Week... Who knows?

We had a wonderful week at school...moving onto the theme of coconuts while still referring to textures....Random I know, but every month has had a fruit theme in it....but with all the holidays and such I haven't got around to doing any of them...but coconuts has been fun...I realized most of them have never seen a real coconut so I went out and bought one yesterday and they were fascinated...they can't wait to break it open on Tuesday. Here's a little glimpse into our week.

I realized I haven't taken pictures during center time for awhile...but since my last post was all on the importance of "play" for kids, and how everything they do is "learning" at this age...here it is in action..although I wish I wrote more stuff down..because the stuff that comes out of their mouth to go along with these pictures is hilarious!

Teagan loves the doll houses and usually opts for them every day...but it's fun to hear her act out all the different people and use her real life in her play (be careful mom and dad...jk!)

I can't remember exactly what Brock and Natalie were doing together here...I think mimicking everything Woody was saying.

Mason and Caden were obviously playing store/cash register person. It was fun to hear them come up with certain prices...some pretty close while others way off..I am not paying 80 for a happy meal!!!!

Hayden, Alyssa, and Lexi love the doll house as well, and they all have their "roles/people" that they play...mom, sister, dad! :)

These boys were hard at work building garages and such for their cars...always fun to see the difference between girls and boys in their play as well.

These girls have been obsessed with Little Mermaid all week, and it's been what they played for most of the time. They are safe from the mean sea witch when they are inside these blocks...the mean sea with (a baby) was right where I was standing for the picture...it was a close call! :) Such fun imaginations they all have!!

Our first project of the week (after reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom...one of my FAVORITE stories...if you don't have it and you see it on sale I would grab it...I usually buy it for the kids for Christmas but it hasn't been on sale the last couple years!) was our coconut tree...I LOVED these pictures of their faces...they were so focused on their cutting.

Wed. we made our coconuts...sorry no pictures and sorry if you got "hair" everywhere!!

Thurs. we made our rhythm sticks for "Music". We also played M&M math, and Texture Bingo.

The kids playing "texture bingo"...we played three in a row and "blackout".

We also played M&M math..they had to match up all the colors and then count them...

Then we made a graph of the colors in which we had the most M&M's. The kids do so well reading graphs and telling me which one had the most...the least, etc.

Sorting them all out (hopefully you all understand that this is a pre-math skill, sorting, colors, and counting

Sorry if your kids were on a sugar high today!! It was a fun, different way for them to learn

Afternoon friends playing Bingo.

Afternoon friends' graph...we missed you Brock and Mason!!

There it is in a nutshell. We have a few more texture detective/coconut things to do next week. I receive Feb. order tomorrow so I will let you know what letter we will be learning.

Other things we practiced this week:

Hard in Spanish "Durro"

Soft in Spanish "Suave"

Coconut in sign language: hold your hands in a ball shape by your ear and pretend to shake a coconut.

Still focused on 6, octagon, and purple.

We have been working on rhymes....this is a hard concept that a lot of them just aren't getting...but they will. Try to read some rhyming books at home and point out all the rhymes.

We reviewed our 5 senses.

We learned the letter "M"-- sounds and sign language

We counted to 22 in Spanish and English

And much more...but that should give you enough to review with your child for the weekend!! Have a great week!

FUNDRAISER!!!!

I'm not sure if everyone got my email...so I thought I would post it on here just in case!!

I am doing a WONDERFUL fundraiser for Preschool (1/2 the proceeds go straight back to the school...I will use it for my curriculum kits, paper, copies, paint, glue, etc).

It is a 3 month membership to FITNESS WORKS for only $20.00
It includes:
5 free tanning sessions
5 free visits to the day care (for the whole family each time)
$40 off $60 service at the day spa (a massage costs 60 so it would really only cost you an additional 20)
25% Amazing Jake's
15% off Personal training
1 FREE month at Superstition Springs golf club...unlimited range balls ...$19 golf and cart after 3, etc.

If you are ALREADY a member you can purchase a card for $10.00 all you have to do is go to 15 classes before April 22nd and they will credit you a free month...Nothing to lose there PLUS it comes with all the SAME COUPONS AS ABOVE.

So if you are interested in buying one...just let me know I WOULD LOVE to sell you one. You don't have to use it for the membership either...I know a lot of people already go to LA fitness...you can use it strictly for the coupons...you would pay more than 20 for 5 tans....and I don't know of anywhere you can get a massage for 20 bucks...plus who knows maybe you can come try a class or two out and you might actually like it BETTER...I know I was never a "class" person until I went here...and now I am ADDICTED!! They really are amazing (too bad I don't eat healthy to show it...but for those of you who just met me this year...I actually did lose 25 pounds my first 3 months of going to these classes...I joined on one of these passes as well...it is NOT a gimmick!!)


So as if that's not enough bang for your buck they're also willing to give you more if you sell more passes. For every 6 you sell you get 1-unlimited day pass to amazing Jake's (food, fun, games, rides, etc.)

If you sell 20 (and you are a new member) YOU WIN A 1 YEAR FAMILY MEMBERSHIP

For members already you receive 3 FREE MONTHS for every 10 YOU SELL!!!

So feel free to shoot out an email to friends, neighbors, coworkers, to tell them about it...you would be surprised with how many people are interested (especially the new $10 card for members...this was never an option before and I know a lot of people already are members)...you might just end up winning big!!! Help people achieve their new years resolutions!!!

ALSO...at this gym in their classes...every 3 months they have a "new release" that comes out...and all instructors teach the same thing for 2 straight weeks...so no matter what class you take it will always be the same for 2 weeks...so everyone is learning new moves and music together...it's the BEST time to start if you're nervous about not knowing what's going on, etc...no one does for these two weeks...you learn together...and it's coming up on JAN 31st...the first day of ALL NEW STUFF and will go for two whole weeks. (sorry very repetitive...just wanted to make sure you understood)

Anyway...I have the passes here...I will be selling them for about a month. They need to be redeemed by March 25, 2009 at they gym...the 3 months starts the day you activate it there...not when you buy it from me!!!

SO START SPREADING THE WORD...IT'S A GOOD DEAL FOR A GOOD CAUSE!!!

All I ever needed to know I learned in preschool...

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a few training classes (more fun stuff I get to do for my license...actually I didn't mind going to these...although I really did stand out in the crowd) and just thought I would fill you in on a few things/handouts they gave me.

The first one that impressed me was 10 signs of a GREAT preschool (I thought I was doing fairly well on most of them, always room for improvement...but it made me happy to know I was on the right track!!)

1. Children spend most of their playing and working with materials or other children. They do not wander aimlessly, and they are not expected to sit quietly for long periods of time. (I think 5 minutes in circle time is the most they sit in one spot...and they're singing and doing actions while they are there)

2. Children have access to various activities throughout the day. Look for assorted building blocks and other construction materials, props for pretend play, picture books, paints and other art materials, and table toys such as matching games, peg boards, and puzzles. Children should not be all doing the same thing at the same time. (I have all of these things, and as you can see in the pictures...they are all over the place playing with all different sorts of toys, etc.)

3. Teachers work with individual children, small groups, and the whole group at different times during the day. They do not spend all their time with the whole group. (I do this by pulling them aside to practice their letters and sounds with them...I also help them with the morning work as every staggers in at their own time...I am helping each child (unless I get stuck talking :) ) hold the pencil correctly, scissors, etc.)

4. The classroom is decorated with children's original artwork, their own writing with invented spelling, and stories dictated by children to teachers. (I need to do better about this...I kept their stuff for the holidays...but they are always so excited to take it home...I'll get better!)

5. Children learn numbers and the alphabet in the context of their everyday experiences. The natural world of plants and animals and meaningful activities like cooking, taking attendance, or serving snack provide the basis for learning. ( I am always asking them to count how many girls vs. boys, or how many extra chairs do we have, and who's missing...how many people have "H's" in their name etc....or we learned the letter "D" and became "Detectives", etc. )

6. Children work on projects and have long periods of time (at least one hour) to play and explore. Worksheets are used little if at all. (I only do the one early morning paper to give them some prewriting skills, as well as enhance the letter, or to learn to cut on a straight line, etc...I hope you all agree that I do this! :))

7. Children have an opportunity to play outside every day (sorry my backyard is not great for this...I do try to take them on "detective hunts" or play relay games, or we will fly kites for the letter "K" etc. when possible...hopefully this one is applied more to day care, since they are only in my care for a SHORT 2 1/2 hours!!)

8. Teachers read books to children individually or in small groups throughout the day, not just at group story time. (If they ever ask me to read them a book during center time, I do...but other than that there's not many other opportunities...I do read to them as a group every day though!)

9. Curriculum is adapted for those who are ahead as well as those who need additional help. Teachers recognize that children's different background and experience mean that they do not learn the same things at the same time in the same way. (I am very big on this one...all my projects are usually very open ended...they can paint/color/glue as much or as little as they want, etc. They can make patterns (the more advance) or just scribble. As far as learning the letters we practice saying them, we practice in the air with our fingers, we sing about them, we practice writing them, we try to reinforce them with show n tell...so they are hearing/seeing/ learning a lot of different ways.)

10. Children and their parents look forward to school. Parents feel secure about sending their child to the program. Children are happy to attend; they do not cry regularly or complain about feeling sick (I hope this one can apply to all of you!!! I know I LOVE to see each of your children every day!!)

THESE ARE FROM THE NAEYC...NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for the EDUCATION of YOUNG CHILDREN...so hopefully you can see these things in my classroom, and I'm not just justifying myself!! :)


They also talked a lot about dealing with parents and for those that are constantly asking "when are they going to learn how to read? When are you going to teach them this or that?" and I thought wow...no one really ever bugs me about that (and of course their response for me to tell you if you did ask was "Everything they do is teaching them to read...their interactions with the other children...the tone in our voices...being read to, etc.) So I just thought I would go over a few of the things I do (or some of our projects) and what they learn when they are "just painting, or coloring" etc.

All of the songs we sing help with:
language
fine motor
rhyming
Theme knowledge
musical expression
imagination
and more!!

During calendar
Explore the concepts of time
number recognition
color recognition
pattern recognition
letter recognition
shape recognition
Observation (the weather)
Language
Spanish (the numbers)
Predicting (the weather)

During our projects:
creative art exploration
Observation
tactile acuity
cutting
matching
LISTENING
following directions
Hand-eye coordination
Counting
spatial awareness
much more!!

During games such as BINGO
Auditory discrimination
Spatial reasoning
visual acuity

During our PRICKLY ball relay (and other large motor games)
coordination
cooperation
gross motor
hand-eye coordination

I don't know if you'll actually read all this so I'll stop now...but there is so much more to preschool than just memorizing the alphabet or knowing numbers and shapes, etc. I hope you guys are always happy with what is being accomplished here...but please know I am always open for comments, suggestions, criticism, etc...I won't know to fix it if you don't let me know there's a problem...so please tell me. You have amazing children who are learning so much each and every day! You are wonderful parents and it shows in all that they do in their "play" and words. Keep up the good work!!

TEXTURE DETECTIVES!!!

We had a fun week at school this week exploring more textures..

Our "cookies" were scratchy and bumpy (and smooth before we put anything on them...and gooey while we were waiting for the glue to dry)
We then made a graph about our favorite cookies (I was hoping to do it with their cookies they made by placing them on the floor...but some of the kids got a little glue happy!! And they weren't dry in time). So they colored the square of their favorite cookie instead. Chocolate chip was the winner in both classes!! :) Hopefully we will make some some day soon! There's never enough hours in the day!

We made our "scratchy" sheep.

We also played a fun game with our "prickly" balls. The kids had to scoop up a ball out of the container and walk carefully (no hands allowed) and place it in the other container.

We tied this all in with our five senses as well (not until Thursday...so I hope to review that more this week). Mostly when we were making our "cookies"...we had talked about how we can see, smell, taste, and touch cookies...we could also hear the mixer when we're making them or the oven timer, etc. Test your kids..see what they can remember...but we will reviewing it a lot more this week.

It was a fun week. We have a few more "texture detective" things to do, and then we will be moving on to coconut trees! We will be learning the letter "M" this week. After Valentine's day, I am going to start the early phases of reading, and have them start practicing their 3 letter word families. More info on the to come...but know it's coming...they are all doing so well with their letters and sounds...make sure you keep practicing at home. I noticed a few regressed over Christmas break!! :) Have a great week!

Updated King and Queen schedule!

Thank you ahead of time for all your help and contributions!

King and Queen of the Day Schedule

Jan. 13 Alyssa Crew
Jan. 14 Hayden Caden
Jan. 15 Lexi Brock
Jan. 20 Kayden Mason
Jan. 21 Kaylee Natalie
Jan. 22 Kody Teagan
Jan. 27 Sami
Jan. 28 Peyton Crew
Jan. 29 Tatum Caden
Feb. 3 Alexa Brock
Feb. 4 Alyssa Mason
Feb. 5 Hayden Natalie
Feb. 10 Lexi Teagan
Feb. 11 Kayden
Feb. 12 Kaylee Lexi
Feb. 17 Kody Caden
Feb. 18 Sami Brock
Feb. 19 Peyton Mason
Feb. 24 Tatum Natalie
Feb. 25 Alexa Teagan
Feb. 26 Alyssa Lexi
Mar. 3 Hayden Crew
Mar. 4 Lexi Caden
Mar. 5 Kayden Brock
Mar. 10 Kaylee Mason
Mar. 11 Kody Natalie
Mar. 12 Sami Teagan
March 17-19 NO SCHOOL—SPRING BREAK!
Mar. 24 Tatum Lexi
Mar. 25 Alexa Crew
Mar. 26 Alyssa Caden
Mar. 31 Hayden Brock
Apr. 1 Lexi Mason
Apr. 2 Kayden Natalie
Apr. 7 Kaylee Teagan
Apr. 8 Kody Lexi
Apr. 9 Sami Crew
Apr. 14 Peyton Caden
Apr. 15 Tatum Brock
Apr. 16 Lexi Mason
Apr. 21 Alexa Natalie
Apr. 22 Alyssa Teagan
Apr. 23 Hayden Lexi
Apr. 28 Lexi Crew
Apr. 29 Kayden Caden
Apr. 30 Kaylee Brock
May 5 Kody Mason
May 6 Sami Natalie
May 7 Peyton Teagan
May 12 Tatum Lexi
May 13 Lexi Crew
May 14 Kayden Caden
May 19 Kaylee Brock
May 20 Kody Mason
May 21 Sami Natalie (TENATIVE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL)
Please bring a treat to share with the class on your child's special day. You are welcome to bring whatever you want but keep in mind it doesn't have to be "junk food"-- ie. cheese and crackers, pudding, fruit, yogurt/gogurt, popcorn balls, or the tried and true-- cookies, brownies, fruit snacks, popsicles, etc. You choose- whatever your child’s favorite snacks are-- or you can try and bring something that starts with the letter of the week. Drinks are optional. You are welcome to bring in a poster to tell about your child or any objects that would describe them. Please mark ALL the dates that your child is king or queen on your calendar ASAP-- they really look forward to their turn to be my helper!! Thank you for all of your contributions!
Morning Friends- please bring enough for 10
Afternoon Friends- please bring enough for 8

Welcome Back!

Welcome back everyone! It was so good to see all my "friends" again. I missed them all so much during Christmas break, and am still missing some of them (our numbers were a little small this week). But here is a run down of what we did this week...sorry I don't have pictures...I'll be better next week!

Tuesday: We were missing a handful of kids so instead of getting into or new theme "texture detectives" we made our snowflakes. They were "painted" with water/food coloring. We had read the book "Mouse Paint" and we discussed mixing colors, and what they turn into. So I gave them cups of red, yellow, and blue and eye droppers and they practiced mixing their own colors on their snowflakes.

Wednesday: I introduced the theme a little bit (still missed some friends). It is going to be a fun one for them I think...we will be exploring different textures. In order to do that we of course needed a magnifying glass. We then went on a little hunt to find different textures...hard, bumpy, slippery, soft, smooth, etc.

Thursday: Still missing friends I changed the plans and just reviewed. The kids have been working on little flashcards (that they will bring home after we are done.) So we played catch up on those... We have learned a lot so far this year... Here it is in a nutshell(minus themes, patterns, opposites, cutting, etc...just what's on our flash cards)
A: 3 sounds (Alligator, Ape, Audrey)
C: 2 sounds (Cat, Cinderella)
D
E: 2 sounds (Egg, Easter)
F
I: 2 sounds (Igloo, Ice)
J
L
M (next week...or 2 weeks)
P
Q (married to "U")
S
T
X
Colors: Pink, Turquoise, Yellow, Red, Orange, Green, Blue, Brown, Silver, White
Shapes: Triangle, Diamond, Octagon (they were supposed to point out stop signs to you this week), Circle, Square, Rectangle
Numbers: We learned little rhymes to help us remember our numbers... 2, 3 (around the tree, around the tree, that's how you make a three); 4 (down and over then down some more that's the way we make a four); 5 (big fat five is flat on top go down and around and then you stop); 6 (down the curve make a loop six looks like a hula hoop).

We have also learned the sign language (alphabet) and Spanish (for the numbers) to go along with these...you have SMART children!

I hope you all had a great week. I will email you the king and queen list this weekend!