Meteorologists in the Making!

Week of April 6, 2015

Rain, Rain, Come and Stay!

This week, we will be learning about weather! We will use our knowledge of the weather song to discuss different kinds of weather. Since spring is on its way, we are going to start our unit with a focus on rain. We will talk about the different functions of rain: to water the plants and trees, provide water to drink, etc. We will learn that rain comes from clouds. When the temperature is cold, snow falls from the clouds, but when the temperature is warmer, we have rain! On Monday, we will do an experiment to show how clouds fill up with water before the rain comes out. We will create rainy art projects, using spray bottles one day and eyedroppers on another. Both of these projects will build fine motor strength and control using the squeezing motion.

Weather permitting, we will go outside to the playground for the first time this week!  

Some of the vocabulary we will introduce and review this week includes weather, rain, storm, rainbow, cloud, sprinkle, pour, shower, puddle, and meteorologist.

Music Time!

Two of the songs we will incorporate this week are "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Rain, Rain, Go Away."

Rain Rain Go Away

Rain, rain, go away!

Come again another day.

Little children want to play.

Rain, rain, go away!

Week of April 13, 2015

Sunny Days!

This week, we will continue our introduction to weather with a short study of sun! We will talk about sun safety - why we wear sunscreen and other protective clothing. We will do an experiment to demonstrate the effects of the sun by fading shapes into special paper on our windowsill. We will also talk about the sun's functions, such as giving light and helping plants grow. We hope to spend some time in the sun this week by heading out the playground! Last week, we had a great time trying out the equipment as a class, and the children did a great job following our safety rules and holding the rope!

Some of the vocabulary we will introduce and review this week includes weather, rain, drizzle, shower, clouds, rain, sun, sunburn, and sunscreen.

Music Time!

One of the songs we will sing this week isYou Are My Sunshine. The lyrics are:

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.

You make me happy when skies are gray.

You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.

Please don't take my sunshine away.

Music, Month of April

For the month of April, we have been singing "These Are My Glasses" by L. Berkner and learning the Teddy Bear song. We have also used our bears for steady beat activity as we make them bounce, dance and jump.

We continue to use the Dynaband for some of our circle songs such as Looby Loo and Three Times Around our Gallant Ship.