Is it in?

Thursday, January 20, 2011

“Just Fours” Our “four-year-old class” actually now contains two five-year-olds!
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I get to challenge the small group a little more. Part of our morning routine is the Mystery Box. One person opens the Mystery Box to see what’s inside, then the group brainstorms why they think I put it in there, or what it could be. On Thursday, there were two little cards, one with “is” on it, and the other with “IS.” As I’d expected, the word “is” was quickly identified because we use it everyday when we do the weather! Today’s weather is…and is is the smallest word and easiest to find! “Is” was a bit more difficult! Why? The capital I made it look different! (Again, as I’m always saying, reading is a DEVELOPMENTAL skill! Just as you wouldn’t expect all babies to crawl or walk at the exact same time, you can’t expect all children to read at the same time!)
We brainstormed words that start with the short I sound. We looked at pictures of igloos in Jan Brett’s book, The Three Snow Bears.
Later, the children built igloos with sugar cubes and frosting! It was fascinating to watch how each child went about building their structures. Amazingly, they waited and licked their fingers AFTER they were done!!!!
We then play “Gawaine’s Word” (my adaptation of a bit from Between the Lions.) Two children face one another, each on a stick horse. I announce, “Ladies and Gentlemen, on our jousting field today, we have “Lady /i/ and Sir /t./ Let’s cheer for them. As I point to the girl holding the I, everyone says the short I sound. As I point to the boy holding the t, everyone says the sound of t. As I continue to point, each child takes one step closer to the middle, until the I and T are close together, and we’re saying, I,T, I, T, it! The children then enjoy creating sentence with the new word. “IT is my school!’ “You’re IT!” We did the same with in and is. We discovered that the s doesn’t make the same sound you hear at the beginning of sit!
We played games with the words, “Is it in?” “It is in.” We hid lid animals and asked each other the questions!
We sang some songs, and played a round of “Hickey Pickey Bumblebee” (which is really a way to practice syllabication!)
I almost forgot! At the beginning of the day during children’s choice, someone asked if they could make something for their Mom that day, since it was her birthday! We brought out supplies, and some very beautiful cards were made! Some children helped me organize our new tool set! Of course, we ended the day in our favorite place: the snow!