This week’s theme is Black History. We talked about different people who helped with the Civil Rights Movement and how they helped shape the world as we know it today. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was a man who led peaceful protests because he felt that black people were treated unfairly and he spoke out about it in his “I Have a Dream” speech. Garrett Morgan invented the stop light to prevent car accidents and to help keep traffic flowing. He also made other inventions such as the gas mask to help people breath when they encounter harmful air such as smoke or gas. We talked about Rosa Parks who is a women who helped start the boycott against buses being segregated, Ruby Bridges was a little girl who went to a school where she was the only child in a classroom because others felt she did not belong. She was brave because she kept her held up high while others were being unkind to her. Jackie Robinson was a baseball player who played on an all-white team where many people felt he did not belong on the team despite him having so many fans. Eventually, he was accepted by others. There are so many people who helped shape the world today and fought against the injustices which is what we are trying to teach the children. I gave the children some scenarios and they had to tell me how they felt. For example, I asked the children if I gave some candy and others no candy, how would the ones who did not get candy feel? Sad, mad, angry, etc. One child stated that it would not be right. I gave an example of what if I ignored the ones who were trying to tell me that they did not get candy and they stated that i was ignoring them and I was not being kind. They started to understand how unfair things before the Civil Rights Movement. They all agreed that they are happy that things have changed.
We practiced writing Rr, we learned the sound the letter makes, and we made a list of Rr words. We practiced writing names of famous black people and the children recalled details that I read in the stories throughout the week. We made a list of words ending in -an and we started to review some of the letter sounds because it’s the precursor to learning how to sounds out words.
We counted out 17 items, practiced writing numbers, and I have been reviewing number to help them with number recognition. The children made shapes using Geoboards and rubber bands. This is a tool for fine motor skills as well. I did have the children use different building materials to not only build with their hand but work together in a group. They seemed to enjoy doing this because every child was engaged and they were doing their part.
We did a “I have a Dream” art project where the children told me verbally what they will do to make a difference in the world when they get older, they did a stop light art project, and a baseball one they had to cut and glue the items Jackie Robinson used when he played baseball.
We did not go outside this week due to cold temperatures but that did not stop us from moving our bodies. The children did all sorts of activities this week such as kicking the ball to their partner, throwing the ball, hula hoop, jumping over items, etc. We did so much that I can’t list them all! The most important thing was listening to my instructions so that they know what to do. They seemed to enjoy because they all asked for water afterwards!
If you did not sign off on the field trip permission slip, please see me. We are super excited to go and see Rainbow Fish! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me.