Time and Nets

Preparation: Cut 1" wide, 6" long strips of construction paper.  Cut hour and minute hands from construction paper.  Gather brads and paper plates for clock making.  Pre-poke holes!

Number - 12: We showed 12 with rods.  This was fairly easy after last week's explanation.  We also wrote the number 12.  Many are drawing or tracing the cuisenaire rods in their books too.  I'm going to try working with twelve for two weeks.  This first week we looked at clocks.  Next week we'll focus on the months of the year.  I have a large wooden clock whose hands can be set and two medium, plastic clocks whose hands are on gears, so the hour hand pulls the minute hand along at the correct pace.  I learned that my puzzle clock is quite valuable when the kids go to make their own clocks.  Holding the numbers and placing them in the clock seems to make their clock creating easier.  Only, my soon to be 1 year old has misplaced most of the pieces, so we made do without.  We made clocks on paper plates.  The children can write numbers wherever they want really.  I mostly want to expose them to the idea of clocks and telling time.  They each chose a brad, attached their hands (courtesy of the ready made holes) and decorated their clocks.

Letter - N: nose, needle, nail, nut, necklace
sign - no  This is a fun sign!  At least we make it fun and playful with our little "no" fingers snapping about. =)
Some children are starting to make lowercase letters in the magic rice.  It's pretty amazing to watch them make connections and take a step forward when they are ready.  Everyone wrote an N in their books with a picture of something that starts with the N sound. 

Circle Time - Time and Nets:  I think because the clock making was pretty intense for almost everyone, no one really wanted to listen to our first story, Telling Time With Puppies and Kittens.  Also, a few children had lengthy tales to share about puppies and kittens and bunnies.  So, I skipped most of our clock exploration and jumped into nets with Anansi Goes Fishing by Eric Kimmel.  I love all of Kimmel's Anansi retellings.  The kids do too!  We read two last semester.  The children listen attentively to outsmart the trickster themselves and try to predict where the story will lead us.

Music and Movement - parachute play:  The parachute is a favorite!  I show them different ways to hold the parachute, (thumbs on top, thumbs underneath.)  We walk left and right.  This takes quite a bit of coordination and cooperation.  We almost had it and will work more on this later in the semester.  Of course, we also shake the parachute, slowly at first, then fast for the count of three.  I conclude with everyone who wants to coming underneath the parachute.  This actually scared Anna to have so many of us disappear at once, so we'll have to hide in moderation.

Craft - weave nets:  I tried to give everyone two separate colors, not a lot of direction and space to create.

Play Time: I had small props for them to act out Anansi Goes Fishing.  Unfortunately, our day was so full there was little time left to play.

Enjoy your TIME together this week.