Hands Can Feel

Dear Parents,

We asked the class to finish the sentence, “Hands can…” They responded: eat, touch a rock, get a tissue, fold, climb, paint, play, read a book, get dirty, and much more. We tried to play a clapping game but everyone was too tired. We’ll try another day. 

We read My Five Senses and talked about having as many senses as fingers on one hand. We also said that four of our five senses are on our heads. Afterwards, everyone took turns reaching into the Feely Box to touch and guess what was inside using only our sense of touch. People guessed a stick, something hard, a present, acorns, acorn caps, and something spiky. Ask your children what it was. 

We have been finding lots of acorn caps in our yard but hardly any acorns. We do not have an oak tree in our yard so we asked the children, “How do you think they got here?” And, “Where are all the acorns?” The class guessed that the wind had blown them here, or maybe squirrels carried them. Some said that the squirrels had buried all the acorns, or eaten them. 

We used alphabet stamps and orange paint to decorate our art folders. Everyone stamped the first letter of their name on their folder. Lots of children knew the first letter in their name, but if they didn’t, there were plenty of helpers to remind them. 

We dipped our hands into pink or purple paint to make hand prints. The next day we traced our hands and colored them in with crayons. We counted fingers as we traced, yep, five fingers! Some children colored inside their handprints, and some outside.

We read Hands Can!, Here Are My Hands, Wash Your Hands, and No David! The class knew that all of the things David was doing with his hands were not okay: grabbing fish the bowl, and playing ball in the house. The children said he could break things, get water everywhere, and hurt the fish. In Pickle, which we read the next day, we noticed that they also said to not touch the fish. 

On Friday, Simon said to walk to the beat of our hand drum. We marched around the room taking giant steps, side-stepping, skipping, and then acting like many hopping animals. We also sang The Drum Goes Round and Round, and everyone took turns beating the drum. The children made loud and soft sounds. 

Have a great weekend!

Therese

Simon Says Mix More Colors

Dear Parents,

This week we played with shaving cream, using our hands right on the tables. Everyone used hands, fingers, and fingernails to draw in the shaving cream. We added food color and mixed it to see what new colors we could get. Someone said it looks like whipped cream, but everyone agreed it was not for eating. We knew because it did not smell yummy. Some children said their daddies use it when they shave. 

We played Simon Says. Simon said to meow like cats, wiggle like worms, hop like frogs, stand on one foot, touch our nose and toes, and many more feats. We followed Simon around the classroom and into the big room to play. 

We introduced our pretend food and dishes to the big room play. After we reminded everyone not to really eat the plastic food, they got to work cooking up a storm in the kitchen area. Some forgot and took nibbles, so we reminded them again.

We read Everyone Poops and talked about where our food goes after we swallow it, and how our bodies take the vitamins and nutrients we need, and gets rid of the rest. The children said that our pee comes from what we drink. We added another reminder about washing hands with soap and water after using the bathroom. 

On Friday, Simon said to march around the big room, take giant steps, do jumping jacks, walk like a bear, skip, walk backwards and sideways, among others. Simon got tired and everyone went to the Peanut Butter Wall. Then we played in the big room while it continued to pour outside.

Have a dry weekend!

Therese