Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, September 27, 2011

We played in the gym today, it was another rainy day outside. We had trikes, ball,s ring toss, and the rocking alligator.

Willow Room: Tue/Thur. class

This was their first time in the gym! They enjoyed it.

Our story today was Cookie's week by Cindy Ward and Tommie de Paola

We had corn starch added to paint to make a different texture for painting.

We had magnetic letters at the easel.

We danced to "Silly dance contest by Jim Gill and we used ribbons to make it more fun.

We moved our fingers to a song called "Finger Boppin" and we listend to the story/song "Brown Bear"

We played dress up in the dramatic area, and we did some gluing at free art.

Oak Room: Pre-K class

We read Nosy Rosie by Holly Keller

We mixed koolaid and water to let the children paint with the mixture, which they could smell!

We did the Bean Bag boogie, and Tommy Thumb is up.

We did the mystery bag today with things that start with the letter "C". We are talking about the sense of smell.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, September 26, 2011

We had a rainy day today so we played in our gym area with trikes, balls, hula hoops, ring toss and the rocking alligator. The children always get large motor time rain or shine!

Willow Room:

We asked the children today: "Who brought you to school today?" and we graphed the answers and talked about the results. This helps children to learn about math concepts, and also gives them the chance to talk in the group and learn to express themselves.

We read "Cookies' week" by Cindy Ward and Tomie de Paola
During our 2nd circle time we talked about what happened to cookie the cat?


We mixed cornstarch in our paint and used it to paint our pictures today. We had magnetic alphabet letters at the easel.

We danced to "Silly dance contest" and we used ribbons too.
We sang "Today is Monday".

Maple Room:

We read :The little mouse and the Big Red Apple" by A.H. Benjamin and Gweneth Williamson

We did a tearing and gluing project. Tearing paper is a first step in the cutting process. some children have trouble with scissors and tearing gives them that same creative outlet. It is good for helping to develop the fine motor skills needed later for writing.

We sang "Hands are for clapping" danced to "Silly dance contest" , sang "Tommy Thumb", " Sticky sticky Bubble gum", and " moved to "Tap your toe and follow me"

Oak Room:

We read "Arthur's Nose" by Marc Brown and "The popcorn book" by Tommie de Paola

We talked about our sense of smell today, so we popped popcorn which we could smell.

We used the popcorn in our art project, by coloring it with powdered paint and gluing it to paper. We also had a big tub of popcorn to play in with scoops and cups.

We are working on the letter "C" now.

We sang "Today is Monday", "Going on a bear hunt", 5 little popcorn kernels in a pan.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, September 23, 2011

Willow Room- MWF class

We retold the story of "Caps for Sale" that we read on Wednesday, but today we used pictures of the magnetic teacher board to tell the story. Then later, the children helped us act out the story by pretending to be the monkeys who stole all the hats.

We used pastel crayons on our big potato masher art mural from the other day to create a new picture.

We had triangle sponge painting at the easel.

We sang "Two little blackbirds" by Greg and Steve, Couch Potato pokey and Hello everybody, yes, indeed.

We looked outside on the playground to see if we had any monkeys in our trees! We counted the airplanes we saw.

Maple room:

We read "The Apple Pie Tree" by Zoe Hall

We had paper cut into tree shapes and we made apple prints by using corks dipped in red, green and yellow paint. We had apple shapes with watercolors and crayons to make crayon resist paintings at the easel.

We sang "The September song", "A-P-P-L-E", ""Way up high in the apple tree", "Animal action", "Pass the apple" (like Hot potato) and "Herman the worm".

We did a number recognition game called "Find the apple worm" hiding behind the apple and a rhyme 5 little apples teasing Mr. Apple Worm."


Oak Room:

We read "Buzzy's Boo Boo" by Harriet Ziefert

We drew pictures of a time we got hurt, and then we added a band aid to the picture.

At the easel we painted with shaped sponges.

We had out the light table to explore colors, we had out a body puzzle, and some counting pegs for number learning.

We did an assortment of songs using the bean bags on different body parts while walking!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Preschool Science- Color Mixing Experiment




Color Mixing

Instead of stirring the colors together in milk, let the molecules in the milk do the stirring for you!
Take about 1/4 cup of milk and put in a clear cup. Add a drop of food color near one side, and a drop of another color near the other side. Do not stir. Allow to sit several hours or overnight and see what happens. The color will mix all on it's own to make a new color.


Pictures didn't come up in correct order the middle picture is when you first put color in, the top picture is after 2 hours and the bottom picture is after 24 hours!

Painting with Crumpled Aluminum Foil- process art


Ahead of time the teachers prepare the crumpled foil and make a portion stick up like a handle.

Crumple the aluminum foil and dip in paint, then press onto paper to make fun designs.
This is great to do on black paper as the color can really pop.

This is also a good sensory experience as the children can feel the texture of the foil, experience the pressure it takes to make the foil make a print without squishing the foil too much so it flattens it. also great for non-messy for children who don't want to touch the paint.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, September 22, 2011

We played outside today on the playground. Remember jackets in this cooler weather, we play outside every day unless it is rainy (or playground too wet), snowy, or below 40 degrees. Then we will have our large motor activity time inside.

Willow Room: T/TH class

We read the classic story of "Caps for Sale" by Esphyr Slobodkina. It is a story about a man selling hats (caps) and how some monkeys stole his caps and he tricked them into giving them back.

We painted with pink and purple paint and crumpled Aluminum foil.

We had dab a dot painters at the easel.

We did the rhyme f little monkeys sitting in a tree and we used props to help tell the story.

We sang "I like my hat" by Carole Peterson and we used paper hats as we sang.
We also did the ABC letters sounds song with the sound cards.

We watched a squirrel running around outside, we think they are getting ready for winter.

Maple Room:

" If you take a mouse to school" by Laura Numeroff was our book today. We posted a question in the hall about what would a mouse do in our school and the answers ranged from "eat our snack" to "play with our toys".

We painted on big paper.

We sang "The September song, "There's a dog in school" and "Animal Action"

We did a science experiment with baking soda and vinegar- it bubbles and "explodes". The children were very excited about it.

Oak Room: Pre- K class

We are talking about our bodies and today we read a book about called "The skeletal system" by Helen Frost
We also read "Bend and Stretch" by Pamela Hill Nettleton

We glued Q-Tips on body shapes to illustrate bones.

We used the light table today, with X-rays so the children could see the bones, and we also had color transparencies.

We had out Magnetic writing boards.

We sang "Spaghetti legs" and "Toe, Leg, Knee", both songs by Jim Gill

We looked at pictures of x-rays today.

We asked the children if they had the letter "B" in their name. Last week all but one child had the letter "A" and this week only one child had the letter "B". The children are learning math concepts by graphing the results and talking about the comparisons.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, September 21, 2011

We played outside on the playground today.

Willow Room- MWF class

Our question today that we graphed the answers and talked about the results was:
Do you have a hat?
We talked about the weather, days of the week and some beginning calendar activities.

We used a hand puppet for the rhyme "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed"

We crumpled aluminum foil and dipped it into paint to make foil prints on black paper.
We had dab a dot painters at the easel.

We sang the alphabet sounds song using picture cards and "I like my hat" by Carole Peterson

The children enjoyed using small colored blocks to make great buildings.

While we were on the playground today a fire truck stopped nearby, so we were excited to see it.

Maple Room:

"Ten Apples up on Top" by Theo Lesieg was our story today.

We made apple sun catchers- we used glitter glue w tissue paper pieces on wax paper, we will put them in an apple cut out shape.

We had apple shapes and red, green and yellow paint at the easel.

We played a dice and apple game today. The children rolled the dice and put that number of apples on top of a head. We also used bean bags on our heads to represent the apples and saw how many we could stack on our heads.

We read "I am an apple book"

We sang "The September song, A-P-P-L-E , Bean Bag Boogie, and Today is Monday.

Oak Room:

We are talking about feelings in our All about me unit. We read "When I'm scared", "When I'm feeling Happy", "When I'm feeling angry"

For our attendance today, we did "How are you feeling today?" and the children put their name under the emotion they were feeling.

We wrote in our journals today, the letter "B" and they drew a picture of a word that starts with the letter B.

We had out puzzles, an oreo cookie shape matching game, Alphabet sequencing puzzles.

We did an activity about feelings where each child had a picture with a happy face and a sad face. We asked a question and they held up the face to represent their feelings, "How would you feel if....."
We sang " I'm so mad" by Jim Gill and "Your face will surely show it" by Jim Gill

We did an experiment today using milk and food color, look at Thursday's BLOG for details.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday,, September 20, 2011

We enjoyed a beautiful fall day outdoors on the playground today. The Willow Room- Terrific 2's and 3's class go out early, so we often have a chill in the air even though it will warm up later. Remember to send jackets so the children are comfortable outside.


You can tell we love to paint with unusual objects, and to paint with items you would not normally think of for painting....I think all of the classes have painted with potato mashers this past week or so- if you wonder why? It is a fun project!

Willow Room: T/Th class (Terrific 2's and 3's)

The children are doing really well adjusting. For many this is their first time away from mom and dad. We still have a few tears, but it is getting less each day.

We glued fun foam shapes onto paper at the table, we had brushes with paint at the easel.

We sang "The sneezing song" by Jim Gill, "Sticky Bubble Gun" by Carole Peterson and "Tommy Thumb" by Carole Peterson

We talked about germs and how to prevent spreading them to our friends, the sneezing song helped us practice this.

Oak Room: Pre- K class

We read "Me and My Friend" by Mercer Mayer

We painted with potato mashers dipped in paint.

We sang "Herman the Worm", "If your angry and you know it" , "An elephant went out to play on a tight rope one day...."

We did the mystery box of items that begin with the letter "B" inside.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, September 19, 2011

We played in the gym today, it was too wet to play outside.

Willow Room- MWF class:

We read "Mouse Shapes" by Ellen Stoll Walsh
We asked the children a question today- How are you feeling? and they had choices- happy, sad, mad,. They put their name tag under the emotion they were having and we talked about how many wee under each, which had more, using math to compare.

We glued fun foam shapes onto paper at the table. We practiced cutting at the free art table.
At the easel we had paint and brushes.

We sang "The sneezing song" by Jim Gill, "Sticky Bubble Gum", by Carole Peterson, and "Tommy Thumb" by Carole Peterson.

We talked about germs and how we easily they can spread. We used glitter to show this. We put a little glitter on only one person's hand, and then shook hands. The glitter ended up on everyone! We talked about how to keep from spreading germs too, by using tissues, washing hands, not touching our mouth, nose, eyes.

Maple Room: MWF class

We told the story of The little red house with no doors, no windows and a star inside. It turns out the house is an apple. If you cut an apple crosswise, there is a star in the middle.

We did apple prints, and at the table we painted on apple shapes.

We did the song "Down around the corner at the apple orchard". It is an adaptation of another song and each child gets a turn to bring a Penney up to "buy" an apple from the orchard.

We played an apple guessing game. We have apple shapes with numbers on them, and behind one, you hide a worm. The children take turns guessing which number apple the worm is hiding behind. Great for number recognition, waiting turns, remembering which numbers were already guessed.

Oak Room: Pre- K class

We are starting our all about me unit. Today we read "I'm gonna like me" by Jamie lee Curtis and This is my body by Gina and Mercer Mayer.

We had the children look in a mirror and draw on clothes, add yarn for hair, color their eyes the right color. Then we did a game at circle time where the had to guess whose picture it was. We
hung the pictures in the hall for the parents to try to figure out which one is their child too.

We sang Animal Actions, Hands are for clapping, and Bean Bag Boogie.

We are talking about the letter B this week.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, September 16, 2011 2011

We played on the playground today.

Willow Room: MWF class

The children are all adjusting well and very busy in the room. When I came in to visit the class today, some were painting, some were coloring at the free art table, one was using tweezers to pick up the styrofoam peanuts in the sensory table, several were playing in the dramatic corner kitchen, while others were exploring the science magnifying glasses and a few were building with blocks with one of the teachers.....wow.

For our story today we read "If you take a mouse to school" by Laura Numeroff. We did a group art project on a large piece of paper that we spread across the table. We used kitchen utensils like potato mashers dipped in tempra paint to create a beautiful and colorful design. We had dry erase markers at the easel.

We sang "Hands are for clapping" , "Finger Poppin" and "there's a Dog in school"

We saw some geese flying above us on the playground.

Maple Room:

We read "This is my body" by Gina and Mercer Mayer

We did self portraits by looking into a mirror and drawing pictures of ourselves.

We had stampers with paint at the easels.

We sang "The September song", "Everybody has a face", "the freeze dance" while dancing with scarves, "Today is Monday", and "The dancing scarf blues."

The children love the large wooden blocks and the accessories that can be used with them, the vehicles, the airplanes, the people and the buildings to make a whole city. They had quite an elaborate building structure today.

Please remember to send back your "All about me" papers on Monday.

Oak Room: Pre- K room

We read "If you give a pig a party" by Laura Numeroff

We are learning the Pledge of Allegiance.

We had a fun art project today where the children mixed their own paint- see our facebook page for pictures. The children took a small container and put paint in it, then they added a teaspoon or two of cornstarch and a squirt of liquid dish soap.

We had water colors at the easel that the children used on party hat shapes.

We had the letter "A" puzzle and a shape sorting wooden puzzle.

We sang the ABC song using flash cards.

We did an activity today using "story starters" If you give a ______a ______, he will want a ________ to go with it.

We made a list of words that start with the letter "A".

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, September 15, 2011 2011

It was a chilly morning, but we played on the playground today. Please remember jackets, and play clothes for school.

Willow Room:

We had a few tears again today, but the children are really adjusting well. Just keep bringing them with a smile on your face and try not to look apprehensive or worried, they will pick up on that. Most of the criers stopped after a few minutes. Some of them start up again when they see the parents arriving. This will stop soon.

We read "Silly Sally" a CD story by Audrey Wood

We did finger painting today (remember play clothes for school- we do messy fun, projects). We used green or yellow glitter paint.

We had chalk at the easel on construction paper.

We sang "Tap your toes and follow me", "Everybody has a face" and "Put your finger on" for music today.

Maple Room:

We read "We're going on a bear hunt" by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
Somebody....we think the bear did it....hid our book today and we had to go on a book hunt to find it!

We did Dab a dot painting today and had watercolors at the easel.

For Music we did our September song, and "We're going on a bear hunt", using the instruments to make the various sounds.

We played a learning game about opposites.

Please remember to bring back your "ME" picture that you were given at orientation.

Oak Room:

We read another of the Laura Numeroff books today, "If you give a pig a pancake" and we made pancakes for snack to eat just like the story.

We created farm pictures today using farm animal stampers, and we traced a barn shape .

We had out an alphabet maze, animal color sorting boards, and a color matching puzzle.

We sang a song "Who stole the pancake from the frying pan?" and the children had to find the pancake with their name written on it. We also sang "Old McDonald had a farm".

We did a letter graph asking "Do you have the letter "A" in your name?

We sent home their name pancakes with a magnet attached, have them sing you the "Who stole the pancake song" . You can also put it on the refrigerator to help them learn to spell their name.

September 2011 Newsletter

Reminder: Unless your phone call is an emergency- please do not be talking on your cell phone while in our halls. Thank you.

Important Dates:

Parent Night: Thursday, September 22 from 7-8 p.m.

Friday, October 7- no school- teacher in-service day

Monday, October 10, No school- Columbus Day

Parent Night- Sept. 22 7-8 p.m.

Parents only, no child care available. This informational meeting will give you an opportunity to find out what the children will be learning in their classrooms this year. We hope to see you there.

Book Lending Library:

We have a bookcase in the entrance hallway for children to borrow, read and return the books. Please remember to bring the books back to our bookcase when you are done reading them.

Snack:

We prefer not to have juice boxes as they can cause messes, take more time to get ready , are more costly for parents and we let the children pour their own juice to learn skills. We usually need one big bottle of juice or two smaller bottles.

If you forget snack or your child is sick on your snack day, just bring a replacement snack the next time you come to school.

Newsletters Via Email:

If I can send you the newsletter via email instead of a paper copy, send an email to TrinityPreschool@aol.com and write Newsletter in the subject line. Then in the body of the newsletter write your child’s name. Thank you for helping us conserve paper. I will also post the newsletter on our BLOG.

Lost and Found: Someone left a calculator in my office at the start of school.

Orange Basket:

On my desk is an orange basket, if you have any papers for me, you can drop them in that basket on my desk.

Fire Drills:

We do fire drills at school and we do tornado drills as well. We usually don’t make these a surprise for the children; we talk about how it is for practice. I will post a note when we do them, so you can discuss them with your child as well.

Bathroom:

Please make sure your child uses the toilet before coming to school or when they arrive, we would like to limit the number of trips we have to make out of the room. Also, the children in the first floor classrooms need to go wash hands before class in the bathroom at the end of the hall. The children in the Willow Room on the 2nd floor will wash hands in the classroom.

Peanut/Nut Allergies

We have a few children this year with severe allergies, so we are asking you to not bring any type of nut into the building or on the playground. We cannot have any snacks containing nuts or peanut butter in school. If your children eat peanut butter at home right before coming to school, wash their hands please.

Stay and Play update:

I am still waiting for final approval from DCFS to offer Stay and Play. I should know more next week.

This will be an optional program where children can stay from 11:45-1:45 (MWF ONLY FOR NOW) for more fun at school. We will provide a healthy filling snack, and the children will have additional choice time, small group games, music, gym or outside time, and art activities. As of now, I have enough children interested in attending MWF, so if you expressed an interest in fewer days, we will be able to accommodate you as well. As soon as I get the final OK, I will give out more information.

Early Morning Drop Off:

A few parents have asked for earlier drop off. We would not be able to take children earlier than 8:45 a.m.; and there would be an additional fee involved, but if this is something you would like available, stop in to see me or email me at TrinityPreschool@aol.com. As I have to pay a teacher to watch the children, I can only offer this if there is enough interest.

Pest Control:

The church pest control service is done the 2nd Wednesday of each month. No spraying is done in any of the preschool areas.

Door Bell:

The outer door is locked during the morning; if you arrive and the door is locked, just ring the bell and we will let you in.

Illness:

If your child is not feeling well, please keep him/her home, they will not enjoy school, and it will help us keep illness from spreading through the school.

If your child is sick, please call to let us know, 847-357-1513. If there is no answer, leave a message.

Parent and Child Magazine:

We give out this magazine to all of our families every other month. It is filled with some great parenting tips and activity ideas. Enjoy.

Music:

We do music activities every day with the children, and we use some wonderful children’s CD’s to dance to and sing along with the artists. You can find most of them at the local library to borrow or you can buy them at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, or Lakeshore Learning Store in Palatine. You can also order directly from most of the artists.

Here are a few of their websites, some of them even do local concerts.

JimGill.com

Macaronisoup.com (Carol Peterson)

Gregandsteve.com

Drjean.org

You may also find some of their music on Youtube or ITunes.

Scholastic Book orders:

I will be sending home a book order form for Scholastic books. You can order online or return the order form to me with payment for the books. You do not need to order any books, this is an optional program. We get free books for our classrooms through this company. More information will be on the order form.

Thank you for being part of our preschool family, if you have any questions, please ask.


Oak Room - Egg Science Experiment


The Oak room class will be doing science experiences each week. The children are very excited about this.














Their first one involved Eggs, Cola, Water, Tooth Brushes and Tooth Paste

First they predicted what would happen when they put a hard boiled egg in cola, and water. They left one egg out of everything.

Here are some predictions:

In Cola:
  • It will turn purple
  • It will turn brown
  • It will crack and a bird will come out"
In Water:
  • It will get bigger"
  • "It will turn to ice"
  • "It will stay the same."
Outcome:

  • Egg in the water stayed the same.
  • Egg in the Cola turned brown
  • We brushed the brown egg with toothpaste with and most of the brown came off.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, September 14, 2011

We had some light drizzle outside today so we played in the gym. We had out big soccer nets, balls, a tunnel to climb through, hula hoops, and some bounce on balls to play with today.



Willow Room- MWF class

The children are adjusting well to school, we are enjoying getting to know the new children and to get reacquainted with our old friends.

Today we read a story called "Yes, we can" by Sam McBratney (a story on a CD)

We did finger painting with red and blue glitter paint. We had chalk at the easels today.

We talked about the weather, and sang our weather song. We also sang the days of the week song.

We sang "Tap your toes and follow me" "Everybody has a face" and "If you're happy and you know it".

We are having fun exploring all the toys in the room and making new friends.

Maple Room:

We read "Franklin goes to school" by Paulette Bourgeois

We used potato mashers to paint pictures today. We had different textured roller brushes and paint brushes with foam textured bristles. The children would use the rollers on the paper and then they would use the textured brushes to add a new texture to the picture.

We played a number game with fish and the numbers 1-5. We also talked about our classroom rules.

For music we sang the "September song,", "5 little fish", "Teasing Mr. Shark" and we did "Jump, Jim, Joe while wearing belts with bells on them.


Oak Room:

We are continuing our book series by Laura Numeroff and today we read "If you give a cat a cupcake".

We began working in our journals today. Each week we write our name, the letter of the week, and draw a picture of something that begins with that letter in our journals. Today we did the letter "A" and did "A" pictures, like an apple and alligator.

We did a follow up to our science experiment from yesterday, we looked to see what happened to the hard boiled eggs we put in cola and water. The Egg we put in water is still white, the one we put in cola, turned brown. We took toothpaste and brushed the egg, while some of the brown came off, it was still more brown than the one that had been in water.

We will do a science experiment each week in our class.

We sand an ABC letter sound song, "Tap your toe and follow me" and "Deep in the jungle" using Drums to make jungle beat sounds.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, September 13, 2011

We played outside on the playground today. It was beautiful weather this morning.

Willow Room- Terrific 2's and 3's class

Today was the first full day for our youngest class, we had a few tears, but the teachers did a great job making the children feel safe and comfortable. They put on the Brown bear song, which is so soothing and quiet that children just naturally stop crying to listen to it.

For art today the children used Q-tips to paint with red, yellow, and blue paint. We had magnetic letters at the easel.

The story today was Clifford's First Day of School by Norman Bridwell

Besides the Brown Bear song, we did "Put your finger on" and Tommy Thumb".

We had pink play dough out today too.

The children will quickly get used to the routine and will get more comfortable each day, just keep bringing them, letting them know through your actions that you are comfortable with leaving them in our care.

Oak Room: Prekindergarten class

We read "If you give a moose a muffin" by Laura Numeroff

We used muffin shape paper as the base for our project today, we cut little snips of paper and glued them on to the shapes.

We sang "muffin shop", "Apple in the tree" and "Freeze dance"

We did the mystery box today of "what is in the box that starts with the letter "A".

We did a science experiment with Hard Boiled eggs. We dropped one in a glass filled with cola and one in a glass filled with water, we made predictions about what we thought would happen and we will see if we are right tomorrow. We are learning basic scientific principles.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, September 12, 2011

We played outside today. The weather was beautiful, but remember in the fall the weather changes quickly, so send a sweater or jacket on cooler days.

Willow Room- MWF class

Today was the first full day for the children in the Willow Room and they did so good! They are learning the routines and getting to know the teachers and their classmates. we follow the same routine every day so the children always know what to expect.

We had our first morning circle time today and we sang the Good Morning song. We read the story "Cllifford's First School Day by Norman Bridwell. During our 2nd circle we sang a song about the weather and a song about the days of the week.

For our art today, we used little sponges and we painted using the primary colors, (red, yellow, blue).

We had Magnetic letters at our easel today.

We had music time at the end of the morning and we did a few calming songs, "put your finger on...", Tommy Thumb, and Brown Bear.

We had pink play dough in the room- we make our own (see BLOG post for March 5, 2011 for recipe or ask me for a copy).

We have packing peanuts in our sensory table.

Maple Room-

We read "The Kissing Hand" by Audry Penn. We finger painted with red and blue paint and made hand prints to go along with our story.

We sang The September song, Months of the Yer song, Jump, Jim, Joe, and Hands are for Clapping.

We do the calendar and talk about the days of the week each day in class. We also talk about the weather and we make a graph of the weather which we use for comparisons.

The children in the Maple room love the free art table, they take any of the materials and make whatever they want. Especially popular is the colored glue.

We make our own colored glue....you can too.

Take a bottle of school glue and an old marker that is dried out. Either drop the whole marker in the glue bottle or pull the tip of the marker out of the plastic base and drop it in the glue bottle. Leave it a few days and the glue will be that color.

We have beans in our sensory table, with scoops, cups, spoons, and shovels.


Oak Room- Pre-K class

We read "If you take a mouse to school" by Laura Numeroff

We painted apple shapes with puffy paint to decorate our room.

We sang 5 little apples, There's a dog in school", and The Silly dance contest.

We started our letter of the week today. We began with the letter "A". We did a chart of words that begin with the letter A. These are words the children can think of that start with the letter "A", not words they need to learn at all.

We have a new sensory material called clean sand. It is not scratchy like sand, but will hold a shape for a short amount of time. It is bright purple and has some fun properties.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, September 9, 2011

In our Willow Room, we had a split day today, with half the children coming at a time, part of our process to aid separation issues.

In our Maple Room, we had our first full day of class today and we did the story of Rainbow fish to help the children learn about sharing and friendship. The children painted fish shapes with bright watercolors for our bulletin board.

In our Oak Room, we painted key shapes with the children's names written on them. We will put them on our door to decorate our room.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Trinity Preschool Activities for September 8, 2011

We started our Terrific 2's and 3's class today in our Willow Room by having the children come for 1/2 the morning and had the moms stay in class to help the children adjust. We will have our first full day without the moms next Tuesday. hep prepare your child by talking about what we do at school and reassuring them that you will be there when school is over. Then, make sure you are there when school is ending! The children listened to a story about starting school, listened to the Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see song and used water colors to make a pretty painting to take home. We took a picture with the moms which we will use to help the children adjust to school.

In our Maple Room, the Thursday group started today and the rest of the class will start tomorrow. The children painted with fluffy washing wands. We read stories and started our calendar and weather activities today. Each day we will talk about what day it is, what day was yesterday, what day is tomorrow and we will learn about numbers, and patterns by learning about the calendar in this fun way. We do a dun friend rhyme to help us learn the names of our classmates. We played on the playground today.

Oak Room: Pre-k class

We had our second day of school today and we did a magic name picture; before class we wrote each child's name using a white crayon on a white piece of paper. They took water colors and painted over the paper and their name magically appeared! The children then were given a white crayon and white paper and they drew their own picture. Then they painted it with watercolors to make their design appear. We played on the playground today.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Oak Room First Day -If you give a mouse a cookie bulletin board



We began our school year today in our pre-k classroom and are looking forward to a great year.

We read the story "If you give a mouse a cookie" by Laura Numeroff and we tied in our art project to the story by having the children decorate paper cookies for our bulletin board. They used brown paint to paint cookie shapes and they then glued on pom poms to make it look like a decorated cookie.

We had out some table activities with color mazes, alphabet sequencing puzzles ana writing boards and introduced the children to the learning centers in our room.

We talked about the classroom rules, we sang "The twelve days of school" using props, and did a sing a long book called "Ten in the bed".

We went outside on the playground for our large motor time. We had a great morning today.