Spots vs. Stripes

Spots vs. Stripes!

Today we sorted items into categories. The kiddos were struggling with stripes and spots on the animals, so another lesson was born.

Language Targets:
Expressive Language: I focused on "that" but If your students are ready for "it" that would work better :)
Receptive Language: What questions

Materials: 2 boxes, one labeled with stripes and one with spots, different items with spots and stripes (some were zoo animals, but I also used other items as well. Some examples: clothes, paper, bucket with spots, a microphone, etc. Have fun finding your items!)

First, we reviewed the zoo animal vocabulary. Then I pulled out the zoo animals that had stripes or spots. Talk about how the animals look and discuss where to put each animal (either in the stripe box or the spot  box).

Next, have the items in a big bag, pull out the first item.

T: What is that?
S: That is a scarf!
T: Does that have spots or stripes?
S:That has stripes! (Student should put it in the box labeled stripes)

Continue until all items have been sorted. At the end, we counted the items in each box. Which box has the most??

To make the boxes, I cut the tops off of tissue boxes. Then I covered the boxes with large masking tape (took two times around to cover the pattern on the boxes). Last, I drew stripes and spots on index cards and taped to the outside of each box.

Stripe Center
For morning center, the students cut black stripes and glued the stripes on orange paper. We talked about what animal has that pattern too.

Dot Center
We also did dot sticker D's. Our letter for the week is D, so we combined spots (dots) and D!

Preposition: Between

Understanding Between!

Today we introduced the concept of between to the kiddos. Using the zoo animals, we modeled the concept of between trees, between cars and between blocks. After the modeling, each student had a chance to practice the concept.

Language Targets:
Expressive languae: between
Receptive Language: Where questions, following directions

T: (giving the student the trees) Put the giraffe between the trees. Where is the giraffe?
S: The giraffe is between the trees. ("between the trees" or "between" is OK too)

Do this with each student. Then switch to cars and then blocks.

Next, give the student two choices.
Example: Give the student the trees and the cars.
T: Put the giraffe between the cars. Where is the giraffe?
S: The  giraffe is between the cars. ("between the cars," or just "between" is OK too.)

Do with each student.
**I used all different zoo animals during the lesson, not just the giraffe!!!

Directions for making Paperbag trees
I used two lunch bags for my trees and it worked out fairly well! The trees were easier to make than I thought!!

Monkey Center!

For the teacher led center today the kiddos made thumbprint monkeys! Super cute.
For the lesson, each child will need a piece of paper with two large trees drawn on the paper. Then using a stamp ink pad, stamp the thumb in the ink and put the thumbprint on the paper. Two thumbprints together make one monkey. When the child is done making thumbprints, the face, arms/legs and of course, the long tail can be added to each set of thumbrpints! Super cute when done.

Action+Recipient and Top vs. Bottom Prepositions

Understanding "with" (manner) and Top vs. Bottom


There were a handful of animal names that the kiddos were struggling to remember, so we did some fun crafting!! We made a hippo, a tiger, a leopard and a peacock. All of the following crafts were made with the same language targets so I will write the lesson once. After each picture, I will post websites where specific parts for the animal can be found.


Language Targets:
Expressive Language: with, top/bottom, adjective+noun (two eyes).
Receptive Language: What questions


Start off the lesson by reviewing the vocabulary words.
T: What is that?
S: That is a polar bear.
T: Today we are going to make a hippo.  The hippo is gray. I need to  make gray paint. I will  mix black and white together. What am I stirring the paint with?
S: With a paintbrush!
T: Now, the gray paint is ready. What will you paint the hippo with?
S:With a paintbrush!
T: Andrew, what is he (point to another boy in the class) painting with?
S: He is painting with a paintbrush.
Repeat till all students have had a least one turn.


Once hippo is painted. add the facial features.
T:What does the hippo need? (hold up a facial feature: ears, eyes, nose, mouth)
S: Eyes!
T: How many eyes does the hippo need?
S: The hippo needs two eyes.
T: What color eyes do you want?
S: I want blue eyes.
T: How many blue eyes do you want?
S: I want two blue eyes.
T: Where will you glue the two blue eyes? On top of the head or the bottom?
S: On the top!
Repeat with each facial feature.


I used the same lesson for each animal craft we made!


Hippo Craft

We painted a paper plate gray. Then colored the facial features gray as well (in hindsight, I would have copied the facial features on gray paper and then cut out for the students)

Hippo Craft Directions/Printable


More hippo crafts


Tiger

We painted to paper plates orange. Then painted black stripes. This was a major focus of the lesson, stripes. We added 4 paws, a tail, 2 ears, 2 eyes, one nose and the mouth. I made these myself and cut each out before the lesson started. I will try and scan the outlines in and upload later.
More Tiger Craft


Leopard

This was the same as the tiger, expect we focused on spots! We mixed brown and white paint to make tan. Then we used cork tops to paint the spots.
**Tip: glue the pipecleaner mouth on with a glue gun. Much easier than regular glue!



Peacock

Paper plates are the theme of this lesson!! The language focus of this lesson was "and." We drew the feathers on with green and blue markers. Then we used yellow paint for the spots. We had cotton balls with clothespins handles, to tip in the yellow paint to make the spots. Last, the facial features were added! Very cute :)
More Peacock Crafts

More Zoo animal Crafts

Using "and"

Using "and"

The kiddos have been starting to use longer sentences in my room! Yeah! I have noticed that the important word "and" is being dropped from their sentences. They like to say E'Mani Andrew, instead of E'Mani and Andrew! So off for another language lesson!!


Using the zoo animals that we have been talking about we introduced the concept of "and"


Language Targets:
Expressive Language: and, that (review)
Receptive Language: What questions


Materials needed: plastic zoo animals and a coloring page with many zoo animals on the page.


To start the lesson we reviewed the vocabulary cards with the language target "That is a___________."
Next I pulled out 2 animals from my guess bag and showed the students.
T: What do I have?
S: lion, tiger
T: I have a lion and a tiger.  When I have 2 animals I have to say "and."
Model a few more times then let the students pick 2 animals.
T: What do you have?
S: I have a lion and a tiger. (I except just "lion and tiger" from my students who are at an early language development. Then I model the entire sentence for the students so they can hear it again).
Repeat this process a couple of times for each student.

Next, have a sheet of paper copied with zoo animals. Give each student a paper and  a set of crayons.
T: Color the giraffe and the elephant purple. What animals did you color purple?
S: I colored the giraffe and elephant purple. (Again, just "giraffe and elephant" is OK for the students at that level.)

Introducing The Zoo unit

Zoo Fun!

We started our zoo unit this week. I love zoo and I enjoy teaching it! Again, I used the BoardMaker to make the vocabulary cards.

Language Targets
Expressive Language: that

Materials:
Vocabulary Cards
Dear Zoo Book
Toy animals

We started off the lesson by going over the vocabulary cards.
T: What is that?
S: That is a bear.

Take some time to talk about the animals.

Then we read the book Dear Zoo, by Rod Campbell . We took some time talking about the animals in the book.

If there is time, set out the vocabulary pictures and have the students match the toy animal to the picture.

Fun Centers and Home Activity for Breakfast food

Home Activity and Centers

For a home activity, I made a game for the parents to play with their kids. I used the same pictures from boardmaker that were our language cards. I used a simple game board that I copied for each kiddo.
Here are the directions to the game.

These are the pictures I sent home, but I sent the pictures home in black and white.

I also sent home a die that the parents could make, in case they didn't have one at home. The website for the die can be found here

Some fun centers

Writing in flour: pour some flour on a cookie sheet and let the kids draw in the flour

Scooping with a spoon: I put cocoa, flour and mini marshmallows in square tupperware. The kids had to scoop the cocoa with a spoon and put it in a cup.

Paint with Kool-Aid: Make small ice cubes with toothpicks for handles. Sprinkle some Kool-

Aid either on their paper or in a small bowl. Let the kids paint away! The classroom smelled great and the pictures turned out great!



action + recipient: with a....

Baking!!

The kiddos in my classroom love to bake and so do I! It makes for great language lessons. There were a handful of vocabulary words that the kids were struggling with so, each day we focused on a new word. The language targets were the same for each so I will only write the lesson once here for you!

We made orange juice, toast, oatmeal, blueberry muffins (two Jiffy boxes worked well), chocolate chip pancakes, and green waffles in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday (we read Green Eggs and Ham first, but I didn't want to tackle that breakfast! So we made green waffles instead!)

 Language Targets
Expressive Language: with, stir, scoop, pour, flip, spread
Receptive Language: What questions

When cooking I love to sabotage the lesson and make the kiddos tell me what to do. I will hold up the box and ask "What do I do?" Then I will put the box in the bowl. Trying to get the kids to use their words to tell me what to do.

S: Open the box.
T: What will I open the box with? (here I had to give examples, Do I open the box with my teeth? With my feet? No!!)
S: With your hands.

I did this for each step of the cooking process.
Examples: scoop with a spoon, measure with a cup, stir with a spoon. The possibilities are endless.

Flip with a spatula.

I also used these lessons to reinforce full vs. empty.
The pitcher is empty.
The muffin tin is empty.

The muffin tin is full.

Again the possibilities are endless.
Happy Baking!

At the end of each lesson, I put the pictures together in a book. I used the same language targets from the lessons in the books. The kids LOVE  to look at the books and see the pictures of themselves!

Action + Recipient: Eat it and Drink it

Do you eat it or do you drink it?

The kiddos were having trouble understanding the difference between eating something and drinking something. So a lesson was born!!

Language Targets
Expressive Language: verbs (eat and drink), that
Receptive Language: understanding Do questions

Materials
Paper plate for each student, paper cup for each student, pictures of food for each student to glue on the plates and cups.

Begin the lesson by reviewing full vs. empty. We talked about the plate being empty and the cup being empty. Then revisit this at the end of the lesson (both should be full by then!)

T: (Hold up a picture of a breakfast food) What is that?
S: That is cheese.
T: Do you eat or drink the cheese?
S: Eat the cheese!
Glue the cheese on the plate. Continue until all the food and drinks are glued on either the plate or the cups. We let the kids color the food. Then we hung the plates on the bulletin board. Super cute!!

Preposition Review: in, on, under, next to

Breakfast Vocabulary and Prepositions

For today's focus, we reviewed the breakfast vocabulary and prepositions we have been working on during language time.

Language targets:
Expressive language: that, prepositions
Receptive language: What and where questions and following simple directions

Materials needed: guess bag (this is my favorite tool to use with the kiddos!) and vocabulary cards.

Start the lesson by reviewing breakfast vocabulary words. Then hide the cards in the guess bag (if you don't have one, you can turn the cards face down on the table and just have the kids draw a card). Student should draw a card.
T: What is that?
S: That is oatmeal.
T: Put the oatmeal under the rug.
(The student should take the picture and put it under the rug.)
T: Where is the oatmeal?
S: The oatmeal is under the rug. (Modifications: under, under the rug. Depends on language levels).

** If you prefer use a closed set have pictures of the items you want to use (i.e. rug, chair, door, wall, etc.)



Noun Modifiers: Full or Empty?

For the food unit, I decided to focus on full vs. empty and with (manner). The students  are also reviewing pronouns (he, she, I, and my) and prepositions (in, on, under, next to).  This lesson focuses on full vs. empty.

Language targets
Expressive Language: full, empty
Receptive Language: Is questions

Materials needed: bowl, cup, bag, box and items to fill each. I used water, blocks, candy, cereal, and teddy bear counters. Feel free to use whatever you have on hand to fill the items!

Started the lesson by talking about what is full and what is empty. Holding up the cereal box (which was full)I opened the box and told the students the box is full. Then pulling out the bag, now the box is empty! Then going around the table with one of the items (bowl, cup, box, bag or plate) ask the students the prompt question.
T: Is the bowl full or empty?
S:The bowl is empty.
(then I filled the bowl)
T: How about now, is the bowl full or empty/
S: The bowl is full!

Once the students are familiar with the concept, I gave the students two (a bag and a bowl. One empty, one full)
T:Which one is full?
S: The bag is full.

The homework assignment for the day was to draw a plate that was full and empty. Label each.