Vv is for Vets and Pets

I've moved phonics to the first thing we do Monday and Tuesday.  This allows us to talk about our new theme before we learn our letter.  I've enjoyed the conversations about my students' pets.

During phonics, I have a letter puppet that comes alive.  This time it was Victor the Vulture, which let me teach children a little about vultures, because many children don't know what they are.  Every week, I show a 10 second clip of the letter of the day from Leap Frog's "Letter Factory".  I show pictures and their words.  I also have a kit with things that start with the letter.  Here is a photo of the children looking at the letter Vv objects like a video camera:

Here are the children during our writing time working with the letter Vv Wikki Stix cards:

After writing, the children have a snack and then play outside:

After the children come inside, they wash up, read books, and listen to a story that matches our theme.  This week the books were both about children wanting a pet, but the parent having a reason why the child couldn't have a pet.  In both books, the children come up with a solution.  I wish I could have found a good book about a veterinarian.

After our story, we did our center, which on day one was to do tricks with the dogs with dog treats:

After our center, the children had circle time.  here is a picture of one of my students pretending to be a teacher:

On the second day, we have art.  For art we did the first part on a project that is a secret.  It is supposed to be a gift for both Mom and Dad.  Mother's Day is in May, but unfortunately Father's Day is on a day when we aren't here.  I am going to combine Mother's Day and Father's Day and turn it into Parent Appreciation Day.  I want to plan something special and the art that the children did this week is a gift to the parents.  I took pictures of the children painting, but blurred out the project.

On Friday we talked about "same" and "different" as we sorted ocean animals into color and animal groups.  We also did counting during this activity.

I ordered some vestibular cushions, which helps the children put their wiggles in the cushions, so they can concentrate while sitting in circle time.  This was the first day that we used them.  Here are the children sorting while sitting on their special cushions:

One of our students had a birthday this week.  Here is our celebration:

Our box of mystery wrapped birthday presents.

The children said that the stack of brownies reminded them of a volcano (v is for volcano).

passing out goodies to the other children

Sharing pictures

Other activities we did this week were: review letters through a game, build two words (vet and van), count the days on a calendar, sing some songs, and continue to build friendships.

We are going on a two week spring break and will be back on April 8th, so look for our blog after April 12th on our theme: "Kk is for Kites".