During the month of November our unit was all about nutrition and healthy food choices. This is one of my favorite units! Usually we get to taste different foods and I love to make smoothies with the class. Unfortunately this year due to the pandemic we were not able to share any food. We still had a blast learning about what our body needs to stay healthy:) Our dramatic play area was turned into a grocery store. The children worked hard sorting food into the different food groups, working as cashiers, and answering the store phone. Here is a sample of some of the other activities we completed. We talked about all the different food groups, what each food group gives our body, and what we should try and eat each day. The pancake game was a huge hit with both classes. The children had to match the number pancakes with the correct amount of blueberries on the pancakes. I added a scavenger hunt to each unit. This time I hid food word and picture cards around the room. The children have a sheet with everything hidden on their own clip board. As they find each picture/word card, they cross it off their sheet. I find the children coming back to this activity many times! Everyone is enjoying their own personal kinetic sand bin. One of our favorite stories during this unit was Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley. Each child made their own mouse and decided what the mouse likes to eat. These are hanging up and will come home next week. Here are some books we read during this unit: Happy Thanksgiving!! Lots of holiday fun making our own handprint turkey, putting the correct number of beads on the turkey feathers, and making Thanksgiving bracelets. Right before thanksgiving we talked about the words thankful and gratitude. I brought in a gratitude box and helped each child write something they were grateful for on a piece of paper and we put it in the box. I will bring this box out from time to time and read to the children what they said. I an working to connect this idea to our yoga and mindful breathing. We use the book Alphabreaths by Christopher Willard and Daniel Rechtschaffen. I saw Christoper speak last year in Dover. It was a wonderful presentation on how to help children begin using mindfulness practices at a young age. I introduce a new breathing exercise every week. Ask your child if they can show you their favorite breath we learned so far. I tried to explain to the children that using these breaths is helpful when they are upset or sad and want to try and calm down. We also connected this to the gratitude box and how we can always open the box and read what we are thankful for and makes up happy. This can always help change our mood when we focus on the good:)
Comments are closed.
|
Archives
November 2021
|