The Little Red Hen

Morning Circle 

We began our day by singing the “Good Morning” song and took turns greeting each peer by name. Next, we sang the camp theme song, “I Am Special”.

 We reviewed the farm animals we discussed on Monday with Miss Chelsea, before Miss Hillary introduced today's book, The Little Red Hen.

The Caterpillars learned a new song to remember the days of the week. We then used the calendar to determine today's month, day, and date. 

The class voted what they thought the weather was like today by raising their hands - either sunny, cloudy, or rainy.

"I don't wanna be a chicken, I don't wanna be a duck, so I'll cluck, cluck, cluck!"

Playground Time

After morning circle, the Caterpillars formed a single-file line using the rope and went to the bathroom before going outside. We enjoyed singing "Sally the Camel" and "The Ants Go Marching" as we ventured to the playground. When we passed groups from other classrooms, we made sure to stop and wave hello to our friends.

We enjoyed riding on the alligator see-saw for a jungle safari and finding various animals.

The Caterpillars enjoyed having slide races on the playground.

We even asked friends from other classes to join us.

We waited patiently for friends so we could do down at the same time.

Hard at work in the kitchen.

The Caterpillars made fruit smoothies and ice cream with the sand.

They used the car to deliver the treats to other friends. We stopped occasionally to get gas and fix the tires.

We practiced using spatial awareness and saying "excuse me" when sharing the jungle gym.

Language Circle 

After the Caterpillars came in from the playground and ate snack, Miss Hillary read the book, The Little Red Hen. In the book, the red hen finds a seed and after planting it, the seed grows into tall stalks of wheat. We were able to apply knowledge we gained during our "In the Garden" lessons from last week.

We also discussed why the hen didn’t share the bread and that good friends help each other when they need it.

We had two literacy activities today. First, Miss Hillary and the class went through the life cycle of a chicken. We learned that girl chickens are called hens, and boy chickens are called roosters. 

Lastly, the Caterpillars practiced rhymes by creating a word family nest for words that end in (-en). There were seven letters that we placed at the beginning of each ending. We practiced articulating each letter, spelled the full word, practiced pronouncing the word, and then discussed the definition of each. 

We went through new vocabulary words in the book: peck, grind, stalks, and squeal. 

We loved hearing the story about the little red hen.

Miss Hillary uncovered each of the four stages as we went through them. 

Each child took a turn adding a letter to an -en egg.

This is what our word family nest looked like when it was all finished.

Science Lesson

During science today, we reviewed the steps the little red hen took to make the bread.

Next, Miss Hillary showed us what yeast looked like.

We were able to take turns feeling it and smelling it before deciding if it would make our dough smaller, stay the same, or bigger. 

Each caterpillar took turns finding their name on a tally and then placing in the correct column of their predicted outcome for dough with and without yeast. 

Placing our guesses on the chart.

The Caterpillars carefully followed the recipe to make the dough.

We had to carefully measure and pour each ingredient into our bag.

After zipping the bag, we were able to pound and shake the bag to mix everything together.

This is what our chart looked like after lunch once we compared the results to our predictions.

Centers

Our choices for centers today were: reading a book, pretend play in the kitchen, and the sensory table. 

At the sensory table, we played with toy ducks in pretend mud. 

We identified the colors and shapes at the bottom of each duck.

Other Caterpillars read books or practiced pronouncing sounds on our word family nest.

We took each others orders and talked about our favorite things while we ate.

The Caterpillars enjoyed cooking and preparing pretend sandwiches together.

Art Project

During art, we were able to make our own cycle of a chicken! Each egg had the labels 1-4 with arrows connecting the numbers. The Caterpillars had to remember each step in order to know where to glue each piece. We used red paint to make hand prints as our little red hen. 

First, each child traced their name on the back of their projects. 

Some children decided to rip up brown paper for their egg's nest.

Other caterpillars used Spanish Moss to create the nest.

We worked very hard and asked our friends to share materials.

Lunch

We washed our hands after art and got ready for lunch. Miss Hillary read us a book called "The Little Green Witch". After, we filled out a Venn Diagram comparing the similarities and differences between the two stories. We also checked on our bread to see if our predictions during the science lesson were correct. We found out that yeast makes bread rise and the dough stays the same size when there is no yeast.

Music and Closing Circle

During music, Miss Hillary taught us a song about a farmer's dog named Bingo. We wrapped up our day singing “I am special”. We sang good-bye to each of our friends when their parents came to pick them up. 

We also sang our class favorite, "The Bear Hunt", using our map.

The Caterpillars spelled and clapped out the letters of Bingo's name that were covered up. 

One by one, we covered up each letter of his name.

We enjoyed singing many other songs until everyone left.

We even sang the "Chicken Dance" one last time before heading home.

Please be sure to wear your green Speech Garden shirts tomorrow to camp! We will be taking a class picture of our Caterpillar friends. We can't wait to see you all again tomorrow for our last day on the farm.