Our second week of Bubbles, Boats and Floats is coming to an end. This week has been all about 'On the Lake.'
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During lesson 9 we learned about ducks. This brought the opportunity to talk about our families. During circle time I had everyone share who was in their family. Some students only mentioned their pets, others mentioned grandparents, and some mentioned their immediate family in their household. We also talked about things that they are good at, which helped their understanding on how different everyone is and that we all have our strengths. We learned that ducks are excellent at swimming, and my preschoolers were excited to share about their own experiences swimming as many of them are currently taking swim lessons.
During our small group math activity, 'Where's the Duck?' we worked on our positional vocabulary. The vocabulary we worked on was:
- Next to
- On top
- In front
I cut up the cube cards that we received in our curriculum box this month and placed them in our pocket cube. I handed each preschooler a cup and a duck counter. We took turns rolling the cube and following the prompt on where to put the duck. I would say "Put the duck on top of your cup" if they rolled the 'on top' placement. With the prompts they were able to correctly place their duck.
There are two other ways to complete this activity, depending on the children in your class and their age. You can simplify this activity by letting the child move the duck on their own, without the cube. When they have placed it you state where they placed their duck, such as, "You put the duck inside the cup." This helps their understanding of the positional vocabulary and they can relate what they did to the placement you mentioned.
For children who need more of a challenge, they can roll the cube two or three times and transition the duck from one position to the next.
As they work through this activity, take the opportunity to observe them. Do they understand the positional vocabulary? Do they understand where to put the duck in relation to the cup (or whatever object you used)? Can they further explore this activity by coming up with more positions?
It is important for preschoolers to understand positional vocabulary and this activity was a fun way to help them learn, or review, if your preschoolers are older, what these words mean. They get to be hands-on and act out the words which really furthers their understanding of the vocabulary. They are putting their learning to practice.
When I first sat down with my preschoolers to start this lesson I showed them what we were going to do by rolling the cube and stating what position I was going to move the duck in. Then I moved the duck in a few different positions without rolling the cube and asked them where my duck was.
I challenged my class by having them roll the cube twice and then putting the two positions into a sentence for them to complete. "Put your duck inside the cup and then beside it." I wanted to see if they could transition the duck from one position to the next. Then I would do three positions in one sentence.
We have two weeks left of our Bubbles, Boats and Floats unit!