Willow Room -T/TH class
We read "Big Bears Can" by David Bedford and for our group time, we are working on name recognition- we sorted names by boys and girls.
We glued BIG and LITTLE Pompoms and BIG and LITTLE letters onto paper.
At the easel we painted with different objects.
Our music time included Brown Bear Brown Bear, and Put your finger int eh air.
We went outside today.
Oak Room-
We read "Nosy Rosie" by Holly Keller and "The Nose Book" by Al Perkins.
To continue talking about our sense of smell, we painted with different flavors of jello. We talked about what we smell as we paint.
We did some bean bag songs today, "The bean bag boogie". We also did How are you feeling? and "Tommy Thumb"
We went outside today.
Trinity Preschool Mount Prospect BLOG will list daily activities for our classes. The BLOG will also include classroom art ideas, bulletin board ideas, educational activities and other suggestions that will be useful for parents and other educators.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Activities for Monday, September 28
All classes went outside today- please remember jackets! We go out if the playground is dry enough and the temps are above 40 degrees.
Willow Room-MWF class
Our story today was a book on tape called "Big Bears Can!" by David Bedford. Which was about Big and little- we followed that up with our question today, "Do you have a BIG brother or sister or a LITTLE Brother or sister?
For art we glued BIG and LITTLE pompoms and BIG and LITTLE letters on paper. We had painting with fun objects at the easel today.
Our music activities today were some Jim Gill songs- "List of dances", and "Stuck on glue" and we also did "Brown bear, Brown bear".
We went outside today and boy was it windy! But, it helped our discussion of how the weather is changing and we talked with the children about what kind of clothes we need to wear in cooler weather.
Maple Room- MWF class
We are beginning to talk about apples so we did apple prints at art today. At the easels we had the dab a dot painters.
Our story was a special one about apples today too, it is a verbal story called "The little house with no doors and no windows and a star in the middle". It is about a little child who goes on a search for this special house and the surprise at the end of the story is to cut an apple in half crosswise and the star is in the middle. This story always fascinates children. Look for the star in your apples.
Some of our music today was 5 apples, September song, and apple on the ground.
We began a special ongoing science activity today: we made a worm farm for our science area. The instructions came from The museum of science and industry. In a large jar, you layer moist dirt, and moist sand with some oatmeal, add some worms, make sure there are air holes in the lid, cover the jar with black construction paper and watch what happens. If you would like to make your own worm farm, look on the museum of science and industry website for complete details. "Construct a worm farm". (www.msichicago.org)
Oak Room:
Today we talked about our sense of smell. Our story was "Arthur's Nose" by Marc Brown. We popped popcorn using an air popper at circle time which we then used as a sensory experience in our sensory table. We used scoops, shovels and cups to play with it. We also used some popcorn, colored with dry tempra paint to make pictures by gluing the popcorn to paper. Of course, we had to make some more popcorn to eat at snacktime.
For music we did "5 little popcorn kernals in a pan" "Today is Monday," and more.
We continued to talk about the letter " C", and asked the children if they have a letter "C" in their name.
Willow Room-MWF class
Our story today was a book on tape called "Big Bears Can!" by David Bedford. Which was about Big and little- we followed that up with our question today, "Do you have a BIG brother or sister or a LITTLE Brother or sister?
For art we glued BIG and LITTLE pompoms and BIG and LITTLE letters on paper. We had painting with fun objects at the easel today.
Our music activities today were some Jim Gill songs- "List of dances", and "Stuck on glue" and we also did "Brown bear, Brown bear".
We went outside today and boy was it windy! But, it helped our discussion of how the weather is changing and we talked with the children about what kind of clothes we need to wear in cooler weather.
Maple Room- MWF class
We are beginning to talk about apples so we did apple prints at art today. At the easels we had the dab a dot painters.
Our story was a special one about apples today too, it is a verbal story called "The little house with no doors and no windows and a star in the middle". It is about a little child who goes on a search for this special house and the surprise at the end of the story is to cut an apple in half crosswise and the star is in the middle. This story always fascinates children. Look for the star in your apples.
Some of our music today was 5 apples, September song, and apple on the ground.
We began a special ongoing science activity today: we made a worm farm for our science area. The instructions came from The museum of science and industry. In a large jar, you layer moist dirt, and moist sand with some oatmeal, add some worms, make sure there are air holes in the lid, cover the jar with black construction paper and watch what happens. If you would like to make your own worm farm, look on the museum of science and industry website for complete details. "Construct a worm farm". (www.msichicago.org)
Oak Room:
Today we talked about our sense of smell. Our story was "Arthur's Nose" by Marc Brown. We popped popcorn using an air popper at circle time which we then used as a sensory experience in our sensory table. We used scoops, shovels and cups to play with it. We also used some popcorn, colored with dry tempra paint to make pictures by gluing the popcorn to paper. Of course, we had to make some more popcorn to eat at snacktime.
For music we did "5 little popcorn kernals in a pan" "Today is Monday," and more.
We continued to talk about the letter " C", and asked the children if they have a letter "C" in their name.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Lunch Bunch
Lunch bunch is an extension of our school day. We have it on Wednesday's only starting Oct. 7. The fee is $32.00 per month and children bring a healthy lunch from home. We have extra music, story time, group games, outside or gym time and choice time. Let me know if you are interested in joining lunch bunch.
Activities for Friday, Sept 25
Willow Room-MWF
We read "Don't wake Mama" by Eileen Christelow; it is an extension of the song "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed".
Our question of the day today was "Do you have a button?"
For art we used large alphabet letter blocks to make letter prints. We had magnetic shapes at the easel.
For music today we did "There's a dog in school" and "over the deep blue sea".
We went outside today.
Maple Room- MWF
We read "If you take a mouse to school: by Laura Numeroff. With our weather graph today, we talked about more or less. We also made a list of our favorite activities at school. It is posted n the hallway.
For art today we did a tearing and gluing project. Tearing is an important fine motor skill that is the first step in the cutting process.
At the easels we had textured stampers.
The children were busy working on the large floor puzzles today.
For music today- we sang "Hello everybody", "Tap you toe", "Over the deep blue sea" and our September song."
We went outside today.
Oak Room- Pre-k room
We read "Buzzy's boo boo" by Harriet Ziefert and followed that up with our art project where the children drew a picture of a time when they had a boo boo. They told us the story of what happened and we gave them a bandaid to put on their drawing by the injured part. Later, we showed the class the pictures and read what the children had dictated.
We talked about emotions today. Each child was given a happy face and a sad face picture on a stick. We asked "how would you feel if...? questions and they held up either their happy face or their sad face to say their feelings.
We also came up with a list of words today that start with the letter "B"
We did the book on CD "Miss Mary Mack" which is a singing book. We also did the "Mack Chicken dance" and "Put your finger on".
Right when we went to go outside it started to rain, so we came back in for some extra music time.
Activities for Thursday, Sept. 24
Willow Room- T/Th
Our story today was "The little Rabbit who liked to say Moo" by Jonathan Allen. We also worked on name recognition at our first circle.
For art- we used red, green, yellow and brown tempra paint to make sponge painting pictures.
We had magnetic shapes at the easels.
Some of our table activities were the number peg puzzles, animal puzzles, and stringing letter beads.
We did the "Freeze dance", "If you're happy and you know it" and "Tommy thumb". We like to do the songs on a regular basis so the children can learn them,
We went outside today.
Oak Room- Pre-k room
Our story today was called "Bones" by Stephanie Krensky and we talked about our bones, "Why do we have bones? What do they do?"
We glued Q-tips onto body shapes to illustrate bones.
We matched animal x-rays with pictures of the animals they would be the x-rays to. We also looked a human x-rays.
We did a song called "spaghetti legs" and sang a "healthy habits" song.
We went to the playgorund today.
Our story today was "The little Rabbit who liked to say Moo" by Jonathan Allen. We also worked on name recognition at our first circle.
For art- we used red, green, yellow and brown tempra paint to make sponge painting pictures.
We had magnetic shapes at the easels.
Some of our table activities were the number peg puzzles, animal puzzles, and stringing letter beads.
We did the "Freeze dance", "If you're happy and you know it" and "Tommy thumb". We like to do the songs on a regular basis so the children can learn them,
We went outside today.
Oak Room- Pre-k room
Our story today was called "Bones" by Stephanie Krensky and we talked about our bones, "Why do we have bones? What do they do?"
We glued Q-tips onto body shapes to illustrate bones.
We matched animal x-rays with pictures of the animals they would be the x-rays to. We also looked a human x-rays.
We did a song called "spaghetti legs" and sang a "healthy habits" song.
We went to the playgorund today.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Activities for Wednesday
Willow Room MWF class
We read the story "The little rabbit who liked to say Moo." by Jonathan Allen
Our question of the day was "Who brought you to school today?", which we then use the information for a comparison graph. We also did some activities with the calendar and talked about the weather. We did a counting activity too.
For art today, we used sponges to paint using different colors, green, red, brown, and yellow. When they are dry, we will cut leaf shapes out of them and use them to decorate our room for fall.
We used dot painters at the easel to make fun pictures.
Our table activities today were the magnadoodle, magnetic color board, magnetic letter board, a shape peg board and puzzles.
We always have playdough.
For music today- we did "The freeze dance", "If you're happy and you know it" and "Tommy Thumb".
We went outside today.
Maple Room- MWF class
Our story today was "Quick as a Cricket" by Audrey Woods which is a great story about how we are different on different days. We may be quick as a cricket one day and slow as a snail on another. To follow this up, we put a mirror by the table and the children drew self portraits.
At the easels we had white paper with paint. We created a negative space in the paper, by cutting a hole in the center. This creates a challenge for the child- what will they do when they paint?
Circle time- calendar, months of the year, September song, days of the week, counting and patterning with our calendar and our weather graph.
We did eye color/hair color graphing (Physical awareness) and we worked on name recognition with the song- "Who took the cookie from the cookie jar?"
Music: "Freeze dance" with colorful ribbons, "Everybody has a face", and "Today is Monday".
We went outside today.
The Oak Room- Pre-k class
We read "The foot book" by Dr. Seuss and "If you are angry and you know it" by Cecil Kaiser
We worked on our journals today, the children wrote their names, and then traced the letter "B". They also drew a picture of something that starts with the letter "B"- like a bear or a boat.
We did a sorting activity with ocean animals, wild animals, and farm animals. we sang the "bubble gum" song, and "Little Bunny Foo Foo"
We did a graph on who has the letter "B" in their name.
We went outside today.
We read the story "The little rabbit who liked to say Moo." by Jonathan Allen
Our question of the day was "Who brought you to school today?", which we then use the information for a comparison graph. We also did some activities with the calendar and talked about the weather. We did a counting activity too.
For art today, we used sponges to paint using different colors, green, red, brown, and yellow. When they are dry, we will cut leaf shapes out of them and use them to decorate our room for fall.
We used dot painters at the easel to make fun pictures.
Our table activities today were the magnadoodle, magnetic color board, magnetic letter board, a shape peg board and puzzles.
We always have playdough.
For music today- we did "The freeze dance", "If you're happy and you know it" and "Tommy Thumb".
We went outside today.
Maple Room- MWF class
Our story today was "Quick as a Cricket" by Audrey Woods which is a great story about how we are different on different days. We may be quick as a cricket one day and slow as a snail on another. To follow this up, we put a mirror by the table and the children drew self portraits.
At the easels we had white paper with paint. We created a negative space in the paper, by cutting a hole in the center. This creates a challenge for the child- what will they do when they paint?
Circle time- calendar, months of the year, September song, days of the week, counting and patterning with our calendar and our weather graph.
We did eye color/hair color graphing (Physical awareness) and we worked on name recognition with the song- "Who took the cookie from the cookie jar?"
Music: "Freeze dance" with colorful ribbons, "Everybody has a face", and "Today is Monday".
We went outside today.
The Oak Room- Pre-k class
We read "The foot book" by Dr. Seuss and "If you are angry and you know it" by Cecil Kaiser
We worked on our journals today, the children wrote their names, and then traced the letter "B". They also drew a picture of something that starts with the letter "B"- like a bear or a boat.
We did a sorting activity with ocean animals, wild animals, and farm animals. we sang the "bubble gum" song, and "Little Bunny Foo Foo"
We did a graph on who has the letter "B" in their name.
We went outside today.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Willow room
We read "I don't want to go to school" by Stephanie Blake and did our name recognition cards to do a color sort. We are working on following directions and are still working on getting into the routine of our day.
We glued cut up snips of orange paper onto pumpkin shapes, we will hang these from the ceiling in October to decorate our room.
We had tempra paint at the easels today.
Some of our table activities were farm animal counters and sorting bowls to sort by color, a 1-5 number peg puzzle and stringing beads for fine motor skills.
We did the "sneezing song" (which is great for helping the children get the concept of sneezing into their sleeve), "hands are for clapping" and some bean bags games. for music.
We went outside today.
Oak Room- Pre-k room
Today we read another Mercer Mayer story called "Just a little different".
We are working on our all about me unit and will be talking about the 5 senses, healthy habits and our bodies.
For art today, we did rolling pin painting- the rolling pins have fun foam shapes glued to them so it makes a design on the paper as we roll. At the easels we had black paper and oil pastels.
The children enjoyed free art today also and we had a lot of small group activities today including color and shape bingo, and small group story time.
The children were busy building with legos and with the big bolt builders. We had sorting bowls and a farm puzzle out too.
We went outside today.
We read "I don't want to go to school" by Stephanie Blake and did our name recognition cards to do a color sort. We are working on following directions and are still working on getting into the routine of our day.
We glued cut up snips of orange paper onto pumpkin shapes, we will hang these from the ceiling in October to decorate our room.
We had tempra paint at the easels today.
Some of our table activities were farm animal counters and sorting bowls to sort by color, a 1-5 number peg puzzle and stringing beads for fine motor skills.
We did the "sneezing song" (which is great for helping the children get the concept of sneezing into their sleeve), "hands are for clapping" and some bean bags games. for music.
We went outside today.
Oak Room- Pre-k room
Today we read another Mercer Mayer story called "Just a little different".
We are working on our all about me unit and will be talking about the 5 senses, healthy habits and our bodies.
For art today, we did rolling pin painting- the rolling pins have fun foam shapes glued to them so it makes a design on the paper as we roll. At the easels we had black paper and oil pastels.
The children enjoyed free art today also and we had a lot of small group activities today including color and shape bingo, and small group story time.
The children were busy building with legos and with the big bolt builders. We had sorting bowls and a farm puzzle out too.
We went outside today.
Monday, September 21, 2009
All classes stayed in and used the gym again today- while it was not raining out, it was too wet on the playground. We had the Alligator see saw, jumping in hoops, the basketball net, ring toss, and the trikes out today.
Willow Room- MWF Class
Today's story was called " I don't want to go to school!" about a little rabbit who did not want to go to school, but once he got there, he didn't want to leave.
We had a Question of the day today? "How are you feeling?" and the children could choose a picture to match their mood. We then used the results in a graph to compare, count and also talked about feelings.
At our second circle we talked about the weather and did some calendar activities.
For art today we were making some pumpkins to hang from our ceiling to decorate our room for October. We had orange snips of paper and we used glue to put them onto orange pumpkin shapes.
We had tempra paint and stencils at the easels.
For our table activities we had sorting bowls with farm animal sorting pieces; we had shape sorters with mice shaped pegs. We also always have playdough, which is great for fine motor development.
We did "The sneezing song" and "Hands are for Clapping" from Jim Gill CD's. And we did "Take the bean bag", which is a fun song where we use bean bags and follow directions to put them on different body parts.
We had another great day at school, the children are all so involved in activities and enjoying our class. It is hard to believe it is only their second full week of school.
Maple Class- MWF
Our story today was Clifford Goes to School by Norman Bridwell.
We also did our calendar activities and weather activities at circle time too.
For art today we did one of the teachers (and kids) favorite activities- we used various kinds of potato mashers dipped in blue, green, yellow, and pink paint and "mashed" them onto paper. They make really interesting designs and it is fun to give children unique items to paint with.
At the easel we had black paper and oil pastels.
For our music today, we did some bean bag songs, and we used sticks to make sounds for the wheels on the bus song. We also sang our September song.
We played a game today called "What is missing?" We put three pictures on the board, then while the children close their eyes, we take one away. They guess what is missing.
Oak Room:
The halls were full of children today! We took the children in groups into the hallway and traced around their bodies. They were then given crayons and they drew on clothes, their hair and their features. We have them all hanging in the hall, they did a great job.
We read "When I get bigger" by Mercer Mayer and we did our daily calendar and weather activities.
For music we did "animal action", "Hands are for clapping" and spaghetti legs.
We are beginning our activities for the letter "B"
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Activities for Friday, September 18, 2009
Willow Room- MWF class
We read the story "Ten Little Lady Bugs" by Melanie Gerth and we used their name tags to sort colors and count how many there were of each color. One way we teach skills like sorting and counting is through the use of daily activities. We also do some basic calendar activities, and talk about the weather with our MWF class.
For art today, we used glue to attach foam shapes onto black construction paper. This is a great fine motor activity as well as giving many children their first experience with glue.
We had plenty of fine motor manipulatives out at the tables, including magnadoodle, puzzles, an alphabet magnetic board, number peg boards, and shape peg boards. The children love our play dough, our dramatic play area and the blocks.
For music today we did "Hands are for Clapping" and Tommy Thumb".
We stayed inside in our gym today, this was the first time for the children to try out the trikes, hula hoops, basketball net, and mini balance beam.
Maple Room:
We read a story called "Franklin goes to School" by Paulette Bourgeois today and we did our calendar activities which include counting and graphing, our days of the week song, our September song, and we talked about the weather graph.
For art, we did "Dab a Do" dot painting which is painting with bottles that have a sponge tip. At our easels today we had Fish shape paper and glitter water colors.
For music we did the freeze dance and animal action.
We also played a pattern game and did a "stand up, sit down game"
We went to the gym today- we had trikes, hula hoops, basketball stand, and balance beam.
Oak Room:
We read"If you give a Pig a Party " by Laura Numeroff today. For art, the children each helped mix the paint they used by taking a spoonful of cornstarch and adding their choice of color of paint. The cornstarch adds a glistening to the paint and also adds a new texture.
We had shape puzzles, ABC puzzles and other table activities out today.
We sang "Old McDonald" with the aid of finger puppets. We did bean bag songs and activities.
We went to the gym for trikes, basketball, hula hoops and balance beam activities.
We read the story "Ten Little Lady Bugs" by Melanie Gerth and we used their name tags to sort colors and count how many there were of each color. One way we teach skills like sorting and counting is through the use of daily activities. We also do some basic calendar activities, and talk about the weather with our MWF class.
For art today, we used glue to attach foam shapes onto black construction paper. This is a great fine motor activity as well as giving many children their first experience with glue.
We had plenty of fine motor manipulatives out at the tables, including magnadoodle, puzzles, an alphabet magnetic board, number peg boards, and shape peg boards. The children love our play dough, our dramatic play area and the blocks.
For music today we did "Hands are for Clapping" and Tommy Thumb".
We stayed inside in our gym today, this was the first time for the children to try out the trikes, hula hoops, basketball net, and mini balance beam.
Maple Room:
We read a story called "Franklin goes to School" by Paulette Bourgeois today and we did our calendar activities which include counting and graphing, our days of the week song, our September song, and we talked about the weather graph.
For art, we did "Dab a Do" dot painting which is painting with bottles that have a sponge tip. At our easels today we had Fish shape paper and glitter water colors.
For music we did the freeze dance and animal action.
We also played a pattern game and did a "stand up, sit down game"
We went to the gym today- we had trikes, hula hoops, basketball stand, and balance beam.
Oak Room:
We read"If you give a Pig a Party " by Laura Numeroff today. For art, the children each helped mix the paint they used by taking a spoonful of cornstarch and adding their choice of color of paint. The cornstarch adds a glistening to the paint and also adds a new texture.
We had shape puzzles, ABC puzzles and other table activities out today.
We sang "Old McDonald" with the aid of finger puppets. We did bean bag songs and activities.
We went to the gym for trikes, basketball, hula hoops and balance beam activities.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Activities for Thursday, September 17
Special Note: Please remember snack on your snack day!
Willow Room- T/TH class
We are still dealing with a few tears, so we are encouraging parents to be relaxed, calm, and comfortable when bringing in your child. If they feel you are hesitant, they will feel uncertain too. If you show you are comfortable and are happy they are here, they will feel that way too. The tears are getting less and we are confident that in a few more class days they will all come in happy.
Today we did a story by Nancy Carlson called "I like me!" We fingerpainted with purple and white paint, (but if the children did not want to get his/her fingers into the paint, we gave them brushes to use.) We had the rice again in the sensory table and we love our super soft playdough.
We went out to the playground and had fun in the sandbox too.
Oak Room:
If you give a pig a pancake by Laura Numeroff. We used animal stampers for art and we made pancakes to eat at snack!
For music today we did a favorite song called "Underneath the broomstick" and the children danced lower and lower under the broomstick like the limbo dance. We also did "Old MacDonald had a farm" and "Who stole the pancake from the frying pan?" which is a version of the song "Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?."
We went out to the playground again today and are enjoying this beautiful weather!
Willow Room- T/TH class
We are still dealing with a few tears, so we are encouraging parents to be relaxed, calm, and comfortable when bringing in your child. If they feel you are hesitant, they will feel uncertain too. If you show you are comfortable and are happy they are here, they will feel that way too. The tears are getting less and we are confident that in a few more class days they will all come in happy.
Today we did a story by Nancy Carlson called "I like me!" We fingerpainted with purple and white paint, (but if the children did not want to get his/her fingers into the paint, we gave them brushes to use.) We had the rice again in the sensory table and we love our super soft playdough.
We went out to the playground and had fun in the sandbox too.
Oak Room:
If you give a pig a pancake by Laura Numeroff. We used animal stampers for art and we made pancakes to eat at snack!
For music today we did a favorite song called "Underneath the broomstick" and the children danced lower and lower under the broomstick like the limbo dance. We also did "Old MacDonald had a farm" and "Who stole the pancake from the frying pan?" which is a version of the song "Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?."
We went out to the playground again today and are enjoying this beautiful weather!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Reminder: send a sweater or jacket on these cooler days!
Our story today was "I like Me! by Nancy Carlson and we worked on name recognition and counting how many boys and how many girls in our class today.
This was a wonderful day today- we were thrilled with how busy and involved all of the children were in all of the choice time activities today.
For art we had finger painting with white and blue glitter paint. Our sensory table has rice in it for a great sensory experience. This made for two very different experiences- the paint was cool, smooth and slippery and the rice is hard, dry and makes noise.
The children really got involved in music today and were doing the hand movements to the songs and sang the songs. We did songs called "Put your finger on", "Tommy Thumb".
We went to the playground and besides playing on the equipment and running around, we looked at the leaves fall off the trees.
Maple Room MWF
We read the story "Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister and talked to the children about sharing with our friends. The teacher had her own sparkly fish and when the children painted their fish with glitter paint, she shared one of her sparkles with each child.
At circle time we also played a fish game with number recognition (1-10), did a rhyme about the pet store and sang a rhyme about 5 little fish who tease Mr. Shark.
We also enjoyed some extended time outside and came back in for music where we sang the "pirate song" and "When I was a little fish".
The children really enjoy doing the large floor puzzles, and our dramatic corner is a very popular spot.
Oak Room- Pre-K room
Our story today was another in the series of "If you..." it was "If you give a cat a cupcake" by Laura Numeroff. We also read an "A" book called Adventures of Abby Alligator".
Today we began work on our journals, the children wrote their names, the letter "A" (upper and lower case) and drew any picture they wanted to of something that started with the letter "A".
We had some sorting activities out, the "letter A" puzzle, and played an ABC Bingo game. For music we did a phonics sing a long song, the "Pirate song" (also called over the deep blue sea) and a fun song called "Tap your toes and follow me"
At circle time we listed words that started with the letter "A".
We went to the playground and played with balls, the sandbox and enjoyed the bouncer and slide.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
First day for Terrific 2's and 3's class
Willow Room- Terrific 2's and 3's
The children had a great first day! We had a couple of tears first thing, but as soon as we went outside to play in the playground, all sadness was forgotten! We came back in to have snack and the children were all happy. We listened to a book on tape called Miss Mary Mack by Mary Ann Hoberman and we got to put our names on the attendance board too. We painted with red and blue paint on paper which magically turned into purple. At the table we had puzzles, including alphabet and number puzzles and some sorting bowls where we sorted the counters by color. For music today we did some favorites, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" , "If you're happy and you know it" and "Little Fish". This was a great first day of school!
Oak Room:
We are continuing our "If you " books and today was "If you give a moose a muffin" by Laura Numeroff. At art we had muffin shape paper, first we cut small snips of brown paper to practice cutting and then we glued them on our muffin shape. For music we did a fun song called the donut shop, but we used muffin shapes and changed the words. We played "Hide the airplane", which is a game where the children guess which number cloud the airplane is hiding behind. This helps with numeral recognition, taking turns, and memory. We also sang an apple song and did the freeze dance.
For our letter "A" today, we had alphabet puzzles, books and games. We also did a graph to find out how many children have the letter "A" in their name- 14 had an "A" and only 2 did not. The children have already learned the routine and are so busy with all of the activities in the room. We are really enjoying our class.
Today's Tip:
Children seem to learn more quickly to anything put to music, so sing to your children often. You can even sing "We are putting the clothes in the hamper today". The tune to "London Bridges" works well for many songs.
The children had a great first day! We had a couple of tears first thing, but as soon as we went outside to play in the playground, all sadness was forgotten! We came back in to have snack and the children were all happy. We listened to a book on tape called Miss Mary Mack by Mary Ann Hoberman and we got to put our names on the attendance board too. We painted with red and blue paint on paper which magically turned into purple. At the table we had puzzles, including alphabet and number puzzles and some sorting bowls where we sorted the counters by color. For music today we did some favorites, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" , "If you're happy and you know it" and "Little Fish". This was a great first day of school!
Oak Room:
We are continuing our "If you " books and today was "If you give a moose a muffin" by Laura Numeroff. At art we had muffin shape paper, first we cut small snips of brown paper to practice cutting and then we glued them on our muffin shape. For music we did a fun song called the donut shop, but we used muffin shapes and changed the words. We played "Hide the airplane", which is a game where the children guess which number cloud the airplane is hiding behind. This helps with numeral recognition, taking turns, and memory. We also sang an apple song and did the freeze dance.
For our letter "A" today, we had alphabet puzzles, books and games. We also did a graph to find out how many children have the letter "A" in their name- 14 had an "A" and only 2 did not. The children have already learned the routine and are so busy with all of the activities in the room. We are really enjoying our class.
Today's Tip:
Children seem to learn more quickly to anything put to music, so sing to your children often. You can even sing "We are putting the clothes in the hamper today". The tune to "London Bridges" works well for many songs.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Welcome to preschool
Oak Room: We read "If you take a mouse to school" by Laura Numeroff.
For art we painted apple shapes with puffy paint which is a mixture of flour, salt, and water mixed with paint to give some texture to the project. Our music today was "dog in school" "5 little apples in a tree", and "the silly dance contest". At circle we also always do the calendar and the weather. We are beginning to talk about the letters- this week it is the letter "A and we work on both capital and lower case letters. We talked about what words begin with the letter "A", what sounds does it make. We got outside again to play in the playground and had fun running around and playing in the sand too.
Maple Room: At our circle time we read the story called "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn, and we followed that with our art project which was finger painting and then making a handprint like the story. Our teacher then put a sticker on our handprint and added a special poem as a keepsake of our first day of school.
We had fun with music doing "the Pirate ship song", "bubble gum", "walk, walk", and "animal action". We got outside today for some fun in the playground too. Today was the first day with all of our classmates together so we were also getting to know one another. We had a nice snack together and even got to pour our own juice. At circle time, we do some calendar activities, weather, counting, we learn songs about the days of the week and the months of the year. We have a special song for each month that we will learn.
Willow Room: We had a great first day, a few tears from a couple of kids to start, but they got involved in the activities and were busy all morning. We go out early to the playgorund and we got to climb on the climber, play in the sand and bounce on the horses and new bouncer. When we came back in, we had a snack together and got to know our new friends better. We did a book on tape today called "Miss Mary Mack" by Mary Ann Hoberman. We also did "who's here today?": we put out name tags on the teacher board which helps with name recognition, color recognition and also helps the children learn everyones names. For art today we painted with paint brushes on paper. We had magnetic letters at the easel, a number maze, puzzles, other table activities out today too. Our dramatic corner and block corner are always open too. For music we sang "if you're happy and you know it"," Brown bear", and "little fish". All in all it was a great first day.
For art we painted apple shapes with puffy paint which is a mixture of flour, salt, and water mixed with paint to give some texture to the project. Our music today was "dog in school" "5 little apples in a tree", and "the silly dance contest". At circle we also always do the calendar and the weather. We are beginning to talk about the letters- this week it is the letter "A and we work on both capital and lower case letters. We talked about what words begin with the letter "A", what sounds does it make. We got outside again to play in the playground and had fun running around and playing in the sand too.
Maple Room: At our circle time we read the story called "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn, and we followed that with our art project which was finger painting and then making a handprint like the story. Our teacher then put a sticker on our handprint and added a special poem as a keepsake of our first day of school.
We had fun with music doing "the Pirate ship song", "bubble gum", "walk, walk", and "animal action". We got outside today for some fun in the playground too. Today was the first day with all of our classmates together so we were also getting to know one another. We had a nice snack together and even got to pour our own juice. At circle time, we do some calendar activities, weather, counting, we learn songs about the days of the week and the months of the year. We have a special song for each month that we will learn.
Willow Room: We had a great first day, a few tears from a couple of kids to start, but they got involved in the activities and were busy all morning. We go out early to the playgorund and we got to climb on the climber, play in the sand and bounce on the horses and new bouncer. When we came back in, we had a snack together and got to know our new friends better. We did a book on tape today called "Miss Mary Mack" by Mary Ann Hoberman. We also did "who's here today?": we put out name tags on the teacher board which helps with name recognition, color recognition and also helps the children learn everyones names. For art today we painted with paint brushes on paper. We had magnetic letters at the easel, a number maze, puzzles, other table activities out today too. Our dramatic corner and block corner are always open too. For music we sang "if you're happy and you know it"," Brown bear", and "little fish". All in all it was a great first day.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Another good day
Our Oak Room today read the story Alphabet Adventure by Audrey Wood and as an extension of that book, for art the children squeezed glue on the first letter of their name and sprinkled it with glitter.
One of our table activities was to put out the color matching game we played at circle time yesterday, and we had an animal sorting game too.
For music we did a new song called "Ready, get set, Let's dance" where the children were ableto move their bodies to the music.
At circle time today we did a graphing activity: What letter does your name start with?
The children seem to enjoy the free art table where they can create any art they choose and our dramatic corner is always a busy place.
We got out to the playground again today, we are thankful the weather has been nice.
We look forward to another good learning week next week.
I will update on the Maple Room and the Willow Room MWF and TTh classes next week when they start their regular schedule. We had split day yesterday and today in those rooms and other than a few criers, we had a good start to school.
One of our table activities was to put out the color matching game we played at circle time yesterday, and we had an animal sorting game too.
For music we did a new song called "Ready, get set, Let's dance" where the children were ableto move their bodies to the music.
At circle time today we did a graphing activity: What letter does your name start with?
The children seem to enjoy the free art table where they can create any art they choose and our dramatic corner is always a busy place.
We got out to the playground again today, we are thankful the weather has been nice.
We look forward to another good learning week next week.
I will update on the Maple Room and the Willow Room MWF and TTh classes next week when they start their regular schedule. We had split day yesterday and today in those rooms and other than a few criers, we had a good start to school.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Today's tip from Trinity Preschool
http://www.readingrockets.org/
I receive an online newsletter from this group with articles and findings about reading and learning difficulties. They have several options, you can sign up to receive the free newsletter if you wish, or just check out the website, and click on the "parent" section.
Today's article talked about developmental delays vs. reading disorders and how important it is to get children help in the early elementary grades rather than waiting to see if it is just developmental.
I receive an online newsletter from this group with articles and findings about reading and learning difficulties. They have several options, you can sign up to receive the free newsletter if you wish, or just check out the website, and click on the "parent" section.
Today's article talked about developmental delays vs. reading disorders and how important it is to get children help in the early elementary grades rather than waiting to see if it is just developmental.
Oak Room
We had another great day in our 5 day classroom at Trinity Preschool. We read a story called "Franklin's New Friend" by Paulette Bourgeois and another book about sharing called "Selfish Sophie". The children are sitting well for story time. Many of the children also like to sit and listen to stories during choice time.
For our art project today we dipped prickly rings into sparkly paint and dabbed it onto paper. We are going to use these to decorate our door, we will cut them into Key shapes for our "Keys to friendship" display.
During our circle time we played a color matching game; each child was given a color tile with a picture on it and they had to find the classmate who had the matching color on their tile.
We had fun singing some more favorite songs, like B-I-N-G-O , skin a ma rink, and shake your sillies out.
We had another beautiful day so we spent time out on our playground.
The children are learning the routines quickly and we are enjoying having them in our class. They easily find activities to do, and seem to have fun and making new frineds.
For our art project today we dipped prickly rings into sparkly paint and dabbed it onto paper. We are going to use these to decorate our door, we will cut them into Key shapes for our "Keys to friendship" display.
During our circle time we played a color matching game; each child was given a color tile with a picture on it and they had to find the classmate who had the matching color on their tile.
We had fun singing some more favorite songs, like B-I-N-G-O , skin a ma rink, and shake your sillies out.
We had another beautiful day so we spent time out on our playground.
The children are learning the routines quickly and we are enjoying having them in our class. They easily find activities to do, and seem to have fun and making new frineds.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Pre-k first day- Oak room
Today was the first day of class for the children in our Pre-k room, (our Oak room). What a wonderful first day we had, the children explored the room, got to learn about the class rules and meet their new classmates.
Our art project today was to have the children help make the decorations for our class bulletin board, so we had "people shapes" and the children added hair, drew faces and added clothes. We will put these up on our Welcome to Trinity Bulletin Board, make sure you check it out.
We read the story "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn, which is a great story about separation and helping children understand that their parents will always come back to get them.
We are starting out the year with some of our favorite songs, "come and get a smiley face", "The pirate song", and "If your are happy and you know it".
We had a great snack and got to go out to the playground to run around and climb on the equipment too.
Our art project today was to have the children help make the decorations for our class bulletin board, so we had "people shapes" and the children added hair, drew faces and added clothes. We will put these up on our Welcome to Trinity Bulletin Board, make sure you check it out.
We read the story "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn, which is a great story about separation and helping children understand that their parents will always come back to get them.
We are starting out the year with some of our favorite songs, "come and get a smiley face", "The pirate song", and "If your are happy and you know it".
We had a great snack and got to go out to the playground to run around and climb on the equipment too.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Orientation Day
Today is the first day of orientation at Trinity Preschool and we are so excited to see our old friends coming back and meeting our new students as well. The children have grown so much over the summer and everyone seems happy to be here.
Tomorrow, (Sept. 9) is the first regular school day for our Pre- kindergarten class already.
We have named our classrooms this year.
Our pre-kindergarten class is The Oak Room
Our MWF class for older 3's and 4's is The Maple Room
Our second floor room for T/TH and MWF is The Willow Room
We picked tree names because it is a good analogy for education. We help the children build a strong foundation (like the roots of a tree provide a good foundation). We liked these trees because they are all strong and resilient.
Tomorrow, (Sept. 9) is the first regular school day for our Pre- kindergarten class already.
We have named our classrooms this year.
Our pre-kindergarten class is The Oak Room
Our MWF class for older 3's and 4's is The Maple Room
Our second floor room for T/TH and MWF is The Willow Room
We picked tree names because it is a good analogy for education. We help the children build a strong foundation (like the roots of a tree provide a good foundation). We liked these trees because they are all strong and resilient.
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