Blog Archives - WELCOME THE LAUREL SCHOOL TODDLER, PRESCHOOL & PRE-KINDERGARTEN VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS

shape sorting

5/29/2020

What is our theme? Shapes

What is the lesson:
Sorting shapes by type (Circle, triangle, square)

MA Guidelines/Standards:

CD20. The older infant experiments with trial and error approaches to problem solving.
CD25. The older infant explores and manipulates objects with different shapes and sizes sometimes fitting shapes into place.
CD54. The younger toddler shows interest in matching and sorting according to color, shape and size.
PW33. The young toddler coordinates eye and hand movements.

Learning Outcomes:
Your child will continue to work on identifying shapes. Your child will sort shapes by type.

Songs,Books,Video(Motivational Techniques)
Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnoNb2OMQ6s
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TTB83JkOB4

Materials-

Tape
Circle shaped Items (bottle tops, ball, etc)
Square shaped items (Cardboard, dice, etc)
Triangle shaped items (Toys from shape sorter, toy from blocks, etc)

Activity (Procedure):

Using tape, make a square, triangle, and circle.
Give toddler shaped items
Demonstrate and allow them to sort their shapes, helping as needed.

Activity Wrap Up:
Talk about shapes used.

How do I know what my child is learning?
(Assessment)
   Ask your child to point to the circles, to the triangle, and square.

How can you extend this activity? (Modifications)
Using the tape, take cars and practice tracing the shapes.

Helpful Hints: (Pitfalls & Solutions)
   If you can’t find enough items in the right shape, you can always cut out extras out of paper

shapes: Triangle Paintings

5/28/2020

What is our theme? Shapes

What is the lesson: Triangle Paintings

MA Guidelines/Standards:

PW34. The young toddler controls small muscles in hand.
CD37. The older infant begins to experiment and explore with various art media (paint, finger-paint, playdough, markers, crayons, chalk).
CD66. The younger toddler explores with sensory art materials and uses them to create visual effects.

Learning Outcomes: Your toddler will begin to recognize common shapes like triangles.

Songs,Books,Video(Motivational Techniques)
   Song:
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY7AtoDaIvk
   Video of triangles found in nature:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=BU6OUC4Zv9wz

Materials-

Sponges
Scissors
Paint
Paper

Activity (Procedure):

Cut sponge into triangles
Pour paint into cups
Allow toddler to dip sponge pieces into paint and stamp paper

Activity Wrap Up:
   Go for a walk around your house. See how many different places you can find triangles in your house.

How do I know what my child is learning?
(Assessment)
   Your child may be able to find the triangle when asked “which shape is a triangle,”

How can you extend this activity? (Modifications)
   You can extend the activity by including cut out circles and squares too and ask your toddler to point to each shape.

Helpful Hints: (Pitfalls & Solutions)
   Don’t have paint? Use yogurt, and discard the picture when complete.

shapes: Circle/Square Scavenger Hunt

5/27/2020

Hello Families! Today we are going to review both the circle and square shape,(with a quick appearance of the triangle!) and then have a scavenger hunt.

What is our theme? Shapes

What is the lesson (overall purpose)?
Review of the square and circle shape

MA Guidelines/Standards:
SED3 The young toddler relates to adults through shared exploration of materials and environments
SED6 The older toddler follows the directions of adults
LC29 The younger toddler understands educators simple requests and statements referring to the present situation
LC32 The older toddler understands more abstract and complex statements and requests that refer to positions in space, reference to time, ideas, feelings
and the future
CD54 The younger toddler shows interest in matching and sorting according to color, shape and size
CD57 The older toddler matches and sorts according to color shape and size

Learning Outcomes:
Learning shapes not only helps children identify and organize visual information, it helps them learn skills in other curriculum areas including reading, math, and science. For example, an early step in understanding numbers and letters is to recognize their shape.

Songs, Books & Videos (Motivational Techniques)
https://youtu.be/AePdF_J3a1I Book: The Story of Circle & Square

https://youtu.be/sckGqmDWH5s Music: The Shapes Song (Circle, Square, Triangle)

Materials:
Today’s activity is a scavenger hunt. So many options for materials!

Activity (Procedure): Circle/Square Scavenger Hunt

Ask your child to take a walk with you around your house and look for items that are circles or squares. You may need to help them by pointing out the first shape, for example “look at this plate! It’s a circle!” See how many circles and squares you can find inside your house. Ask mom or dad to write down what you found.

Activity Wrap Up:
How many circle items did you find? How many squares? Were some of your circles big and others small? Can you name the colors of the items you found?

How do I know what my child is learning? (Assessment)
Naming shapes is a skill that takes a little longer to develop. Most children reach about two years of age before they can grasp the concept. Start by teaching your child a few common shapes, such as squares, circles, and triangles. A slice of bologna or banana is a circle, a slice of cheese is a square, the television is a rectangle. Once mastered, you can move on to trickier shapes like stars, diamonds, and even octagonal stop signs

How can you extend this activity? (Modifications):
Try taking this activity outside and looking for circles and squares. This may be more difficult and your child will possibly need your help. Point out the tires on your car as being circles, for example.

When your child is able to identify circles and squares, more shapes may be added to the hunt such as triangles and rectangles, ovals and hearts.

Helpful Hints: (Pitfalls & Solutions):
Draw and cut out a circle and square shape to take with you on your scavenger hunt so your child will have a reference to compare what they find with the shape they are looking for.

shapes: squares

5/26/2020

Hello Families! Yesterday we started talking about shapes and looked at the circle. Today let’s look at the square shape and play a fun game with squares and circles!

What is our theme? Shapes

What is the lesson (overall purpose)?
An introduction to the Square shape and review of the circle shape.

MA Guidelines/Standards:
PW28 The young toddler demonstrates large muscle balance, stability, control and coordination
PW29 The young toddler moves body with purpose to achieve a goal
PW31 The older toddler demonstrates large muscle balance, stability, control and coordination
PW32 The older toddler moves body with purpose to achieve a goal
SED2 The young toddler responds to directions from familiar adults
SED6 The older toddler follows the directions of adults

Learning Outcomes:
As a child learns about shapes they can sort and classify objects in and around them based on certain attributes. As children develop proficiency at learning shapes such as squares and circles, they are developing the classification and visual discrimination skills to distinguish between ‘k’ and ‘x’ or between ‘p’ and ‘g.’

Songs, Books & Videos (Motivational Techniques)

https://youtu.be/TJhfl5vdxp4 The Shape Song

https://youtu.be/sBDG297o1jA Song: The Square Song

https://youtu.be/25TJcsDLA2Q Book: Square (a cute story about a square and a circle.)

Materials:

Sidewalk chalk (Various colors)
Flat surface such as a paved driveway, parking lot, tennis court.

Activity (Procedure): Shape game

Using sidewalk chalk choose a color and draw several circle shapes in various spots on the pavement. Spread them out.

With a different color piece of chalk, draw some square shapes near and around the circle shapes.

Now once the shapes are drawn, ask your child to stand on either a circle or a square shape.

Ask them to hop from one shape to another. Ask them to repeat the name of the shape they are standing on.

Activity Wrap Up:
What other ways can you get from shape to shape? Try jumping, skipping, running, or even crawling!
Are you able to count how many circles are there? How about how many squares? Can you count how many shapes there are all together?

How do I know what my child is learning?
(Assessment)
Was your child able to successfully move from circles to squares without much hesitation? Can your child identify the difference between a circle and a square?

Ask them to try to draw a circle and square themselves with the chalk.

How can you extend this activity? (Modifications)
Once your child has mastered the circle and square shape, try adding triangles and rectangle shapes amongst the circles and squares.

Helpful Hints: (Pitfalls & Solutions)
If you are unable to draw on your driveway or are unable to get to a place where pavement is available, try cutting out circle and square shapes from different color construction paper and placing them on the ground. Your child can hop from paper to paper. This is fun to play inside as well using the construction paper shapes.

shapes: circle

5/25/2020

Hello Families! There are four basic shapes your toddler child should be able to identify: circle, square, triangle and rectangle. Today we will sing some songs about the circle and then do some painting with circles.

What is our theme? Shapes

What is the lesson (overall purpose)?
To begin to identify the circle shape

MA Guidelines/Standards:
LC48 The younger toddler makes purposeful marks on paper
CD46 The younger toddler repeats actions watching for results
CD47 The older toddler expects certain things to happen as a result of his actions
CD48 The older toddler demonstrates an awareness of the effects of certain actions
CD56 The younger toddler demonstrates an awareness of simple patterns
CD59 The older toddler recognizes and creates simple patterns
CD60 The younger toddler experiments with various wet and dry materials to discover their properties

Learning Outcomes:
Explain to your child that circles are round and have no sides. Show your child images of a lollipop and a snowman.

Songs, Books & Videos (Motivational Techniques)

https://youtu.be/OEbRDtCAFdU Song: Shape song for Kids

https://youtu.be/LlXnXf6FSq8 Song: Circle Song

Materials:
empty toilet paper tube
paper
paint
paper plate(s) to hold paint

Activity (Procedure):

Show your child the circle shape that can be found on the end of the tube. Review the circle song found above.

Get your work area ready with paper laid on the table and paint color on the paper plate.

Have your child dip the end of the tube in the paint and gently stamp it onto the paper to make a circle shape.

Continue until your child is satisfied with their painting.

Activity Wrap Up:

Did you use more than one color to make circles? Are you able to count the number of circles you made?

How do I know what my child is learning? (Assessment)
Learning shapes not only helps children identify and organize visual information, it helps them learn skills in other curriculum areas including reading, math, and science. Learning shapes also helps children understand other signs and symbols.

A child who is able to distinguish between shapes is better equipped to notice the differences in shapes of letters. This helps not only with reading but also with writing. Kids who have practice with different types of shapes and lines can translate those into writing

How can you extend this activity? (Modifications):
Try dipping your finger into the paint and making a circle on a separate piece of paper. (Remember that a circle is a line that goes around and around!)

Helpful Hints: (Pitfalls & Solutions):
An empty paper towel tube will work if you don’t have a toilet paper tube. You may need to cut the paper towel tube in half to make it easier for your child to manipulate.

froggy jello!

5/22/2020

What is our theme? Frogs!

What is the lesson: Sensory play with Jello!

MA Guidelines/Standards:

PW34. The young toddler controls small muscles in hand.
CD60. The younger toddler experiments with various wet and dry materials to discover their properties.
LC47 The older toddler demonstrates knowledge that a symbol can represent something else

Learning Outcomes:
   Your child learns about frogs through fun sensory stimulation. This activity teaches through abstract play.

Songs,Books,Video(Motivational Techniques)
   Songs:
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjYkG8jDsJU
   Quick educational video on frog lifecycle:
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gahMcHGh4t0

Materials-

Blue Jello (2 Packages)
Glass pan or container
Plastic frogs (Found at dollar tree)

Activity (Procedure):

The night before, make jello according to package, pour into a glass container, submerging plastic frogs in the jello. Refrigerate until morning.
At a table or contained area, allow your toddler to try and help the frogs “escape” by digging them out. This can be done by hand, spoon, etc.

Activity Wrap Up:

Talk about where frogs live. Talk about where ponds are.

How do I know what my child is learning?
(Assessment)
   Your child is able to identify the pond and the frogs when playing

How can you extend this activity? (Modifications)
   Add whip cream dots on the jello to make lily pads. Connect the lily pads in the jello to the lilly pads they jumped on as frogs yesterday.

Helpful Hints: (Pitfalls & Solutions)
   If stained hands are something you are avoiding, a yellow or clear jello should be used instead.

leapfrog jump!

5/21/2020

What is our theme? Frogs!

What is the lesson:
Leapfrog Jump! Your child will jump from lily pad to lily pad, like a frog!

MA Guidelines/Standards:

PW40. The young toddler‘s lifestyle is characterized by active, physical play.
PW50. The older toddler engages in a variety of physical activities.
PW51. The young toddler will show increased visual ability and perception.

Learning Outcomes:
A gross motor activity for your toddler. This helps them learn to balance, build muscles in their legs and core.

Songs,Books,Video(Motivational Techniques)
Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtYnCmw2CWE
Educational cartoon Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ElGMVU6SY

Materials-

Green paper
Scissors

Activity (Procedure):

Cut paper into the shape of a lily pad
Line them up a handful of inches apart
Demonstrate yourself jumping from paper to paper
Allow toddler to jump from paper to paper
Play songs like “Jeremiah was a bullfrog,” and other songs about frogs in the background while you jump to make it more fun!

Activity Wrap Up:
Talk about how frogs use their legs to jump

How do I know what my child is learning?
(Assessment)
Your toddler should be able to, or be begging to try and jump with two feet off the ground.

How can you extend this activity? (Modifications)
You can extend this activity by watching videos of frogs jumping and talking about how frogs use their legs to jump.

Helpful Hints: (Pitfalls & Solutions)
If you don’t have green paper, it's no big deal. You can use any paper you have on hand. Don’t have paper? Don’t worry! Use pillows instead!

Froggy snack

5/20/2020

Our Lesson For the Week!
What is our theme? Frogs!

What is the lesson:
Making a froggy snack to enjoy!

MA Guidelines/Standards:

PW37. The young toddler participates in physical care routines.
LC39. The older toddler participates in conversations.
CD64 The older toddler observes and identifies living things and begins to identify their basic needs

Learning Outcomes:
Your child will learn about frogs and healthy eating habits.

Songs,Books,Video(Motivational Techniques)
   Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziGG_L9C12o
   Video of frogs found on cape (Spring Peepers):
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oSNzxN3kfo

Materials-

Green Apple (1)
Grapes (2)
Raisin (2)

Activity (Procedure):

Wash all produce
Cut apple in half
To be the mouth, cut a triangle in the bottom third of the apple.
Cut two grapes in half
To be the arms, place the halves of one grape on either side of the apple in the middle
To be the feet, place the halves of each grape on at the bottom of the apple

Activity Wrap Up:
Have your child point to the frog's eyes. Talk about how frogs have two eyes like us. Talk about how many legs and arms a frog has.

How do I know what my child is learning?
(Assessment)
Your child will be able to identify this snack as being representative of a frog. Your child is able to identify where the frog's arms, legs, and eyes are.

How can you extend this activity? (Modifications)
You can extend this activity by talking about foods that frogs eat. Tell your child that frogs eat bugs and allow them to feed their snack frog more bugs (Raisins).

Helpful Hints: (Pitfalls & Solutions)
Sometimes your toddler may be hesitant to try different snacks. Allow them to play with the frog and feed it bugs. Allow them to deconstruct the frog if they wish, to encourage them to try it.

frog feet painting!

5/19/2020

Hello Families! Yesterday we began our study of the life cycle of the frog. We learned that first the eggs are laid in the water and a tadpole is hatched. Next is the froglet stage and finally the adult frog stage. Our activity today is making some frog feet and painting with them!

What is our theme? The Frog Life Cycle

What is the lesson (overall purpose)?
Continuing the frog life cycle focusing on the froglet and adult frog stage.

MA Guidelines/Standards:
LC29 The younger toddler understands educators’ simple requests and statements referring to the present situation
LC32 The older toddler understands more abstract and complex statements and requests that refer to positions in space, reference to time, ideas, feelings and the future
CD47 The younger toddler expects certain things to happen as a result of his actions
CD48 The older toddler demonstrates an awareness of the effects of certain actions
CD66 The younger toddler explores with sensory art materials and uses them to create visual effects
CD69 The older toddler creatively explores and experiments using a variety of sensory materials and art mediums

Learning Outcomes:
As a tadpole develops into a frog, they transition into the “froglet” stage. During this stage, the tadpole develops back and front legs and continues to live in the water. At the end of the froglet stage, the froglet will lose its tail and develop into the adult frog. The adult frog lives on land, has four legs and no tail.

Songs, Books & Videos (Motivational Techniques):

https://youtu.be/wRSFLxsxEQQ Video: What is a froglet

https://youtu.be/wGIc7KitJCA Song: Life Cycle of A Frog

https://youtu.be/F3ElGMVU6SY Video: Dr. Binocs’ Life Cycle of a Frog

https://youtu.be/2Re3_j7WoaU Story: A Frog’s Life

Materials:

Green paint

styrofoam plates (or paper plate) at least three (two for the feet and one to place the paint in.)

construction paper

large sheet of paper to place frog feet prints

stapler

Activity (Procedure):

Using the picture below as a reference, cut out two ‘frog feet’ from the Styrofoam plates. Attach the construction paper as shown in the photo. (These should be just big enough to comfortably slip over your child’s hands.
Have your child place the “feet” over their hands.
Now gently have your child dip the frog feet into the plate of green paint, covering the feet completely
Ask your child to gently place their paint covered frog feet on the large sheet of paper, making footprints.
Continue this process until they are satisfied with their painting.

Activity Wrap Up:
How many prints did you make? Can you count them? Do you remember how many feet a frog has?
Can you remember the stages of a frog’s development? (egg, tadpole, froglet, adult frog)

How do I know what my child is learning? (Assessment)
Painting with young children not only helps their creative development but it also stimulates their brain. Stimulating children's brains can also help other areas of their development. ... Most children enjoy a good messy painting experience, this will allow them to freely express themselves and develop their creativity.

How can you extend this activity? (Modifications)
Try using a variety of paint colors instead of just green.

Helpful Hints: (Pitfalls & Solutions):
If you don’t have a large sheet of paper, try taping several sheets together. Try using a newspaper if you like.

The Frog Life cycle

5/18/2020

Hello Families! This week we will start our study of the frog life cycle. Frogs are such fun creatures to study! They start as an egg and then become a frog. In this lesson we will also be making a tadpole with materials you have around your house.

What is our theme? The Frog Life cycle

What is the lesson (overall purpose)?
Learning that frogs begin first as eggs and then develop into an adult frog.

MA Guidelines/Standards:
CD45 The older toddler improves memory for details
CD60 The younger toddler experiments with various wet and dry materials to discover their properties
CD61 The younger toddler discovers living things found in nature
CD64 The older toddler observes and identifies living things and begins to identify their basic needs

Learning Outcomes:
There are 4 stages of a frog’s life cycle; egg, tadpole, froglet, frog. The eggs are a jelly-like mass that a mother frog lays in the water. The eggs grow until they hatch and they are now tadpoles. Tadpoles have tails but no front or back legs. They live in the water where they stay as they grow front and back legs. This is the froglet stage. At the froglet stage they lose their tails and then become frogs. It takes about 4 months for the complete life cycle from egg to adult frog.

Songs, Books & Videos (Motivational Techniques)

https://youtu.be/MJOSoJNeu54 Video: Frog Life Cycle Song

https://youtu.be/Yn0ErPOsI-M Video: Frog eggs

https://youtu.be/gHO6S5-5zAU Story: The Teeny Weeny Tadpole

Materials:

egg carton
scissors
green construction paper
paint brush
green paint
glue
googly eyes

Activity (Procedure):

Have mom or dad cut out one section of the egg carton. (The part where the egg sits.) Paint that section green with paint using your paint brush. (This is going to be your tadpole body.) While the paint is drying,(this may take a few hours), use the scissors to cut the construction paper into a medium sized triangle. This is going to be your tadpole’s tail. (Ask for help if you are having a difficult time with the scissors!) Use the glue to add the triangle tail to one side of the body. (It’s best to attach it to the underside of the body). Let a tiny bit stick out from under the body. Now attach the googly eyes to the opposite side of the body. Now you have a tadpole!

Activity Wrap Up:
Rewatch the video “The Teeny Weeny Tadpole.” Can you notice what is different with the tadpole on each page? What is happening to the tadpole? How is he changing?

How do I know what my child is learning?
(Assessment) Ask your child to tell you the 4 stages of the frog life cycle. (Egg, tadpole, froglet, frog).

Ask your child where the frog lays the eggs? Where does the tadpole live?

What part of the frog body is missing when it is a tadpole? (legs)

What part of the body does a tadpole have that a frog doesn’t? (a tail)

How can you extend this activity? (Modifications)
What can you do with your tadpole? Can you try putting him in water? Will he float? Remember that tadpoles live in water as they are becoming adult frogs.

Keep your tadpole and add legs during tomorrow’s lesson on the next stage: froglet.

Helpful Hints: (Pitfalls & Solutions)

Sometimes the glue won’t hold the tail to the egg carton. Try using a stapler to attach the tail.

You can color the egg carton section with crayons if you don’t have green paint.

If you don’t have an egg carton, try to build your tadpole using a stone for the body. Or how about a pine cone?

Draw eyes on your tadpole if you don’t have googly eyes!