Letter Ll, Five Senses and Patterns

So I totally neglected pictures this week. Sorry. 

On Tuesday we did an introduction to the 5 senses. We talked about the body parts that let us see, hear, smell, taste and touch. 

For patterns, we used the dot markers to make color patterns.

On Wednesday with the morning class we did an experiment on smells. I had different things in jars (garlic, vanilla, cinnamon, vinegar, mint, peanut butter) and I covered them and passed the smell around. We talked about how some smells are yummy and some are not!

We also made shape patterns with stamps. 

 Thursday we made lion puppets. Sorry about the quality of that group shot.

 Our fun thing for the day was making muffins! We talked about what ingredients are in the muffins and then we each got a chance to help stir. We talked about the smells and then we ate them for snack. I was a little worried about whether or not they would eat them, but they seemed to love them!

Fairy Tales and Thanksgiving

For our fairy tale week we read several fairy tales. One of the favorites seemed to be Rumpelstiltskin. I really like Paul O. Zelinsky's versions, very traditional (so be a little careful!) and the pictures are so beautiful!

On Thursday we made crowns. I had several styles to choose from, along with markers, glitter glue and stick-on jewels. Very fun to see all the different styles of creating these, from really decorated to super simple. 

We also had a castle to play in. The students really enjoyed playing knights and princesses. 

Thanks for the donations for our Thanksgiving feast! They had lots of yummy food!

 We also made turkey puppets. Simple, but fun.

 Then we made patterns using food. The morning class had 3 foods to choose from--candy corn, marshmallows, and goldfish. They created their own patterns. In the afternoon class I made the pattern and then each student came over and chose what would come next in the pattern.

 Afternoon class with their puppets.

 Afternoon class at their feast!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend off of school!

Occupations- Visitors and field trip

 What a great week! We had lots of fun on Tuesday. A big thanks to Clay and Amanda Mieure for setting up our K9 unit visits, BIA, Roosevelt Police, Jeremy Patton and the Roosevelt Fire Department. Also, thanks to all the parents who came to help with the field trip! You are wonderful!

*There are lots of pictures. To help with uploading and storage, I resize the pictures smaller. Click on the collages to see the pictures bigger, and if you ever want a picture of your child that I've uploaded, let me know and I will email the original to you. Please do not take any pictures from the blog.*

Officer Tabee with the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) came and brought his dog, Agar. Agar is a specially trained German Shepherd that is trained in sniffing out drugs. He is a non-aggressive dog, meaning when he finds the drugs, he stops and points to them, rather than aggressively attacking. Officer Tabee let all the students that wanted to come and pet Agar. He recommends that you always ask before you pet any dog, but especially a police dog. Some aren't as nice as Agar.

After talking with the children for a few minutes, we all went outside. They had hidden two scented training bags in my yard and the students got to see Agar work. It was really cool to see him just sit and stare at the spot once he'd found the scent. We also got to see Agar get his reward--a tennis ball!

 After a little bit of work (Letter Yy) we went to the fire station. A huge thanks to Ryan (don't know the last name!) who came last minute when the first firefighter forgot! The students enjoyed seeing all the fire trucks and equipment.

Firefighter Ryan talked to the students a little about getting out of the house if there is a fire, not playing with matches, and not hiding from firefighters. I highly recommend discussing these items with your child again.

 George and Michael got to get in the firetruck and turn on the horns and the sirens. They were loud! (I have several group shots on the fire truck, if you want one let me know.)

 The PM class got two special visitors--Officer Bird with the Roosevelt Police Department and his dog Buddy, and also Officer Tabee with Agar. Buddy is a newer police dog, and we got to see both of the dogs work.

*Side note: At one point, we had 4 police officers in front of the preschool. We joked about how safe your children all were! I'm sure the people driving past were wondering what I had done wrong to warrant such a police presence!

Then we came in and did our letter Yy paper and snack, and headed to the fire station. This time Greg took us around. The students had lots of "questions" (aka telling him random things) but really enjoyed seeing the trucks. 

Most of the students wanted to try on the fire coat and/or fire hat. Here are a few pictures of some of the students trying on the gear. 

Group picture. It was getting late, so it was a quickie, but here you go! Greg turned on the sirens quickly... and two students cried. Hope we didn't traumatize anyone! :)

On Wednesday, Michael's dad, Jeremy came to talk to the students about being in the Army. He did a tour in, I believe 2004, and is no longer active duty. He showed the students a map and briefly told them about what he did and why. Stuff like this is tricky to explain to 5 year olds--enough detail to help them get it, but not too much detail. Jeremy brought in some of his medals as well. Thanks, Jeremy!

Thursday we made Yellow collages (letter Yy is tricky for crafts!). We only used yellow art supplies for our pictures--paper, paint, markers, stickers, and yarn. It was interesting to see what they came up with. 

We also did a sorting activity. The AM class sorted shapes by size--small, medium, big, and the afternoon class just did small and big. 

Thanks for all the help and support this week! Looking forward to next week!

Letter O and Halloween

Sorry this post is late!

Last week was a fun, but very busy week! We introduced the letter Oo and our theme of Occupations. I read the students a book about Veterinarians and we talked about different jobs and the jobs of their family members.

The afternoon class had their Halloween party on Tuesday afternoon. They made ghosts (I bet some of you parents were wondering what exactly that was they brought home!), helped make and decorate sugar cookies and we did a little Halloween dancing--love the Monster Mash! And a HUGE thank you to all the parents/ grandparents/ family members who came to our Halloween parade. They were so cute!

 Wednesday the afternoon class did their Oo sound pages, we did a little sorting, and then we did our Halloween activities. I got out all the art supplies and they made monster friends in their class. And again, THANK YOU for the support at the Halloween costume parade!

 Thursday I knew all the kids would be tired. We did a sorting activity with toys and then we pulled out the shaving cream. This is usually a favorite activity. We practiced writing different letters and our names in the shaving cream and then they could just play in the shaving cream. It's always interesting to see how long some children want to play. Some play for a minute, some would play all day if they could!

 We also talked about the career of being an author and illustrator. I showed them different books and how in some books, one person wrote the story and was the illustrator, some had different people, and some even used real pictures. We also talked about how stories are sometimes true and sometimes pretend. The students then got to write and draw their own story.

S is for Spider

Fun week! I always like to change my themes, and it's fun to me to find different activities and teaching ideas for the new themes. I had never taught a unit only on spiders before.

I am sorry about both classes getting out late! I try to stay on schedule, so I apologize!

For math we talked about position or direction words, like above, below, next to, under, etc... Then each student was given a spider ring and we moved the spider to different places in our classroom using these words.

 One of our art projects was to make a spider and web. We did marble painting, where you put a marble in paint, and then put it in a box with a paper. To paint, you move the box to roll the marble around. The students seemed to like it, and it's cool to see their concentration to do it. Anything we can do to get their brains working, right!

 Then after the webs dried we poked two holes in the paper and added plastic spider rings. I thought they looked cool!

 Today (Thursday) we played another math game. One student went outside the classroom and then another student hid the ring. When the "finder" returned, the hider had to give clues using position/direction words to help them find it, for example, "Next to a green book." Super fun. We didn't have time to do this with the afternoon class, but I think we will do it next week. It was fun and good practice.

 Spider crafts: Today we did Plan B and Plan C on my spider craft activities list. :) My plan A involved black paint, which, although it was marked washable, stained my hands very badly I discovered while setting it up, so I thought rather than anger all of you with black paint stained children, I quickly found another craft this morning. Proof that it's always good to have a back up plan!

And yes, I know all spiders have 8 legs, but lots of students' spiders didn't quite make it home with all 8 legs. They were all still cute!

This is just a sample of Morning Message. I write the students a letter and we read it at the beginning of class. Sometimes it just tells what we will do that day, other times there is an activity or task. I am working with the Pre-K class on recognizing specific letters in print, so we've been circling letters in a poem. They are getting really good at it! 

Letter Ff and Feelings

Not a lot to post since it was such a short week.

We talked about letter Ff on Tuesday. We also practiced counting.

We played this fun game that I wanted to share, especially since I think it could have other applications.

So I printed off pictures of "smiley" faces with different emotions, such as happy, sad, mad, silly, sleepy. I laminated them. (Notice my tiny binder clips on the faces--that's my secret. They work so much better than paperclips!) Then I got out my trusty fishing pole and we "fished" for feelings. When they got a face, they had to tell what kind of a face it was. Something interesting I heard was that in some studies, bullies and aggressors often mis-interpret facial expressions, exchanging positive or neutral facial expressions for negative or aggressive ones. Not that any of your children are bullies, but it's not a bad idea to practice! Then we went around again and they had to give an example of when they felt that way. One boy said, "I feel happy when my mom makes me cookies."

On Wednesday we did "Math Snack." Each child was given a fun size package of M&Ms, and then we did different counting activities with them. For example, count all the M&Ms you have. Then we counted out different amounts. And of course, they got to eat them at the end. :)

This was also Wednesday. Jamie is working on the letter Ff sound page, and then we made our letter Ff craft, Fancy Fish.

Hope you all had a fun fall break!

Babies!

This week at preschool we talked about letter Bb and Babies! It was a fun week! I was a little nervous that some of the children (mostly boys) wouldn't be interested in it, but they surprised me and seemed to enjoy it!

Tuesday we did a writing activity with the morning class that I didn't get to last week. I had small vehicles cut out (rocket ships, airplanes, firetrucks, etc...) and the students used a vehicle in their picture. We used a sentence frame: "If I could drive a __________, I would ___________________." They were cute! 

 On Tuesday during whole group theme, we talked about human babies. We showed how to hold a baby and practiced using a doll wrapped in a blanket. Then I had brought in lots of different baby items, (like a bottle, baby food, baby bath, diaper) and we talked about what they were used for. Then we talked about whether of not we (meaning the children at their ages) still needed them or what they used instead. For example, preschoolers don't use a bottle, they drink from a regular cup. We also read the book Love You Forever. One of my favorites!

MaKaila and Kyan

 We were excited that the new princess toy came in the mail on Wednesday. My nice husband put it together (I had no idea how many pieces it would come in, or that it would need a screwdriver!) and the girls (and some boys) have loved playing in it. It's a Little People Disney princess castle, and I ordered a few extra princesses.

 On Thursday we made a letter Bb craft--Baby birds. First we colored our birds, then we added wings, beaks, and the "hair" feathers (if wanted) and then we put them in nests. They turned out really cute!

Top left: Rheagan working on her birds, Top right: morning class birds waiting to make nests
Bottom left: morning class bulletin board, Bottom right: afternoon class

 Also on Thursday Alexis brought her hamster in for show and tell. It was cute. Ms. Amanda held the hamster while the students got to take turns petting it.

Also on Thursday we talked about baby animals. I had lots of pictures of different mama and baby animals. We talked about the different animals names when they are babies (like a colt for a horse) and about how some baby animals look different from when they are adults. We also read a book called "Mommy Animals love their babies." Cute pictures. Fun week!

Remember this coming Thursday there is no school for UEA.

Week 5--Transportation

Great week! Although the field trip didn't work out, we did have two special visitors that I think worked out even better!

I am going to upload the pictures and then just commentate, okay? P.S. When you are looking at the pictures wondering what kind of mother sends her child to school in pajamas, realize it's ME! Jack insisted that he wear his Buzz Lightyear pajamas, and although we had many "discussions" I finally gave up. He told me, "But my preschool friends haven't seen these clothes." Oh well. I guess my child's main job in life is to keep me humble. 

Wednesday in the AM class we did a Tt sound page. They had a half sheet of paper with 8 pictures on it, two of the pictures did not begin with Tt and the other six did. They thought throwing away the "tricky" pictures was pretty funny. They did really well with this! Also we did a bus sizing activity. They had to put the buses in order from smallest to largest. This was a little trickier for them. 

 Miss Amanda (Alexis and Riley's mom) brought the Twinkie van to show us. She came Wednesday morning and then Thursday afternoon. She even gave the students doughnuts! We talked about how the back didn't have seats in it, and how it was bigger than the normal cars. The students mostly liked seeing the food in the back. :) A huge thanks to her and her dad!

 Here is our train activity. This was one of those activities that seemed great, and worked great when I did it with just my two little ones, but I probably won't do again. So in the morning class, I traced each child's hand and arm (you can see a picture of me tracing Ava's hand--Tyler was the photographer) onto their choice of colored construction paper. Then I had them cut the pieces into squares, and we glued them on and added wheels, people, etc... They actually really seemed to enjoy the "decorating" part, and I was impressed with how much detail they added to their trains. I felt like it took too much time, though, so I made it a little easier and less time consuming for the afternoon class by pre-cutting the squares. Then when they came in I just traced their hands and then we did squares. After the excitement of the Twinkie truck and the ambulance, I couldn't get several of the afternoon kids to come back and add wheels to their trains, so sorry if you were wondering what their art project was!

 On Thursday I put the fire truck out for the students to play in. They really enjoyed that!

 Here is our super awesome visitor, Von. He was so great to bring the ambulance down and let the kids go through it. My favorite was when one of the girls in the afternoon class wanted to show him her new bag. Without skipping a beat he said, "Cute!" I told you he was awesome!

He showed the students around the inside of the ambulance. We talked to them about why we need an ambulance, how we get one (calling 911) and why they use sirens. The students seemed fascinated and a little freaked out by all the medical supplies, like the needles, on board.

Before Von turned on the siren, we got them all off the ambulance and told them to cover their ears. So if you know Von, let him know how much we all appreciate it!

Week 4--Apples

First thing this week we finished up our Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom trees. I had originally planned to put them up on the bulletin board, but the students were so excited about taking them home where it had taken so long to finish, so I sent them home. I love how Rheagan only wanted to use letter Rr on her paper. Some students spelled their names, some used as many stickers as possible, some put one or two on and were done.

 This week we talked about opposites. We showed opposites with our bodies, like running in place for "go" and then stopping when I said "stop." We also showed big and small, light and dark (with the lights). Opposites is one of those concepts that is hard to explain with words, we mostly use examples and actions.

For an activity we practiced opposites with our parachute. We did high/low, fast/slow, stop/go and then just for fun we put the bean bags on the parachute to flip them off. Sorry for the blurry pictures, it's hard to get a good one!

 Here are a few pictures of our apple craft. We painted in small groups as the students arrived. This is one of those little secrets I learned after I started teaching and it makes it go much, much smoother. The students got to choose between red and green paint. Then we did the rest of our work while they dried and then added the stems and leaves at the end of the day on Thursday.

 Here are a few pictures of our apple party. There weren't a lot--I was too busy getting the students everything they needed! First we each tried a small piece of a green and a red apple. Most of the students liked both kinds, but a few said that the red was much better.

After that we tried three different apple products--sliced apples, apple juice and apple sauce. Again, most students said they liked all of the different kinds, but apple sauce was probably the least favorite. The morning class went through TONS of sliced apples, while the afternoon class drank a lot of juice.

 This is the finished product! Sorry about the line in the bulletin board... I have been having a few issues with the memory card. I thought these turned out very cute! I love having a fun, colorful bulletin board!

 Thanks for sharing your great kids with me!