Popcorn!

Things were pretty sour at the touch and feel as we targeted the five senses with a pool full of lemons.  We talked about how the lemons felt, what they looked like, how they smelled, how they tasted, and we wondered...can a lemon make noise?  We counted the lemons and talked about their shape and color.  Who knew lemons could be so fun?!

We targeted our usual calendar concepts during morning circle and also sang our new five senses song that we learned on Tuesday using our puppets to aid in comprehension.  After we reviewed each of the five senses, we went to our art table and used Jello paint to paint some flowers.  Each color of Jello paint had a different scent.  Purple smelled like grape.  Yellow smelled like lemon. Green smelled like lime.  Ryan and Ethan learned that they had to use their noses and their sense of smell to smell the flowers.  We are going to use these flowers to decorate our new spring bulletin board, so do not be alarmed if you do not see them come home in their book bags today.

It was the usual bustle of activity on the playground as Ryan and Ethan continued a good game of chase.  This time though, they thought it would be fun to chase each other as they went backwards down the slide over and over again!  They also enjoyed cooking at the grill.

Our book today was A Perfect Day: All About the Five Senses by Kirsten Hall.  It is another sweet book that does a great job targeting all five senses at once as Pip, Zip, Bee Bop, and some other friends describe all that they feel, smell, taste, hear, and see during a perfect day at a picnic.  Ryan and Ethan especially loved the "Bee Bop" character and had fun saying it over and over and over again!  But they were talking, so I was happy!

After we read our book, we talked about the sense of feel and how we feel with our hands.  I then gave Ryan and Ethan 5 different textures to feel- bumpy (corrugated cardboard), smooth (aluminum foil), rough (sandpaper), hard (popsicle stick), and soft (cotton ball).  We talked about each texture and how it felt and then glued the textures onto each finger of a hand drawn on a piece of paper.  This art project is a great one to review at home too for further reinforcement and learning of the sense of feel.

What better way to stimulate all five senses than through popcorn!  Ryan and Ethan helped me sequence the steps to making popcorn using an air popper.  Review these pictures and steps at home to target temporal concepts of first, second, etc. and also to model the appropriate past tense of verbs in your language.

First, we poured the kernels into a measuring cup.

Second, we poured the kernels into the popcorn popper.

Third, we plugged the popcorn popper into the wall.

Fourth, we waited in anticipation for the first kernels to pop. The air that came out felt warm!

Finally, the kernels popped and the popcorn fell into the bowl! (And sometimes flew to other parts of the room!)

Last, we ate our popcorn and talked about how it tasted! YUMMY!

When the popcorn was finally finished, and we had a huge mound of fluffy popcorn in our bowl, Ryan and Ethan thoroughly enjoyed eating the popcorn as we completed our language activity.  I made a huge "popcorn" poster with each of the five senses and the corresponding body parts displayed in five columns.  As the boys snacked we talked about how the popcorn tasted- salty, yum, good, and delicious!; how it felt- hot, crunchy, how it smelled- yummy!; how it sounded- loud, pop pop pop!; and what it looked like- fluffy, white, etc.

We summed up our very busy morning with this short video:

At home activities:

1. Review the 5 senses using the same questions suggested on Tuesday.

2. Review the steps to making popcorn using temporal concepts.

3. Re-visit the feelings pictures from last week of happy, sad, and mad. (We want to always review so that these new words stay in our brains!)

4. As always, read the blog with your child and see what kind of language comes out all on his own!

See you all on Tuesday and we learn all about frogs!  Have a great weekend!