This first week in March we will be learning about dinosaurs, bones, and volcanoes. The children will be building a volcano and adding dinosaurs to the volcano before it ‘blows up’. We will use descriptive words while we discuss big and little, loud and quiet and in and out. The kids will be using tools (technology) as they add dino-bone powder to the volcano, dig for bones in the sensory table, and examine fossil prints at the playdough table. They will be paleontologists in the sandbox and in the sensory table using tools to find the hidden bones. At table toys there will be little dinosaurs hatching out of eggs, and in the blocks area we will have dinosaurs stomping around the neighborhood. At home you can talk to your child about size and comparisons. You can ask questions that compare things the child is familiar with: big as an elephant, small as a kitten, etc. Talk about the difference of loud and quiet. When is a cat loud? What is loud in the house – the vacuum? the hair blower? the blender? Give them an opportunity to make loud sounds and quiet sounds with a tool that can do both. A tooth brush can make both loud and quiet sounds. The soft brush side of a tooth brush will make one sound while the plastic handle side makes another sound. What can you use a tooth brush for? At preschool we will be using it as a tool to brush off the ‘dirt’ from our bones. You can talk about how they use it as a tool to brush food off of their teeth. Dinosaur Week will be filled with STEM activities – Science: study of dinosaurs/volcanoes, Technology: paleontologist tools, Engineering: building the volcano, Math: adding/counting/comparing/categorizing. All of this while we play with dinosaurs!
Dinosaur Week
Songs:
Counting Dinosaurs
Five little dinosaurs sitting in a swamp.
The first one said, “Let’s stomp, stomp, stomp!”
The second one said, “Time for lunch!”
The third one said, “Let’s munch, munch, munch!”
The fourth one said, “Let’s stomp some more!”
The fifth one said, “Let’s all roar!” GRRRR!
Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs
Eating fruits and leaves
Take a bite, chew it up
Their lunch is in the trees.
The Dino Ditty
Here he comes just a stomping with his feet
Singing Dino, ditty, ditty-dum, ditty do
Searching all around for something to eat
Singing Dino, ditty, ditty dum ditty do
He’s huge (echo) He’s strong (echo) He’s huge, he’s strong
Wont be hungry very long
Singing Dino ditty, ditty dum, ditty do
Singing Dino ditty, ditty dum, ditty do
5 Dinosaurs
One dinosaur went out to play
upon a giant fern one day.
He had such enormous fun
he called for another dinosaur to come!
Two dinosaurs went out to play…
Three dinosaurs…
Four dinosaurs…
Five dinosaurs went out to play
upon a giant fern one day.
They had such enormous fun
they played and played ’till the day done.
Five Dinosaurs Driving in Cars
There were five dinosaurs ridin’ in cars (pretend to be driving)
Havin’ a “wheely” good time
They said, “step on the gas” (step forward with one foot)
We’ll go really fast! (push one hand out in front of body)
And they did until one had a flat tire
Ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk, ca-chunk (roll hands unevenly as if rolling a flat tire)
Whoosh (sink down to crouch position while making air sound)
And he said, “go on without me!” (cup hands around mouth and shout upward)
Repeat with 4, 3, 2 and 1 dinosaur
Last time – speak the following in a rhythmic, almost rapping way:
And he said, “I know what I’ll do, I’ll change the tire”
So he jacked up the car (pretend to work a jack while making whoosh sound)
And he took off the flat (pretend to lift off heavy tire as you say “uh!”)
And he put on the spare (pretend to put on spare as you say, “uh!”)
And he said, “I’ll pick up my friends!”
Then there were five dinosaurs, ridin’ in cars
(stand back up and repeat original motions)
Having’ a wheel good time
They said, “step on the gas, we’ll go really fast!”
And they did and down the road they went flyin’