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.

Pronoun: Everyone

Rain Day!

Today was rain day. We started the morning off by making rain clouds. The kiddos laced and stuffed gray clouds then added rain (blue crepe paper). For rain day, we made rain pictures!


Expressive Language: pronoun, everyone
Receptive Language: following directions

For the morning activity I used the same cloud picture from yesterday,  expect I copied it on gray paper. You will need 2 clouds per kiddo. I cut out the clouds and hole punched around each cloud. Then I started the lacing for the kiddos but they finished it. It took about 2 pieces of scrap paper crumpled to fill the cloud. Then I tied it shut. For the rain, I gave each kiddo a piece of blue crepe paper to cut into small stripes for the rain. I stapled the paper on the clouds at the bottom.

For language today, we made rain pictures. I found this activity on pinterest as well. The link to actual website can be found here.  The language goal today was to understand "everyone." I gave each kiddo a blank piece of white construction paper. Then I gave a direction:
T: Everyone take a red marker.
Who has a red marker?
S: Everyone has a red marker.
T: Now, draw with the red marker.

The kiddos were allowed to draw what they wanted. Then I switched colors about 5 times. Last, the rain cloud came over and rained on their pictures! I held a gray cloud from the morning activity and sprayed each picture with water. Then we set the pictures aside to dry. The pictures turned out so beautiful!

**The markers MUST be washable markers.

For afternoon language time we made clouds in a jar. I have been trying to add science to the curriculum more and found this activity on pinterest and the actual website can be found here. It looked like fun so we gave it a whirl!!

You will need the following for the activity:

mason jar for each kiddo
shaving cream
food coloring
water
small bowls or cups
eye droppers
paper towel

Spread the paper towel on the table (you will need a few layers!) Give each kiddo a jar. I made each one ask for the jar.
T: Who has a jar?
S: Everyone has a jar.

I repeated this for each item.

Fill the jars about half to 3/4 full. Put shaving cream on top of the water. (*the more shaving cream you use the longer it will take to "rain" through the cloud). Give the students the droppers and colored water. Drop water on the clouds and wait for it to rain! Keep adding color. We used all different colors and were rewarded with a pretty rainbow affect!! The kiddos loved it!

CENTERS
Rainstick-at centers today the kiddos made rainsticks from toilet paper tubes. They colored the paper on the outside and then glued (or staple) onto the tube. We added popcorn kernels about 1/4 full for a good rain sound!
The next day we used the rainsticks to make rain while listening to the song "April Showers" from the movie Bambi. It goes through the rain starting with soft rain to a storm and back to soft rain.

Paper towel Umbrellas- I cut out umbrella shapes form paper towel and glued on construction paper. The kiddos painted and added rain. Very cute! (Sorry no picture, I forgot to take one!!)

Making Predications and adjectivies

Cloud Day!

I think this was my favorite day of our spring unit (Yes, I am WAY behind on the blogging. Sorry.). For this expressive language lesson, I focused on getting the kiddos to describe an object. 

Expressive Language: adjectives, conversational language

Receptive language: understanding simple "wh" questions

To kick off the morning, the kiddos laced and stuffed white clouds. It was a great fine motor activity and held their attention during morning work time. 

Here is the link to the cloud picture I used. I enlarged and copied the cloud on to sturdy paper for the lacing activity.

Next, I read the story "Little Cloud" by Eric Carle. We used the clouds we made in morning work to act out and follow along with the story. 

 

Next, we had some fun! We made a cloud in the microwave!! I gathered everyone on the floor next to the microwave and held up a bar of Ivory soap (it MUST be ivory soap). I asked some prompting questions like: What is this? How does it feel? What does it look like? What color is it? Does it smell? I then wrote the answers to these questions on chart paper under the word SOAP. Then we made some predictions. 

T: What do you think will happen to the soap when I put it in the microwave?

 I really had to prompt this part of the lesson, but once we got going the kiddos started getting the idea. I asked each kiddo a different question: Will it change color? If yes, what color will it be? I wrote their answers on the chart paper at the bottom. 

Now, that all the pre-work is out of the way, on to the fun! Cut the bar of ivory soap in half (I did do a full bar and its not much bigger than a half bar, but it seemed to make less of a mess in the microwave when I cut it in half!). Put the soap on a microwave safe plate and turn the microwave on for 2 minutes. Watch it grow!!! Take it out and set it where everyone can see. Again, we talked about how it looked, smelled, felt. I recorded all of these answers on the chart paper under the word CLOUD. 

 

 

I was so pleased with the spontaneous language that was happening during this lesson. It was so much more than I thought possible!

CENTERS

Water colors on the soap cloud-The kiddos used eye droppers to add color to the soap cloud. I put out two medium sized Tupperware containers with part of the soap cloud in each. Then I let the kiddos drop colored water on the clouds! With each kiddo, I added some new soap to the dish. The clouds turned out so pretty!! 

 

Cotton Ball clouds-the kiddos glued cotton balls on cloud shapes. I used the same cloud pattern as before. I just copied it on blue paper.

Poke a cloud with a golf tee. 

Conjunction: "And" Pronoun: "Everyone"

Sun Day!

For the spring unit, I decided to make each day about a different vocabulary word. Today, was sun day. Sadly, this lesson never got taught as our sun day got interrupted by a tornado drill! But, I thought I would post it anyway. I did get the "and" part of the lesson in later in the week using the smartboard.


Using clipart, I had pictures of different size suns: small (little), medium and large (big). I introduced these to the kiddos. Then I gave each student two suns of different sizes.

big sun

little sun

medium sun

T: What do you have?
S: I have a big sun and a small sun. (or just "big sun and small sun.")



I went around the table a few times to give students a few chances (this is where the tornado drill interrupted our lesson). Next, I planned on giving everyone the same size sun.
T: Who has a big sun?
S: Everyone has a big sun!
For my kiddos, at this point "everyone" is taking some explaining. I have been going around the table pointing to each person and showing that everyone has the same thing. Need a few more exposures!

I had also planned to take pictures of everyone holding the big sun, small sun and medium sun to use in a chart story the next day. So to make up for this lesson, I planned a smartboard activity to cover the "and" portion of the lesson. I have no idea how to upload it, so if you would like a copy of it, email me and I will send it to you!

Centers

We made yellow string suns- make a big circle with glue. Then put yellow string on for sun. Add smaller cut string for rays (I precut my string, but if your kiddos are ready they can do the cutting).

Paper plate suns- paint the paper plate yellow and add yellow crepe paper for sun rays.

Intro to Spring Unit

It's spring time here in Michigan and we started our spring unit today. I read "Wake Up, It's Spring" by Lisa Campbell Ernst. I love this story. It has some great spring words and is simply written. Perfect for kiddos with language delays!

Today, we simply read the book. To start we talked about all the items we saw on the cover. A bunny hopping, the bunny tail, letters (I was SUPER excited someone pointed those out!!), the flowers, grass and sky (I had to assist with those last ones). Then I read the story aloud. We acted out some of the items, wiggled like the worm, grew like the seed, flew like the ladybug and bird, stretched like the cat, you get the idea! 

The last thing we did was pull out each item from the story that I had hidden in my guess bag. Each student pulled out an item, then said the name of the item and put the picture on the magnet board. Tomorrow we will read the story again and put the pictures in order at story time. The kiddos seemed to enjoy themselves and I did too!!