We will have Train Week for two weeks merging it next week with Vehicle Week.
This week in the art area we will painting with vehicles and make our own trains. While the pain with the vehicles we will be using words that describe motion, texture, size while watching the cause and effect of paint on the wheels of the vehicles. The children will be using shapes to build their own trains. The art activity will be using Math skills. The ‘train pieces’ will be circles, triangles, rectangles and squares. As you discuss different shapes you will be adding to your child’s vocabulary. You can help your child with the names of shapes in their home environment – a door is a rectangle, the dinner plate is a circle, the window is a square, a stop sign is a octagon, etc. They can recognize and compare 2-dimensional and 3-dimensionalshapes as they compare the 2-dimensial train they make at the art table with the 3-dimensional wooden trains in the blocks area and with the 2-dimensional train puzzles at table toys. As the children learn about shapes we will encourage them to create and take apart shapes– make a square from 2 triangles. At the playdough table you can encourage the children to create new shapes, cut the ball in half, roll the snake into a circle as they experiment with the playdough. Using words such as turn (rotation), flip (refection), slide (translation) teach spatial visualization that will later be used in geometry. Using these terms with toys – “turn your Teddy Bear over” – will then be used with directions for shapes – “turn the triangle shaped piece so it fits inside the puzzle”. At Circle Time we will continue to use words to expand their spatial orientationvocabulary. Above, below, in front, behind, over, underare positional words that allows children to understand where things are in their world. The spoon is beside your bowl, you are under the table, a bird is flying over the house are all sentences that teach spatial orientation. As we read Freight Train this week I will use positional words as I describe where the train is going. You can use words to help your child develop a stronger math oriented vocabulary this week as you describe their world using descriptive vocabulary words that describe shape, size, and placement.
Down By the Station
Down by the station
Early in the morning
See the little pufferbellies
All in a row
See the engine driver
Turn the little handle
Whoo Whoo Choo Choo
Off we go!
Little Red Caboose
Little red caboose, choo, choo, choo
Little red caboose, choo, choo, choo
Little red caboose behind the train, train, train,
Smokestack on his back, back, back, back
Chugging down the track, track, track, track
Little red caboose behind the train.