Brush, Brush, Brush!

Happy Monday!  Today we began our dental health unit at school.  During circle time, I showed the children different objects to help them figure out what we were going the be learning about.  We talked about each of the objects and their uses.  Then we figured out that a dentist would use them.  We talked about how we don't need to be scared of the dentist because a dentist is there to keep our teeth healthy.  Dentists are our friends!

We read a story about Dora's visit to the dentist.  The story helped us learn what to expect when visiting the dentist.  We also learned about x-rays and that cavities are holes in our teeth.

We sang a rhyming song about brushing our teeth and then sorted pictures by whether or not the items were good for our teeth.  Some items are good for our teeth and we should eat/use them often.  Other items are not good for our teeth and are "sometimes foods" that we should not eat daily.  The children had worried looks on their faces when we talked about soda as they mentioned that many of their parents drink soda!  Your secret is out! :)  I just explained that when eating/drinking an item that is not good for our teeth, we should just take extra care to brush our teeth carefully afterwards!

Then we visited centers and will rotate to one center each day.  At Miss McCabe's center, we played a tooth toss letter game.  The children tossed a "cavity" beanbag and recorded the letter the beanbag landed on.  Afterwards, we counted how many cavities each letter got.  Children were broken into smaller groups to work on sets of letters they needed the most practice with.  Some children worked on uppercase letters while others worked on lowercase letters.  Yet other children worked on those tricky b, d, p, and q letters!

At Mrs. DeKeyser's center, the children watched a short dental health video about Dr. Rabbit.  Then they completed a shark tooth journal.  Each child got a picture of a shark without any teeth!  Then the children rolled a die and glued that many teeth on the top of the shark's mouth.  Next the children rolled the die again and glued the corresponding number of teeth on the bottom of the shark's mouth.  Finally the children counted how many total teeth there were in the shark's mouth and recorded that number on their papers.

The third center got to practice brushing teeth!  They had to cut out a large yellow tooth and write their names on the back.  Then each child used a special toothpaste mixture and toothbrush to make their tooth sparkly and white again.  We practiced using "cheerio" strokes to brush, which are just big circles.  Afterward, this center got to play in Ms. Mader's classroom.

During playtime, there were a lot of new items to explore!  In the dramatic play center, the children enjoyed the "Queen of Hearts Valentine Shop."  At this center, the children could purchase valentines, chocolates, candies, and other special gifts to give to someone.  To encourage writing, the children used dry erase markers to write notes to their friends before giving the valentines to them.  If you have any old candy boxes, valentine cards, or other valentine items that you would like to donate for the shop, we would gladly take them off your hands!

At the sensory table, the children could pretend to brush teeth.  The table was filled with water, shaving cream toothpaste, toothbrushes, and the bottoms of soda bottles as pretend teeth.

In the block area, the children hung up tooth x-rays on a clothesline.  The x-rays had different letters on them that the children used in a variety of ways.  Some children strung them up in alphabetical order while others matched upper and lowercase letters.

At playdough, the children had fun digging the cavities out.  Miss McCabe hid little black bean cavities in the playdough.  It was hard work finding all the cavities!

Crocodile Dentist was a fun game that many children also enjoyed playing!

At the math center, children counted cavities onto numbered teeth.

At the art center, children worked on making their valentine totes to hold all of the valentine cards and treats next week!  They had to sew the sides together, write their names, and then decorate.

Letter magnets were also played with.  In the afternoon, several children chose to play alphabet bingo.  In the morning, some children chose to play a letter guessing game.

Then it was time for a delicious snack!  We had a special birthday treat in the morning session!

After snack, we learned all about our new letter Qq!  We learned some words that start with Qq, such as quilt, quarter, quail, queen, quill, quick, quack, and quiet.

Some time was spent discussing the difference between lowercase p and q.  Those are two tricky letters!

Then we played a game.  Miss McCabe held up some words.  The children had to read them and do the action.  One set of words was quiet and loud.  The other set of words was quick and slow.  It was a lot of fun!

Don't forget to sign and return the report card cover page along with the envelope!

Have a great evening! :)