The Friends Room: 2011

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Winter Celebration Songs

The Friends room is practicing our winter celebration songs for our upcoming holiday sing on Thursday, December 15th from 5:45-6:30pm! Siblings are welcome and we look forward to seeing you!

Winter Celebration Song Lyrics

I’m In The Mood

I’m in the mood for singing
Hey how about you (2x)

I’m in the mood for singing (tapping, clapping)

Singing along with you

Hey, hey what do you say?

I’m in the mood for that today. (2x)

Dreidel Song

I have a little dreidel

I made it out of clay

And when it’s dry and ready

Oh dreidel I shall play.

Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel,

I made it out of clay

Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel

Oh dreidel I shall play.

Jingle Bells

Jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Oh what fun it is to ride

in a one horse open sleigh.

Dashing through the snow

In a one horse open sleigh

O’er the fields we go

Laughing all the way.

Bells on bobtails ring

Making spirits bright ,

What fun it is to laugh and sing

a sleighing song tonight.

Hanukkah Happy Holiday

Hanukkah Hannukah

Happy Holiday

Candle light, candle’s bright

Children very gay.

Hanukkah, Hanukkah

Spin my dreidel fall

Turn and spin- let me win

Happy time for all.

This Little Light of Mine

This little light of mine

I’m gonna let it shine (3x)

Let it shine, let it shine,

Let it shine.

It’s gonna shine on Merricat's

On all of us

On children

Esta lucecita

Yo la hare brillar (3x)

Brillarar, brillarar, brillarar.

This little light of mine

I’m gonna let it shine (3x)

Let it shine (3x)

Twinkle Twinkle Hannukah Lights

Twinkle twinkle Hannukah lights
Shining brightly for eight nights

See the dreidle spin around

Eat some latkes crisp and brown

Twinkle twinkle Hannukah lights

Shining brightly for eight nights.

The Latke Song

Take a potato pat, pat, pat

Roll it and make it flat, flat, flat

Fry it in a pan with fat, fat, fat

Hannukah latkes just like that!

Must Be Santa

Who's got a beard that's long and white?

Santa's got a beard that's long and white

Who comes around on a special night?

Santa comes around on a special night

Special night, beard that's white

Must be Santa, must be Santa

Must be Santa, Santa Claus

Who wears boots and a suit of red?

Santa wears boots and a suit of red

Who wears a long cap on his head?

Santa wears a long cap on his head

Cap on head, suit that's red

Special night, beard that's white

Must be Santa, must be Santa

Must be Santa, Santa Claus

Who's got a great big red cherry nose?

Santa's got a great big red cherry nose

Who laughs this way, "ho, ho, ho!"?

Santa laughs this way, "ho, ho, ho!"

Ho, ho, ho, cherry nose

Cap on head, suit that's red

Special night, beard that's white

Must be Santa, must be Santa

Must be Santa, Santa Claus

Who very soon will come our way?

Santa very soon will come our way

Eight little reindeer pull his sleigh

Santa's little reindeer pull his sleigh

Reindeer sleigh, come our way

Ho, ho, ho, cherry nose

Cap on head, suit that's red

Special night, beard that's white

Must be Santa, must be Santa

Must be Santa, Santa Claus

Reindeer sleigh, come our way

Ho, ho, ho, cherry nose

Cap on head, suit that's red

Special night, beard that's white

Must be Santa, must be Santa

Must be Santa, Santa Claus

Jingle Bell Rock

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock

Jingle bell swing and jingle bells ring

Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun

Now the jingle hop has begun.

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock

Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time

Dancin' and prancin' in jingle bell square

In the frosty air.

What a bright time

It's the right time

To rock the night away

Jingle bell time is a swell time

To go glidin' in a one horse sleigh

Giddy-up, jingle horse pick up your feet

Jingle around the clock

Mix and mingle in a jinglin' beat

That's the jingle bell rock

That’s the jingle bell

That’s the jingle bell rock!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Our Thanksgiving Story

After our Thanksgiving puppet show, the children had a lot to say about Thanksgiving!

Here are their words…

“A long time ago, maybe forty years ago, the Pilgrims came to town! They were so mad. They wanted to leave the other land. So they were homeless. But then they came so close to us! Massachusetts!”

“The Pilgrims went to the boat then they went from the boat to visit the Native Americans.”

“They left England to go to their favorite new home America. They came from England. It was raining. It was a cloudy day!”

“The Native Americans looked different from the Pilgrims. They had different shoes, clothes and hats.”

“They showed them how to plant corn seeds and they thanked them for doing that. They were trying to help them.”

“They all played gently together. They were so happy they were friends. They were all doing their best.”

“The Pilgrims gardened and helped to get nice Thanksgiving food.”

“Native Americans said to the Pilgrims, “Let's plant some food!” because they needed more food for lots of dinner.”

“They called that dinner Thanksgiving.”

“They ate some food and they had so much fun! They came to America because they wanted to see the children and grown ups with arrows.”

“We celebrate Thanksgiving with all the good food in the world.”

“Like baked beans, corn and broccoli!”

“Then they had berries and turkey and bread.”

“Turkeys are like one big chicken!”

“You have turkey and have to be really thankful for somebody. We are thankful to be happy and for everybody we are friends with!”

Thanksgiving Song

(to the tune of twinkle twinkle little star)
Lyrics:

Let's be thankful for this day,

For our friends and our play.

Let's be thankful, let's be glad,

For our food and the things we have.

Let's give thanks for you and me,

And our home and family.

The Turkey Song:

Have you ever seen a turkey, a turkey, a turkey,

Who struts around the farmyard with feathers so bright?

With red ones and orange ones and yellow ones and brown ones,

Did you ever see a turkey with feathers so bright?

Sunday, November 20, 2011

More "All About Me" in The Friends Room

We have been working hard in The Friends Room to earn beads for our Safe and Friendly Jar! We have been brainstorming ways to earn beads in our jar.

Here are some of our ideas…

1. Making sure we have a quiet, peaceful snack by only talking to friends sitting with us at our table

2. Walking quietly down the stairs

3. Walking quietly up the stairs

4. Helping friends clean up toys and spills

Our jar is filling up quickly and we are excited to celebrate all our hard work with a party!

The following songs, books and activities have been spread out amongst the AM and PM sessions.

During meeting time The Friends Room is:

-Implementing all our jobs (line leader, caboose, door holder, pet helper, calendar helper, snack helper, meteorologist and counter)

-Making pie charts to represent our favorite colors

-Discussing how we get to school

-Talking about the members of our immediate and extended families

-Comparing New York City to other places such as, the beach, a small town or the mountains

-Comparing our heights

-Talking about our features (hair color, eye color and skin tone)

-Thinking about what we want to be when we grow up

-Having a show and tell

-Discussing Thanksgiving and what we’re thankful for

During activity time The Friends Room is:

-Sorting magnets

-Making collages using our favorite color

-Drawing a picture of our favorite thing to do

-Decorating our bodies

-Writing our own stories with our friends

-Making a menu for and dining in our Friends Room Restaurant

-Using liquid watercolor to decorate our restaurant’s tablecloth

-Making fall watercolor paintings

-Working on both table top and floor puzzles

-Pattern block geometric designs

-Free painting

-Making houses with photos of who lives in our home

The Friends Room is Singing:

The Hokey Pokey

The Sleepy Train Song

I’m In The Mood For Singing

Bingo

Bingo with our own names

The Turkey Song

Lyrics:

A turkey is a funny bird, it’s head goes wobble wobble. A turkey says just one funny word: gobble, gobble, gobble!

The Color Caterpillar Song (to the tune of Mama’s Gonna Buy You a Mocking Bird)

Lyrics:

Circle purple, circle blue, circle green and yellow too. Circle orange, circle red, circle smiling above my head.

Come and count the colors with me. How many colors do you see?

1, 2, 3, down to green, 4, 5, 6 colors can be seen.

Circle purple, circle blue, circle green and yellow too. Circle orange, circle red, circle smiling above my head.

The Friends Room is reading:

Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats

Lunch by Denise Fleming

The Little Rabbit Who Liked To Say Moo by Johnathan Allen

Don’t Wake Up The Bear by Marjorie Dennis Murray

On Mother’s Lap by Ann Herbert Scott

Maisy Drives The Bus by Lucy Collins

School Bus by Donald Grews

The Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone

Chicken Soup With Rice by Maurice Sendack

Thanksgiving Is For Giving Thanks by

Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes

When comparing New York City to the beach, the country side and the mountains here's what we had to say about...

New York City

-“We live in New York City.”

-“I see a little bit of trees in New York City.”

-“We live in an apartment. We were in a house in Cape Cod. The house was bigger because there was more space there.”

-“There are skyscrapers in New York City.”

-“A lot of people live in New York City.”

-“A lot of buildings are in New York City. I live in New York City. This is New York City. I know there’s a Met Museum.”

The Beach

-“The beach has sand. New York doesn’t.”

-“New York City has different smells.”

-“New York doesn’t have an ocean.”

-“I went to a mall by the beach. It was different. You swim and make a sand man there!”

-“I walked on the beach with daddy. There is no beach in New York City.”

-“Maybe they take Jeeps or boats in the water there.”

The Country

-“It looks like a cliff. Maybe a train goes through the grass.”

-“Less people live in a town than New York City.”

-“Mountains are different.”

-“There are no buildings in the country.”

-“North Carolina has grass. I walk to a lot of different places in New York City. I drive in North Carolina.”

Friday, November 4, 2011

We have introduced our Friends Room Safe and Friendly Jar. Now that we have created and signed our classroom contract, we are adding beads to our jar when we notice friendly, safe and kind behavior. When we fill up our jar, we will be celebrating with a party!

The following songs, books and activities have been spread out amongst the AM and PM sessions.

During meeting time The Friends Room is:

Continuing our “All About Me” unit

Discussing emotions and how we express them

Exploring differences and similarities in height, skin tone, eye color, hair color and texture

During activity time The Friends Room is:

-Playing in our sand table

-Celebrating Diwali and decorating clay diyas

-Making Oobleck

-Tracing our bodies and preparing to decorate them

-Celebrating Halloween with The Rainbow Room

-Observing our faces in a mirror and drawing self-portraits

-Painting with marbles

-Using leaf stamps

-Color mixing

-Writing cards to our families for Parent Night

-Collaging vases with tissue paper for Parent Night

-Observing our features and making self-portrait collages

-Playing emotion bingo

-Talking about and drawing pictures of what make us feel happy, sad or angry

-Graphing our eye color

-Completing body part puzzles

The Friends Room has been rehearsing our favorite songs for parent night:

-Tingaleo

-Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light

-We Are The Dinosaurs

-The Itsy Bitsy and Great Big Spider

-Come on and Sing

The Friends Room is Singing:

My Body Is So Musical

Lyrics:

My body, my body, my body is so musical.

Your body, your body, your body can make music too!

My hands they like to clap, clap, clap.

My feet they like to tap, tap, tap.

My mouth likes saying la, la la.

My hips they do the cha cha cha.

My body, my body, my body is so musical.
Your body, your body, your body can make music too!

The Friends Room is reading:

Bad Dog, Marley! by John Grogan

The 3 Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Galdone

I like Myself! by Karen Beaumont

Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae

Ska-tat! by Kimberley Knutson

Mad At Mommy! by Komoko Sakai

Fletcher and The Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson

On Halloween Night by Harriet Ziiefert

3 Little Pigs by Paul Galdone

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda D. Williams

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Color Mixing

Color Mixing Predictions

What will happen when we mix red and yellow?

-“It will be orange!”

-“It will make black.”

-“It will turn white.”

-“When all the colors are on top, each time it will be a different color.”

While painting, the children had a lot to say!

Here are their words:

-“Look what’s happening…Maybe orange or something? Is that right? Yes. It looks orange!”

-“I made a sun. It’s supposed to be just yellow, but it’s orange. I also like orange. It’s one of my favorites. My grandma just loves yellow.”

-“I’m making orange. Look! It’s orange!”

-“I’m making red and yellow. I made space.”

-“It’s going orange.”

-“It is red and orange. It’s a high-zoo. It has feet. It climbs in the rocky hills.”

-“I used red and yellow to make this. I see orange.”

-“It’s getting splashy. It’s making orange.”

-“It’s getting orange. Mine is mixed up.”

-“I’m painting stripes!”

-“I’m using red and yellow.”

-“I’m making a dragon. That’s my baby’s costume. I’m being batman and my baby is being a dragon.”

-“This is a train going through the mountains to California.”

-“I think it’s gonna be different colors….It mixed orange!”

-“It’s changing orange.”

-“It’s making red. If you mix it together, it…It’s orange now!”

-“Woah! It’s orange!”

-“It changed colors! I’m mixing applesauce.”

-“I see orange.”

- “Oops! It’s orange! Mine’s a picture for my daddy.”

-“Nothing’s happening. It’s just orange.”

-“I’m making fire.”

-“It’s getting like red and yellow shhhhhh. I’m making a mix. It’s a mix of red and yellow and orange. It makes a little green.”

-“It’s gonna be orange! A big orange daddy butterfly.”

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Celebrating Fall in The Friends Room

Reminder: Parent Night is Wednesday, Novemeber 2^nd from 5- 6pm.

The following songs, books and activities have been spread out amongst the AM and PM sessions.

During meeting time The Friends Room is:

-Making predictions about what will happen when we mix red and yellow

-Mixing red and yellow paint

-Observing and predicting what is inside a pumpkin

-Talking about fall and observing red, yellow and orange leaves

During activity time The Friends Room is:

-Listening to Mozart and Beethoven

-Mixing red and yellow on our easels

-Painting with our feet

-Observing and drawing fall leaves

-Making red and yellow play dough then mixing it to make orange play dough

-Making applesauce

-Toasting pumpkin seeds

-Making fall leaves with liquid watercolor

-Practicing yoga

-Making pumpkin bread

The Friends Room is singing:

We Are The Dinosaurs

C Is For Cookie

5 Little Monkeys

The Taxi Song

Zoom Zoom Zoom

The Numbers Rumba

Punchanello

Popcorn

Welcome To Our Cicle Time

ABC Rock

Copy Cat
The Merricats Choo Choo Train

Down By The Bay

5 Little Pumpkins

Apples and Bananas

The Friends Room is reading:

New Baby by Mercer Mayer

The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll

Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

Pick a Pumpkin Mrs. Millie! by Judy Cox

No, David! by David Shannon

Yoko by Rosemary Wells

The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis

Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White

Lyrics for our favorite songs in The Friends Room:

Tingalayo

Tingalayo! Come little donkey, come. Tingalayo! Come little donkey, come.

My donkey walk, my donkey talk. My donkey eat with a knife and fork. My donkey walk, my donkey talk, My donkey eat with a knife and fork.

Tingalayo! Come little donkey, come. Tingalayo! Come little donkey, come.

My donkey come, my donkey go, my donkey fast and my donkey slow. My donkey come, my donkey go, my donkey fast and my donkey slow.

Tingalayo! Come little donkey, come. Tingalayo! Come little donkey, come.

Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light

(to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)

Twinkle Twinkle traffic light, on the corner shining bright. Red means STOP! Green means GO! Yellow means we go slow. Twinkle twinkle traiffic light, on the corner shining bright.

Skidamarink

Skidamarink a dink a dink,

Skidamarink a doo,

I love you!

Skidamarink a dink a dink,

Skidamarink a doo,

I love you!

I love you in the morning and in the afternoon,

I love you in the evening and underneath the moon;

Skidamarink a dink a dink,

Skidamarink a doo,

I love you!

You’ve Got A Friend In Me

You’ve got a friend in me

When the road looks rough ahead

And you’re miles and miles from your nice warm bed

Just remember what your old pal said

You’ve got a friend in me

You’ve got troubles, well I’ve got them too

There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you

We stick together and we see it through

You’ve got a friend in me

Come On And Sing

Come on and sing.

Sing, sing, sing!

Come on and sing with me.

Come on and sing.
Sing, sing, sing!

Come on and sing with me.

You sing that way!

I’ll sing this way!
We’ll come back together and we’ll sing all over again.

Come on and clap.
Clap, clap, clap!

Come on and clap with me.

Come on and clap.

Clap, clap, clap!
Come on and clap with me.

You clap that way!
I’ll clap this way!

We’ll come back together and we’ll clap all over again.

Come on and hum.

Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm!

Come on and humm.

Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm!

Come on and humm with me.

You hum that way!

I’ll hum this way!

We’ll come back together and hum all over again.

Shake Your Sillies Out

We're gonna shake, shake, shake our sillies out, 

Shake, shake, shake our sillies out, 

And wiggle our waggles away!

We're gonna clap, clap, clap our crazies out 

Clap, clap, clap our crazies out, 

And wiggle our waggles away!

We're gonna jump, jump, jump our jiggles out, Jump, jump, jump our jiggles out, Jump, jump, jump our jiggles out, And wiggle our waggles away!

We're gonna yawn, yawn, yawn our sleepies out, yawn, yawn, yawn our sleepies out and wiggle our waggles away!

We're gonna shake, shake, shake our sillies out, Shake, shake, shake our sillies out, Shake, shake, shake our sillies out, And wiggle our waggles away!

C Is For Cookie

(Now what starts with the letter C?

Cookie starts with C!)

C is for cookie, that's good enough for me

Oh, cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C

C is for cookie, that's good enough for me

Oh, cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C

(Hey you know what?

A round cookie with one bite out of it

Looks like a C

A round donut with one bite out of it

Also looks like a C

But it is not as good as a cookie

Oh and the moon sometimes looks like a C

But you can't eat that, so ... )

C is for cookie, that's good enough for me, yeah!

C is for cookie, that's good enough for me

Oh, cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C, yeah!

Cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C, oh boy!

Cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C!

We Are The Dinosaurs

We are the dinosaurs, marching, marching

We are the dinosaurs

WHADDAYA THINK OF THAT?

We are the dinosaurs, marching, marching

We are the dinosaurs, we make the earth flat

We make the earth flat

We stop and eat our food, when we're in the mood

We stop and eat our food on the ground

We stop and eat our food, when we're in the mood

We stop and eat our food and then we march around

'Cause we are the dinosaurs…

We stop and take a rest, over in our nest

We stop and take a rest at the end of the day

We stop and take a rest, over in our nest

We stop and take a rest and then you'll hear us say

That we are the dinosaurs…

And then we ROAR!

'Cause we are the dinosaurs!

Monday, October 10, 2011

The Friends Room Color Unit

We have started our color unit in The Friends Room. This week was red week and we are looking forward to celebrating yellow week beginning Wednesday, October 12^th.

The following songs, books and activities have been spread out amongst the AM and PM sessions.

We have been working on:

-Completing our Family Stories album

-Red paintings, drawings and collages

-Our classroom contract

During meeting time The Friends Room is:

-Observing the weather and using our weather chart

-Implementing classroom jobs

-Reading a social story, How to Be Safe and Friendly in The Friends Room, in order to reinforce our classroom rules.

During activity time The Friends Room is:

Finishing up our Family Stories album

Playing our Friends Room face and name recognition game