Fire Safety, Letter B, Choice Time

Our theme this week was Fire Safety. We incorporated the fire safety theme into our plans in many ways:

• We sang songs and rhymes about fire safety at music time. For example:
  (Tune of I'm a Little Teapot)
  "I'm a little firefighter on the go.
  Here is my helmet.
  Here is my hose.
  When I see a fire,
  Hear me shout:
  "Turn on the water
  and put the fire out!"
• We read both fiction and non-fiction books about fire safety, firefighters, and fire stations.
• 
• We went on a fire safety scavenger hunt to look for fire extinguishers, exit signs, smoke alarms, sprinklers, fire hydrants, and fire alarms.
• We had a fire drill on Monday. Our class did a great job. They were quick and quiet and stayed together.
• We used firefighter, extinguisher, and fire cutouts to make AB and ABC patterns.   

• We used magnifiers to find and identify tiny letters in a picture of a firefighter at small group.  

•  Another group time activity was using clothespins to match letters. Clothespins are great for fine motor practice.

•  We practiced how to “stop, drop, and roll”.

• We wore our fire fighter hats the real fire fighters gave us all week. 

•  We used our coloring packets the firefighters gave us.

We did a science experiment about fire. We used three candles (mounted in playdough on a cookie sheet) to see what three things fire needs to work: heat, air, and fuel. Then we talked about three ways to put out fire: take away the heat (with water), take away the air (with a jar), and take away the fuel (in this case the wax). The LOVED this experiment and wanted to do it again and again. 

Our "Letter of the Week" was the letter 'B'. We will be going in alphabetical order for the next 24 weeks. Some of our activities include: 

• Identifying the letter. 
• Saying the sound. 
• Searching the room for things that start with the letter/sound of the week and feeding them to the “letter monster”. 

"Letter Monster, Letter Monster, MUNCH, MUNCH, MUNCH. What letter are you going to have for lunch?!"

• Letter tracing pages in the writing area. 
• Using white boards to practice writing the letter at large group. 
• Making our alphabet book page for each letter at small group.
• Bingo Dobber letter pages in the art area.

 We tried a few new things at choice time this week.  

• We got a new woodworking table to put in our block area. They love using all the tools to “build and fix” things.  

• We also added a phone to our dramatic play area. We encourage you to teach your child a number they can always reach you at. 
• We got our new floor coverings so we were able to try sand again. They did a much better job of keeping the sand in the tub. 

One of our jobs each week is sand sweeper... a much needed job!

• We opened the music area during choice time this week. We explored the instruments at large group last week. We talked about what they were called and what kind of sounds they made. They were very excited to use them.

"Conga, conga, conga!"

Block Area

I love when they work together to create things!

 Art Area

They're getting more comfortable exploring all the things in our art area.

They discovered some fun new things in our caterpillar cabinet today. We made all sorts of silly creations out of beads and pipe cleaners. It was great fine motor work!

 

Dramatic Play Area

Stocking the shelves

Writing Area

Outdoor Time

We really enjoy when Miss Lisa's class comes out to play with us!

Rainy Day Indoor Play

"Tooty Ta"

We had a request for Katy Perry's "Firework" today. We used the scarves to dance and then when the chorus came on the scarves became fireworks when we threw them in the air. They LOVED this!

 

We also used our bean bags to practice following directions. The song tells you where to put the bean bag. They have so much fun with this. :)