Wild Wild West Week In The Four's Room

We began our focus on the alphabet today. Each week we will introduce a new letter. We follow-up the introduction with something called "The Big Event". This is where we plan an activity to go along with the letter that aids in comprehension. The thinking is that if we involve all (or multiple) senses in the learning process, the children are more apt to grasp it being that everyone learns differently. Our Big Event today include our "Feely Box". Inside were items that started with "F" as well as a few other items. Each child had an opportunity to reach inside the box (looks like an elephant) and identify the item. They had to say its name aloud and tell us if the beginning sound was an "F" or not.

After the Big Event, the kiddos try their hand at writing the letter. At this stage in the game, many need help just holding the pencil correctly. When this comes to them, they will be home free ... and it will come. If you want to work at home, look at this video for a quick, easy way to help them understand the grip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM_dia8QGr0&feature=related

Given the Wild West involved horses (we briefly told them about the earlier days' mode of transportation). The children divided into two groups of 9 and we played a "rodeo" game of sorts. The horses were made of cardstock and mounted on a colored popsicle stick. The lasso was a pipe cleaner. The kids had to "lasso" a horse. Then they counted how many were left and identified the color of the horse.

We also crafted our very own horse made of construction paper, yarn and clothespins. These are drying and will likely come home on Wednesday.

We read a book about the wind (it gets windy in the wild west). The little boy in the story referred to the wind as his friend. He talked of all the things the wind can do with him: fly balloons (and steal them), provide assistance with kite flying, help blow bubbles, blow tall grass and dry clothes on a line. They made some predictions as we read about where the balloon might end up, etc.

Our priceless purple people got to meet Madame Smail today! It was her first trip to our country since last school year. She showed up with Tigre (her tiger puppet who also wears a beret). She entertained the kids ... as per usual.

Finally, our science lesson was about observation. The kiddos were invited to find an item in the room and take it to their seats. They carefully examined the item for a minute then were asked some questions about the item's attributes. Again, examining these items helps them pay attention to detail which will aid them in language arts as well as math. These scientific observations came home in your mail today.

We wanted to thank you for reading our blog and for all the lovely comments. They are much appreciated. Also, knowing you are reading it is nice. We really pack a lot into our day and it's so hard for the little ones to convey everything. We are thinking this blog is a great communication tool ... and fun to review.