Let’s sing together our song “Rise and Shine – Welcome to School Today” by Dr. Jean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyAD2OoFuoY and our greeting song “Hello to all the children of the world”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nYjGy_ZUG8
My favorite Closing Song sung on “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” tune with movement: Twinkle, twinkle little stars! Time is over and we say goodbye. (Open and close hands)
We had fun with all our friends. Let’s come back and do it again! (Arm moved up and back)
Twinkle, twinkle, little stars! What a wonderful bunch you are! (Blow kisses)
For the writing/reading process, have your child trace or copy (advanced skill) daily his/her name on paper/dry eraser board/ mini blackboard (kindergarten handwriting page) starting at the top of each letter (you could draw 🙂) either in all uppercase letters or just first letter in capital/uppercase and the rest in lowercase. If your child is starting to write on paper, you can write your child’s name with a highlighter and your child can use a crayon to trace it.
I realize that you might have to survey other members of your family for the question of the day so that your child have enough tally marks to count or have your child put more than one tally mark.
Which animals swim in the ocean?
SEAL 🦭/ GIRAFFE 🦒/ POLAR BEAR 🐻❄️/ GOAT 🐐
Make letter S shape:
- 2 big curves for capital S/ 2 little curves for Lowercase s. Your child use a finger to trace the letter starting at the top and going down (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bdV4U1tsGc) In order to start learning letters, your child will need a set of big curves, little curves, big lines and little lines in wood. You can purchase them at https://www.lwtears.com or make them your self. Here is a picture: http://cdn.lwtears.com/images/uploads/1_787_large.png)
- Wet-Dry-Try on small chalkboard (Handwriting Without Tears) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6p4LUEGbwM
- Play dough with small chalkboard (recipe: https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/playdough-recipe/) or you can purchase the Roll-A-Dough Set from Handwriting without Tears https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spjVLDXDixI
A whole week activity:
For the phonetic part, have a big yogurt container with a lid filled with small objects or pictures that start with the letter S (sad, sand, sandals, sausage, school, scissors, seaside, seesaw, sister, six, sky, sleep, small, snail, snake, soup, soap, socks, sound, snack, special, spider, star, start, summer, sun, sweets.) You might want to add a picture of an Goat, so that your child can say that Goat does not start with S! Here is a book of S word pictures: https://twistynoodle.com/the-s-book-2-minibook/ Also, you can add new objects/pictures starting with the letter S every day and let your child explore the container all through the week.
More letter S words: https://www.first-school.ws/t.asp?t=http://www.first-school.ws/images/alpha/ap1/s.gif
Science
A walrus, a seal or a sea lion are amazing aquatic mammals called bull, cow and pup. National Geographic Kids made a short video on walrus – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r35i6WFbPa0 and the Smithsonian Channel on comparing seal and sea lions – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv_Yss8qPLg After viewing videos, encourage your child to notice differences between the 3 mammals.
On the tune of “Oh, my Darling Clementine”, we can sing: what’s the weather, what’s the weather, what’s the weather like today? Is it cloudy, is it rainy, is it sunny, is it cold? (You can also change the weather words).
Let your child check the weather and tell you about it. You might want to ask your child to do a weather drawing that you can label. Some activities will be repetitive to create a routine that brings comfort to your child.
Language Arts
Literature about walrus/seal:
1. If Wendell had a Walrus by Lori Mortensen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRxCbQreAKY
2. There is a Walrus in My Bed by Ciara Flood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVG6bXLxMxU
3. The Singing Seal by Merv Lamington https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7akYfYfc_3Q
4. The Happy Penguin and the Little Seal by Lucy Coult https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u80YnbhTV6s
5. Sammy the Seal by Syd Hoff (advanced) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d24KetOVWuc
6. Peter and the Seal by Rick de Haas (advanced) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p4qldkGgbw.
After viewing a book, help your child to sequence the story: what happened first, next,… at the end. The major theme all three books is facing an issue. Brainstorm with your child what you and your child do with a problem. Do you cry, do you leave, do you find a solution?
“Walking through the Arctic” Song (Children echo and do the movement)
Walking through the arctic.
And what do you think I saw……
A great big walrus!
And it said, “Lay down!
And wiggle, wiggle this way!
And wiggle, wiggle that way!
And then, sit up!”
“Take Me Out to the Ocean” Song (“Take me out to the Ballgame” tune)
Take me out to the ocean!
Take me out to the sea!
Show me the foaming waves rolling there,
As I breath in the salty air!
Let me look, admire the ocean!
See the sea and explore!
’Cause it’s fun to dive from the top
To the ocean floor!
Math
Fun math with goldfish! Seals eat lots of fish. Wether you have plain goldfish or rainbow ones, your child can use them for math activities before eating them:
1. Sort by colors and count (if rainbow ones.)
2. One-to-one correspondence: how many goldfish for each written number card?
3. Measuring: how many back-to-back goldfish to measure how long is…….. ?
December is here now! The calendar is a daily activity to do with your child that develop number and pattern recognition. Here is the link to print a calendar to update daily with your child. The set has a weather component, if you like. https://www.themailbox.com/magazines/december-calendar-set/december-calendar-set-2
Daily counting of tally marks and show your child a number card or write the number down to show your child. The numbers of the tallies will be different every day. Extend the concept by comparing numbers: which has more? Which has fewer? Which are the same? How many more (count with fingers)?
Art
For Paper Plate Sea Lion Art Project, you need (1) 2 small white paper plates and 1 big paper plate, (2) brown tempera paint with brush, (3) scissors, (4) glue, (5) 2 googly eyes, (6) black marker, (7) white yarn, and (8) stapler.
Directions:
1. Cut the rim of 2 small white paper plates. One circle is sea lion’s head and cut one small circle into 2 for sea lion’s 2 flippers.
2. Paint all pieces with brown tempera paint and brush.
3. Staple or glue pieces together: big painted paper plate is sea lion’s body with head and 2 flippers.
4. Cut short pieces of white yarn for sea lion’s whiskers.
5. Once paint dry, glue 2 googly eyes, yarn whiskers.
6. Draw a nose with black marker.
7. Picture https://www.messforless.net/uniquely-californian-sea-lion-craft/
For Paper Bag Walrus Puppet Art Project, you need (1) black construction paper, (2) scissors, (3) brown yarn, (3) white straw or pipe cleaner, (4) big googly eyes, (5) brown paper bag, (6) glue, and (7) black marker.
Directions:
1. Cut a big 8 shape out of black construction paper for walrus’ mouth.
2. Cut 2 pieces of white straw or white pipe cleaner the same size for 2 walrus’ tusks.
3. Cut 6 small pieces of brown yarn for walrus’ whiskers, three on each side of nose.
4. Glue googly eyes, walrus’ black mouth with yarn brown whiskers on brown paper bag.
5. Draw nose with black marker.
6. Glue 2 tusks under walrus’ mouth.
Small Motor Skills
Up Seal Coloring Page https://twistynoodle.com/up-32-coloring-page/
Walrus Coloring Page http://www.wildlife-animals.com/walrus/walrus-coloring-pages.php
Cut and Paste Letters S E A L https://twistynoodle.com/cut-and-paste-the-letters-s-e-a-l-coloring-page/
Letter S and Suzy Snake Book https://twistynoodle.com/suzy-snake-minibook/
Gross Motor Skills
Outside time with climbing, jumping, bicycling, running, walking are great ways to develop the whole child.
How do sea lions walk? Seal/Sea Lion Animal Movement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Krqay4ujpE