Dr. Jean's September 2014 Activities

WHEN? Where Do We Find the Time?

With all the expectations and demands of your job, it’s impossible to get everything done. You’ll have one less thing to worry about with these downloads. You can use all of these activities, some of the ideas, or adapt them to meet the special needs of your children and your program. Links for all of the downloads are on the Downloads page using the link at the left and on the next page, too.

From September through the summer, you can choose from the following:

Monthly Reading Calendar - Each month run off a copy of the “Monthly Reading Calendar.” Children place the calendar on their refrigerator and record the number of times they read with their parents.

Activity Calendar

Monthly Activity Calendar - Provide families with the “Monthly Activity Calendar” to encourage them to spend quality time together each day. Indicate upcoming events in your school and community on the calendar.

Activity Calendars in Espanol
These calendars were provided by:
Robin Nichols
Meredith Nicholson School
Indianapolis, IN 46224
Robin wrote, "I hope you will find these useful.  Many thanks go to my ESL assistant, Norma Villafranco, as she is the one who spent many hours translating them for our families and to share with other teachers who have Spanish speaking children in their classrooms."

Thank you for using these activities and downloads in your classroom and with your families. Please do reproduce them, post them on the web, or use them in other ways without written permission from Dr. Jean.

Let’s Explore!
Discovery Walk
Take your child on a feeling walk. Let them touch various objects in nature and describe how they feel. Ask them to close their eyes and try to identify an object in their hands by using their sense of touch. What things do you like to feel? What things do you not like to feel?
Adaptations: Take a listening walk where children close their eyes and identify the sounds in their environment.
Go on a “smelling” walk where children try to identify different smells in nature.

Just for fun, take a “Spooky Walk” one night with a flashlight! Are there different sounds and sights at night?

 

Recipes for FUN!

Send this home with your monthly newsletter or post these ideas on your classroom website. Each month there will be a song, finger play, nursery rhyme, cooking activity, science experiment, craft, and game.

Let’s Sing!     Let’s Say a Nursery Rhyme! Let’s Do a Finger Play!      Let’s Cook! Let’s Explore!     Let’s Make Something! Let’s Play a Game!

There is a newsletter you can send home so parents will know what to expect throughout the year. I know you’ll want to practice the songs, finger plays, and nursery rhymes at school so the children will be familiar with them.

Note! If the children’s families are not English speakers, then it will be important to have these activities translated.

Click below to download:

• the September Reading Calendar           • the September Activity Calendar           • the September Activity Calendar - Spanish           • the family newsletter           • the family newsletter - Spanish

Newsletter translation by:
Gabriela Davila Anaya, St. Joseph School, El Paso, Texas

September Recipes for FUN!
Let’s Sing!

The Wheels on the Bus (Traditional Tune)

The wheels on the bus
Go round and round,
Round and round,
Round and round.
The wheels on the bus
Go round and round,
All around the town.

Wipers – swish, swish, swish…
Horn – beep, beep, beep…
Lights – blink, blink, blink…
Doors – open and shut…
Driver on the bus…”Move on back”…
Children on the bus – bounce up and down…

Help children learn the name of their school and their teacher’s name by changing the words to the song.

The name of my school is (school’s name), (school’s name), (school’s name).
The name of my school is (school’s name). That’s the name of my school.
The name of my teacher is…

Let’s Do a Finger Play!

ME (Children repeat each line after you.)
I’ve got ten little fingers, (Hold up both hands.)
And ten little toes, (Point to feet.)
Two little eyes, (Point to eyes.)
A mouth and a nose. (Point mouth and then nose.)
Put them all together, (Circle arms as if hugging.)
And what have you got? (Hands on hips.)
You’ve got me, baby, (Put thumbs in chest.)
And that’s a lot! (Wiggle hips.)

Let’s Say a Nursery Rhyme!
Jack and Jill
Jack and Jill Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down
And broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.

Here are some additional verses:
Then up got Jack
And said to Jill
As in his arms he took her.
You’re not hurt,
Brush off that dirt.
Now let’s go fetch that water.

Let’s Cook!
Polka Dot Pizza
You will need: 1 English muffin, pizza sauce, sliced pepperoni, mozzarella cheese (grated)
Directions:

1. Wash your hands.
2. Spread 2 tablespoons of sauce on half a muffin.
3. Put 4 slices of pepperoni on top.
4. Sprinkle with cheese.
5. Broil in the oven until the cheese melts.
6. Mama Mia! What a pizza!
Hint! Try other toppings like green peppers or mushrooms.

Let’s Make Something!

Cutting Tub
You will need a plastic tub or shoebox with a lid, plus some safety scissors your child can use. Fill the tub with old catalogs, junk mail, greeting cards, wrapping paper scraps, etc. Supervise your child as she practices cutting items in the tub.
Let her make a collage on a paper plate by gluing shapes she cuts from the paper scraps.

Let’s Play a Game!

I Spy!
You can play this game in the car, outside, or any place you might be. The first player begins by saying, “I spy something that is (name a color).” Family members take turns trying to identify what the object might be. The first one who guesses correctly is the next one to say, “I spy!”

You can adapt this game for shapes. For example, “I spy something that is a square.” Play this game using rhyming words. “I spy something that rhymes with look.” Play this game with beginning sounds. “I spy something that starts with /t/.”