Week of November 5-9

Monday

• We made our very own Dinosaur books today.
• We reviewed Dinosaur facts that we have learned so far.
• We learned about the Parasaurlophus, a plant eating dinosaur.
• We learned some new Dinosaur poems and songs today!
• We have begun talking about The First Thanksgiving. We are learning what children were like during colonial times.

Books We Read Today

" SkippyJon Jones and the Big Bones" Judy Shachner

"Danny and the Dinosaur" by Syd Hoff

Tuesday

• Today we learned about Saturn. Saturn is a beautiful gas planet with rings. It has 33 moons (possibly more)!
• We learned to do connect the dots puzzles from #'s 1-15. We made our very own rockets to fly to Saturn.
• We added Saturn to our planet books! Only three planets left!
• We practiced our Turkey poems and songs today. Make sure to check out the Turkey handprints in our hallway!

Wedesday

• Today we learned about egg laying animals today.
• Dinosaurs were reptiles, which means they layed eggs! Other animals that lay eggs include: insects, fish and amphibians.
• We added the Brontosaurus to our dinosaur books.
• We ate delicious fruity dinosaurs! Yum!
• We are continuing our study about what children were like in the 1600s at the time of the First Thanksgiving.

Books We Read Today

" Chickens Aren't the Only Ones" By Ruth Heller

October 22-October 26th

Monday
Discover Dinosaurs
Today we learned about the Anatasaurus, a duckbilled herbivore from the cretaceous period.
We made our own dinosaur skeletons out of Popsicle sticks.
Today begins Red Ribbon Week. Say No To Drugs! Say Yes to School!
We discussed and drew pictures showing all the nasty things smoking causes, including:
Halitosis (bad breath), hairy tongue (a disease that turns the tongue black), coughing, lack of energy, damaged taste buds and poor circulation! Smoking puts children at higher risk for asthma and bronchitis. It also smells bad and stains clothes and furniture!
We worked on our “Smoking Is Bad” poster. We are proud to be drug free!!!
Today we practiced rhyming. Give your child a word and see what they can rhyme it with. (Example – cat/hat, cow/now, tree/see)
Books We Read:
“Dinosaur Days” by Joyce Milton

Tuesday
Space Adventure
We learned about Saturn, the ringed planet!
We practiced hula hoping. The hula hoops remind us of the rings around Saturn, and it’s a great way to stay healthy!
We read about astronauts. Astronauts have to keep their bodies in top condition. Drugs and alcohol are out of the question for anyone who wants to visit outer space!
We tried “Tang”, an orange drink mix that astronauts drink.
Books We Read Today:
“Astronauts” and “The Moon” by Carmen Bredeson
“Space Explorers” by Joanna Cole

Wednesday
Discover Dinosaurs
Today we dug for dinosaurs! We learned that Paleontologists have to work very hard and be very patient to dig for dinosaur bones.
We are all going to say Yes to staying in school, because when we Say yes to school and no to drugs we can be anything we want to be when we grow up!
Books We Read Today
“What Is A Fossil” by Meish Goldish
“Dinosaur Roar” by Paul and Henrietta Stickland

Thursday
Space Adventure
Today we learned about rockets!
We continued our discussion about saying yes to school and no to drugs! We have big dreams, so we have to take good care of our bodies and our minds!
We designed our own space shuttles!
We practiced tying our shoes. The kids are really getting good at this!
Books We Read Today:
“Rockets and Spaceships” by Karen Wallace

Space Songs and Finger Plays

Four Little StarsFour little stars winking at me.
One shot off, then there were three!
Three little stars With nothing to do.
One shot off, Then there were two!
Two little stars Afraid of the sun.
One shot off, Then there was one!
One little star Alone is no fun.
It shot off, then there was none!

Climb Aboard The Spaceship (sung to Itsy Bitsy Spider)
Climb aboard the spaceship, We're going to the moon.
Hurry and get ready, We're going to blast off soon.
Put on your helmets And buckle up real tight.
Here comes the countdown, Let's count with all our might.
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1---BLAST OFF!!

Space Action Song (sung to London Bridge)
The planets spin around the sun,Around the sun, around the sun.
The planets spin around the sun,We live on earth!
The sun is found in the middle,In the middle, in the middle.
The sun is found in the middle,It keeps us warm!
The stars are twinkling far away,Far away, far away.The stars are twinkling far away,Now make a wish.

I’m A Little Robot (I'm a Little teapot)
I'm a little robot, watch me walk,
Push my button, now I can talk.
When I get all oiled up I can work.
Even if I have to jerk.
I'm a little robot, watch me go,
Sometimes fast, sometimes slow
When I get all worn out you can see,
All I need is a new battery.

October 15th - October 19th

Monday
Discover Dinosaurs
We learned about the “King” of the dinosaurs, the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
We learned about dinosaur teeth. A carnivore is a meat-eating animal. An herbivore is a plant eating animal. An omnivore (like humans) eats both plants and animals.
We practiced sounding out words from the Kindergarten Word list.
We reviewed AB patterns.
Books We Read:
“How Do Dinosaurs Go to School” by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

Tuesday
Space Adventure
We learned about Mars, the red planet today. Mars is planet #4!
Mars is the planet closest to and most like Earth. It is the only planet that scientists believe once had water. Many people have written stories and plays imagining life on Mars. Someday astronauts hope to visit Mars. We imagined what we would say if we met an alien on Mars.
We practiced writing our name neatly. Names always begin with a capital letter.
Books We Read Today:
“All About Space” a Scholastic Encyclopedia

Wednesday
Discover Dinosaurs
Today we learned about the anklyosaurus. The anklyosaurus is a four legged herbivore that lived during the cretaceous period about 65 million years ago.
Anklyosaurus begins with the vowel “A”. “A” makes two sounds because it is a vowel, so sometimes letter “A” says its name like in the word anklyosaurus.
We played “Dinosaur, Dinosaur, Where’s your bone?”
We practiced rhyming with Moe and Joe the Triceratops brothers.
We practiced learning to tie our shoes.
Books We Read Today:
“Dinosaur Detectives” by Joanna Cole
“How do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food”
“How do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon” by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

Thursday

Today we learned about Jupiter – the largest planet
We counted backwards from 10-1 just like the astronauts countdown for a space launch.
We learned new planet songs and poems.
We practiced counting to 100 by 1’s, 5’s and 10’s.
We continued learning to tie our shoes. The kids are doing very well! We are so proud. Ask them to show you what they have learned at home.
Books We Read Today:
“Space Explorers” by Joanna Cole


Everyday we try to review some of what your child is learning in school including: AB patterns, sounding out words, ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc), the letter of the week, vowels and letter and number recognition.

Week of October 8-12

Monday
Discover Dinosaurs
We learned that Dinosaur means “Terrible Lizard” and other Dino Facts!
We started our “Dinosaur Books”. Our first Dinosaur is the Pterodactyl, a flying dinosaur.
We also practiced spelling our color words and sounding out words such as log, hog, tot, pot, lot, hop, pop and top.
Books We Read:
“Dinosaurs Before Dark” by Mary Pope Osborn
“Dinosaurs Forever” A book of Dinosaur Poems
Tuesday
Space Adventure
We learned about Venus today
Venus is the second planet from the sun
We made a small volcano like the volcanoes on Venus
We made a human solar system
We started our “Solar System Books”.
We are learning a special song to help us remember the planets in order.
Books We Read Today:
Magic School Bus “Space Explorers” by Joanna Cole

Wednesday
Discover Dinosaurs
Today we learned about the Triceratops, a dinosaur with three horns.
We also learned that Tri means 3 (like tricycle, triangle and of course triceratops).
We practiced writing the number three and drew pictures of three things.
We also got some good practice writing our name three times.
Books We Read Today:
“Dinosaur Detectives” by Joanna Cole

Thursday
Space Adventure
Today we learned about our favorite planet – EARTH!
We learned how important it is to take care of our earth, because it is the ONLY planet we can live on.
Earth is not the biggest planet or the smallest planet. It is not the hottest planet or the coldest planet. It is right in the middle, and it is just perfect for us. Earth is the only planet that has three forms of water. It is also the only planet with plants and wonderful things for us to eat!
We added an Earth page to our solar system books.

We practiced counting to one hundred and used leggos to practice making AB patterns.
Books We Read Today:
“Dinosaurs to the Rescue” by Marc Brown (a book about taking care of our planet)

Make a Book About the Planets

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/activities/coloring/

Space Ideas

• Magic School Bus "Lost In Outer Space"
• Magic School Bus " Space Explorers"
• Magic School Bus Space Adventures DVD
• Planets Song by Dr. Jean

"I bought a Mercury to visit friends on Venus, but how on Earth can I ever get to Mars? Jumping Jupiter, Saturn's Party is Saturday. Uranus and Neptune can ride in Pluto's car."

• Drink Tang like the astronauts
• Allow children to play the part of the planets and create a human solar system
  
• Create an outer space model from clay, balls, balloons, etc

Planet Ratios and Colors

Mercury – Marble
Venus-Walnut
Earth-Golf ball
Mars-Acorn
Jupiter-Basketball
Saturn - Soccer ball
Uranus-Soft ball
Neptune - Small grapefruit
Pluto - Kidney bean

Scale Model
Sun – 36 inches yellow or orange
Mercury – 1/8 inch orange or grey
Venus – ¼ inch yellow
Earth – ¼ inch blue, green, brown
Mars – 1/8 inch red
Jupiter – 3 ½ inches yellow, brown, red and white
Saturn – 3 inches yellow
Uranus – 1 ¼ inches green
Neptune – 1 1/8 inch blue
Pluto – 1/16 inch yellow

Week of October 1-5

Monday
Autumn
What Do We See In Autumn?
Pumpkins and Apples
Leaves Fall and Change Color
We took a nature walk and made nature collages
We did leaf “rubbings”
Dinosaurs
What If We Had a Dinosaur for a pet?
What would we feed it? Where would it sleep? What would it play with?
Books We Read
“I Wanna Iguana” by Karen Kaufman Orloff
“How Do Dinosaurs Learn to Read?” by Jane Yolen

Tuesday
We learned that there are 9 planets that revolve around the sun.
We drew 9 planets and imagined visiting outer space
We continued our discussion about Autumn and looked at fall pictures.

Books We Read
“The Magic School Bus – Lost In the Solar System” by Joanna Cole
“Apples”, “Pumpkins”, and “Leaves” all by Melvin and Gilda Berger

Wednesday
We learned the word “Paleontologist”
A paleontologist is a person that studies what life was like before people such as when dinosaurs roamed the earth!
We collected things to view with a magnifying glass like a paleontologist.
We put together a puzzle with no picture and discussed the way paleontologists solve “puzzles”.
We discussed and looked at some tools used by paleontologists
Books We Read
“Dinosaurs Before Dark” by Mary Pope Osborn
“I Love You Stinky Face” by Lisa McCourt

Thursday
Studied Mercury
We learned that the Sun is the Center of the Solar System
We learned that Mercury is the closest Planet to the Sun
We studied Mercury Facts
We took home yellow balloons with the reminder that the Sun is the center of the solar system
We used baloons to compare the size of Mercury and Earth
We started learning the Planets song by Dr. Jean