Week 3--Letters

This week we did letter activities and read Chicka, Chicka, Boom Boom! I love that book. Many of the students had read it before and enjoyed it.

Thanks to everyone for your understanding with my sick child this week! We will sort of extend this week into next, and try to get things finished up.

I didn't get pictures of several things. We've been learning/reviewing our shapes. I am also doing color and shape assessments with individual students first thing in the session.

On Tuesday we painted coconut trees. I kept these and we will finish them on Tuesday. I planned on putting these on our bulletin board for this week, but I will just take some pictures of our finished product and send them home. The afternoon class also celebrated Rylund's birthday.

On Wednesday, the morning class did a name activity. They were given a folded piece of paper. They were each given an envelope with letters in it. They had to sort and then glue the letters depending on whether the letters were in their names or not. I tried to carefully select the letters so that it didn't get too confusing. They did great. Some of the students had to put their name in order, not just glue it on the right side.

Also on Wednesday we talked about coconut. We did a coconut tasting activity. I offered each child a piece of dried coconut. We talked about different uses for coconut and then those that wanted to tried it. Many students didn't want to try it, and that was fine.

Both classes also did a classroom writing book. I will take a picture of it when I get it bound next week. It is a spin-off of Chicka, Chicka, Boom Boom where each student has a picture and their name on a page. They thought it was so funny when I would read their pages when they turned them in.

Week 2--All About Me!

Week two was full of fun! I am really enjoying teaching your children. They are so cute and creative. I just love my job! 

*And just a note, I really do try to get pictures of each student when we do activities. Sometimes children don't want their picture taken, and sometimes (like this week!) my camera dies... I know I am not perfect, so please forgive me on times when I miss your child!*

Here is our bulletin board for the week. We used small paper plates to make our faces. I showed them how I could make it look like me by using markers to make hair, smiles, etc... Then they could glue on googly eyes if they wanted to. 

We did several activities with our names. This one was name puzzles. The students were given a colored piece of paper with their name printed on it and a strip of white paper with their name on it, but the letters were in squares. They were asked to cut apart their letters in the boxes and then glue it back together. They did great! Several of the younger students in afternoon class needed a little more help with the cutting and getting the letters right in order, but overall, they did really well!

 This activity is called "Hollow Letters." I have used this nearly every year I have taught. We start out by singing the ABC song and talking about how our names begin with different letters, and try to distinguish the beginning letter from the others in each child's name. Then they are given a large copy of the first letter of their name to decorate however they want. They always turn out so cute!

*Missed Caden and Jack here. Sorry!*

Another name activity. This one was for my morning class only. They used glitter glue to trace around their names. 

We talked about our colors and then everyone painted. Here are a few group shots. Most of the students paintings ended up being pretty much brownish black from all the color mixing. One of the girls in the morning class said, "My colors are all brown. We should not have done that." So funny. 

Thanks to everyone for your help so that I could go out of town on Thursday. I appreciate Amanda for subbing on Thursday and for all of you parents for bringing your children on Wednesday for class!

Week One--Welcome to Preschool!

We had a fantastic first week of school! I honestly think this was my smoothest first day of school ever!

*I took a few group shots. I am sorry if your child isn't in the pictures. I try to catch everyone, but I am sure I occasionally miss someone.*

*Click on the collages to view them larger.*

Here are a few pictures of the afternoon class enjoying snack and then playing. What cuties!

 On Tuesday we read the book The Kissing Hand and then made our own hands. I traced their hands and then they decorated them and put a sticker in the middle.

 Here are a few pictures of the morning class. More than half of the students in the morning class are returning students from last year. It's great! It's fun to watch the students making friends. Even though some of them know each other from various activities, they all include each other.

 On Wednesday the Pre-K class did a letter matching activity. I drew a letter out of a stack and we said the name of the letter and sound, and then they used dot markers to mark it on their papers. We used uppercase letters this time. They enjoyed this activity and it worked on several skills. I am sure we'll be doing this several times this year. We also did a writing activity. I am planning to write at least once a week. At this point, the goal is for them to understand they can communicate an idea by drawing something on their papers. Towards the end of the year, I hope that most students would be able to write a few letters to represent their pictures and help tell the story. (Lots more on that later.)

 We worked on cutting in both classes. Students were given a strip of paper, scissors and a small cup and told to cut the strip of paper into small enough pieces to fit in the cut. Great activity. We did this in small groups and I was able to help the students as needed to be successful in cutting. Several students had never used scissors before. We did a more difficult cutting activity as an extension in the morning class. The students cut strips of paper and then rolled and glued them into a flower. I let the students choose whether or not to make the flower with their strips. When asked whether or not he wanted to make the flower, he said, "Well, that looks like a lot of work." Too cute.

 On Thursday we read the story The Rainbow Fish. It's a cute book that talks about friends and sharing. We made rainbow fish using dot markers and tinfoil for the sparkly scales.

 Here is the finished product! Morning class is on top, afternoon on bottom.

Thanks for the great week!