Therrific Thursday!

Every Thursday is terrific - or therrific if you're cool!

Here was our Interactive Reading activity this week:

Each student had to choose the correct adjective to match the picture. They either used their knowledge of beginning sounds, or used their own book as a model to find the correct word. Since we talked about taking care of ourselves this week, including good grooming habits, our Balanced Literacy book was, Hair. Make sure to have your child read it to you!

Today was our first "Show n' Teach" day. Ellie started off by teaching us how to take care of a baby. We learned we need to sleep by the baby and cuddle with it, in case it has a bad dream.

(By the way - Ellie is a new addition to our class - making us 7 strong. We're so glad she joined our class!)

Logan told us how he went gem mining in North Carolina with his Grandma and Grandpa. All the kids loved looking at his rocks. He showed us how he had to wash the dirt off the rocks to find the special ones! Other highlights include Connor teaching us how he uses his homework folder, Kensington teaching us how to take pictures, Reese showing us how to read a Tangled book, Bailee teaching us about her crystals from gem mining, and Alaina teaching us how to share toys. It was a great first "Show n' Teach" day!

Today wrapped up our week on "Taking Care of Ourselves". We talked about germs, and how we can keep from getting sick. We also talked about brushing our teeth the right way. Dr. Atkinson gave all the kids new toothbrushes - thanks!

We learned how it's great to share, but not great to share germs. We drew an illustration for this "Kerchoo" poem.

Many times I keep projects and drawings the children complete in class and file it away to add to their end of the year portfolio. Although you don't get to see all the fun stuff they do in class right away, by the end of the year you'll have a fun collection of work you can treasure!

I'm sure you saw the homework already - but if not, check out homework folders for a fun game of charades, incorporating all the healthy habits we learned this week!

I can't believe our first month of preschool is through! On to October!

Next week our theme is, Safety. After that we begin our Fantastic Fall unit - complete with an Apple Festival party on the 13th!

Have a great weekend!!

Taking Care of Myself

This week we're learning how we can take good care of ourselves. Today we talked about the importance of eating healthy. We made sure our snack was a well-balanced "meal"!

I'm beginning to implement our behavior management system. The children each begin the day with their name on yellow. When I spot someone making a good choice, or doing an act of service, anything that sticks out as stellar behavior, they get to move their name up a color. If they choose not to follow a rule, after a warning, I'll ask them to move their name down a color. Every student is WONDERFUL this year - this is definitely not a necessity for our class. However, I think it's a great way to prepare the children for kindergarten next year - it's a dry run for experiencing how our choices always have a consequence - good or bad. So, you might want to ask your child what color they ended the day on - or if they ever had to move their name (up or down) and why.

If, at the end of the day, the student's name is on the color green, they have earned a chance to pick something out of the treasure chest! There are lots of goodies in here, and I'm always adding new things. Occasionally there will be candy - but the majority of treasures are little toys, stickers, and different kinds of writing utensils.

Check your child's homework folder today - you will find a "glitter name" paper. Have your child trace over the letters of their name with all of their favorite colors (make sure they don't get too zealous and start with the glue - Logan can tell them it gets all over the side of your hand when you're trying to trace the other letters!)

After they've used all of their favorite colors - trace over the letters with some elmer's school glue. Help them sprinkle the glitter all over their name.

Fold the paper up and funnel the glitter back in your bag - hopefully - and voila! A perfect name tag for their bedroom door any child would hang proudly!

Therrific Thursdays!

We chewed bubblegum while we sang one of our favorite songs today "Bubblegum" - well, okay, we did it yesterday, too - but Ellie missed it, so we had to do it again!

After reading our books in the morning, we have "Chat Time". The children each have the opportunity to share with us anything they'd like to. This activity has many purposes: they must raise their hand and wait patiently, show respect when someone else is talking, choose something to talk about on their own, and have the courage to say it in front of everyone.

In this picture Connor is telling us about his strikes while bowling with his family.

Our Balanced Literacy Activity today was a combination of Interactive Reading (Reese chose to point to each word of the book and let others read along with her) . . .

. . . and Independent Reading (Ellie chose to read her individual book to the class). I encourage the children to point to each word as they read it so they understand where the meaning is coming from, as well as the concept that individual words make sentences.

We learned the song "Hey Diddle, Diddle" today - hopefully they can sing it to you! We colored and cut out the pictures (trying to develop our fine motor skills), and then sequenced them correctly to make their own book.

Even though I put a ton of work into the rest of the day, no child will deny their favorite part of the day is play time (soon to be "centers") and snack time - what can you do though?!

Kensington and Bailee were trying to find the princess whose foot would fit the shoe - luckily Ellie was it. Logan, Reese, Connor, and Alaina made a "store" today and took turns buying things from each other. Other highlights - Connor in a hulk costume and Logan in a spiderman costume - unfortunately no photographic proof of that though:)

Hope you each have a great weekend! See you Tuesday!!

And We're Back!

I just wanted to show you some things we do everyday.

We read EVERYDAY:)

Today is our "shared reading" activity. During shared reading, I focus on developing each child's concepts of print. (what the cover of a book is, what the title is, print tells the story, moving left to right/top to bottom, beginning/middle/end of a story, sequence of words is a sentence, sequence of letters is a word, etc.) Our book this week is "Time for School"

We play games EVERYDAY!

I love using fun games to teach important concepts. In this picture we are playing the game, Turn Around and Close Your Eyes, ask your child how they play it - they love it! This game's focus is name and letter recognition. It also helps us get to know each other better - oh, and did I mention it is fun (look at those excited smiles)?

We sing EVERYDAY!

My favorite form of transition between activities is singing songs. Children this age have short attention spans (I know that's not new to you!) so it's important to break up activities to keep their attention on important concepts. And boy do these kids love singing! This was their favorite song of the day, "Tooty Ta". Ask them about it! It involves thumbs up, tongues out, and eyes shut - it has to be fun!

So, now you know three questions you can ask to find out more about their day!

I sent them home with their very own homework folders - make sure to check inside. Have fun with the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees - if you need ideas on how to use them, see my last post!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Literacy Activity

Last week, during our shared reading/writing activity, we chanted the words on this poster together and the students changed the letter "going up the coconut tree". Now they will get to do this activity with you!

On Tuesday I will be sending home a coconut tree with your child, along with four little envelopes including: numbers tiles, upper case letter tiles, lower case letter tiles, and tiles with letters specific to their names. On the back of tree will be the words to the chant - although feel free to use any words you'd like. There are many possibilities to this activity, here are a few suggestions to get you started!

(Just remember to tailor these activities to your child's ability level to ensure an enjoyable experience. You'll want to keep these visuals around, since you can change the activities as your child learns more advanced concepts throughout the year)

Help them spell out their name going up the tree.

Once they have mastered their name, help them spell other words going up the tree - mom, dad, a siblings name, etc.

Mix the letter tiles up, have them sort into piles of upper case and lower case letters.

Put a letter on the trunk and have them tell you a word starting with the sound that letter makes.

Have them find the letter the word "mouse" starts with, etc.

Put a number on the trunk and have them place that many coconuts on the tree.

Or, put some coconuts on the tree and have them count how many there are. Then have them choose the correct number tile and place it on the trunk.

Put the number tiles together to create double digit numbers.

Do simple subtraction and addition problems. Have five coconuts on the tree and tell your child, "There were five coconuts on the tree, but three fell down, how many are left?", etc.

These are just some ideas . . . once you get started, it will be hard to stop thinking of all the possibilities! Don't loose these visuals, as they will be very useful throughout the year!

Hope you guys have fun with them!

And Preschool Begins!

These first two weeks of preschool have been so fun! It is a joy to have each of your children in my class this year!

Our first week we learned how to be preschool students! We talked about rules, chose our own rules, and then each illustrated one of our rules. We practiced the routine of preschool - ask your child about "chat time" and "center time" (these are the favorites). We learned how to use our white boards, how to take care of books, and how to clean up all our toys when play time is over.

Last week began our "All ABout Me" unit. We read Chicka Chicka Boom and Different From Me for our Balanced Literacy books. Make sure to have your child read Different From Me to you, siblings, friends - they will love the attention!

We ended the week with our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom party. It was so fun! We loved learning about each other with our "All About Me" Posters! We still have a few more posters to look forward to on Tuesday!

I'm so sad, but, my phone has crashed four times this week, and I lost all the pictures I took of your adorable children on their first day, while playing at centers, painting for the first time, looking like blue and pink smurfs from Reese's birthday cupcakes, and our fun Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Party :( Bummer! Don't worry, I'll make sure to keep clicking away and am excited to post some pictures of them for you to see just how cute they are!

The ABC's of Preschool . . . for Parents!

This blog will serve as a home-school connection. I'm sure you ask your child everyday - "Did you have a fun day?" And they smile and respond with a bubbly, "Yes!" But when you ask the question, " What did you do?" the answer is, "Um, I don't know?". Well . . . I WANT you to know what we do! When we can connect concepts they are learning in school to their everyday environment and experiences, they begin to develop a foundation individual to their own learning style, which deepens the level of understanding.

I want to explain a few components of our preschool routine, which will remain the same the entire year.

Every week we will focus on a book with Balanced Literacy based activities each day. Balanced Literacy involves reading TO, WITH, and BY the students. We focus on chorus reading (to students), shared reading, guided reading/writing (with), interactive reading/writing (with), and finally, on Thursday, independent reading (by students). Although the children will most likely be reciting the words from memory, the exposure is very important for them as they develop concepts of print, as well as confidence and excitement associated with reading. Most of the time, they will get to bring home a copy of the book every Thursday to keep. Please ask your child to read to you, and let them read to other family members as well. If they don't have all the words correct, don't bring too much attention to it, just praise them for a great job. In these early literacy experiences we want them to feel successful!

Each month we will highlight an author/illustrator, including, Tedd Arnold, Eric Carle, Jan Brett, etc. We'll study their books and learn how they create their illustrations - then try it out ourselves!

A large part of preschool will be developing phonologic and phonemic awareness (the ability to hear and manipulate individual phonemes) - a basic block of early reading skills. Among many other games, activities, and strategies, each month we'll also engage in projects based on nursery rhymes. As I introduce games in developing phonemic awareness, I'll be sure to post the rules of the game so you can play them at home!

Soon we'll start homework! Each child will be given a homework folder. This is a time for them to begin developing expectations of school work along with the routine of homework. If you don't have time to help your child with homework - it's no problem! Just have them complete it whenever you can. You don't have to return the homework, but if they do, I'll reward them with a stamp or sticker.

Show and Teach will be the last Thursday of each month. I'll make sure to send out a reminder before. Sometimes there will be specific themes for Show and Teach, but normally it will be up to you guys to decide what to bring.