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 an emoji 🙂) 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.
What do you do for Valentine’s Day?
GIVE CARDS / FLOWERS 💐 / CHOCOLATES / SONG / HUGS
Make Letter M Shape:
- 4 big lines for capital M/ 1 little line and 1 big line, 2 little curves and 2 little lines for Lowercase m. Your child use a finger to trace the letter starting at the top, going down, jump back up, going around and down, back up, and down and around. (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
Make Number 5 Shape: use 2 little lines and 1 little curve. For writing number 5: start at the top, go down and around, jump back up and give a flag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTT5wuuhkU0. Encourage your child to trace with pointer finger.
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 M (magnet, mouse, man, mat, me, meet, melon, metal, milk, miss, mix, monkey, monster, morning, most, mug, mummy, mushroom, my). You might want to add a picture of an Apple, so that your child can say apple does not start with M! Here is a book of M word pictures: https://twistynoodle.com/my-letter-m-minibook/ . Also, you can add new objects/pictures starting with the letter M every day and let your child explore the container all through the week.
Science
For Skittles Science Experiment, you need (1) color skittles, (2) plate, and (3) warm water. What happens if you pour warm water on color skittles?
Directions:
1. Position skittles in a heart shape on plate.
2. Pour water on skittles on plate.
3. Observe what happens to color skittles….
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.
Language Arts
Valentine Literature:
1. Valentine Mice by Bethany Roberts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec8DFoGsDdc
2. Mr. Goat’s Valentine by Eve Bunting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxoKRUlc4Tw
3. Happy Valentine’s Day Mouse by Laura Numeroff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qutWeu6Z7o
4. The Biggest Valentine Ever by Steven Kroll (advanced) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZRygwDmXfM
5. Dear Mr. blueberry by Simon James (advanced) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjBum_cTAcg
After viewing a book, help your child sequence the story: what happened first, next,… at the end. Brainstorm with your child the different ways you can send valentine’s cards.
For an advanced activity, have your child fill in a simple story map. Take a sheet of paper and divide it into 3 equal size parts. Write “Beginning”, “Middle”, and “End” and encourage your child to make a drawing about the beginning, the middle and the end of the story.
Different Hearts Flannel Board
There are five hearts on my flannel board and each little heart is different!
The yellow heart is broken.
The blue heart is sad.
The green heart is scared.
The red heart is mad.
But the pink one is happy,
Just as happy as can be,
Because that is the heart that belongs to me.
”Red Valentines” Fingerplay
One red valentine says, “I love you.”
Nicholas made another and then there were two.
Two red valentines. One just for me.
Annie made another and then there were three.
Three red valentines. We need one more.
Lily made another one and then there were four.
Four red valentines. They are no alike.
Charles made another one and then there were five.
Five red valentines made just today.
“Please, be my Valentine” is what they say!
Math
For Pompom Math game, you need (1) heart-shape cookie cutter(s) of different sizes, (2) red and/or pink pompoms, and (3) die or dice. Encourage your child to roll the die (advanced-dice) and put the corresponding numbers of pompoms to the number of dots inside the cookie cutter. Repeat until the heart-shape cookie cutter is fully filled. For advanced counting, your child can count all the pompoms that fitted into the heart-shape cookie cutter.
Independent Math Practice:
1. Roll the Dice https://twistynoodle.com/roll-the-dice-minibook/.
2. Valentine’s Day Graphing https://twistynoodle.com/valentines-day-graphing-coloring-page/
February is here to stay! 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/february-calendar-setbr-4-pages/february-calendar-set-3
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 “I Love You to Pieces” Art Project, you need (1) red and white construction paper, (2) scissors, (3) glue, (4) red tissue paper or puzzle pieces, and (5) black marker.
1. Cut a big heart out of red construction paper and little squares out of red tissue paper.
2. Glue big red heart on white sheet and little tissue paper squares on red heart.
3. Write “I” on top of heart and “you to pieces” under the red heart.
For a Valentine for Birds Project, you need (1) heart-shape cookie cutter, (2) piece of stale bread, (3) peanut or vegetable butter, (4) bird seeds, (5) scissors, (6) ribbon, and (7) tongue depressor.
Directions:
1. Cut the piece of stale bread with cookie cutter and make a hole with tip of scissors to pass ribbon through.
2. Spread butter with tongue depressor on bread.
3. Sprinkle bird seeds on top.
4. Hang outside with ribbon to feed birds. They’ll love you !
Small Motor Skills
Valentine’s Day Bookmarks https://twistynoodle.com/valentines-day-bookmark-coloring-page/.
Valentine’s Day Maze https://twistynoodle.com/valentines-day-maze-coloring-page/.
Valentine’s Day Dot Painting https://twistynoodle.com/valentines-day-dot-painting-coloring-page/
Gross Motor Skills
Outside time with climbing, jumping, bicycling, running, walking are great ways to develop the whole child.