Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, March 31, 2011

Willow Room: T/TH class

We did the nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock and we read The Itsy Bitsy Spider Story.

We painted using number stampers and mice shapes to make prints on our clock shapes for Hickory Dickory Dock.

We had magnetic gears at the easel.

We say This is the way we do it, put your hands up in the air and Little Fish.

The children enjoyed playing with the dress up clothes and the babies in our dramatic corner.

We have some new toys in the room too, some color paddles that were very popular.

We played in the gym room today since it was too cold early in the morning to play outside.


Oak Room:

We read two books by author Ruth Galloway "Fidgety Fish" and "Tickly Octopus".

We made a paper plate fish today. You cut a wedge (triangle) shape out of a plain paper plate and add it to the back for a tail. We painted them and glued on crumpled up tissue paper.

We are exploring magnets
We had some animals color sorting activities out and a shape sorting puzzle.

We sang Baby beluga (book and song), Went to the pet shop rhyme/felt board.

We had water play out with a water tub, we also did some sink and float activities.

We blew up a kiddie pool and added it to our beach area. The children sat in it and told stories and read books. It was great fun.

It warmed up a bit outside, so we got to play outside.

Art Idea # 6- Painting materials- found objects

We love to paint at school, and paint is a great medium for children to use. We use found objects to paint with, you don't have to buy a lot of supplies to make fun painting experiences.

Here are a few ideas: Paint on scrap paper, the inside of cereal boxes, old newspaper.

1. Cut sponges into shapes and dip in paint to make prints.

2. We use sponges also as a base, put a little paint onto a sponge with some water and soap- then press objects onto the sponge and make prints. What can you use?....an empty spool, a cork, a fork, we use all kinds of kitchen utensils to make cool prints.

3. Get some old kitchen items from a thrift store- rolling pins, whisks, etc. Just look at things and see what you think it could work for, either with paint or play dough.

4. We also get items from the dollar stores, (back massagers make cool prints on paper and a fun noise), but again look at the things they have there and think about whether it will work for an art project.

5. Eye droppers, thin the paint and let your child drip paint onto paper, fold it over and see what happens.

We use washable paint, but we still add a few drops of soap to make it wash out easier. You can get small bottles of assorted colors for pretty cheap at any Walmart, Target, Meijers, KMart, etc.

Always supervise children with paint. Next time I will post some ideas to do with paint.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday,, March 30, 2011

We played outside today. It is still a little cold in the mornings, but it is good for the children to get outside and run around. Please send in coats, gloves, hats, etc. as needed.

Willow Room: MWF class

We did Hickory Dickory Dock nursery rhyme today. and we asked the children "What do we need a clock for?

We read a cute story today called "The great nursery rhyme disaster", it is a story that ties in several of the nursery rhymes all together.

We glued numbers on a clock shape and a mouse running up our clock.

We had a new magnetic gears toy at the easel today.

We sang Marching around the alphabet and put your hands up in the air.

We made a chart of words that begin with the letter N. We have all the word charts posted in the hall.

Maple Room:

We are having fun with our grocery store and food activities. Today we read "Pancakes, Pancakes" by Eric Carle and we made pancakes to eat in our room for snack today. All the children enjoyed them.

We had round paper with tan paint and glue, circles for blue berries and chocolate chips and spatula paint brushes.

We sang "Down around the corner at the pancake shop", Hot Pancake with a spatula, shake my sillies out using shakers.

We did some letter "U" activities and a number recognition game, find the shopping cart.

Oak Room:

We read "Rainbow fish and friends a fish story" today.

We worked in our journals today, drawing pictures for and writing the letter X and Y.

We are talking about under the sea animals. We have some new magnetic toys in the room, it was fun to explore how the magnet could pull objects in a tray through the bottom of the tray.

We had shells out to look at with magnifying glasses and we also had shells in our estimating jar today. The children are getting better at estimating how many are in the jar, it used to be they would say "a million" when guessing, now many are close to the actual number in the jar.

Our dramatic corner is still evolving into a beach, with new items added daily.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday,, March 29, 2011

Even though it was a little chilly, we did play outside today, make sure children have mittens, gloves, hats, etc. and of course jackets needed for the weather.

Willow Room: T/TH class

We read "Big Bears Can!" by David Bedford

We are finishing up our nursery rhymes, today we did Jack and Jill and Little Miss Muffet.
For art, we made new crowns for Jack (who broke his in the rhyme- although the crown he broke int he rhyme is his head, not a royal crown)

We used a crown shape and painted on it with various objects, dot to dot painters, whisks, and new fun rollers to make them look festive.

We sang the nursery rhymes, clap your hands, and brown bear.

We had a new toy at the easel, magnetic gears, you make a design and they turn on the easel magnetic surface.

We had scissors at the free art table.

Oak Room:

We read "The rainbow fish lost at sea"

We are still transforming our dramatic corner into our beach area and camp ground. We added a picnic table today.

For art today, we used a whale shape with a hole cut int he middle. We placed blue hair gel (to look like water) in a plastic bag and added fish stickers to the bag. WE taped them to the back of the whale to look like the whale swallowed the fish.

We sang some fun songs today, Little fish, list of dances, Baby Beluga, and whales and fish.

We talked about the letter X today and we read about whales under the sea.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, March 28, 2011

Welcome back from spring break! We wish we still had warm weather so we could spend time outside, but today was a little cold so we played in the gym.

We are beginning to get some new equipment from the money raised in our Silent Auction fund raiser. We bought some new science materials, blocks, table concept games, and art materials. The children enjoyed playing with some new magnetic toys today.

Willow Room: MWF class

We are finishing up our nursery rhymes this week. We have a new nursery rhyme sequencing table activity. There are three pictures about the nursery rhyme and the children put them in the correct order. It is a good follow up to learning about the rhymes.

Today we did "Jack and Jill" and "Little Miss Muffet"

We asked the children "Do you have the letter "N" in your name?" as we are talking about the letter "N" this week.

Although in the rhyme, Jack's "crown" he broke is his head; we made him a new "crown" since he broke his beautiful head covering crown......we glued glitter and other sparkly things onto a crown for Jack.

We had fun spring like painting instruments at the easel and th children used glitter paint to make pictures.

We sang the Nursery rhyme songs, moving day, and tap your toe and follow me.

We talked about the days of the week and the weather at our second circle and we looked at objects that begin with the letter N.

Maple Room:

We are beginning our unit on grocery stores and healthy foods. We have our dramatic corner set up like a grocery store and the children pretend to shop and they pretend to be the grocers too.

We read "Don't forget the oatmeal" by B.G. Ford

The children created their own shopping lists and we had textured brushes at the easel.

We sang Clap your hands, and sticky bubble gum.

We did some letter "U" activities.


Oak Room:

We are beginning our unit on "Under the Sea", we will learn about the fish and other animals that live in the water, look at shells, and do other "water" activities.

Today we cut out fish shapes and painted them with watercolors. They will go on our bulletin board to make part of our under the sea scene.

We sang golf fish, gold, fish, what do you see?, Five little fish.

Our Dramatic corner is being transformed into a beach.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, March 18, 2011

We played outside today.

Willow Room:

We read "The dot" a story about art written by Peter H. Reynolds. (cute story) The question of the day was, "What do you like to draw?" We painted using green peppers using green glitter paint. The print looks like shamrocks. We did dot painting at the easel.

The music was:" I Like My Hat" , "Put Your Hands Up In The Air", and "Finger Poppin"
.
We also played with our new green playdough and finished our Humpty Dumptys which means the children drew lines on them to resemble cracks, stuck bandaids on them and drew faces on them as well. We had a great morning.

Maple Room:

We read The true story of the 3 little pigs- by Jon Scieszka. There are many different versions of the 3 little pigs story and this is another twist on the classic. If you read the three little pigs story to your child, make sure you read the end ahead of time so you know how it ends....some have the pigs eaten, some have the wolf ending up in boiling water, some have them all living; just know what is coming.

We did finger painting with shaving cream, a fun sensory activity.

We had chubby crayons at the easel on brown paper.

We did "We must face the facts", "Finger Popin", and "Take that bean bag" for music.

Oak Room:

We did another two Froggy's stories today:
"Froggy's best baby sitter" and "Froggy's day with dad" both by Jonathan London

We wet paper with water and drew on it with chalk. We looked at how the chalk looked different on the wet paper vs. the dry paper. If we drew too much in one spot, it would tear the paper.

We had out some locks puzzles, X puzzle, and uppercase ABC puzzle.

For music we did the "Mack Chicken Dance", and "Mary had a little Jam"- silly rhymes

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, March 17, 2011

We played on the playground today! So happy to have nice weather, we love to be outside!

Willow Room: T/TH class

We read "Happy Birthday Moon" a story read on a CD

We did the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle" and we made "dishes that ran away with the spoons" for art. We took shaving cream, salt and powder paint and mixed them on a palate and left the spoon on it.

For music today we did "Hey diddle diddle, ready, set, move; and you're face will surely show it.

The children had fun with dress up clothes today, we brought in some new clothing.


Oak Room:

We did "Caps for sale" a classic book by Esphyr Slobodkina

We decorated paper plate hats with crayons, we used them to act out the story at the end of the day. We took small groups of children into the (empty) classroom next door and worked on our math books, we did a page about patterning.

We had some frogs on a log- and sang the Five speckled frogs song with it) and we had animal sorting by colors, types, size, etc.

We acted out the Caps for sale story using the hats we made. We sang "I like my hat", using bean bags.

We read a book about the letter X and said what words have X in them.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, March 16, 2011

We had beautiful sunny, warm weather today! Yea ! We got to play on the playground again today. Unless it is rainy, we will be going outside from now on. Remember jackets, hats and gloves as needed too.

Willow Room: MWF class

We did the Nursery Rhyme today "Hey Diddle Diddle" Rhymes are good for learning about rhyming words, and kindergarten's often want to know if children know nursery rhymes. We had a hand puppet that had the cow, the moon, the cat and the fiddle, the little dog, and the dish that ran away with the spoon on each of the fingers. we used it to retell the rhyme.


We made a dish that ran away with the spoon today for art. We used shaving cream and powdered paint. We swooshed it around with the spoon on the plate , then the plate and the spoon stayed together.


We went through all of our rhymes today, we sang Ready set, move, and your face will surely show it.


We took a closer look at the words in the rhyme that rhyme.

Maple Room:

We read "The night before St. Patrick's Day", by Natasha Wing


We made rainbows from crumpled tissue paper and we had green paper with gold metaliz paint at the easels.


We sang the March song, 4 little shamrocks, 5 wee leprechauns, Moving everyday and the tempo marches on using instruments.


We did letter "U" activities and we went on a special hunt for the pot of gold the leprechaun hid in our school. WE searched all over and found it back in our room!


We played a feely, guessing game. We hid a letter in a sock and the children had to guess which letter it was by only using their hands.

Oak Room:

We read "Let's go Froggy" and Froggy rides a bike by Jonathan London

We stamped pictures on the number pages 1-10.

For art today we mixed soap and powdered paint to make a kind of paint that looks like oil paints. The children painted pictures with the mixture.


We had a felt dress up dolls toy out and magnetic writing boards

We did "Here's a little bird" (rhyme follows the music scale- up (to higher notes)and down (to lower notes)
We also did the finger band comes to town.


We had the estimating jar out again today and did a guessing game to find out who the class helper is today.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tue., March 15, 2011

We went out to the playground today for the first time since last fall! Yea! Please send your child with jackets, (hats, and gloves as needed) for weather. Unless the weather is bad, we will be going outside.


Willow Room- T/TH class
We did Humpty dumpty today. We read Humpty Dumpty by Thomas Moore. We also acted out the Hunpty dumpty rhyme with a real egg....we could not put it together again.

The children had yellow paper cut into an egg shape, and glued pieces of white tissue paper to looked like an egg for art today.

We played "pass the egg( plastic)" to the music, when the music stops, we see who is the person left holding the egg.
We also did a combined song of Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear turn around and 2 little blackbirds.

We had some new blue cornstarch playdough in the room.


Oak Room:

We are reading stories about "Froggy" and today's was Froggy plays in a band" by Jonathan London

We made a shamrock picture for St. Patrick's Day. We used sparkly glitter green paint and green peppers cut crosswise to make the print.

We sang "Old Mc Donald had a band" with instruments, Get ready, set, go!, and Everybody dances.

Our dramatic play area is now a dress up area and kitchen.

Recycled Art Ideas #1 - Don't throw it away!

Don't just throw things away without thinking about how your child might use it for a "creation". Here are just some materials that can be used again for art: A few ideas to get you thinking too!

Cereal boxes: Break them open and use the blank inside cardboard for many things, a more study surface for a clay creation, material for painting, an adult can cut it into shapes and children can use it for a stencil.

Egg cartons: Cut the carton apart and use the individual cups as flowers, poke a hole, add a pipe cleaner, and paint it. Make a whole garden. Take half of the carton, and make a caterpillar. Paint it and add google eyes and pipe cleaner antenna.
You can also cut the egg carton into 3 sections of four and add paint with small brushes. This makes clean up easier too, just toss when finished. You can make homemade paint too (or buy some). Cut up the egg carton and let your child glue the sections onto the cereal box for a sculpture. Use craft glue for extra holding power.

Toilet paper, paper towel tubes, or wrapping paper tubes:
Cut them into little sections and let children create a sculpture with them (again, use your cereal box as a base). Cut slits an inch up one end and bend that portion out. Dip in paint and it makes cool designs. Cut up and down zip zags into it and use it with sand as a tool to make designs.
Children also have fun playing with the tubs and small cars, they can angle them and see how far the car rolls.

Before you throw it away, think about how you can make something out of it first.


More ideas to come........

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, March 14, 2011

We had a special visitor today who talked to the children about saving the earth by Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling Waste. She does a fun workshop and has the children involved hands on. We appreciate SWANK making this workshop available free to local schools and preschools.

Ask your child what they learned today.

Willow Room:

We did the story of humpty dunpty by Thomas Moore, then we did the rhyme using a real egg.....guess what happened. We couldn't put it together again either!

We are talking about the letter M and asked the children "Do you have a letter M in your name?" We did a graphing activity with the results.

We made tissue paper humpty dumpty's. We had painting at the easel.

We played a game called "Pass the (plastic) egg". We pass the egg around the circle to the music and when the music stops we see who is holding the egg.
We also did all of our rhymes we have learned.

Maple Room:

We extended our learning about recycling by reading "Micheal Recycle" by Ellie Bethal

We had painting at the table today.

We had a special guest in our room today and we acted out the story of the 3 little pigs for our guest. They children had so much fun.

We did some letter "U" activities

Oak Room:

We read Froggy's baby sister by Jonathan London

We did a special art project today. We had a big tub with paper in it. We put a ball dipped in paint in the tub and rolled the ball back and forth to make a picture.

We sang 5 green and speckled frogs, come and buy a donut, and 5 little tadpoles.

We are talking about the letter X.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, March 11, 2011

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "Lights out, night's out" by William Boniface

We asked the children if they have seen animals outside at night time? What did you see?

We made our very own "night sky" using dark blue construction paper and stars and moon cookie cutter shapes. We dipped them in glitter paint, gold, silver, blue and white. we made sparkly pictures.

We sang Twinkle twinkle little star, Jump down, turn around, itsy bitsy spider, Mary had a little lamb, and rhyme time.

We had markers at the easel today.

Maple Room:

We read "My lucky day" by Keiko Kasza

We illustrated the story of the three bears with our own drawings. We had watercolors at the easel.

the children worked on a big puzzle of children around the world today.

We acted out the story of the three little pigs.

We practiced writing our letters today.

Oak Room:

We read "Little Cloud" by Eric Carle

We dripped white paint with eye droppers on blue paper. Then we folded the paper in half and rubbed it together. When we opened it, we asked, "What does your cloud look like?

We had out some file folder games, flower peg sorting, a shamrocks number game, "W" puzzles.

We did rocket countdown, and jump to Jupiter for Music.

Willow Room- Color Train- Picture

We are learning colors by making a color train. You can do this idea at home too, just pick a color and have your child find objects that match that color and tape them onto the paper.

Willow Room-Mary Had a little lamb- Art Picture

We are learning nursery rhymes and having fun. We learned about Mary had a little lamb and made soft fluffy lambs using lamb shapes and cotton balls with glue.

Willow Room- Itsy Bitsy Spider Art Project Picture

The children were learning about Itsy Bitsy Spider. They painted paper plates black and when they were dry they glued on google eyes and put pipe cleaner legs on through holes the teachers had punched. They are creeping up the water pipe on our bulletin board.
"The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout, down came the rain and washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain, and the Itsy Bitsy Spider, went up the spout again."
We also change this rhyme up with "The great big spider" and use a deeper voice and the "Teeny Tiny Spider" and use a little squeaky voice.
There are also some cute versions of this rhyme on You tube.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, March 10, 2011

Willow Room: T/TH class

We read "Lights out, Night's out" by William Boniface. We looked for the stars in the night sky in the story.

We painted stars for our room with silver glitter paint.

We had magnetic letters at the easel.

We sang cool bear hunt, and the alphabet sound song

We pointed a flash light around the room at things to see them.

Oak room:

Bob's Best Ever Friend by Simon Bartram

We also read Picnic on the moon.

We used bingo dot markers to make a number page for our math book. We did dots for one-one correspondence.

We had some restaurant guest checks on the table with pencils for the children to get some writing practice in today. We had some snap together number blocks, and a space board matching game.

We danced to "Rock like this" a fun song that makes you want ot move.

We did a fun rhyme, "One little astronaut floating from base" ( One child held onto a rope -pretend connector to space shuttle) and as the rhyme goes on we add more children.

We did a guessing game to help children "think through some clues" to figure out who today's special helper is.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Willow Room- MWF class

Our story and rhyme today was "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" by Iza Trapani

We also talked about the letter "L"

We painted silver glitter stars for our room. We had magnetic letters at the easel.

We sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, The Cool Bear Hunt, and The Alphabet letter sound song today.

We did a flashlight game, we shone the flashlight on different things in the room.

We had a big nursery rhyme puzzle and we listened to a CD play of the nursery rhymes that were in the puzzle assembled it.

Maple Room:

We are still getting ready for our reenactment of the story of the three little pigs. We read another version of the story today, this one by Charlotte Voake

We made our house of bricks today. We painted our big cardboard box house with sponges dipped in various shades of red paint. We had house shape paper at the easels, with paper bricks, doors and windows, with glue.

We sang the March song, Pass the Saw, and a 5 little pigs rhyme. We did some letter "T" activities and we did an uppercase/lowercase letter recognition game.

We had three little pigs puppets in teh room today and the children enjoyed acting out the story with them.

Oak Room:

We read "The Berenstain Bears on the moon." by Stan and Jan Berenstain

We worked in our journals today, writing and drawing a picture of the letter "W".

We did the list of dances, and our planet song. We listened to the story "Happy Birthday Moon," on a CD.

We did estimating today, small animals.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Willow Room- T/TH class

We are having fun with our nursery rhymes theme. We did "Mary had a little lamb" today and we made our own little lambs by gluing cotton balls onto a lamb shape.

We sang Mary had a little lamb, brown bear, and If you're happy and you know it.

We played in the gym today, but the weather is getting warmer and we will be going outside pretty soon!


Oak Room:

We read "Moon Rabbit" by Natalie Russel today.

We worked on our planet books today. Each page has a different planet and facts about the planet.


We sang our planet song, and we talked about which planet the children would like to visit and why? We also listened to a book on CD "Mooncake" by Frank Asch

We talked about the planets we are learning about.

We are having fun pretending to blast off to space.

Trinity Preschool Actvities for Monday, March 7, 2011

Willow Room- MWF class

We are having fun learning about nursery rhymes and today we read "Mary had a little lamb: by Iza Trapani (a story on a CD)

We are learning about the letter "L" and asked the children if they had the letter "L" in their name. We graphed the results and compared yes and no answers.

We Used cotton balls for art today, we had lamb shapes and glued cotton balls onto them to make our "little lambs" for Mary.

At the easel we had screens and brushed over them with paint to make a splatter picture.

For music we did "Mary had a little lamb:, "May there always be sunshine", and " Little Fish"

We added a variety of different kinds of blocks to our block building area. We had fun building and trying them out.

Maple Room:

We read The three little pigs, by Rochelle Larkin

We are getting ready to act out "The three little pigs" story, so today we made our house of sticks. We used the side of pieces of cardboard painted with yellow and brown paint and made prints on our cardboard box. After we make our house of bricks on Wednesday, we will be ready to act out our story.

We played musical chairs for music. We play a special version where we all cheer when someone gets "out" so no one is upset when they have no chair.

We are working on some letter "T" activities.

Oak Room:

We read "Curious George gets a medal" by H.A. Rey

We are making covers for our "learn about the planets books". We dipped space theme stampers into paint to make designs.

We watched a DVD of space called "The Magic school bus, space adventure, lost in space", to help the children learn more about space and the planets.

We are learning about the letter "W" this week.

Art Idea # 5 Home made Play dough and usage ideas

Basic Cooked Play Dough Recipe and play ideas

We did not create this recipe, most of the preschools I know use this recipe though because it is the best. I have no idea who originally created it or I would give them credit!

Keep it stored in an airtight container and it will last for at least a month. Some people store in it the refrigerator and that is probably a good idea, especially if it isn't played with all the time. We use this play dough every day in the classroom, it sits out on a table for at least an hour each day, is played with by many children and it lasts about a month.

Cooked Play Dough (Our basic playdough)

1 cup flour

¼ cup salt

2 Tablespoons Cream of tarter (important)

1 cup water

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

Food color

Put all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, 2-4 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. When mixture pulls from side of pan and forms a ball in the center, remove pan from heat. Allow to cool a few minutes. Remove play dough and knead until smooth (will still be quite warm). Store in an airtight container.

Instead of food coloring, you can substitute a non sweetened package of koolaid to the pan before you start cooking the play dough, it will add a wonderful smell and color; but watch with young children as they may try to eat the play dough. There is nothing in this play dough that can harm a child, but it is best not to let children think it is OK to taste art materials in general.

This dough is soft and pliable and works great to help develop the fine motor skills children need to be able to hold a pencil, and scissors and have control of those muscles.

You do not need fancy play dough tools, raid your kitchen for fun, safe things to use with the play dough. I like to give the children a place mat (a fun kid design makes it special) to use as a work area. This helps children understand that the play dough stays here, and makes it feel special. Play dough should always be used in the same format, especially with young children, do not just leave it out for them to get into any time they want or you will find play dough stuck to your furniture, shoes, etc. Make it special to be allowed to use the play dough.

Toddlers: Play dough is great for toddlers, but either have them in their high chair and be nearby to supervise or join them in the fun of creating with play dough.

MATERIALS:

cookie cutters

rolling pin

plastic knife

straws, cut into pieces

melon baller

any non sharp kitchen utensil, (wooden spoon, rubber spatula, egg separator, etc.)

birthday candles, Popsicle sticks, clean rocks,

As you can see the ideas for things to add are pretty limitless, just make sure they are safe and clean.

IDEAS:

Roll play dough into balls, stack them, cut them with the knife (make two halves, cut into thirds- math idea)

Roll play dough between your palms to make a long snake and form it into shapes, cut it into pieces, make alphabet letters out of it.

Learning to write names: some children have difficulty forming the letters with a pencil or crayon. Form the letters of their name with play dough (have them do it too) and often this helps give them a concrete connection to the letters in their name. It is amazing how many times they can then write the letters with more ease.

Play dough is an amazing substance, and I prefer this type to store bought as it is more pliable, softer and fun to create.

Special note: cream of tarter is a little expensive (it is in the spice section of the grocery store). You can use a little less, but w/o it the play dough does not have the same consistency.

ENJOY!

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, March 4, 2011

Willow Room- MWF class

We did the itsy bitsy spider story on Cd by Keith Chapman

We finished turning our painted black paper plates into spiders to hang in the hallways.

We had cutting and stencils at the free art table.

We sang Rock adn roll body parts, leaky umbrella, May there always be sunshine

We are "growing a tiny spider into a big one" you put a special mini sponge in water and every day it grows. We will see how much it grows each day.

We had a big nursery rhyme puzzle, and a nursery rhyme and CD book to look at



Maple Room-
We read "The three little pigs" A golden book classic

We painted with rubber bands dipped in yellow paint on a huge cardboard box to make a house of straw. We will use it to retell the three little pigs story.

We also had glue and pretzels at the easel to make a house of sticks.

We sang the March song, and we did the bear hunt using instruments

We practiced writing our letters A-S

We are really having fun with our construction theme, the children are wearing their hardhats and building with a variety of materials. They are busy and excited.


Oak Room:

We read "Stars" by Jennifer Dussling

We put star stickers n black paper to make our own constellations. We connected the stars with a yellow line to see what design our constellation would look like.

We had a lower case alphabet puzzle out and some new castle blocks.

We sang skinnamarink, and the space song freeze dance.

Educational idea: Preparing to read

Here are some ideas to help your child get ready to learn to read.

1. Point out signs, children often learn to recognize familiar signs and can "read" them.
2. Talk about the letters in your child's name, these are often the first letters your child learns.
3. When you write you child's name, write the first letter as a capital (upper case), the rest lower case; don't make them relearn it the right way for kindergarten.
4. Make the letter sounds, ex. "S" sounds like "ssssss". Then ask your child "What else can you think of that sounds like that sound?"
5. When you read a book, if it has a repeating word, point it out to your child and have them "read" it.
6. READ to your child every day! Twenty minutes a day from infancy to grade school gives them a distinct advantage in learning to read (and in success in general in school). They will have a much larger vocabulary than children who are not read to regularly.
   
7. Expose your child to new books, new ideas and talk about the book, "What might happen next?", "Where did they go in the story?" Questions that help your child think about the story, not just answer questions. It is important for children to understand what they are hearing or reading about.
   
8. Music helps children learn. Putting learning to music helps children learn faster too. Listening to classical music helps learning too.
   
9. Rhyming words is a good pre-reading skill to work on, help your child think of words that rhyme with cat, etc. Then tell them three words, two that rhyme, one that doesn't, ask them which one doesn't rhyme.
10. When you read a book, tell your child who the author and illustrator is of the book. Put your finger under the words you are reading and move your hand left to right as you read.
    
11. Make it fun! Learning is fun.

Trinity Preschool Actvities for Thursday, March 3, 2011

Willow Room: T/TH class

We listened to a story on a CD called Itsy Bitsy spider by Keith Chapman

We painted paper plates using black paint. We will turn them into our own itsy bitsy spiders to climb our hallway walls.

We are learning nursery rhymes, and some favorite fingerplays.

We sang Itsy, bitsy spider, the little fish, and Rock and roll body parts.

We did coloring with chalk dipped in sugar water.

Oak Room:

We read "What next, baby bear? " by Jill Murphy

We painted and decorated paper plate flying saucers.

We had a new activity out today, they are file folder games that are beginning letter sounds and also Rhyming words

We also had a magnetic alphabet puzzle.

We have been playing games with the children, counting games, number games, letter matching and letter sounds.

We sang "Two little blackbirds, an opposites song, and the blast off song.

We did a balloon rocket demonstration; we stretched out a string with a small piece of a straw on it; then we used tape to attach the balloon to the straw ( to make it slide up and down the string). Next we filled the balloon with air (we used a hand held pump), but, did not tie it off, let go of the end and the balloon traveled up the string.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Willow Room: MWF class

We did a felt board story of the itsy bitsy spider, by Keith Chapman

We asked the child "Do you like spiders? Why? Why not?

We painted small paper plates with black paint because they will become our itsy bitsy spiders.

We sang Itsy bitsy spider, and The little fish song.

We had chalk and water at the easels.

We began our theme of nursery rhymes today.

Maple Room:

We read "Alphabet Adventure" by Audrey Wood

We did fun painting today using trucks wheels dipped in paint and we drove them back and forth over paper.

We had alphabet stampers and paint at the easel.

We sang The March song, months song, 5 little shamrocks, speckled frogs, and pass the hammer.

We did some letter S activities and we did a guessing game called "ABracadabra, what letter is missing? This game is played by placing a few alphabet letters in order on the magnetic board and turning it around. Then we remove one letter and the children take turns guessing which letter is the one that is gone.

Oak Room:

We read "What the moon sees/What the sun sees" by Nancy Tafuri and Sheep Blast off! by Margot Apple

We worked in our journal notebooks, drew u and v pictures

We had a shape board game out, and magnetic alphabet match, we also had space matching game.

We read "tap you toes and follow me", we used shakers and sang "purple people eaters"

We started our estimating jar, how many pegs are in the jar, make a guess and then we count them to see how many are in the jar.

Art Idea # 4- Tissue Paper

Tissue Paper is a fun art material and can be found in craft stores, party goods stores, and a variety of other stores. Tissue paper used to all "bleed", meaning that if you got it wet, the color would bleed out of it, but much of it now will not. Some projects need the tissue paper to "bleed", so if you can find that kind for your projects, it is good to have.

Project 1: Cut small pieces of tissue paper (one color or assorted colors), then have your child glue the pieces onto construction paper, a paper plate or cut apart a cereal box and use the box as your project base.

Project 2: Cut small pieces of tissue paper and have your child scrunch them into balls, glue as above.

Project 3: If you have "bleeding" tissue paper, lay the pieces of tissue onto light colored paper, spritz with water from a sprayer bottle and let dry. Remove and see the colors that are now on the paper.

Project 4: Open up a piece of clear contact paper, layer tissue paper onto sticky side, and add a frame. Hang from a window and see the colors shine through. You can also use wax paper and glue if you don't have contact paper.

Trinity Preschool Actvities for Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Willow Room: T/TH class

We read "Put me in the zoo" by Robert Lopshire

We asked "What is your favorite color?"

We glued colored pieces of tissue paper onto paper to make rainbow pictures.

We had watercolors at the easel.

We sang: If you like the color, Hello Everybody, Rainbow Ribbon Dance, Tommy Thumb

We played in the gym with scooters, cars and a road map rug, ring toss, and alligator teeter totter


Oak Room:

We read "MooCow Kaboom". We read a book about Saturn.

We painted a star shape with silver glitter paint. We will hang them from our ceiling in the room.

We sang "Pass the space shuttle, 5 little aliens, and read another book about astronauts.

We talked about the letter V today and the planet Saturn.

We have been learning a song about the planets, we sent the words home on our classroom newsletter. Have your child sing it for you.