Shadows and Reflections Week 2

Please note the blogs have been posted for the next two weeks as well as a recap of this past week.
Thank you.

Week of April 10th

Shadows and Reflections: In this unit, children explore shadows and reflections using observations, experiments, and books to learn about what makes a shadow and a reflection. During story time, children will hear about a girl playing by a still pond, a puppy who thinks he is a kitten, a crocodile collecting reflections in a pail, a sleepy boy who sees a shadow save a cat, and a raccoon who has an adventure with only his reflection as company. Children will continue to learn about letters, letter sounds, and counting concrete objects.

Theme Concepts for this Unit

• Reflections are images thrown back from a shiny surface
• There must be light, or there can be no reflection
• Mirrors and still water reflect light well; dull surfaces do not
• If water is moving, its reflections are blurry and crooked
• Objects are opaque, translucent or transparent
• Shadows are dark areas made when an object blocks light
• The sizes of shadows vary, depending on how close an object is to the light source.

Books for the week:

Puddle Pail by Elisa Kleven

Raccoon on His Own by Jim Arnosky

Small Groups:

• Making Collections - Students will group frogs, lizards and snakes into categories and compare their collections
• Exploring mirrors
• Creating patterns with animals from our stories

Choice time

Art Table: Puddle Pail Collection

Easel: Painting animals

Adding to our pond

Library Area: Stories about animals

Making a Raccoon

Math: Tallying animals

Shadows and Reflections - Week 1

Week of March 30- April 3rd

Reminders: Book Backpacks are due on Tuesday March 31st

There is not school on Friday April 3rd in observance of Good Friday. Have a great long weekend!

This week we will begin our next unit, Shadows and Reflections. In this unit, children explore shadows and reflections using observations, experiments, and books to learn about what makes a shadow and a reflection. During story time, children will hear about a girl playing by a still pond, a puppy who thinks he is a kitten, a crocodile collecting reflections in a pail, a sleepy boy who sees a shadow save a cat, and a raccoon who has an adventure with only his reflection as company. Children will continue to learn about letters, letter sounds, and counting concrete objects.

Theme Concepts for this Unit

• Reflections are images thrown back from a shiny surface
• There must be light, or there can be no reflection
• Mirrors and still water reflect light well; dull surfaces do not
• If water is moving, its reflections are blurry and crooked
• Objects are opaque, translucent or transparent
• Shadows are dark areas made when an object blocks light
• The sizes of shadows vary, depending on how close an object is to the light source.

Books for the week:

Play with Me by: Marie Hall Ets

Raccoon on His Own by Jim Arnosky

Small Groups:

• Letter Matching with the words shadows and reflections
• We will be taking a walk to the science center to see animals. Then we will document what each person saw with a self portrait for our wall.
• Animal Memory - Variations of this game will include beginning sound animal memory, and beginning letter animal memory

Choice time

Art Table: Decorating Frames for mirrors

Manipulatives: Woodland Creature puzzles

Library Area: Animals

Sensory Table: bubbles

Dramatic Play: Playing Vet

Rug Toy: Legoes

Class Mural - Students will work together to create a pond with the different animals that live in that habitat. We will post pictures of this project as it develops.

Exciting Opportunity: The Lucky Ducks were able to attend a performance of Music Man performed by the high school. Great job to all!

Exciting Opportunity:  The Lucky Ducks were able to attend a performance of Music Man performed by the high school.  Great job to all!

OWL Unit 4 Week 5 

This week we finished “The World of Color” unit. Children will learn about color: color names, color mixing, staining, fading, camouflage and color patterns. Stories for this unit include, a story about a dog that stains his white coat, a lion who paints pictures, a boy who gets special letters from his grandmother,  and a rabbit who wants to buy a special shirt. Children will increase their vocabulary about color and explore colors and patterns directly. We will continue to learn about letters and sounds, including rhyming words. Here are the theme concepts for this unit:

• Color is one thing that makes our world beautiful. Talk about different colors you can see in your child’s environment
• Color can vary information
• Paints and dyes are used to color other things and are mixed up to make new colors.
• Different substances can cause stains of different colors
• Sun and washing often bleach colors, making them fade
• Color is an identifying feature of many natural things.

Week of March 23-27th

Book for the week:

Dear Juno by Soyung Pak

The Lion and the Red Bird

Teeny Tiny Mouse

Small Groups:

• Rainbow tracing names
• Following direction coloring page
• Mouse positional book

Choice time

Art Table: making daisies

Library Area: Books about color

Sensory Table: Molding sand

Dramatic Play: Dress Up

Rug Toy: Farms

Coloring Playdough

OWL Unit 4 Week 4

OWL Unit 4 Week 4

March 16-20

A special visit from the Science Center on Wednesday.

This week we will continue our “The World of Color” unit. Children will learn about color: color names, color mixing, staining, fading, camouflage and color patterns. Stories for this unit include, a story about a dog that stains his white coat, a lion who paints pictures, a boy who gets special letters from his grandmother,  and a rabbit who wants to buy a special shirt. Children will increase their vocabulary about color and explore colors and patterns directly. We will continue to learn about letters and sounds, including rhyming words. Here are the theme concepts for this unit:

• Color is one thing that makes our world beautiful. Talk about different colors you can see in your child’s environment
• Paints and dyes are used to color other things and are mixed up to make new colors.
• Different substances can cause stains of different colors
• Sun and washing often bleach colors, making them fade
• Color is an identifying feature of many natural things.

Book Backpacks are due on TUESDAY March 17th!

Books for the week:

The Lion and the Little Red Bird by Elisa Kleven

Dear Juno by Soyung Pak

Dog's Colorful Day - Emma Dodd

Small Groups:

• Painting Pictures with berries just like the Lion and the Little Red Bird
• Sequencing Dog's Colorful Day

Choice Time

*Special Activity* - The Lucky Ducks will mix two primary colors to make a new color in playdough that they will then take home.

Art Table: Coloring paper towels

Easel: Shamrocks

Library Area: Books about color

Math: Spill the Bears - Counting bears with 1 to 1 correspondence

Sensory Table: sorting objects by color

Rug- Tinker Toys

Dramatic Play: Kitchen

Songs, Word Play and Letters

Color Train

Rainbow of Colors

OWL Unit 4 Week 3

March 9-13

This week we will continue our “The World of Color” unit. Children will learn about color: color names, color mixing, staining, fading, camouflage and color patterns. Stories for this unit include, a story about a dog that stains his white coat, a lion who paints pictures, a boy who gets special letters from his grandmother,  and a rabbit who wants to buy a special shirt. Children will increase their vocabulary about color and explore colors and patterns directly. We will continue to learn about letters and sounds, including rhyming words. Here are the theme concepts for this unit:

• Color is one thing that makes our world beautiful. Talk about different colors you can see in your child’s environment
• Paints and dyes are used to color other things and are mixed up to make new colors.
• Different substances can cause stains of different colors
• Sun and washing often bleach colors, making them fade
• Color is an identifying feature of many natural things.

Book Backpacks are due on TUESDAY March 10th!

Books for the week:

The Lion and the Little Red Bird by Elisa Kleven

Cat's Colors by Jane Cabrera

Dog's Colorful Day - Emma Dodd

Small Groups:

• Making pictures match the words in a color book
• Things that melt
• Sequencing Dog's Colorful Day

Choice Time

Art Table:

Easel: Dog with bingo markers

Library Area: Books about color

Math: Spill the Bears - Counting bears with 1 to 1 correspondenceSensory Table: sorting objects by color

Writing Table: making colorful pictures

Rug- Build -a- Road

Dramatic Play: Ice Cream Shop

Songs, Word Play and Letters

Color Train

Rainbow of Colors