Fun Language!

So many things happened this week but that is the beauty of spring! There is so much happening and the weather is warming up which opens up so many learning opportunities.

About Seasons: On Monday, we went out for a spring walk-a-bout to look at blooming trees. It's fun to simply point to the tree and ask "What do you see?" First answer is almost always "Flowers!" Then we just kept asking "What else do you see?" With this many answers and topics of conversation came about. Everything from moss, buds, to peeling bark came into focus for them. You can do this at home as well. Don't settle for the first answer, encourage your child to keep looking. Their world begins to unfold and they enjoy discovering spring.

Dr. Seuss: On Tuesday, we celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday along with every other school in the area. :) We incorporated math by taking a survey of which books the students had at home. Using this information a graph was created, counting occured and decision about the larger/smaller number was made. Your children were encouraged to create their own books. To become the author. They drew pictures and wrote letters. Some students noted random letters, some chose letters from their names and others chose words to create their books. This was all fun practice with our imagination, problem solving skills and of course letter writing. If you have an open art area at home put a few blank papers stapled together and let them create their own stories.

"Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus" book: This is an excellent book on many levels. It encourages listening skills because it is requested of the listener to respond to the bus driver. It also has simple pre-reading sentences for the young reader wanting to learn how to read. An important element of pre-reading is memorization. This book allows for this in a really fun way. Then my favorite thing to do with books; asking the students a question that changes the scenerio of the book. In this book I asked "What would happen if the pigeon drove the bus?" The students "wrote" the class book and we read it at circle time. Reading your child's work gives them validation in their work. It was a lot of fun. Try this concept at home and let them be silly. They are supposed to be at this age. :)