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.
So Tuesday was such a fun day learning about our poor little sheep in a jeep, we continued our theme of travel by land learning all about buses! In the touch and feel pool, we started the morning playing with tangram puzzles, which are clear shapes of many colors that can be put together to make all sorts of different designs like houses, snowmen, cars....Also, when you put two tangram shapes together of different colors, you can make new colors (i.e. yellow and blue together make a green tangram etc.). It is a great review of shapes and really cool when you look through them...everything is the same color as the tangram!
As a mom of a 3 year old boy, we happen to have quite a few buses around our house. So for open center time, I brought our collection of buses to share with Ryan and Ethan. As the boys played with the buses, we talked about all the different parts of the bus and the shapes of each part- the wheels, door, windows, stop sign, the driver, and the passengers. We used farm animals as the passengers on the bus. Ryan used some blocks to make a school house. Ethan enjoyed driving the bus around the room, but did not like the idea of having animals as the passengers! These prized buses were a true test of our sharing skills as well!
Both Ryan and Ethan are super interested in using scissors and cutting right now. It is a great fine motor exercise for strengthening those little fingers. Today we worked on cutting on a line on long cutting strips in addition to cutting pieces of paper hung up high. Try this at home for additional practice.
Our book today was School Bus by Donald Crews. This book is very simple but very informative as it talks all about school buses ...large and small buses, waiting for the bus, stopping and going at red and green lights, empty and full buses.
When we finished our book, we headed to the art table to make our own buses. Ryan and Ethan glued the wheels and the stop sign on their buses and then added pictures of themselves as the passengers on the bus, and me as the driver! We again reviewed the shapes of the wheels, windows, doors, and stop sign (octagon). Then we watched this short video to summarize our language lesson.
Hope you all have a great weekend. We have another fun week planned as we learn all about construction trucks. It should be another favorite among your boys!
So as Kelly previewed in her Sunday email, our transportation theme continues post Spring Break as we learn all about travel by land. As I suspected, this theme grabbed the attention of both of your kiddos, as anything with a motor typically does! The boys started their morning in the touch and feel pool playing with jeeps, race cars, wooden square blocks, and magnetic balls. All the kiddos enjoyed rolling the the vehicles around the pool, and we learned about the various parts of these cars...the wheels, the doors, the windows. We used the blocks to build big towers that we knocked down with our rolling vehicles. We talked about the shape of the magnetic balls, and how their round shape helped them to roll around the pool.
During open centers, Ryan and Ethan had a variety of options to choose from...they both used Do-A-Dot paints to color a picture of a jeep. Ryan also chose to complete shape boards while Ethan preferred to practice his cutting skills.
We also reviewed traffic rules by making stop lights. We learned that when cars are traveling on the road, a red stop light means that the car needs to stop, a yellow light means that cars need to slow down, and a green light means that the cars can go. We glued each of these colored circles to a black rectangle to make a stop light. We then tested their new knowledge and listening skills with one of their first organized games, "Green Light, Red Light!" We played out on the courtyard using the two giant trees as the boundary as they ran from tree to tree. I explained to them the rules of the game and that if I held up a red piece of paper, "Red means STOP!" If I held up a green piece of paper, "Green means GO!" The first one to reach the tree and follow all the directions was the winner. Both boys did and good job, and I was pleased by their ability to listen and follow directions (although there were a few times when they preferred to "go" even when the red light was out!).
Our book today was one of my favorites, Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw. This is a rhyming book about five sheep whose jeep will not go when it gets to a top of a hill. When the sheep push the jeep down the hill, it gets stuck in the mud. Some strong pigs help the sheep get the jeep out of the mud, only to have the sheep forget to steer and the jeep ends up in a heap after it runs into a tree! The Speech Garden has a great story telling kit that goes along with this book. After we read the book, I re-told the story using our felt figures. Then I had both Ryan and Ethan take turns re-telling the story using the props. Both kiddos will get a chance to bring the kit home, and it will be a great way to stimulate additional language about this book at home.
After we heard and learned the story forwards and backwards, we headed to the art table to paint with jeeps. Ryan and Ethan had a blast picking different colors of paint to roll their cars in and then rolled the painted wheels on a piece of construction paper to create their own designs. It eventually turned into more of a finger painting design rather than a car design...oh well.
We summarized the lesson with this cute video about a jeep. As the spaceship, TuTiTu puts each piece of the jeep together, we identified and learned all the parts...wheels, axels, doors, roof, seats, and horn...and then we talked about it as it rolled up and down the hills. The boys were mesmerized!
As you read the book at home ask the following questions:
1. Where did the jeep get stuck? in the mud
2. Who helped the sheep get the jeep out of the mud? pigs
3. What did the jeep run into at the end of the story? a tree
4. Why did the jeep run into the tree? the sheep forgot to steer
5. You could also ask the boys what happened first, next, last as a way to target sequential concepts/words.
6. If you have the story kit home today, see if Ryan or Ethan can re-tell the story using the props.
Both boys seemed pretty tired after their first day back from Spring Break. We have lots of fun things planned for Thursday as we learn all about buses!
All the kids were surprised when they arrived to find the touch and feel pool full of water! Water play started early this morning as everyone joined links together to make a "fishing pole" and "fishing nets," poured water from easter eggs, and tried to find various modes of transportation in the water (buses, firetrucks, cars, boats). I heard great spontaneous requesting from both Ryan and Ethan as they asked friends to hand them certain items that they saw across the pool.
If you remember, Tuesday's touch and feel pool was full of items that might sink or float. We didn't actually test these items out in water, so I decided that our center time today would involve water tubs for both Ryan and Ethan once again. We started out center time with tubs just full of water and nothing else. We talked again about the names of the different boats that we learned on Tuesday and then I reviewed that an item that floats on the water stays on the top, and an item that sinks, drops to the bottom of a tub of water. Ryan and Ethan took turns pulling items from my magic hat. Before placing these items in the water, they first had to name the item, touch it and tell us how it felt, and then decide if it would sink or float. Then we got to test each item and see if we were right! Some of the objects in my magic bag included toy boats, a rock, a foam ball, blocks, a foam fish, and a plastic giraffe. The boys had a blast, and their clothes were drenched once again! But an activity well worth it! HOMEWORK: Take a variety of items into the bathtub with Ryan and Ethan tonight that will sink and float and revisit this new concept at home.
Does a giraffe sink or float?
After getting some dry clothes, we headed outside for a beautiful morning on the playground. To keep things interesting, today I brought some hula hoops! All the kiddos and the teachers on the playground were hilarious to watch as we all tried to make the hoops spin around our waists. When most of us were unsuccessful at this skill, we used the hula hoops to make an obstacle course. We put the hoops in a line and showed all the kiddos how to jump with two feet from one hoop to the next. After each had several turns with this, we held them up so that each child could go through the hoop, and then finally we turned them into basketball nets to see if they could throw a ball through the hoop. Needless to say, the hoops were a huge hit.
Ryan's using his bike to pull up to the take-out window. Today, Ethan offered to serve banana cake to Ryan without him even asking!
Ryan said, "The big bad wolf can't blow our house down!"
Just relaxing....
Worn out from our playground games, the boys were ready to settle down to a good book. For language circle today we read, Little Tug by Stephen Savage. This book teaches that Little Tug is not the tallest, fastest, or biggest boat in the harbor, but when the sailboat does not have wind or the speedboat's motor is broken, or when the cruise ship can't fit into the harbor, tug boat pulls and pushes all the other boats to safety. This book was a great review of all the boats we have been learning this week.
After we finished our book, Ryan and Ethan made their own little tug boats using construction paper shapes and cotton balls for the smoke.
It's been a very busy but super fun week of boats. We have covered transportation by air and by water, and I look forward to seeing both of your cute kiddos to learn about transportation by land after spring break!
I think this month's theme on transportation has definitely been a favorite among both Ryan and Ethan. This week we will embark on water adventures as we learn all about boats! To start off the week, Ryan and Ethan played with objects that would either sink or float in the touch and feel pool. We talked about how heavy objects like rocks, spoons, sticks, blocks would sink to the bottom of a pool of water where as lighter objects like a feather, paper, or a leaf would float.
During open center time today, Ryan and Ethan each got their own large container full of water. In each tub, the boys played with boats which I made last night by freezing toothpicks in an ice tray and adding a "sail" onto each toothpick using duct tape. We watched as the ice cube boats "floated" in the water and how they "sank" as the ice melted and gradually disappeared with the sail sinking to the bottom of the tub of water. We also compared boat sizes as some of the boats melted faster than others. Once the ice cube boats were gone, we got out some bath-tub toy boats that didn't melt and some plastic fish so that the boys could continue their water play. The water in both tubs was pretty chilly at this point, but that didn't stop Ryan and Ethan from being completely and totally engaged in this activity. We also added a few plastic cups, and the boys experimented with the water as they filled the cups with water and dumped them out saying, "Waterfall!"
Which boat is bigger?
After changing our wet diapers, we headed outside for the playground. We were the only ones on the playground today. Ethan opened up the take-out window once again, and Ryan requested that he make his favorite "banana cake." However, Ethan insisted on making pizza and ice cream instead! I also tried to get both boys to pedal a tricycle, but their attention to that more difficult task was fleeting for both boys. They also played a good game of chase as Ethan hunted for Ryan saying, "Ryan, where are you?" and Ryan laughing the entire time that he was hiding.
We kicked off our language circle today with this great boat song, which also helped us settle down for our story, Boats by Byron Barton. Like last week's book about airplanes by the same author, this book teaches children about all different types of boats. As we read about the various boats, Ryan and Ethan learned that all boats float on the water. Rowboats require paddles to make them move. Sailboats move when the wind pushes their big sails. Motorboats move with a fast engine. Fireboats help to put out fires and respond to emergencies. Ferry boats can carry people and cars. We can catch fish in fishing boats and take a vacation or a really long boat ride on a cruise ship. Tugboats help to push or pull another boat that might need help. FYI: As I prepared for the lesson today, I noticed that the author of this book also produced a great app. that goes along with this book. You can also check it out on YouTube if you want to preview it before ordering. It might be another good way to emphasize the new vocabulary that we are learning this week.
When we finished our book, Ryan and Ethan headed to the art table to make their own boats using different shapes of construction paper. We reviewed the names of the different shapes and then glued them to a sheet of paper. I let the boys glue their sails in any direction to make their own special type of boat! Then we labeled the very basic parts of the sailboat scene: sail, sun, and water. We had a few minutes before lunch to paint another boat picture using Do-A-Dot paints and to work on our scissor skills.
A few questions for your kiddos this week:
1. Where do boats float? on the water
2. How do row boats move? with paddles
3. What type of boat did Ryan and Ethan make today? a sailboat
4. Who/What does a ferryboat carry? cars and passengers
Ryan and Ethan were both very tired by the end of the day, so hopefully you will get good naps out of them this afternoon! I will see them both on Thursday as we continue to learn more about boats.
