Hello, parents!! Here are some ideas and suggestions to support you as you work to build a love of learning in your student. In addition, new videos, songs, read alouds are uploaded to the YouTube channel (Jessica’s Busy Bees GSP) every Mon – Friday.
Willie Weasel – the motion will be on Youtube by Friday evening, April 17. Join hands together in front of body. Make a wave motion. It represents weasel body running. While making motion, say W sound.
-Just like we can make a V with our fingers (peace sign), we can make a W! Show your child how to make a W using their thumbs and pointer fingers.
– Big W and little w are the same! When we write our letters, we always start at the top! This is easy to do with the letter W.
-children often confuse M and W. A way I explained to my boys the difference was that M is for Mountain, the letter M looks like 2 mountains joined together. Here is an example of what I mean.
-Art Project
Make a watermelon from half a paper plate. You can use torn construction paper, crayons, or paint. At school when we do this we use paint. I draw a rim on the construction paper so that we can use positioning words as well. We paint outside the line green, inside red.
– Wheel Shape – cut a simple wheel shape out of a paper plate. Your child can color it and pretend to drive!
-Window painting. Best paints for this are acrylic or craft. You can use tempera, but it peels off quickly. You can find a recipe to make paint here. (Another great W activity is window washing. My kids loved doing this and it was great to get all of the yellow pollen out. We “clean” the glass with a paper plate, and then open the window to get the pollen out. This is also great gross motor)
Decorate your windows with an easy recipe for homemade window paint! It’s simple to make and fun to create with, plus a snap to clean up.
– Writing – have your student “write” a letter to a friend or grandparent! Whatever their writing method is– scribbles or random letters or anything–that is great! You can remind your child that we write left to right.
-Fine Motor
glue wagon wheel pasta or wheat thins inside a large W (I free draw the W). The main point here is to get something small, that they need to pinch to pick up and then the squeezing of the glue bottle to work those fingers, preparing them to write.
-Also a great fine motor for W – is to make WORMS out of playdoh. You can then bend the long playdoh worm into a W!
-Watercolors! Our pattern is “Water, Color, Paper” The children should know this routine by now so that the colors don’t blend together. First we stick our brush in the water, then we pick a color, and then we paint on our paper. When they paint you a picture, ask them to tell you about it OR you can give them a topic (“Can you paint me a picture of a wagon or the weather or whatever?”)
Science –
-WATER – there is literally so much we would do here – easy and quick is “Will it Sink or Float?” Kids LOVE this. You can do as many or few things as you want. In class, I make a graph (Sink on one side, Float on another). I ask the kids to make a prediction before we drop things in. You can use coins, cups, cotton balls, toys, a sock, rock, kleenex…anything. This is fun to do during bath time.
-WATER – will (something) dissolve in water? Once again, ask your child to predict.
-WATER – What repels water? I just found this online, we will do this next year. The chart is WAY above where the kids are, but, if you have olders, this may be a neat thing to have big and little kids do together.
Songs – (Of Course!) The Wheels on the Bus (I will sing on Youtube next week)
Wise Man, Foolish Man – already on Youtube!
Gross Motor –
If you have a small shovel and don’t mind digging up a little of the yard, you and your child dig up a little of the earth and find worms. We try to count them at home, to further practice our counting skills.
-Another good gross motor, water balloons! Use sidewalk chalk to write number and letters on the driveway. Have your child toss a water balloon at the letter or number you call out.
-we do a lot of WIGGLING in school during W week. We wiggle our fingers, our elbows, our hips, our knees, try to wiggle our ears… 🙂
Finally, if you have a wagon, go for a wagon ride around the neighborhood.
Let me know how we can help! Lorie and I are here for your family, and we pray for you and your child daily.
