Oh my goodness! The touch and feel pool was a bustle of excitement this morning as we observed (but didn't really want to touch) real worms in real dirt! We talked about how they were a bit slimy and wiggly. We learned that worms like to eat dirt which helps the plants, and trees, and vegetables that grow in the dirt. Who knew that we could even shape the worms into letters to make our names? It was pretty cool to watch our names move! After we were finished observing the worms, we set them free in the flowers out in the courtyard so that the flowers would have good, fertile soil.
Our open center time was also all about wiggly worms and bugs. Ryan and Ethan thoroughly enjoyed playing with more worms (cooked spaghetti noodles) in a big tub. I hid additional bugs in the noodles for Ryan and Ethan to find. We had endless language learning opportunities as we talked about the names of all the different bugs...ladybug, caterpillar, scorpion, butterfly, cricket, flies, grasshoppers, long worms, and short worms. Of course, as we said the name of each bug, we also clapped the syllables. The worms were a bit slimy and sticky, but that didn't stop either one of the boys from diving right into this sensory experience!
The playground was chilly today, but Ryan and Ethan had their usual fun crashing things into each other...today it was a lawn mower and a shopping cart. They also enjoyed zooming balls down the slide over and over again. After thirty minutes, both boys' noses and hands were red, and it was time to go defrost inside for our language lesson.
For our language lesson today we read The Very Clumsy Click Beetle by Eric Carle. This is the story of a young beetle who goes for a walk and falls out of a tree, landing on his back. His dilemma is that he does not know how to turn himself over onto his feet. After a wise, old beetle hears his cries for help, he teaches the young beetle how to "click and flip" over onto his feet. The young beetle tries numerous times to click and flip after encountering a worm, a turtle, a snail, and a mouse; and he is finally successful when approached by a human!
If you didn't get the book sent home with you today, here is a great video that tells the story almost exactly!
For art today, we made our own clumsy click beetles. First, we colored one side of an oval piece of paper. Second, we added eyes and antennae. Third, we glued a clothespin to the other side; and last, we tried to "click and flip" our beetles using the clothespin. Our beetles did not click quite like we wanted them to, because the glue was still wet, but please see how far you can get your beetles to click and flip at home!
We summarized our lesson on click beetles with the following short video:
We concluded our activities for the day with a rhyming puzzle. The puzzle has a variety of pictures and Ryan and Ethan had to find the pictures that rhymed in order to get them to fit together. It was a challenging activity but great for early phonemic awareness and vocabulary development. They both seemed to enjoy it.
Wh-questions for today:
1. What was in the touch and feel pool today? worms
2. What do worms like to eat? dirt
3. How do worms feel? slimy
4. Where do worms live? in the dirt
5. What sound does the click beetle make? click
As you can see, it was a typical busy day at the Speech Garden. Next Tuesday, we will be learning all about caterpillars and butterflies as we read, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Have a great weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment