Verb drink

Milk tasting! Yum. We first talked about where milk comes from. We looked at pictures in a book and talked about milking cows. Then on to tasting. We tasted white milk, chocolate milk and strawberry milk.

Language Goals
Expressive language: verb drink (will drink, drinking, drank), he/she pronoun review and spontaneous language
Receptive Language: Who questions

To make each kind of milk, I had the students give me the directions and I did EXACTLY what they told me to do!! What fun. If they told me to turn the milk, I turned the whole jug!! At one point, one of the students said "Just open!" What a great use of the word "just!

After each kind of milk was made everyone drank the milk.
T: Who drank the white milk?
S: Everyone drank the white milk.
Can do each student individually
T: Andrew, what did Hamoody drink?
S: He drank the white milk.

Make a chart, have the students come up after each milk and write if they liked it or didn't like it.

We made rainbow milk in the afternoon. We discussed what we thought would happen once we added the food coloring to the milk. Will the color stay together, spread out or get smaller? Nothing really happened! Now, what will happen if I did my cotton swab in dish soap? Will the color stay together, spread out or get smaller??? Watch the fun happen! I did on first to demonstrate for the students. Then I gave each student their own plate of milk. I found this activity on Pinterest. Step by step directions can be found here The milk MUST be 2% or higher. You only need a small drop of dish soap. If you dip the cotton swab again in the soap, it will spread again.

Preposition Review

The kiddos kept calling a barn a farm, so off on another lesson we went! Today we focused on the word "barn." We did a listening activity to review prepositions next to, bottom, top and middle.
First, my favorite aide cut the barns out for us and cut the pictures out as well. Each kiddo got an envelope and a barn. Most of the kiddos loved digging in their envelope for the picture I called out. For the ones that were struggling, I spread out their pictures on the table for easier success!

This was a listening activity to review animal names and prepositions. It could easily be make into expressive language as well by having the kiddos answer questions either during or after the activity.

Language Goals
Expressive language: prepositions, animal names, everyone
Receptive language: following directions

T: What is this? (hold up the barn)
S: It's a barn!
T: Right, who needs a barn?
S: Everyone needs a barn!
T: First we need to draw doors on the barn. (model for the students. We also drew a window at the top for hay). Pass out the animals.
T: Find the pigs. Who has pigs?
S: Everyone has pigs!
T: Glue the pigs on the bottom of the barn.
T: Where did everyone glue the pigs?
S: On the bottom of the barn.
Repeat with all the animals, place the animals wherever you like. We glued the farmer and his wife on the front next to the doors and put the tractor on the back.

The pictures are from a scholastic e-book about farms. Directions for the barn can be found here  as well as other fun farm printables!! The barn is quite easy. Take a large piece of red construction paper, fold the sides so they meet in the middle. Trim the corners off with a rounded cut to make the barn!

CENTERS
Roll to  make a barn. Directions and printables can be found here

Milk Carton barn. This craft turned out super cute! We glued washed out milk cartons to a cardboard square (I cut the flaps off a box and cut those in half). The kiddos painted the milk cartons red and painted empty toilet paper tubes red. Then painted the cardboard green for grass. After the paint had dried, I hot glued the toilet paper tube to the cardboard and hot glued a mini muffin wrapper on top. This made the silo! Had a bit of trouble getting the paint to stick. Might want to use paper and glue instead.

Pronoun: Everyone

The main focus of the farm unit was animal names. We focused on the adult animals and the baby animals as well as the sounds each one made. It was a fun, noisy time in my classroom!! Each of the following crafts was made using the same lesson plan (geared toward each animal). But the overall concept was the same. So, I am only typing the lesson plan once! We focused on one animal a day.


Language Goals
Expressive language: pronoun everyone, adjectives big, medium and small. Color review
Receptive language: Who questions


To start off each lesson, I showed the students a picture of the animals we would be making. We talked about the animal. What color, which one is big, small, etc. Then holding up the items we would be using to make the craft (for the pig, big paper plates and circles and small ones).
T: What will we use to  make the mommy pig? The big paper plate or the small paper plate?
S: the big paper plate!
T: Who needs a paper plate?
S: Everyone needs a paper plate!
T:What color is the pig?
S: The pig is pink.
T: What do we need to do to our paper plate?
S: Paint it pink!
T: Who will paint the plate pink?
S: Everyone!
T: Will we use the big circle or the small circle for the mommy pig?
S: The big circle! 
T: Who needs a pink circle?
S: Everyone needs a pink circle! (draw the face on first then put right on when paint is wet. we also added ears)
Repeat process for piglet.


Pig

Piglet





For Centers and morning work we laced and stuffed a pig. Super cute! The printout is from Scholastic Biggie Patterns Favorite Themes

The kiddos also painted pigs in mud! Using the same pattern, the kiddos cut it out and glued it on brown paper. Then finger painted mud on the piggy!

Cow day was next.

We used corks to make the spots. Super cute!
For centers, the kiddos played a dice game and colored in the dots on the cow and used the dabbers to make silly cows, again the pattern came from Scholastic Biggie Pattern Favorite Themes.
Great cow activities can be found here

Next up, hen, rooster and chick.
I found the patterns at Making Learning Fun I did enlarge the biggest one a bit to make the contrast bigger between the rooster and the hen. I copied the patterns on sturdy white paper. Then We painted. I started with the chick, yellow. Then we painted the hen brown and the rooster black. The colors blended quite nice because we used the same brush for all three!! After they chickens dried, the kiddos added faces and yarn to the rooster.

More chicken activities can be found here

Sheep and lamb, I think turned out to be my favorite!! We made paper plate sheet and toilet paper tube lambs. You will need lots of cotton balls and glue!!!

The templates for the sheep heads can be found here

For centers the kiddos painted sheep with Q-tips. I copied sheep on black paper and the kiddos used white paper to dot paint the sheep.

Last animal we focused on was horse and foal. The template can be found here
I used craft sticks instead of clothes pins.

For centers, the kiddos made shoe print horses and sponge painted horses. The directions can be found here

I used the same template for the sponge painted as the language lesson.

 

Introduction to the Farm Unit

Moo! Oink! Cluck! Neigh! The farm is here!

I love this unit. It is so much fun to talk about farm animals, their babies, what grows on a farm and of course a visit to the farm! Today was a simple introduction to the farm unit.

Language Goals
Expressive Language: spontaneous language
Receptive language: to learn new vocab.

To introduce the farm unit, I read a story called "Down on the Farm" by Merrily Kutner. This is a cute story that has a pattern. It is also a good way to introduce the animals on the farm.


We started off by discussing what is on the cover of the book. What do you see? We also looked at the back of the book because there are more animals on the back (and animal butts too. That is ALWAYS funny to little kiddos!).  Then of course we read the book and acted out the animals and the sounds they make.

CIRCLE TIME
We made farm animals using a leapfrog toy. The kiddos can make a matching animal or mixed up animals! First,  everyone pressed Farmer Tad at the top and we danced to banjo music the we made matching animals and listened to the songs. Then after everyone had a turn we made mixed up animals! They thought this was hilarious!!

I bought mine at Target (it belonged to my daughters. They of course have no idea I "borrowed" it for the classroom!) but here is the link to Amazon.

Pronoun: everyone

Buzzzzzz, said the Bee!

Today was all about the Bee. We made one of my favorite crafts, a paper plate bumble bee. I think its the wax paper wings. I just love how real they look!

Language goals

Expressive language: everyone

Receptive Language: who questions, following directions

Materials

yellow paint

black paint

paper plate for each kiddo

paint brushes

oval heads cut from yellow paper

black stingers

2 wax paper wings per kiddo

google eyes (optional. We just drew the eyes on the head)

I held out the yellow and black paint, asking what colors I had (I was hoping to hear "and" spontaneously and I am happy to report I got it!) Then I set out a few pictures from the tall, tall grass story. 

T: Hmmm...what do you think we will make today? It has to be black AND yellow because that is the paint I have. Do you see an animal that is black and yellow?
S: the bee!

T: Yes, we will make a bee today!!

T: To start everyone will need a paper plate. Who needs a paper plate? (I was hoping for everyone, instead I got 6 hands in the air and chorus of "I do!" great use of the pronoun I though!)

So I went around naming each child and saying "Andrew needs a plate, E'Mani needs a plate, etc. So, who needs a plate?
S: Everyone!

Pass out plates!

I repeated this process for each part of the bee. (Who is painting the bee yellow? Everyone!)

 

**Steps for making bee**

1. Pass out paper plates (write names on back, I know I always forget and remember half way through!!)

2. Paint bee yellow.

3. Paint black stripes on bee. 

4. While bee is wet, add head (draw eyes first), stinger and wings last (I really do love the way the bee wings look!)

5. Let dry! 

Centers

Paper plate frogs- fold paper plate in half (you can use large plates or small plates doesn't really matter. The cheap ones work great!) Color outside green. Add cotton ball eyes (color a black dot for the pupil), glue long red tongue inside the plate.

Smartboard- I made a really fun activity practicing everyone with the smartboard. I used vocab pictures from the unit in the lesson and the kiddos pictures. The students had to drag a picture to everyone on the page. 

**I have no clue how to upload a smartboard lesson, is it the same as a document?? If you have a smartboard and would like the lesson, I am more than happy to email it to you!

Preposition review: next to, in, behind

We continued with the tall, tall grass theme today. We used the grass that was cut yesterday for the language lesson today. Prior to the kiddos coming in for the morning, I taped the grass strips that they cut  onto a large cardboard box, making rows across to form very tall grass. 

Language Goals

Expressive language: prepositions (next to, in, behind) pronoun everyone

Receptive Language: following simple one step directions, answering Who and where questions

I set up the grass and we took a minute to talk about it. How tall it is, what color, etc. Then I gave each student a bug from the story (we used picture cards, I did not have plastic bugs of all the animals. If you do that is great! If not, the picture cards worked just fine). 

Call each kiddo up one at a time.

T: Put the ant in the grass. Where is the ant?

S: The ant is in the grass. (for us, I accepted "in the grass." It's just where we are language wise!)

T: (ask another student) Who put the ant in the grass?
S: Andrew did!

You could also ask:

T: Where did Andrew put the ant?

 S: in the grass!

Once everyone has a had a few turns, I started using "everyone." We have been working on this pronoun a lot. We still have a long way to go!

T: Everyone put your bugs behind the grass.

(ask a student) Who put the bugs behind the grass?

S: Everyone did!

T: Where did everyone put the bugs?

S: Behind the grass.

Centers

Make tall, tall grass pictures. The kiddos had to cut more grass (gotta work those fine motor skills!). Then they added whatever bugs they wanted. I had pictures for them to pick from.

Math

I used this great book to start talking about tall and short. First, I had each kiddo go pick an item from the room and bring it back to the table. I divided the kiddos into 3 groups of 3 and put an aide with each group and I took a group (I know super lucky to have 2 aides in the afternoon!). The kiddos used unixcubes to measure the items and find the tallest item and shortest item. Repeat with new items if you have time. The kiddos had so much fun going around the classroom finding items to measure!

Day 2 of math. We sorted items into tall and short. Again, I let the kiddos go around and pick items from the room. Then they had to decided is it tall or short and put it in the correct hula hoop on the floor.

Tall, Tall Grass

Today was all about introducing the story "In the Tall, Tall Grass" by Denise Fleming.

Language Goals

Expressive Language: spontaneous language

Receptive Language: Learn new vocabulary words (the animals in the story)

To open the lesson, I set out the book and we talked about all the things we saw on the cover. I went around the table asking each student to find and name something on the cover. If the item had already been named, the student had to pick a new item (VERY difficult for the little kiddos!). Then of course we read the story. We had the most fun acting out each of the animals as we went. At the end, I had pictures of each of the animals and we reviewed the animals in sequence of the story. 

Here are the pictures I used for this activity.

 

CENTERS

Cut tall, tall grass to be used for tomorrow's language lesson. We used a few different shades of green. Once the kiddos were done cutting, I had them crinkle the strips to make it more realistic. 

Pronoun: Everyone

Plant Day

You can't talk about spring without talking about plants! So that is what we did today. To start the morning, the kids made cupcake liner flowers. Glue a cupcake liner on paper, add the petals, stem and leaves! The kids had a good time. Great morning work activity as it requires little from me!

For language time we planted seeds.
Expressive Language goals: pronoun everyone, with
Receptive Language: Who questions

To open we talked about the seeds. How the feel, what they look like, you get the idea. We also made some predictions about what they would grow into (I used the packaging to really talk about this). Then onto the planing!

The pronoun "everyone" has been our new focus. So that is the main focus of this lesson. Reviewing "with" and "who questions.

T:Who needs a cup?
(each student was saying "I do" another goal of ours, one they are finally mastering!) So I went around pointing to each student saying "Andrew needs a cup. E'Mani needs a cup, etc. So who needs a cup?"
S: Everyone needs a cup!

I repeated this with each step of planing the seed. When we were finished we planted some seeds in a baggie so the kiddos could see the roots growing. We taped ours to the window, but really seeds don't need light to grow so any  wall or board would work just fine!

To make give each student a ziploc bag and a papertowel. Staple three staples along the middle of the bag. Put seeds ontop of staples. Water the papertowel and seal. Write names on the bags and hang! Watch the roots grow.

I used sunflower seeds, but grass seeds or bean seeds grow much faster. Here is a good website on how to grow grass

CENTERS

Paperplate ripped flowers- give each student a paperplate and colored paper. Rip the colored paper into small pieces (great fine motor!) and glue on paperplate. Add stem and leaves when done.

Popbottle flower painting- Using a popbottle, dip the bottom in paint and use as a stamp. Makes a flower print. Again I found this activity at Pinterest and the kiddos loved it! The website can be found here. I did not draw the tree branches and we used smaller bottles than the 2 liter. Worked just fine! Sorry I don't have any pictures, I forgot to take them and I already sent everything home with the kiddos!

Making Predications

Rainbow Day!


I had so much fun with this spring unit (I know I am really behind, sorry)!! Today we talked about rainbows. So many fun activities. We started off the morning by making rainbow headbands. The kids colored rainbows stripes on white paper. Then glued cotton balls to make a cloud. Turned out super cute :)

Then for language time, we worked on making predications. We made a rainbow in a jar. Predicating if the colors would mix together or stay apart. What fun! The link for the directions can be found here. I orginally found this activity on pinterest (love that website!). I would recommend doubling the purple color to make it larger and easier to see. I doubled the entire recipe to make the layers easier to see.

CENTERS

Rainbow fruit loop necklaces.