Opposites was a learning theme I had been kicking around for a while. I knew it was a concept Carter needed exposure to and we had talked about opposites on occasion when working on other things. I just wasn't sure how much fun it would be so I kept picking other themes over it. Finally I came to a point where I wanted a shorter theme that I could fit into a single week and decided on opposites. I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun this learning theme was. I think what made it so much fun was how much Carter enjoyed it. He was so proud to understand what opposites were and would randomly point out opposites or tell me opposites as we were going about our day. The themes I enjoy the most are the ones that Carter really gets into and soaks up. This was definitely one that he whole heartedly enjoyed! And what was even better was that all the activities were so darn simple and most of our learning came from just pointing things out and talking about them as we were doing other things!
Starting this week I'm adding a section to our learning themes. Carter is now old enough that he can play games on the computer and the tablet or my phone with minimal help. I think it is very important with the growing use of technology that Carter becomes proficient with using various forms of technology as likely the job he will have when he grows up will be something related to technology that may not even exist yet. It's crazy to think, but true! So from now on I will be including some form of technology in his learning theme, most likely games. I would like to switch up using the computer and the tablet or phone as I feel it is important for him to be able to navigate both devices. We have touch screen computers at home and the library has computers with a mouse, so I'd also like to utilize both kinds of computers so he is proficient with either kind. I feel most will be going to touch screens but have a feeling schools will still have mouses when he starts school as it seems to be the cheaper option.
Listed below are the objectives I am focusing on for the themed weeks. I have revisedour objectives to really hone in and focus on specific skills Carter will need to master before kindergarten and are appropriate to his age and development right now. I plan to continue to implement activities to practice and reinforce our previous objectives while putting more emphasis on our new objectives. Some of them won't necessarily be targeted with specific activities during our weeks, but I wanted to list them to help me remember to practice them continually.I'm also adding in a section for Elise now that she is a year old. I don't considers
her bullet points objectives, they are experiences I want to make sure
to expose her to frequently. Her experiences are listed below Carter as bullet points rather than numbers.
The highlighted objectives below are ones Carter received exposure to during our theme this week:
Begin to organize and focus on writing. (Dictate stories, plan out a story, draw pictures and scribbles to create a book).
Understand same and different.
Accurately tell stories as well as retell the story from a book.
Use
age appropriate scissors. (I'm moving on to looking for a thumb and
forefinger grasp with writing tools and holding scissors appropriately)
Develop a better understanding of time (for example, be able to describe when things happen using morning, afternoon, night)
Group objects based on a category (sort by defining feature).
Count with one-to-one correspondence, begin to identify numerals, being to use ordinal numbers (first, second, last).
Experiences Elise was exposed to during our theme this week are highlighted below:
Pretend play/Imitate the behaviors of others.
Begin
to identify and point at body parts. (Right now I just want to say body
parts aloud to her frequently and point them out on myself)
Group based on simple characteristics. (This is something I will do while talking aloud and allowing her to feel objects)
Fill and empty containers.
Begin to hold writing tools and scribble spontaneously.
Identify sounds around her. (Point out sounds and ask her what is making the sound).
Activities/Movement:
I used the same sensory bin from our farm animal week with rice in the bottom. The first day I separated the bin into two sections and added the words big and small (written out using our bath letters). I helped Carter segment the words into sounds and we talked about what letter was at the beginning of the word big and what letter was at the beginning of the word small. I had him find each word by identifying the letter it started with. Then I had him sort his farm animals into the two sections based on whether they were big or small. As he sorted we talked about how big and small are different from each other and they are opposites because they are as different as can be. When he was finished sorting he counted how many items he had on each side and we placed the number(again from our bath toys set) on that side of the sensory bin to show how many we had. We followed the same procedure each day using different opposites. Throughout the week we sorted these opposites: big and small, tall and short, heavy and light, loud and quiet, as well assoft and hard. When we sorted based on soft and hard, I did it with Carter and then again later with Elise. I'd have her feel each item and then tell her whether it was soft or hard and show her which side of the sensory bin to place it in. I was impressed how many times she actually put the item in the sensory bin. Although toward the end she just started throwing them on the floor. Carter was very concerned by that and would pick each item up, tell her no, it goes here, and put it where it belonged. When we sorted loud and quitet, Carter sorted hismusical instruments. That may have beenhis favorite! It was funny how much he enjoyed sorting when it meant he got to do it into a sensory bin and then could play with the items in the sensory bin when he was done. I also loved that toward the end of the week he would ask me what we were sorting based on and when I told him, he'd start segmenting the words into the sounds so he could figure out which letter the words started with to see if he could figure out which side of the bin said which word without help.
Sorting animals into his sensory bin based on whether they were big or small.
Elise checking in to see what big brother was up to.
Carter sorting tall and short.
Elise wanted to help.
We counted how many items we had on each side and added the number to show how many there were.
Elise feeling items to see if they are hard or soft.
Sorting heavy and light.
Adding numbers after counting how many objects we had on each side.
Sorting his instruments based on noise level.
We have so much fun with sensory bins that I couldn't help but make another one for our week on opposites. I made a black and white sensory bin and loved the stark contrast of the opposing colors. For the base there were black beans on one side and white rice on the other. Then on top of the black beans I put white toys and on top of the white rice I put black toys. I somewhat expected for the rice and beans to immediately get all mixed up and was prepared for that, but Carter did a great job of keeping them separate, I was shocked! It wasn't until I was watching a friend's kids and forgot to hide the sensory bin that everything got mixed up. It was okay though because the kids had just as much fun with the rice and beans mixed together. As we played with the sensory bin we talked a lot about empty and full. We would fill a container and then dump it out, saying it was empty.
Elise getting in on the action.
Carter put together a puzzle with the opposites up and down as well as over and under. Before he put the puzzle together we talked about the pictures and that they were opposites.
Discussing the pictures.
I put hot water in a bowl and cold water in a different bowl. I had Carter compare the two bowls of water, telling me how they were alike and how they were different. Then I had him focus on the temperature of the water and he realized they were opposites: hot and cold. When we were done talking about the water I gave Carter some toys and an extra container so he could play with the water. That got Elise's attention and she wanted to play too. Carter loves pouring water back and forth between bowls. Elise's favorite is squeezing water out of sponges.
Checking the temperature of the water.
Playing with the water.
I made an obstacle course so we could practice opposites and discuss them as we played. I had Carter go under and over chairs, in and out of a tunnel, to the right and to the left of pillows. Then he ran down the hall, touched the wall, turned around, and did it again. It was a lot of fun. We did it over and over. He wanted me to do it too but I was too wide to fit under the chairs and had to roll to my side and scoot under which was too much work to do more than once. Elise liked getting in the tunnel to play and Carter said, "Sissy's in the tunnel and I'm out! We are opposites!" Elise liked lifting the blanket up to look out so we'd talk about how the blanket was up and then it was down. It was a lot of fun!
Carter doing the obstacle course.
Elise running over to get in on the action.
Elise playing in the tunnel as Carter drove through.
Many times throughout the week we played what we called Up and Down. I would ask Carter to show me different ways to get up and he would jump up, stand up, etc. Then I'd ask him to show me different ways to get down and he would sit down, fall down, etc. We'd also talk about how up and down are opposites.
We went on a walk and I'd give Carter directions as we walked. I'd do one direction and then the opposite right after. I said things like jump up, plop down, walk fast, walk slow, go left, go right, walk forward, walk backward, stop, and go. We also played a short game of Red Light, Green Light which was fun. Carter would randomly yell red light or green light at me after that and even did it one day while we were in the pool.
Going fast on our walk.
Touching the wall to the left.
I found and printed some opposites cards online. Now that I'm looking for them to link here I can't find them. I thought I pinned them, but I guess I didn't. First I pulled them out and Carter matched the opposites with each other. Then we played memory with the cards, matching the opposites to each other which added an element of difficulty to the game. Elise saw us playing and wanted to get up on my lap. While she was sitting there she reached over and turned over two cards just like she'd seen us do, it was so cute! The craziest part was that she happened to make a match!
Matching the opposites.
Playing memory.
Elise getting in on the action.
Much to Carter's delight we played with items in the bathtub to see if they would sink or if they would float. It was one of his favorite games when we were learning about water so he loved doing it again. His favorite thing to do is to predict whether an item will sink or float and then try it out. It was neat to see how much better he was at predicting this time around
than last time since he had that background knowledge and exposure to
what items typically sink and which ones float from our water learning
theme. He had actually pointed out long before we did this activity that sink and float were opposites which impressed me.
Trying out all kinds of toys to see if they would sink or float.
At the end of the week we wrote a book of opposites. Carter told me a pair of opposites to write down. Then he decided what he wanted drawn on each page to show that word. He decided he didn't want to do any of the drawing, he wanted me to draw. But then he came up with the idea of tracing his hand and turning it into different animals which ended up being really neat. Then for giraffe, he wanted me to trace my hand so it would look bigger than a zebra. I didn't include the cover of the book in our pictures below because I wanted the opposites to be next to each other and we drew one word on each page and just put the opposites on adjoining pages.
Craft:
Carter and Elise each made a hand print on a piece of paper with finger paint. Then I told Carter their prints were opposites and asked him how. He said his handprint was big and Elise's was little. Then he wanted to make his footprint so we also did their footprints. We labeled them big and small that time to use different wording.
We talked about how day and night are opposites. Then I asked Carter what he sees in the sky during the day and what he sees during the night. We looked through our cookie cutters and chose a moon, some stars, and some shapes to represent a sun and some clouds. Then Carter used finger paint to put a sun and clouds on blue construction paper for day and the moon and stars on black construction paper for night.
Making a day painting.
Making a night painting.
Since black and white are opposites, Carter painted with white paint on black paper and then with black paint on white paper. Then he asked me what color black and white would make when they are mixed. I gave him a little bit of each color so he could mix them and see what color it made. He was excited to see it was gray.
Painting on black paper with white paint.
Painting on white paper with black paint.
Mixing black and white paint and seeing it made gray.
Special Snack:
To taste some opposites, I put a little bit of sugar and a little bit of salt on a plate. I showed Carter how to lick his finger and stick it in the pile to pick up a taste of each. He liked the sugar but wasn't too fond of the salt. I asked him how each tasted and he said the sugar was sweet and the salt was sour. Then I reminded him that those tastes are opposites.
Trying some salt and sugar.
His face after tasting the sugar.
To taste opposites some more, I had Carter try some items that are sour and some that are sweet. He tried lime juice, a grape, lemon juice, and a banana. I gave him a sweet after each of the sours to get the taste out of his mouth because he really didn't like the sour. He tried lemon juice first and hated it. He didn't seem to mind the lime juice quite as much but that could be because he was more prepared for what it would taste like. I asked him to compare the sweet taste to the sour taste and he said he liked the sweet but the sour was disgusting.
His reaction to trying lemon juice.
Enjoying a banana.
His reaction to lime juice.
Enjoying a grape.
One morning Carter was cold and requested some hot chocolate so I topped it with whipped cream. Then I asked him to compare the temperature of the foods. He said the hot chocolate was hot and the whipped cream was cold. We talked about how hot and cold are opposites because they are so very different.
Enjoying the whipped cream he scooped out of his hot chocolate.
Make Believe:
We enjoyed pretending to be loud and quiet animals. Carter picked to be otters as our quiet animal and then cats as our loud animal. As otters we just quietly pretended to float in water. As cats we crawled around meowing and playing with toys.
Songs:
We sang a little song I used to use in my classroom. I don't remember where it originally came from, I just picked it up at some point and would sing it on occasion when students were sitting on the carpet as a little check in to get them to think about what their body should be doing to help them listen. Carter would do the movements with me and I would make sure to really emphasize open and close for Elise and show her my hands as I opened and closed them.
Open and close them (open and close your hands)
Do a little clap.
Open and close them,
Put them in your lap.
Carter really liked it when I would trade out lap for other body parts. So I'd say "Put them on your _____" instead. I would really emphasize the name of the body part and show Elise where my hands were.
Carter really enjoyed listening to a song about opposites on Youtube. After he listened to it, he kept coming up with different things that were opposites but weren't listed in the song. My favorite was there and not there! He cracks me up.
Technology:
I found a free trial for a game on the computer where you matched opposites together here. It was good practice for Carter because he had to choose the opposite that matched with the one on top and then he had to use the mouse rather than the touch screen to drag it into place. The touch screen didn't work and he is so used to using it so it was good to practice.
Field Trip/Interactive Experience:
We made a trip to the Children's Museum and used the opportunity to talk a lot about opposites. There's a big slide made of tape and we talked about how we went up the tunnel and then down the slide. Carter was quick to point out that up and down are opposites. Then we talked about how we put balls in the hole of the air tub and they came out the tube in a different place. Carter pointed out that in and out are opposites. It was fun to use what he had learned and apply it to situations around us.
Watching the scarves come out the top of the tube.
Elise putting a ball inside the hole.
We went to a trampoline park and as we played we discussed opposites. We talked about how we were jumping up and then falling down. It was a lot of fun! It was one of Carter's favorite outings.
All falls down!
Books:
Big Littleby Leslie Patricelli
Odd One Out Big and Smallby Guido Van Genechten
OppositesbyKeith Plechaty
First Sizes byRob Walker
Which Is Different?byRookie Toddler
Big Hugs, Little Hugsby Felicia Bond
My Very First Look at OppositesbyChristiane Gunzi
Quiet Loudby Leslie Patricelli
I Know A Lot!byStephen Krensky
Hippoppositesby Janik Coat
Vegetables in Underwearby Jared Chapman
Big and Little Things That Goby Rookie Toddler
My Dog, My Cat by Ashlee Fletcher
You and Me: We're Oppositesby Harriet Ziefert
Blue and Squareby Herve Tullet
No Matter What by Emma Dodd
Hide-and-Peek by Rookie Toddler
Opposites with Polar Animalsby Melanie Watt
Winnie-the-Pooh OppositesbyA.A. Milne
Dot by Patricia Intriago
Little White Fish Has a Party by Guido Van Genechten
Just the Opposite: Wet and Dry bySharon Gordon
Black Cat, White Catby Silvia Borando
Tall and ShortbyJonathan Litton
Where Is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox
Short and Tall: An Animal Book of Opposites by Nathan Olson
My Book of Opposites by Brita Teckentrup
Richard Scarry's First Little Learners Shapes and Opposites by Richard Scarry
What the Sun Sees/What the Moon Sees by Nancy Tafuri
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
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