Forest Animals and Trains

We've been talking about forest animals this week.  Yesterday we passed around "Peter" our talking stick  (When we get the stick we get to talk, otherwise it's our turn to listen :))   and we each had to think of an animal that lives in the forest.  We came up with hawks, deer, skunks, squirrels, bears, rabbits, owls, raccoons,and ducks.  We also came up with elephants, giraffes, sharks and zebras.  That turned into a good conversation about "zoo animals" and "forest animals".  It also turned into a conversation about different locations of forests and wild animals versus tame animals. Aftter all that we decided that we were going to talk about forests that are in Wisconsin.   

I like to brainstorm with young children because it gets them thinking, turns their minds on, unlocks ideas and helps develop their creativity.  It also introduces concepts such as same and different.  The kids were encouraged to come up with different animals than their friends, but some of them really wanted to list the same animal.  As the kids said their ideas, I listed them on the whiteboard.  This modeled the forming of letters and words.  As I wrote the word I broke it down into sounds (phonemes) and asked the kids to help me figure out what letters make those sounds. 

I've noticed during activity times that many of the kids are trying to write various words on their own now.  It might be fun to provide a notebook and crayons, markers, stencils, etc. at home so the kids can explore forming letters and trying to put sounds together on their own.  I'd  encourage anything your child adds to the notebook, scribbles are the very first stage of writing!  To learn more about the stages of writing visit this link.

http://www.uab.edu/education/studentteaching/images/docs/student/developmentalstagesofwriting.pdf

We heard two stories about raccoons in class.  One was called The Kissing Hand and the other was A Pocketful of Kisses both by Audrey Penn. These are great stories about family that take place in a forest setting.  If you're not familiar with them, here's a link to view the stories.

http://youtu.be/0URlsHiPy10

http://youtu.be/a8qIaS7R5-U

We've read the stories but haven't seen the videos, it might be fun to do this at home with your child!

During activity time we started to make racoon headbands.  When we all finish making them we'll take them home.

During morning activity time on Wednesday, we were busy playing with Lincoln logs, Weebles, magnetic people, coloring raccoons, retelling the 3 Billy Goats Gruff on the flannel board and working in the kitchen.  Then we had lots of fun sharing what we brought in for show and tell!

Our theme for show and tell this week was "The Forest."  We had a humming bird's nest still in it's branches, a larger birds nest, pine cones, pictures of real bears and maps where bears live, stuffed forest animals like bunnies, bears, and ducks, and books about forests.  Show and tell is such a good way to help kids develop vocabulary, comfort and confidence in public speaking, and it always generates lots of class discussion too!  

I brought in a book about Black Bears with real pictures of a baby bear who goes for a walk in the forest.  After we read that, it was time for snack, music, and recess.  When we came in from recess we found Parker's Dad setting up a train in our classroom!!

Parker was "Maple Leaf" of the Week.  He brought in yummy train cookies yesterday that he and his mom made and frosted.  We ate those right up....they were delicious!!  Today his mom, dad and little sister came in to visit with the class.  They brought in Parker's train set and showed us how it worked!  Then we each got a turn to move the train forwards, in reverse and make a whistle sounds and a bell sound...so cool.  Thanks Parker and his family for helping us learn about trains and making the week so fun!