tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79125755991515097932024-03-13T11:54:15.358-07:00Chipmunk ChatterChippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-38576318918624389402009-04-13T17:11:00.000-07:002009-04-13T17:15:25.167-07:00Today the Chipmunks voted on what book they would like to read at circle. The choices were, "Goodnight Moon," "I Want To Be An Astronaut," and "Happy Birthday Moon." Each child was given a colored cube and placed the cube on the book of choice. "I Want to Be An Astronaut," garnered the most votes. After reading and noticing that both boys and girls are astronauts, we counted down and blasted off to our playground.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-28091505504461585712009-04-05T15:41:00.000-07:002009-04-05T15:51:04.248-07:00On Thursday, April 2, we learned a new song called, "All Aboard The Space Ship," where we count down and blast off in our rocket ships. A book about the moon was read and there was a mixed response from the Chipmunks as to who would like to go up to the moon in a space ship. Some are content to look at it in the evening sky without making a visit. <br /><br />On Friday, we read a book called, "Rain," and noticed the clouds coming our way. One of the high school students shared a book she created with a song about the planets. We marched around the room, playing our rhythm sticks and singing, "The Ants Go Marching." The "ants" were quite energetic and were half running/half marching, as if they knew it was Friday.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-34916045491436461252009-03-26T17:07:00.000-07:002009-03-26T17:17:21.276-07:00Today at our large group we played a game called, "The Old Grey Cat Is Sleeping," where half of the children are sleeping cats and half are creeping mice. It is a game that teaches children to work in teams and also to wait for their cue to sleep, creep, nibble, stretch or run. Teams switch to experience life inside and outside of the mouse hole.<br /><br />At circle we used our thumbs to chant "Two Little Blackbirds," and "Jack and Jill." There is a twist to Jack and Jill so that after they fall down, Jill gets up, helps Jack brush off the dirt, go back up the hill, retrieve the water and present it to Mom or Dad. We learned a new song, "Elevator," where, as elevators, we count the floors as we use our bodies, starting with a squat and ending with arms stretched high; then we reverse. It's a good muscle strengthening activity.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-76531730363843599202009-03-26T16:25:00.000-07:002009-03-26T16:53:30.857-07:00On Monday, March 23, the teachers and I went to a conference and workshop run by the Preschool Association of Lexington. It was a delightful and enlightening experience. I had so much fun bringing some new and old ideas back to our circle group on Tuesday and Wednesday. One workshop that I went to was presented by Hugh Hanley. The workshop was called "Songs for Circle Time or Anytime". So the Chipmunks had a great time learning the new songs and rhymes that I had just heard. "Sticky Sticky Bubble <br />Gum" and "Blow The Balloon" were loved by all. I will continue to use Hugh Hanley's music because it really is an engaging mix of "hands-on" songs, fingerplays and music activities. What a wonderful way to have fun and learn the enrichment of music. Feel free to come by and have a sing a long with the Chipmunks! This is a personal invitation from Mrs. Sullivan.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-35040866552674182182009-03-15T17:43:00.000-07:002009-03-15T17:59:43.938-07:00On Friday we played a game at circle, "Sleeping Giants/Waking Giants." Friday tends to be a high energy day, so we had a chance to jump as the waking giants, and then sleep as the quiet giants. Children like to pretend they are asleep and then bounce up following a direction. We also played, "The King/Queen Says," and had a chance to order each other around (instead of "Simon Says.")<br /><br /><br />On Thursday we practiced our sign language by singing "This Is The Way We Say Hello," using our hands and voices as we change hello to stop, more, and I love you. We learned a new song, "Wise Old Owl," because two of our chipmunks are very fond of owls. We looked at a language chart with "Humpty Dumpty,"; I point to the words and pictures as we say the rhyme, reinforcing the idea that print carries the message. After reading, "There's No Such Thing as A Dragon," we played a guessing game called, "Dragon, Dragon, Where's Your Bone," where one child is the sleeping dragon and another child takes the bone. Of course, many children like to confess that the bone is in their possession before the dragon has time to guess, or some like to be the reporters and blurt out the name of the bone hider.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-22731990680373984562009-03-15T12:55:00.000-07:002009-03-15T13:50:44.835-07:00Tuesday March 10<br /><br /><br />I think one of the most enjoyable themes we explore every year is the "fairy tale" theme. The whole concept of fairy tales just tickles your imagination and leads you on to remembering and retelling our old favorite nursery rhymes. <br />On Tuesday we recited "Humpty Dumpty" while visually playing out the story with the characters on our felt board. Later on at activity time I found the children going back to the felt board and reciting the rhyme by themselves.<br /><br />Wednesday March 11<br /><br />On Wednesday we read the book "Ten Cats Have Hats". This is a rhyming book which has the children count up to ten. For the fun of it, I gave each child a paper painter's hat with which they could tap their hats to the numbers in the story. For example, when the book said "ten cats have hats" the children touched their caps 10 times. Afterwards, the children personalized their hats with markers and crayons.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-44419932345670348962009-03-09T16:53:00.000-07:002009-03-09T17:00:50.984-07:00Today at circle we sang "Mary Had A Little Lamb," and "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep,"; it's funny how the old nursery rhyme songs still resonate with children today. Since it is fairy tale month, I told a flannel board story of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff," who, as you may know were very hungry and looked longingly at the grassy meadow on the other side of the bridge. The bridge was guarded by a troll; children have a natural bent toward the idea of good and evil;so this story always captivates. Ask your child what happened to the troll. It will make for interesting conversation.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-30777709754649768772009-03-08T14:02:00.000-07:002009-03-08T15:40:39.561-07:00On Thursday, March 5, we sang songs using rhythm sticks; children enjoy the sticks, something to hold, as well as learning the art of keeping time to music. I introduced a new song, "Come to the Castle," as a way of highlighting our fairy tale theme. We then read a book, "The Wolf's Chicken Stew," about a wolf who longs for chicken stew, but wants to fatten up the chicken before digging in to his dinner. After baking 100 donuts and pancakes and an enormous cake, he believes the chicken will be quite ready for the stew. To his consternation the chicken greets him at her door and all the little chicks kiss and hug "Uncle Wolf." So, he acclimates to his role of uncle and we presume adopts a chicken-free diet. <br /><br />On Friday, March 6, we heard "Make Way For Ducklings," read in the library. The children listened and learned about the mallard ducks searching for a home and about Boston's swan boats, a great family outing. Later on in the day we had a group time about recycling and using cloth bags, as each child took an item from a cloth bag and placed it in the recycling bin. Spring is almost here, so we also had a chance to look at a forsythia branch that we will watch bloom inside.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-67740585196735678652009-03-02T11:08:00.000-08:002009-03-02T11:25:21.943-08:00On Friday the Chipmunks sing a song called, "We're going to Mexico," which involves clapping and other hand motions. Someone wants to go to the park, rather than Mexico, so we sing again. We join in a chant, "Five Little Monkeys," with a hand puppet glove with one monkey on each finger. Mr. Alligator approaches and one by one the monkeys are snatched up by the gator. Suspense builds. Even though we know what is coming, we still get excited. Finally, there are no monkeys left. Well, it is a fun way to count and learn subtraction and the children seem to get that this is, after all, just a pretend game. We move our chairs to the tables and each child receives a small piece of birthday "cake" (actually it is a play dough called flubber) and candles to put on the cake, after revealing how many candles are needed. The children cut their "cake," with plastic knives and chat. This is a simple math activity and also promotes eye hand coordination. Mrs. FrenchChippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-56665527264473035882009-03-02T10:53:00.000-08:002009-03-02T11:05:38.533-08:00On Thursday, at our whole class meeting, I had something in my bag to show everyone. Once the children see a bag, all is quiet, as everyone waits to see what is in the bag. I guarantee this will get your child's attention, so you may try this at home. I brought out a small package of dental floss, and most of the children knew what it was and commented that someone in their house used it. Then, of course, this was followed by the toothbrush and toothpaste. I also had a battery operated toothbrush and we talked about the difference between the two. We talked about brushing our teeth and then looked at two other items, an apple and a carrot, as being foods healthy for our teeth because they have some crunch. We ended with the Raffi song, "Brush your Teeth," which is quite funny and a good reinforcement for healthy habits. <br /><br />At circle, the Chipmunks sat in "bus" formation and we sang about the animals on the bus, a variation on the wheels on the bus, just to be silly and make animals sounds.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-27316776359816041752009-03-01T11:05:00.000-08:002009-03-01T11:35:44.810-08:00Tuesday - February 24<br /><br />Welcome back Chipmunks and families from another school vacation. I hope once again that you were able to enjoy the time off with your children. Here we are now looking forward to the month of March and waiting for signs of spring. But it appears that March is coming in as a lion. But you know what? Your chipmunks came back to circle with a windy roar also. Yes that's right. We read the book "WINDS" which took us on to a windy journey of flying leaves, floating clouds, rustling papers. After exploring the book we decided that it would be important to act like scientists and perform an experiment with air. So with just the aide of cotton balls and a few plastic straws we saw what happened to the cotton ball with just a blow threw the straw. We also could experiment with the feel of the wind just by blowing on the palms of our hands.<br /><br />Wednesday - February 25<br /><br />Our Wednesday adventure included a rhyming song "Everybody do this just like me" which was acted out with our morning guest Mr. Elephant (of course which is from our lovable stuffed animal collection). The Chipmunks had fun laughing and imitating his moves and came up with their own ideas too. This fun was followed up by reading and singing along to the book "THE WHEELS ON THE BUS" a book children never get tired of.<br /><br />Please continue to read on for more Chipmunk adventures. We welcome your feedback.<br /><br />Mrs. SullivanChippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-3564820159501263232009-02-26T17:00:00.000-08:002009-02-26T17:10:04.166-08:00Monday, February 23<br /><br />We eased into circle time with a familiar good morning song, playing our jingle bells and singing good morning in Spanish, Japanese, Swahili, Italian, and English, followed by "Frere Jacques," and "Twinkle, Twinkle." One child asked to sing a song her Mom taught her and she did a solo of "You Are My Sunshine," and we all joined in on the second round. We brought our chairs to the table and enjoyed a few peaceful minutes using water color paints. Water colors are a soothing kind of art form and children like to mix colors and see what happens. It was a relaxing way to enter back into our little community after the winter vacation.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-35005039208387274062009-02-08T15:43:00.000-08:002009-02-08T15:58:48.063-08:00On Thursday, February 6, the Amaryllis bulb project was introduced to the children by taking out the bulb, noticing the small stem and roots, measuring the stem (2 1/2"), looking at the soil "pancake," adding water to the soil and watching it expand. Later the bulb was planted in the soil. This will be an ongoing science and math project on plant life, with, one hopes, a flower in 4 weeks. <br /><br />At circle the Chipmunks were given crowns and learned a song about the king of the dinosaurs, T-Rex. Each child was given an opportunity to stand and/or bow when h/her name was sung out as the king/queen. As you might guess, there was a mixture of bows, smiles and a few stoic dinos. We decorated our crowns and some were worn through the day.<br /><br />On Friday we tried a movement song called, "Stamp, Jump, Clap." Children are challenged to sing out those words and do the movements as we sing. It is actually quite a challenge to get your feet and hands to move in sequence. We read a book called, "Dinosaurs Roar," and then went on a hunt for dinosaur teeth (6" size) to place around the 10' t-rex mouth. The hunting and finding was the best part.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-48362928961302437302009-02-02T02:42:00.000-08:002009-02-02T03:00:01.830-08:00On Thursday, January 29, at meeting time, we talked about some of the differences between people and animals. It was a kind of guessing game. Children were shown a knife and fork (what is that for?) and then asked how animals eat. A cup and napkin were brought out as well. We had a hand glove with 5 little monkeys and an alligator looking for some lunch. As we counted 5, 4, 3, 2,1,0, it was noted that the alligator ate with h/her mouth, rather than a knife and fork.<br /><br />On Friday, January 30, at circle we used two language charts pointing out the words and using our hands to do the motions for "The Chubby Little Snowman With A Carrot Nose," and "I'm a Little Snow person." We then played a counting game called, "11 Brown Bunnies at the Bakery Shop." Children are called by name and given an opportunity to buy one of the bunnies (on a flannel board) and pay as they take the bunny back to their place. Each child picks out a coin ahead of time. We count down the bunnies, until all are sold. We followed this up with making paper snowballs and tossing them in the air, attempting to catch them. This helps develop eye hand coordination.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-21956557662092480332009-01-28T12:32:00.000-08:002009-01-28T12:53:36.174-08:00The Chipmunks had a fun time exploring the children's book THE LITTLE MOUSE, THE RED RIPE STRAWBERRY, AND THE BIG HUNGRY BEAR. This delightful story of the mouse's attempts to hide the delicious strawberry from the bear is not only entertaining but it clearly sends the message about the importance of sharing for the children. We have an over sized edition of the book so the size and the bright colors of the book also helped to capture the childrens attention.<br /><br />Following the reading of the book, the children enjoyed a snack of fresh strawberries.<br />Finally the message and meaning of the book was explored one step more as the children colored paper strawberries and cut them in half. One half for themselves the other half for the bear?!Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-49374305937018642782009-01-25T15:04:00.000-08:002009-01-25T15:21:49.497-08:00Thursday, January 22<br /><br />Today is Teddy Bear Day, so our bears accompany us to circle as we go on a bear hunt. We chant our adventure as we go on our bear hunt and repeat the words, "Going on a bear hunt. I'm not afraid, are you?" We describe what is up ahead - a tree, a swamp, a bridge, and climb up, over, around or through the obstacle until we arrive at the bear's cave. Upon entering the cave, we see the bear's eyes, and "run," back through the obstacles, sitting down and using hand motions throughout. It's a vocabulary builder and also a sequencing game as we recall our movements. Later on in the day we sat for a picnic munching on teddy grahams, listening to teddy bear music, and then marching the bears around in a teddy bear parade.<br /><br />Friday, January 23<br /><br />Today at circle we experiment with chalk, water and sugar. Children pour the sugar into the water and watch it dissolve. We stir the mixture and use chalk to draw on paper with the sugar water, noting the texture on the paper. I congratulated them on being scientists, working carefully with their materials.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-76638346041531484522009-01-19T17:02:00.000-08:002009-01-19T17:14:19.602-08:00On Thursday, January 15, we enjoyed a visit from one of our parents who is from the country of Turkey. She shared a world map, locating Turkey, held up the Turkish flag, read a Turkish children's book and helped us sing a song and count to five in Turkish. The grand finale was a Turkish dessert. What a great way to introduce another culture to children.<br /><br />On Friday at our circle time we reviewed our signs for "milk," "water," and learned "more." This month we are thinking and talking about how to stay healthy. Our story was in the form of a doctor bag that contained items to promote good health - a soap dispenser, a comb, a Kleenex, an orange and a band aid. As the children picked each item out of the bag, a story was made up about a girl who wanted to stay healthy so she could visit her friend and meet her friend's new cat. After reviewing the contents of the bag, we drew band aid pictures - asking the children to draw a part of themselves that needed a band aid at one time or another.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-22002293842788423222009-01-15T13:08:00.000-08:002009-01-15T13:26:13.561-08:00Welcome back everyone. I hope you all enjoyed the Holidays and a Happy New Year to all. Thank you so much for remembering me this Christmas with wonderful thoughtful gifts that I am sure to enjoy. <br /><br />With the New Year of course will come new adventures for your children, Hibernation is now one of our themes and we had a lot of fun on Tuesday going on a bear hunt. After turning the classroom lights out the children followed me around the classroom looking for our bear asleep in his cave. We found him up in the loft asleep, but each child quietly put food by him, so he will have food when he wakes up in the Spring. What a simple fun way to learn about bears. We all had fun.<br />If you have anything you would like to share with us in circle, please let us know and we will arrange a convenient time for you to join us.<br /><br />Thanks, Jane SullivanChippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-3688793316461264442009-01-11T17:50:00.000-08:002009-01-11T18:03:42.220-08:00Friday, January 9<br /><br />At circle time we all sat together on our imaginary toboggan and sang a sledding song shifting back and forth and falling off our toboggan as we went down the hill. The falling down was every one's favorite part. We heard the story, "The Mitten," using a real mitten as I narrated the story about Nikki, a boy whose grandmother knitted him special white mittens; he lost one in the snow (after grandmother warned him about being careful with his new mittens.) Many shivering animals tried to pile into the mitten. Ask your child, "Who sneezed and blew everyone out of the mitten?" Nikki was relieved to find the mitten before he returned home to grandmother. We then painted with a paint/glue combination to create snow pictures.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-8750825043910895532009-01-08T16:55:00.001-08:002009-01-08T17:06:16.497-08:00Thursday, January 8<br /><br />Today we talked in our large group meeting about our theme of bears and hibernation. I had a bag, the beginnings of a bear survival kit, with honey and blueberries, along with a brown and black bear. We discussed what we knew about bears (they are "brown, black, white and black with white,") and what we would like to know ("Do they wake up if someone enters the cave?") We ate the blueberries, of course, at snack time. At circle we heard about Goldilocks by way of a hand puppet and played Simon Says with our hamster puppet, Hamersley. We also read a book called, "Baby Signs," and learned the signs for "milk," and "water." We finished our circle time sculpting with play foam, a textured material that changes shape as it is rolled. The Chipmunks enjoyed the running hall, visiting the turtles in the science center and playing "Shoo Fly," and "Duck, Duck, Goose," in the mall area near the bakery. Everyone seemed happy to be back together and we welcomed three new friends to our group.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-74130079782509632402008-12-22T10:16:00.000-08:002008-12-22T10:22:12.773-08:00Monday, December 22<br /><br />Today we played with colored snow in the water table. A mini snow person and high snow towers were the order of the day, along with throwing a bit of snow. We painted with colored ice cubes on paper towels and watched the colors change and spread across the paper. Most children wanted to do "another one." We read and sang "Frosty the Snowman," and the Dreidel Song. The snow and thinking about the holidays made for a high energy day. Wishing you all a joyous vacation, Mrs. FrenchChippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-3298106505041157062008-12-17T09:18:00.000-08:002008-12-17T09:25:54.922-08:00Happy Holidays everyone!<br /><br /><br />On Tuesday, December 16, the chipmunks began their holiday celebration. JINGLE BELLS was sung with gusto and accompanied by our sleigh bells. Next we all had fun dancing to the tune UP ON THE HOUSETOP. The fun continued as we all made ornaments for our classroom tree, May the fun begin!Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-66891604920274557752008-12-14T19:02:00.000-08:002008-12-14T19:10:49.872-08:00Friday, December 12<br /><br />Today we read the book, "I Want To Be A Firefighter," about a girl whose Dad is a firefighter. We noticed trucks have ladders and hoses. We sang "911" and "Fire, Fire, Fire," with bells and followed that up with "Jingle Bells," of course. At meeting I lit a candle and we shut out the lights, thinking about how people used fire before electricity. I showed children a lighter and we discussed the safety of only having an adult use a lighter because of what fire does - burns. Children seem to understand the seriousness of fire.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-61434291098866584432008-12-14T18:51:00.000-08:002008-12-14T19:02:02.621-08:00Thursday, December 11<br /><br />Today the Chipmunks sang a song called, "911," as we have been pretending to be fire fighters and police officers. There is a verse in the song that says to only call in an emergency and we did try to emphasize that aspect of calling for help. We learned a firefighter song called, "Fire, Fire, Fire, Hear The Whistle Blowing,"; perhaps you could ask your child to sing it for you; squirting the hose is the best part of that song. We practiced "Stop, Drop and Roll," and crawling if there is smoke in our homes, in the running hall. We had an opportunity to visit one of the school nurses and thank her for being a community helper.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7912575599151509793.post-71633060876654292792008-12-07T15:08:00.000-08:002008-12-07T15:18:01.466-08:00On Friday, December 5 we sang Jingle Bells and rang our bells, a kind of jingle bell orchestra. I told the children that the bells in the song refer to the bells on a horse's tail, because when the song was written people did not have cars and used a sleigh and horses instead. I'm not sure whether that idea was grasped, but everyone loved ringing and singing. We then learned a song, "It's Going To Be A Long Winter, And What Will The Little Birds Do?" (Later that day a child pointed out a flock of geese outside and we wondered if they were flying south to stay warm.) After our singing we took a walk to the bakery and I asked the children to notice all the bakers wearing white hats so that their hair didn't get into the food. The children preferred to think the hats were so the food didn't get into their hair, which is another way of looking at the reason for hats.Chippyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08668870239216412701noreply@blogger.com0