This fourth week in May, we will be talking about bees and bugs, dirt and gardens. The pumpkin seeds from the process pumpkin have sprouted in the garden. We will plant some more carrots, some wildflower seeds that will attract honey bees, and some edible herb plants given to me by a neighbor…WATER WATER WATER! We will be adding a home for mason bees in the garden area as well.
We will talk about colors when we read our story, The Bee, at Circle Time. This story gives the children the opportunity to guess what comes next, this is one of the pre-reading skills we have been working on. To be able to guess what comes next, the children need to be engaged in the story, able to stay focused, and to follow a story line.
We will be learning the Bug in the Rug rhyme. Learning rhymes is also a pre-reading skill (to hear the sounds of words). The children are developing listening skills as they hear how words sound the same and how they are different. Children enjoy rhymes and the humor that comes with some of these rhymes.
The five early literacy practices: read, write, talk, sing and play…https://www.clel.org/fiveearlyliteracypractices
As we sing songs, learn rhymes, and read stories we are working on early literacy skills. The children are building their vocabulary as they learn the words in the songs and poems. Reading the books during Circle Time and in the Library encourages them to love to read and to have print awareness (seeing the written words that are spoken to them as you read the story). As we re-read stories or do the song/rhyme/flannel story for yet another time it is to encourage your child to hear the words/sounds, and be able to re-tell the story/thought/word sequence. The children need to practice this skill and repetition of the songs and stories is a way they can practice this skill. Singing songs is a way for the children to hear the syllables in the words, hear words that rhyme, and recite the words back to you. These songs and stories are the beginning introductions to the written word, which is the start of the development of their early reading skills.
Songs, Rhymes and Poems:
Bug in Rug
Bug in a rug
Bug in a rug
Which one of you bugs
Is snug in my rug?
Insects All Around
Ladybugs and butterflies
Buzzing bees up in the sky
Teeny tiny little ants
Crawling up and down the plants
Many insects can be found
In the sky and on the ground.
I Like Dirt
I like dirt, I like dirt
It won’t hurt
On my shirt
I like to spray it with the hose
I like to squish it with my toes
The fun I have just grows and grows
Cuz I like dirt!