By Air, By Sea, and now....By Land!

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!