Animal Observations: Herbivores and Carnivores

As children approach summer, encourage observational skills that will keep them engaged and thinking during vacation time. One way to do this is to tap into their natural curiosity about animals. 

Show pictures, videos, or better yet observe birds, squirrels, etc. near your school. Ask children what the birds might be eating. Talk about how some birds eat seeds and berries while other birds pull up worms or snap up an insect for a meal. Use pictures of birds in your area for children to sort showing the types of food the birds prefer. 

Then look at other animals in your community. What do deer eat? See a fox? What might this mammal eat? Children can begin to see that some animals eat plant life while others depend on other types of animals to eat. Children love to hear and repeat "million dollar words." We encourage you to use the terms herbivores (plant eaters) and carnivores (meat eaters) in your discussion. We like to remind children of these words right before they walk out the door so that they have a ready answer for families when asked, "What did you learn at school today?"

Look at pictures of animals such as pandas and elephants. Children will likely be surprised these big animals survive on "vegetables." (Is this a sneaky way to say that vegetables make you big and strong?)

Encourage children to color the pictures of these animals and then add their plant food.  
Feel free to copy and hand out our cute panda and elephant pictures. Click here for pictures. 

You can even make a classroom menu for different animals. We often use this type of activity in our weekly emergent reader offerings. See a sample below:

Encourage children to be on the lookout for animals during the summer months and observe what they eat. This is likely a good time to remind children of an important safety rule: Stay far away from animals in the wild.    

We know many of you have English Language Learners in your classroom. In weeks that lend themselves to ideas for these young learners, we will highlight how you can engage these children, using the information in the post.


FOR ELLs:
Verbalize the sentence frame, "__________ like to eat ____________."

Show pictures of two or more elephants, pandas, robins, cardinals, eagles, puffins, etc. Model for children that these words need an s as they mean more than one. Have children point to the animals and repeat the sentence frame. This will help ELLs with syntax and vocabulary.

Standards Alignment:
NAEYC - 2.D.03, 2.D.04, 2.G.06, & 2.G.08.
Head Start - VIII. A., VIII.B., & XI.B.1.

School Readiness: Affricate Sort

Affricates - what are they? Here are objects with the four affricate sounds.

Jet, chick, truck, and dragon. 

These objects begin with the commonly confused letters j, ch, tr, and dr. As adults, we easily hear the difference between the sounds of these letters/letter combinations. But, for many children just beginning to write, these sounds are easily confused. Children have difficulty hearing the difference between (for example) the j sound and the dr sound, etc. This is often an issue for one-fourth to one-third of a kindergarten or first grade class. How can preschool teachers help?

We can provide easy object sorts for our young learners. For example, have children contrast the beginning sound of j using objects such as jam, jellybean, juice, jar, and jet with objects beginning with tr such as train, tractor, truck, triangle, etc. By asking children to separate (sort) these objects while saying their names, helps children to learn to say the sounds correctly and to begin to distinguish the difference in these phonemes. This is especially important for English Language Learners.    

Continue by comparing the known sound of j with the other affricates: dr and ch. Ideas for those objects include:

dr - 
dragon
dress
drum
dragonfly

ch - 
chick
chair
cherry
chopsticks
chocolate 

After contrasting j with dr and j with ch, then have children compare objects with the tr and ch sound. Continue on, adding 3 categories and finally all four until children can hear and correctly sort all of the objects. Many children easily hear the difference, some hear the sound differences after this type of practice, while other children will need more instruction using pictures of other j, tr, dr, and ch words.  

This may seem like a minor sound difference but it can cause big problems in school. So...help children hear the sound difference now.  

Standards Alignment:
NAEYC -  2.E.06 & 2.E.10.
Head Start -  VII.B. 1 & 3.

Hide and Seek Letters

An important school readiness skill is the ability for children to identify the letters in their name. The first letter of a name is often the first letter a child learns. This is usually in the uppercase or capital form. But we often forget that the other letters should be lowercase. 

Write a child's name in big letters, using a capital letter followed by lowercase letters. Be sure to underline each letter. Have children point to the letters and say their names. 

Then cut this into small pieces of paper. This is why it was important to underline the letters! Children will know the line goes at the bottom. Encourage them to play with the letters and follow an example to put the letters together to form their name. 

Make letters even more fun by dyeing rice. Use a bit of food coloring and set the rice to dry. 

Finally put the rice and letters in a recycled bottle. What fun it is for children to shake the bottle and see the letters of their name! 

Standards Alignment:
NAEYC - 2.E.03 & 2.E.06.
Head Start - VII. C & D.

Making Math Vocabulary Meaningful

An ordinal number tells the position of something in a sequence. Knowing ordinal numbers and understanding how to use them is an important school readiness skill. This is easily accomplished as part of your everyday activities. Use the terms first, second, third, fourth, etc. as you speak with children. 

After children have heard you use the ordinal number terms and orally echoed them, help give this numeracy vocabulary meaning, by asking 3 children to come to the front of the room. Line up children in the first, second, and third place in line. Ask questions such as “Who is second?” or “Who is first?” Let children point to the child who holds the correct place in line. This way you are encouraging all children to participate in responding.

Then have children take a red, blue, and yellow crayon from their crayon boxes. Give specific directions such as “Put the red crayon first in the line.” Continue with all the ordinal numbers, from first to eighth as children grasp understanding. 

Extend the math talk in meaningful ways throughout your day. For example, when children line up for recess or lunch, ask questions such as, “Who is seventh in line?” 

We also like to integrate math talk with books. Favorites such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle help children make meaningful connections with sequencing and math vocabulary. 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is perfect for learning the days of the week, but it is also helpful as you can encourage children to use ordinal numbers when discussing the caterpillar's meals throughout the week.

Have each child draw a picture of what the caterpillar ate. Assign a day to each child. Then make a line and have children say, "First the caterpillar ate an apple, second he ate two pears, etc." This reinforces the idea of sequence and allows for math vocabulary practice in a developmentally-appropriate way.

Standards Alignment:

NAEYC - 2.F.02 & 2.F.04,

Head Start - X.A. 1 & 2.

More Alphabetic Poetry

As Poetry Month draws to a close, we wanted to offer you a few more letter "ditties." We like to teach the alphabet in order of letters that are easy to recognize and have a consistent sound. This is why we don't start with a. This letter has many sounds ranging from short to schwa. Begin instead with letters like m, s, and t. Children can count on these letters to sound the same. As they recite the poems, have them write the letters in the air. You will also note that these little poems all have an environmental theme that you can connect to Earth Day. 

Who Am I? A Turtle! 

M is for me or my, you see,

This is my home, where I like to be.

I sit, I swim, I splash, it’s fun,

S is my special place in the sun.

My name starts with T – what am I?

A turtle on a log, warm and dry.

Continue on with other consistent letters.  

 Clean Animal Homes!

R is for river, fish and birds like it lots.

For animals, too, it’s a watering spot.

A raccoon finds its food near the water at night.

A raptor spies its meal from a high-flying flight.

There’s food in a river for fish who swim fast.

They eat little bits of plants they swim past.

So F is for fish and the food that they eat.

A clean river gives animals their tasty, good treat.

But something might show up in rivers, it’s sad.

L is for litter, a thing that is bad.

Throw trash in a bin, keep away that litter,

Help rivers stay clean for every animal critter. 

Standards Alignment:

NAEYC -2.E.05, 2.E.06, & 2.G.06.
Head Start - VII. B & E., XI. B. 

Poetry Month: Celebrate with Letter Poems!

It's always fun when Poetry Month rolls around as simple rhyming stanzas help children get the sound of language in their ears. It's fun to combine this component of phonemic awareness, alphabet letter writing, and even science into one small poem. Below we have written a poem that highlights those pesky lowercase letters "with tails." We know they are difficult for children to form, as they often do not want to "go below the lines." Hopefully this little ditty will help them remember how to form these letters. 

P is for perch, parrot, and polar bear.

These animals all have a tail to wear.

A peacock’s tail is big and bright.

A penguin’s tail can be tucked out of sight.

Some letters have tails, that fact is true.

Help me name them, why don’t you?

The lowercase p goes below the line.

g, j, q, and y have the same design.

 

You can see that the rhyming words help with phonemic awareness AND children are reminded of letters with tails. Then...launch into a discussion of animal tails, your science lesson!

For more on poetry for emerging readers, be sure you are signed up for our free activities -  box in right corner!

Standards Alignment:
NAEYC -2.E.05, 2.E.06, & 2.G.06.
Head Start - VII. B & E., XI. B. 

Organizational Tips for the Preschool Classroom

Organization! You know it's the key to a valuable experience for your preschoolers and for you. What are some tips that might help you? We've listed a few below and will keep adding to this list.

Messy bookshelves are common in many classrooms. Avoid upside down books, a disheveled shelf, and children who can't make a book choice by keeping all books in bins. I like to get various colors, for example blue for science, red for animal stories, yellow for information, etc. Then, I put small stickers on the cover of each book to designate which bin is the book's home. This helps with organization and teaches children to put materials back in a specific place, but in a child-friendly way.

I like when children can carry a bin of books to the carpet and look through all of them. By having books arranged by topic, children begin to learn about different categories of literature. This is an age-appropriate introduction to genre.

In talking with a preschool teacher, she noted that despite years of experience she made an error when buying a new carpet. She pointed out that it did not have easily discernible spaces for children to sit. This is an important consideration when buying or "adopting" a classroom carpet. When each child has their space, fewer irritations will occur.

Here is one of my favorite tips. Have you ever looked around and wondered who is in the bathroom and how long he or she has been gone? Use a teddy bear duo to help.

Have children take a bear and put it on their seat at the table. This way you can see at a glance who is using the restroom and make a mental note of how long the child has been away. This has worked wonders in my classrooms over the years!

Standards Alignment:
NAEYC - 2.A.07 & 2.A.08
Head Start - II. A. & B.