This week, we talked about Dental Health, how to take care of our teeth, and what foods are good for our teeth. The children were able to tell me when they brush their teeth, how long they brush for and what their routine is. They were to tell me their experiences with the dentist and they said that it was scary at first but now they are not afraid to go to the dentist. This theme is one of the fun themes because we use real food and real dental items such as toothbrushes, dental floss, marshmallows, etc.
We did a Uu word list, -an rhyming word list, and the children did an activity where they matched the uppercase teeth to the lowercase toothbrush. They did a good food/bad food sorting activity where they had to identify what the foo is and if its good for their teeth or bad for their teeth. They practiced writing dental terms, practiced writing Uu, and we dictated, “Why I brush my teeth…”.
We did a counting activity using mini marshmallows as teeth and they had to find the number on the toothbrush, they counted the “teeth” and they had to find the number card, and they practiced writing numbers. We counted out 100 mini marshmallows because we finally reached 100 Days of School so our chart is completed! They were so excited to see that the chart was completed and they wanted to go beyond 100. We will keep track by writing the number on the board. I tried to incorporate some fun activities for 100 days of school and the children seemed to like it and they asked if they can play it again.
The children made a mouth with teeth by cutting out the mouth part, gluing the pink tongue to one side and then they glued mini marshmallows as teeth. They got to paint with toothbrushes on a giant tooth that I had drawn, and they did a Dental Floss art where they painted using dental floss. They expressed how much fun they had in art and how different it was using every day things to do art projects.
We talked about feelings this week and it’s important for children to be able to identify how they feel. I feel that they need to be able to tell their peers, “Please do not do that. It makes me said when you take toys from me, I feel sad because my mom is at work, I am happy that we get to play with legos at school”. I try to teach them by having them say how they feel, what is making them feel that way, and being kind to their peers as they are telling them what they are feeling. I have had some children lately snatch toys from their peers’ friends instead of asking for it back. This is the age group where they have big feelings and they sometimes have trouble expressing them.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me!