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.
Have you been on … ?
TRAIN / BUS 🚌/ PLANE ✈️/ BOAT
If you have My First School Book from Handwriting Without Tears methodology https://www.lwtears.com/hwt. Have your child complete page 66. Your child can also practice writing number 8 on pages 86 and 87. More practice https://twistynoodle.com/practice-writing-the-letter-w-coloring-page/
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 W (walrus, walk, want, warm, wash, water, wave, way, wax, we, week, well, wet, whale, what, win, wind, window, winter, wish, with, word, witch, wicked). You might want to add a picture of a violin, so that your child can say Violin does not start with W! Here is a book of V word pictures: https://www.first-school.ws/t.asp?t=http://www.first-school.ws/images/alpha/ap1/w.gif and https://twistynoodle.com/my-letter-w-minibook/ Also, you can add new objects/pictures starting with the letter W every day and let your child explore the container all through the week.
Kitchen Science
For a Yummy School Bus Snack, you need (1) graham cracker or bread slice (toasted), (2) yellow food coloring, (3) icing or cream cheese, (4) Oreo or cucumber, (5) shredded wheat little squares, and (6) plate and butter knife.
Directions:
1. Mix a drop of yellow food coloring in cream cheese or icing.
2. Put graham cracker big rectangle or bread slice on plate and spread yellow cream cheese or icing on it. It is the body of bus.
3. Separate Oreo cookie into 2 or 2 slices of cucumber for the wheels.
4. Place shredded wheat little squares for windows. Yummy!
Science
For Assembling a Cardboard School Bus, you need (1) big cardboard box with high sides, (2) yellow tempera paint with brush, (3) scissors, (4) black construction paper, (5) glue, and (6) markers.
Directions:
1. Cut top flaps and paint the body with yellow tempera paint and brush. You can also cover with yellow construction paper.
2. Cut 4 big wheels out of construction paper and glue 2 on each side.
3. Glue 2-3 black sheets (rectangles) of construction paper for windows. Also, add any detail of choice or draw with markers.
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
Bus Literature:
1. Pete the Cat – The Wheels on the Bus by James Dean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOLFwHcCUpg
2. The Little School Bus by Margery Cuyler https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5lF4K-iOTE.
3. The Wheels on the Bus by Barefoot Books Singelong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9siyDPch-6c.
4. School Bus by Donald Crew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhxOTujgbew
After viewing a book, help your child sequence the story: what happened first, next,… at the end. Brainstorm with your child what you know about school bus. Discuss how/when your child can go on a bus.
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.
”The Wheels on the Bus” Song and Movement
The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round,
The wheels on the bus go round and round, all through the town.
The horn on the bus goes honk, honk, honk,…..
The breaks on the bus goes screech, screech, screech,…..
The driver on the bus says, “Have a sear, have a seat, have a seat!”,…..
The wipers on the bus goes swish, swish, swish,…..
The doors on bus go open and shut, open and shut, open and shut,…..
The School Bus Rhyme and Movement (children in line or sitting down)
School bus, school bus drives around town,
Picking up and dropping off, and bumping up and down! (Bounce in place).
Turn to the left, (lean left)
Turn to the right, (lean right)
This school bus is out of sight!
Big, loud, and yellow, my bus is really neat!
(child’s name) hop on and take the front seat!
Traffic Light Song (“Twinkle, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”)
Twinkle, twinkle, traffic light,
On the corner, shining bright.
Red means stop and green means go.
Yellow means go safe and slow.
Twinkle, twinkle, traffic light,
On the corner, shining bright.
Math
Your child can further explore pattern blocks with design cards (Transportation-Bicycle-Letter W) or played with a geo-board with rubber bands (Pet-General-Letter N)
Letter W Memory Game https://twistynoodle.com/letter-w-memory-game-coloring-page/ Cut out cards and turn them face down. Each player takes turn turning over 2 cards. If both cards are the same, are a pair, the player can keep them. Otherwise, turn the cards face down and the next player tries to find a pair. The game is over when there are no more cards to turn.
Spring is in the air in March! 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/march-calendar-set/march-calendar-set-4
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
Free Watercolor Painting! Your child just need paper, watercolor, water and a huge imagination!
Make a Bus https://twistynoodle.com/make-a-bus-coloring-page/
For Tissue Box School Bus Art Project, you need (1) tissue box, (2) yellow tempera paint with roller, (3) black construction paper, (4) glue, and (5) markers.
Directions:
1. Paint with roller the tissue box: body of school bus.
2. Cut 4 circles and 6 squares out of black construction paper for wheels and windows.
3. Once paint dry, glue 2 circles and 3 squares above on each long side.
4. as an alternative, you can use an egg carton top for the body of your school bus.
Small Motor Skills
Trace and Color Bus https://twistynoodle.com/trace-and-color-the-bus-coloring-page/.
Cut and Paste the Letters B-U-S https://twistynoodle.com/cut-and-paste-the-letters-b-u-s-coloring-page/.
Letter W Dot Painting https://twistynoodle.com/letter-w-dot-painting-3-coloring-page/
Gross Motor Skills
Outside time with climbing, jumping, bicycling, running, walking are great ways to develop the whole child.
As an exciting outside activity, set up a car wash station with bucket, water, sponges and soap for your car, truck, bicycle, tricycle, …