remind us of Spring, activities that we can do with beautiful spring weather, and of course one of the most important spring holidays...Mother's Day! To kick off our week, Ryan and Ethan played with flowers in the touch and feel pool. We talked about the colors of the flowers and all of the different parts...the leaves, the petals, and the stem. We counted the flowers and also learned that when you put a bunch of flowers together, it makes a "bouquet."
For open centers today, Ryan and Ethan had the option of playing with play-dough, using scissors in the cutting station, or stringing beads onto pipe cleaners.
During language circle, we read Mouse's First Spring by Lauren Thompson. This is a sweet book about a little mouse who goes outside to play with his mom on a windy spring day. As they are playing, they come across many living creatures that all emerge during spring weather (a butterfly, a snail, a bluebird, a worm, a frog, a flower...) but upon meeting each one of these creatures, the wind blows them away whoosh! Our book was also perfect for celebrating our moms as the story concludes with Mouse feeling something soft, cuddly, and oh-so-cozy, and with a kiss and a hug, he finds his mom!
The language learning opportunities with this book are endless. As I read the book, I showed the boys pictures of the characters that Mouse visits in order. After we finished reading the book, I tested their comprehension skills by asking questions like, "Who did Mouse meet first, second, third, last, etc." After we re-told and sequenced the story using the picture cards, we talked about the season of spring and compared it to the season of winter. Ryan and Ethan took turns gluing pictures of things that went along with each season onto a chart drawn on our easel. For example, the boys had to figure out that ice skating, snowflakes, and mittens went under "winter" while butterflies, flowers, and rain went under "spring."
Then I worked with Ryan and Ethan individually on following directions and understanding prepositions using a spring scene and pictures of Mouse and Momma (i.e. Put Mouse/Momma under the sun, between the flower and tree, under the cloud, etc.). This activity was also sent home in the book bags for additional practice. All of the pictures that I used for this language lesson came from an incredible online receptive and expressive language resource by Courtney Butler, M.A., CCC-SLP found on the Teachers Pay Teachers website.
I don't have any pictures or a whole lot of information to share about our art project today, because both boys worked very hard to make their Mother's Day gifts. So you will just have to wait for your surprise on Thursday!
Both boys had a really great day! On Thursday we will continue our discussion about spring, specifically targeting a popular activity done in warm, sunny, windy weather....kite flying!
The touch and feel pool was a flurry today as the boys played with magnetic letters, unit cubes, and empty egg cartons. A menagerie of items with endless possibilities! We used the unit cubes to make tall towers, trains, hammers, cranes, and letters. After making a hammer out of the unit cubes, we used the hammer to pound pretend nails into the cardboard egg carton. We used the letters to spell our names and other fun words like, "pop!"
"Look at my train!"
Ethan examining letters and trying to spell his name.
Ryan and Ethan shaking hands during "Hello Neighbor" song. Best Buddies!
Ryan and Ethan had several options during open centers today. They stayed busy gluing puff balls to a picture of a bulldozer. We learned that a bulldozer helps to clear a construction site by scooping dirt, sand, and rocks into a dump truck to take away. We counted the puff balls, talked about the colors of each one, and talked about how soft they were in comparison to the "rough" sandpaper that we used in the touch and feel pool on Tuesday. It was a fun way to introduce the opposites of "soft" and "rough" as I rubbed each material on their arms. Ryan and Ethan also used the bin of rice and construction trucks that we used on Tuesday. As they played, I worked with each of them one-on-one following simple directions using pictures of construction trucks and a hill. We glued a picture of their favorite truck to a popsicle stick and then they had to place the truck in the appropriate position on the hill following my direction (i.e. under the hill, on the hill, in front of the hill, behind the hill, etc.). These pages can be added to the construction booklets that I sent home on Tuesday and can be used at home for additional practice. Start out with simple one-step directions (i.e. put the dump truck under the hill) and then challenge the boys to 2-step directions (i.e. put the dump truck in front of the hill and then behind the hill).
It was a beautiful morning to play outside. The boys had their usual fun with shopping cart races, and they enjoyed playing catch with me. There was also a request for me to be the big bad wolf while they hid in their "brick" playhouse that I just couldn't blow down!
Our book today, Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia is another great review of all the construction trucks that we have been learning about this week. The book introduces great action verbs as the digger "dig, dig, digs", the mixer "mixes," the crane "lifts," the dump truck "tips," the bulldozer "pushes," and the road roller "rolls." This book is a speech pathologist's dream because at the end of the book, it reviews what each truck did in the past tense (i.e. dug, mixed, lifted, tipped, pushed, and rolled). At home you can read the book and then follow up with..."What does the bulldozer do...? etc" so that the boys can get additional use of these new action verbs.
Before we started our art today, we got out all the tools that a construction worker might use and talked about the function of each one. The hammer pounds nails. The screw driver turns screws. The tape measure measures wood and other things on a construction site. The wrench also turns screws, and the saw cuts wood. As we reviewed all of the tools the boys took turns gluing pictures of them to our easel.
Then we sang the songs, "Johnny's hammers" and the "Construction Song" (a copy was sent home today), and then they headed to the art table to make their own tool belts. The boys colored each tool and then glued it to their tool belt. We measured their waist and then stapled it together so that they could wear it.
It was another great day at the Speech Garden. Next week we will be changing our themes to include Spring, Summer, Fishing, and Mother's Day! Have a great weekend!
We conclude our month of transportation by learning all about construction. As I expected it would be...construction was another huge hit with our motor-loving boys, Ryan and Ethan. The touch and feel pool was full of paint stirs, sandpaper, beans, and construction trucks! We talked about the names of each of the trucks and used them to scoop and dump the beans. We also felt the "rough" sandpaper and used it to make the wood paint stirs "smooth." We pretended that the paint stirs were roads and bridges and drove our construction trucks on them...back and forth. When Ethan wanted the cement mixer that another friend was using, we practiced going to our friend and asking, "Do you want to trade?" Social skills practice in action!
Open center time was super busy as the boys used a variety of construction trucks to motor, dig, push, and scoop through a large bin of rice. We also had some plastic cups in the bins, and these were used to scoop up the rice and dump it out again. As they played with the construction trucks, I modeled the name of each one and introduced a variety of different verbs often associated with these trucks (i.e.: roll, scoop, push, lift, dig, spin).
Ryan and Ethan especially enjoyed learning about the different tools that construction workers use, and learned a new song about the function of each of these tools. A copy of the song was sent home in their book bags if you want to sing it at home. Ryan and Ethan were able to try these tools out with my tool set. They used and explored a drill, saw, hammer, tape measure, screwdriver, sander, and wrench.
And because both boys have shown interest in using scissors, I also had a "cutting station" ready and waiting.
Outside, I thought it would be fun to bring a parachute in order to stimulate some peer interaction with our other DUMC friends. Who doesn't love a parachute! All the kiddos had a blast as we lifted it up and down and walked together around in a circle. We also threw some balls in the middle to see how high we could make them fly. We sat down placing the parachute over our legs like a blanket and pretended to pop popcorn as our legs kicked the parachute up harder and harder until our "popcorn" was ready.
Tired and worn out from our playground fun, we sat down to read our book, Good Night, Good Night Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Litchenheld. This is a sweet book about all the different trucks involved on a construction site, their specific roles on the construction site, and where each construction truck sleeps when his hard work is done.
After we finished the book and reviewed the names of each construction truck (crane, cement mixer, dump truck, bull dozer, and excavator), and clapped the syllables in each one. (Ryan and Ethan are getting very good at this!) Then the boys headed to the art table to create their own construction site by coloring a picture of an excavator, glueing it to a piece of construction paper, and adding the rice that we used in our bin as the gravel, dirt, and sand that we read about in the book.
We summarized our language lesson with this construction song, which shows all varieties of construction trucks.
Both boys have copies of the book in their book bags. At home, read the books and review the names of the construction trucks. You can see if your boys are interested in coloring the construction booklet at home while you talk about the trucks and their jobs. Sneak in some syllable clapping too! See you all on Thursday as we learn more specifically about construction tools.
