Read Alouds Term 4, 2013

Enjoyed by both T (4) and W (2)

The Adventures of the Wishing Chair, Enid Blyton
The Latch key Dog, Joan Dalgleish (abridged by me)
Jack Russell Pet Detective, Sally and Darryl Odgers Scholastic Series
Stories for Five Year-Olds,
See Food
Stories for four year olds

Preschool Planning

Language and Literacy http://www.teachpreschool.org/read-and-write-on-teach-preschool/

• Read alouds (every day)
• 'reading' books alone in 'reading space' (up to children), strewing
• different mediums for writing/drawing eg: salt tray using different tools; shape tracing; on frosted mirror; paint and write styrofoam boards with cotton tip for writing; window tracing: Once or twice a week
• "letter of the week/fortnight"? Every two weeks?
• name writing and recognition eg name journal; seeing name around house; writing name first on activities, writing name on a line or in boxes on a white board Once or twice a week

Maths http://www.teachpreschool.org/math-on-teach-preschool/

Outdoor Play

Science and Nature

Creative Art

Fine and Gross Motor skills

• tying shoe laces

back to magnetism

T wanted to repeat the magnetism experiments of several months ago, so on his own he and W looked at how magnetic force can pull through glass and water and how magnets only attract iron, not glass (glass marbles were not drawn to magnet). T then described his experiment to me.

A month ago ben also made a game with boys demonstrating how magnetic force works through cardboard. They drew a racing track on strong cardboard and made paper cars with paperclips stuck to the bottom. A magnet applied to the paperclip from underneath the cardboard pulls the paper car around the track.

story-telling

We read a lot of books to the boys (fiction and non-fiction) and this translates into how they express themselves.

T was pulling up a runner root in the garden and W came up behind him, grabbed him by the waist and they narrated or 'fictionalised' their activity:

W: ...And they pulled, and they pulled and they pulled...
T: ...but it wouldn't budge!
Me: so then what happened?
W: And they pulled and they pulled and they pulled...
T: But it still wouldn't budge!
Me: then who came to help?
T: Mum!!! And they pulled and they pulled... [at this point the runner root snapped] ... And it broke right off!

Art exhibition

Last term T attended homeschool art classes and his favourite piece was put into an exhibition at the local eco-garden's annual festival. It was a great confidence-booster for him and a great encouragement for finishing art work that he has started.

Writing

I have not done much actual teaching of letters so far with T and W. T is not at all interested in workbooks and I think he is the type of learner who will 'get' it in his own time. Mostly we do a lot of reading together and both boys try to identify what sound different words start with. W has more success with this.

I plan to get some shaving cream to make letters on a mirror.

T can write his name with a bit of help. Being left handed he often writes from right to left.

Sickness

We have been plagued by sickness over the last three weeks in our family. W has been very unwell with a cough and runny nose and T has a croupy cough. So we have been in survival mode.