Thursday April 23, 2020
For Parents:
Good morning families!
Yesterday was a HUGELY successful day! We were able to get 13 / 16 of you set up with your child’s new Google account so that they can start joining in to our Google Meets story times! Sometime next week I will also be doing live lessons for the kids on Google Meets as well. Please make sure before you “join” the meeting for your preschooler, that the device you are using is currently signed into their account and not the account of a sibling. It is important for attendance tracking purposes that each of your kids log in with their own account when joining meetings with any of their teachers.
A few quick reminders:
- please save some toilet paper or paper towel rolls for next week’s learning as the rolls become empty these next few days
- please save junk mail: grocery ads, flyers, newspapers, coupons etc for next week’s learning
- Help ensure your child is engaging in some NO SCREEN TIME activities (chart to follow) daily
- Join our live storytime at 3:00 PM today on Google Meets (code will be sent later on Remind)
- Send Mrs. Laurus at least one picture or video on Remind of your child completing at least one the activities from either the chart below… or the academic activities listed in the Kids section of this post. If you want to send more than one picture, that’s great too! I plan to start adding your children’s pictures to the iBlog posts next week. There are so many great things going on in all of your homes and I want to celebrate ALL of them!
5 to 10 Minutes | Plan for Work Time (playtime): Build your child’s ability to organize their time by having them make a “plan” with you about what they would like to play with. Children do this everyday with us at school. It helps children learn to organize their thoughts. Adults make plans all the time to organize their thoughts (shopping lists are made before going to the grocery store, to do lists are made to help plan your day etc..). Kids will tell you what they are planning to do/want to play with/how they will use toys at home. |
1 hr. | Work time/Kids play WITHOUT ELECTRONICS Kids can use toys to pretend play, build, and create. |
15 min | Clean Up: Kids clean up the mess they have made while playing. If you notice your child making too big of a mess during play, it’s ok to remind them to clean up what they have already finished using before they move on to the next part of their plan. |
5 to 10 min | Recall: Build your child’s memory of events by having your child tell you what they did while they played (ask “tell me how you did that” or “what did you do next?”) |
| Lunch | Prepare lunch: have your child help you prepare lunch. They can help with cooking/setting table- whatever seems appropriate for the meal time. At school the children normally assist with putting plates and utensils on the table as well as scooping their own food onto their plates and passing the food bowls to one another. |
For Kids:
Language, Literacy & Communication:
Today I have a new video of the entire alphabet for you to watch. This video uses the same song we sing every day at Greeting Time to practice the letter sounds. Make sure you sing along and try to make the sounds too.
We are also going to rainbow write our name today! Make sure you write both your first name and your last name Make sure only the first letter of your first or last name has a capital/uppercase letter. All of the other letters in your name should be lowercase. Use all of the colors you can find to write your name in as many colors as you can. This will help brighten up the gray skies we have outside today. Here is a picture of my name for you to see.
Our story today is going to be on Google Meets at 3:00 PM. Help your grown up remember to log you in when I send them the code.
Math:
We are going to do some more measuring today. This time, you will need to find 1 shoe from everyone who lives at your house. Talk to your grown up about how big or small each shoe is. Try to put the shoes in a line from the smallest shoe, to the largest shoe in your house. Here is a picture of my family’s shoes. First is Ellie’s (her shoe is the smallest), then Addison’s (hers is the next smallest), then Bella’s… then mine…. and the last/largest shoe belongs to Mr. Laurus!
Movement:
Today we are going to try a game inside your house that will be fun for everyone who lives there! Here is what you will need to play the game:
- towel, blanket or sheet (the more people who are playing the game, the bigger the blanket or sheet can be)
- pairs of clean socks that are rolled up into balls
You and your grown up (and other people who live at your house too!) will sit in a circle facing towards each other. Everyone will hold onto an edge of the towel, blanket or sheet (just like we do at school with our parachute!). Working together, start shaking the towel, sheet or blanket up and down.
Next, add some of the balls of socks to your towel, blanket or sheet. Now try shaking it to make all the balls bounce/fly off… like if you’re making popcorn!
Repeat and continue to add as many sock balls as you’d like. Remember, don’t stop shaking until ALL of the sock balls have been popped off. You can try to play this game while sitting, and while standing to see how it changes.
Science:
Today’s weather outside is kind of yucky (at least I think it’s yucky… some people might like it!) Look outside from your window and talk to a grown up about what you can see. What does the sky look like? Is the wind blowing? How can you tell? With a grown up’s permission – go outside for just a few minutes with them to look at / feel the weather. Can you feel any wind blowing? Does it feel cold? Chilly? Warm?
Go back inside and get out a piece of paper and some crayons. Draw a picture of what you and your grown up observed with the weather today. Tell your grown up about your picture and have them write what you said at the bottom. Snap a picture and send it to Mrs. Laurus today. 🙂