Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Oak Room- pre-k 5 day class

We read "The little old lady who wasn't afraid of anything", and "Night Creatures" by W. Cooper.

We looked at objects that start with the letter H.

We cut out tree shapes, glued them on paper and added leaves- some on the trees and some falling down.

We did a spider rhyme (and used spider rings as props)

We sat in a circle, the teacher went around to each child and wrapped a string (web) around each child's foot.  Then they moved on the the next child.   Then when each child is in the web, they talk about what they would catch in their web.

We carved a pumpkin today.  The children voted on the kind of face the pumpkin should have, we counted the votes and the one with the most votes was what we carved.  The children helped scoop out the strings and seeds from the inside of the pumpkin.We got to play with the pumpkin goo.

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

We read "Stuck in the mud" by Jane Clarke

We talked about who takes care of animals on the farm?

We glued feathers to a chicken shape and at the easel we had real feathers to dip in paint and make our pictures. 

We did "bean bag pretend", "When it is autumn" and "5 little ducks".  

We played with our "muddy pigs"  ( corn starch, water, and brown paint with plastic pigs)

We cut open a pumpkin and talked about how it looked inside, felt, and smelled.  We touched it with our hands.  

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, October 28, 2013

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "Stuck in the mud" by Jane Clarke

We glued colored feathers on a chicken shape piece of paper.
We painted at the easel with real feathers.

We had fun with our "Muddy pigs"

We did an "I'm a little leaf" rhyme

"Bean bag pretend" , "bean bag boogie", and "Hello everybody, yes indeed" were the songs we did today for music time.

Maple Room- MWF class

We read "Franklin's Halloween" by Paulette Bourgeois

We did a cutting project, we made pumpkin lanterns.

We had textured rollers at the easel with pink and yellow paint.

We did "The October song", and "Brightly colored leaves" for music time.

We did some letter B activities, we have an alphabet monster who ate objects that start with the letter B and we have to guess what he might have eaten.
We thought of words that start with the letter B, and we read the letter B book.

Oak Room: Pre- K - 5 day class

We read "Don't laugh Joe" by Keiko Kasza ( a story about an opossum)

We did a cutting project, we made paper lanterns.

We did "Miss Mary Mack" and "Late Last night" for music time

We had little lego's for building at the table today.

We did our letter H chart.

Stay and Play:

We read: "Press Here" by Herve Tullet (a very cute book)

We painted with socks filled with beans, dipped in paint and dabbed up and down onto the paper.  They make pretty designs.

We did  musical chairs for music time. We always have a cheering section and those who get "out" go into the cheering section, so no one feels like they have lost.  We do it as a fun listening activity.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, October 24, 2013

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

We read "Pigsty" by Mark Teague

We fingerpainted with chocolate pudding.  We had magnetic gears at the easel.  We also had our cornstarch and water mixture with our pigs in it for muddy pigs.

We did "The barnyard song", "Jump down, turn around", and "Here we go round the mulberry bush" for music today.

We did a 5 clean and dirty pigs rhyme, and we put farm animal stickers on our barn shape.

Maple Room- Thursday class

We read "Elmer again" by David Mckee

We practiced our name writing, and we worked on beginning letter sounds.  We talked about shadows and since it was a sunny day, we looked at our shadows.  Then the children stood still and we drew their shadow on the sidewalk.

We did "Humpty Dumpty", "Jack and Jill,", "Hickory DIckory Dock, and the "Bear Hunt" for music time.


Oak Room: 5 day pre- k class

We are learning about nocturnal animals and today we learned about owls.  We read "Owl Babies" by Martha Waddell and "I'm not sleepy"

We did an art activity called "eyes in the night".  We dipped corks in glue and pressed it on paper, then we sprinkled it with glitter to look like eyes at night. 

We did "This old man" - we used visual props (what rhymes with?) rhyming is a great pre-reading skill

We acted out Brown Bear, Brown Bear Rhyme 

and we did "I can dance" today.

We asked the children "Does yoru name have the letter G in it?  and "What words start with the letter G?

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Oak Room- Pre- k 5 day class

We read "One smart skunk" by Harriet Ziefert

We worked in our journal notebooks on pictures for the letter G.

We are learning about nocturnal animals.

We did a nocturnal animal rhyme and "on the count of 5" (a fun, movement song) for music today.

We used little legos to build with at the table today, and we enjoyed our purple moon sand.

Maple Room:  MWF class

We read "The little old lady who wasn't afraid of anything" by Linda Williams

We did marble painting today, we roll marbles that have been dipped in paint back and forth in a box.  We cut mini pumpkins in half and the pressed it on paper at the easel.

We did "Scarecrow", "October song", and "5 little pumpkins" for music today.
We skyped today with someone in Florida.

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "Pigsty" by Mark Teague

We asked the children "Do you like to play in the mud and get dirty?" 

We fingerpainted with chocolate pudding on pig shapes.

We had magnetic gears at the easel.

We did "The barnyard song,", "Jump down, turn around", and "Here we go round the mulberry bush" for music today.

We also did a 5 clean and dirty pigs rhyme.  We put animal stickers on our barn.

We used our muddy pigs mixture- mix cornstarch and water with a little brown paint and add plastic pigs, a great sensory experience.

Stay and Play:

We read "A friend for all seasons" by Mei Matsuoka

We painted using "tops", the children spun the tops on the paper after they were dipped in paint. Besides being a fun painting experience, this is a great fin motor experience.

We did "The airplane song" using ribbons and we did "Clap if you want to" for music today.

The children enjoyed playing with dolls in the dramatic corner.

We had dried beans and plastic pumpkins in our sensory table.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Willow Room: Terrific 2's and 3's class  (please look at post from Oct 21 to see pictures of all of the Willow Room activities today.)

We read "Peekaboo Puppy" today.  It is about farm animals.

We used Prickle balls attached to clothes pins as a holder to paint fall pictures.

We had chalk boards with colored  chalk at the easel.

We played with the giant parachute in the gym today.

We baked today, we made apple tarts and used our applesauce from last week as the filling.

We did "The Freeze dance", "couch potato pokey", and "6 little ducks" for music time today.

We have corn, corn cobs and apple peels in our sensory table.

Oak Room: 5 day pre- k class

We read "Bat's Big Game" as retold by Margaret Read MacDonald

We also read "While the whole world is sleeping" by Pamela Duncan Edward

We made bats to hang in our room.  The children painted toilet paper rolls black and cut "wings out of black construction paper.  We will attach the wings to make them into bats.

We went on a bat hunt in our room- we looked around for the hidden bats.

We used markers to draw on our pumpkin.Then we used wet paper towels to wash it off and draw again.

We did "Pumpkin in the brown straw", "Jump up.turn around, and the letter G song today for music.

We looked at pictures of bats on the computer, looked at a video of a bat flying in slow motion, and we listened to a recording of the sounds bats make as they fly.  They use echolocation to fly at night (means they bounce sound off objects to know where they are in relation to those objects.) 

This is the link to the bat flying in slow motion.  You can check out more on you tube if you are interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTKNZDjSaXQ

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, October 21, 2013

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "The apple pie tree" by Zoe Hall

We painted using prickle balls that we held with a clothes pin so we could dab them.  We had chalk boards with colored chalk at the easel.

Our classroom hen, she laid eggs, we will wait for them to "hatch"

Look at her eggs!

Prickle balls, we attach a clothes pin to make them easier to hold and dab on the paper.

Picture made with fall colors and prickle balls.

Our sensory table has the feed corn, the corn cobs and now the apple peels to explore.

 We made our own apple turnovers using the applesauce we made last week.

We did "couch potato pokey", "5 little ducks" and we did "the freeze dance" (we danced with ribbons)

We read "The ear book" by Al Perkins.

we have a pretend hen in our room and she laid eggs! We will watch each day to see what happens.

We dried the apple peels from last week and put them in our sensory table.

Oak Room: Pre- k 5 day class

We read "Stellaluna" by Janell Cannon.  We talked about the word "nocturnal" and what it means and what animals are nocturnal.

We made bat prints in the night (black paint on dark blue paper)

We did a 5 little bats fingerplay, "The little fish song", "Sticky bubble gum" for music time.

We talked about the letter G today.

Maple Room:  MWF class

We read "The biggest pumpkin ever" by Elizabeth Bennett

We used a new paint mixture, cornstarch and liquid water colors with a little water added in too. The we froze it. It looks like chalk when we painted with it.

The children painting with frozen paint.

Paints look like chalk.

cornstarch and liquid water color (w water added) and frozen paint.

We had leaf stampers at the easel.

We are starting our letter of the week, this week we are talking about the letter "A".

We "The October song", "alphabet sounds", "5 little pumpkins", and "I'm a little scarecrow".

Car seat? Booster seat? Which one is right for your child?

http://www.safercar.gov/parents/index.htm

Click on the link above to find out great information about car seat safety.  Many parents think they are using the right seat for their child, but are not.  See the guidelines.

Illinois law requires children under age 7 to ride in car seats or booster seats, depending on age and weight/height.

Shaving cream and water color pictures

This cool process was fun to watch the kids as they explored what happened.  Some wanted to use all the colors, some had puddles of color on the trays, some chose exactly where they wanted each color.  They had fun using the tools to move the color around too.  The end result may not look like much when it dries, but they sure had fun with the process. 

We squirted shaving cream onto trays and the children added watercolors.

They love using eye droppers to add the color (we use diluted liquid water colors form Discount school supply) 

After adding ht colors, the children used hair picks, toothpicks, popscicle sticks, etc to spread the colors around.

After they finished we took a print to transfer the paint and shave cream to the paper.  We are not sure yet, how they will dry, but this was totally about the process.

Add caption

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, October 18, 2013

Oak Room- 5 day pre- k class

We read "Leaf Trouble" by Jonathan Emmett

We painted on real leaves today and made a print of it.  The children paint on the back of the leaf so the veins of the leaf get paint on them.This is what makes the best print.

Painting on real leaves

We did an opposites game, we put opposite cards on the floor and each child gets to take one.  Then they look for the person who has their opposite.  We will have these at the table as an activity next week.

We did a 5 little leaves rhyme, and "let's pretend" for music time.

We thought of words that start with the letter F.

Maple Room- MWF class

We read "The legend of Spookley the square Pumpkin" by Joe Troiana

We made fall wreaths with tissue paper and leaves.  We had pumpkin shapes at the easel with paint and brushes.

Leaf and tissue paper wreaths.  Glue and paint mixture to hold items onto a wreath shape paper plate

We did a group number recognition game "find the airplane" numbers 1-20.

We did "the October song", "leaves on the tree", "5 pumpkins on a gate", and "pumpkin in the straw" for music time today.
 

Willow Room- MWF class

We read the story of "The little red hen" by Paul Galdone.  We asked the children "Do you help your mom/dad/Grandma bake or cook?

We painted with funny brushes in fall colors.  At the easel we painted barn shapes with rollers.

We did "Old McDonald had a farm", "Shoo Fly" and "Everybody clap your hands" for music time.

We did a 5 little apples rhyme and we have the corn in our sensory table.

Stay and Play

We listened to a book on CD called "Zomer" by Ned Young

We squirted shaving cream on a tray.  Then the children used eye droppers to drip water colors on top.  Then we stirred it with a stick to swirl the colors.  We made a print of the paint.

Shaving cream squirted onto tray and the children drip water colors.  (see additional post for more pictures)

We did a car, car song, and used tambourines, we drew a story using a song. 
We played Uno as a group game.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, October 17, 2013

Oak Room: 5 day - pre- k class

We read "The little yellow leaf" by Carin Berger

We read the letter F book.

we had sponge painting at the easel with fall prints.

We did "the opposites song", and "Can you dance" (with your eyes, with your nose?)
We did some fun building with straws and connectors.  

We asked the children "Does your name have the letter F in it?"

We worked in our journals today on pictures of things that start with the letter F.

Maple Room: Thursday class

We read "Elmer" today.  We practiced writing our names, and we played a group game of Uno- which involves, numbers, colors, following directions, taking turns, paying attention, etc.

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

We read "The little red hen" by Paul Galdone

We asked the children "Do you help your mom bake or cook?"

We painted with funny brushes in fall colors.  We used roller brushes at the easel with barn shapes.

We did a 5 little apples rhyme.

We did "Old MC Donald had a farm", "Shoo fly" and "Everybody clap your hands" for music today.  

Trinity Preschool Snack Menu for Oct. 21- Nov 1, 2013

Oct. 21-Oct. 25
Monday  21	Tuesday  22	Wednesday 23	Thursday 24	Friday 25
Chex cereal Fruit Water Stay and Play Cheese Quesadillas Carrots Milk	Pretzels with cheese 100 % Juice	Refried Beans         (Dip) with cut up vegetables Milk Stay and Play Macaroni and Cheese Fruit Milk	Corn Bread Fruit Water	NO SCHOOL
Oct 28-Nov 1
Monday 28	Tuesday    29	Wednesday   30	Thursday 31	Friday   1
Saltine Crackers with cheese 100 % juice Stay and Play Cheese Pizza Milk	Graham Crackers Fruit Water	Mini Bagels with orange cream cheese and raisins (to make pumpkin faces)MWF classes (Oak Room- Pretzels) 100 % Juice Stay and Play Yogurt Fruit Milk	Mini Bagels with orange cream cheese and raisins (to make pumpkin faces) 5 day class and Terrific 2’s & 3’s class 100 % juice	Pudding with banana slices Water Stay and Play Play Pasta with tomato sauce Milk

We always serve 100 % juice when we serve juice.  We serve 2% milk with no hormones added.

  We are serving water when we have fruit to limit the sugar intake and the children really enjoy water.

I generally do not specify the fruit as we will usually purchase seasonal fruit that is on sale.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Oak Room- 5 day pre- k class

We read "Autumn's first leaf" by Steve Metzger and we read "There was an old lady who swallowed a leaf" too.

We used an eye dropper to drop watercolors onto a paper towel.  We will cut them into leaf shapes.  We will hang them around our room to decorate it.

We did "Jump, Jim, Joe", "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, " and "Leaves are falling" for music today.

We did our letter F mystery bag, see what starts with the letter F.

We did crayon rubbings with real leaves at the easel.

Maple Room:  MWF class

We read "I spy with my little eye" by Edward Gibbs
We also read "New tricks I can do" by Robert Lopshire (a book about colors)

We talked about what we have learned about colors. We have been learning about primary and secondary colors and the children are really getting it.  A primary color is a color that cannot be made by using other colors (red, yellow, blue) and a secondary color is made from two primary colors (red + yellow = orange) or (red+ blue = purple), etc.

We painted with paper that had a hole cut out of the center of the paper.  (This give the children a challenge of what to do about the hole).  We had finger painting at the easel.

We did "The October song", "Scat the cat", "Pumpkin in the straw", "5 pumpkins on a gate", "leaves on the trees" for music today.  

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "Apple Farmer Annie" by Monica Wellington

We talked about what we can make with apples?

We glued "Seeds" (black construction paper) onto an apple shape, we had magnetic 3 d foam pieces at the easel.
We made apple sauce.  We looked at apples, we talked about how they look different and also talked about the seeds.  We  cut the apples into pieces to make applesauce.  We tasted some of the applesauce and we will use the rest next week to make apple turnovers.

We have feed corn in our sensory table and the children are picking the kernels off with their fingers, this is great for fine motor skills.

We did "Sammy", "There is a wiggle in my toe" and "skinnamarink" for music today.


Stay & Play:  

we read "No place like home" by Jonathan Emmett

We painted with balls as our paint brushes- all different sizes and textures.

We did "hands inside the circle" and "silly dance contest" for music 

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013

Oak Room: Pre- K class 5 day room

We read "The falling leaves and the scarecrow" by Steve Metzger and we also read "We're going on a leaf hunt" by Steve Metzger.

We painted on bubble wrap with fall colors of paint.  We made a print of the paint and will cut it into a corn shape for our fall bulletin board.  

We did our letter F letter chart.  

We did "leaves come falling down", "Come and get a smiley face" and "When I was a little fish" for music today.


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

We read "Apple Farmer Annie" by Monica Wellington

We glued "seeds' onto an apple shape ( black construction paper seeds) and we had 3 D magnetic foam pieces at the easel.

We have feed corn in our sensory table and the children are using their fingers to pick the kernels off the corn,  a great fine motor activity.

We did "Sammy", "There is a wiggle in my toe" and Skinnamarink" for music today.  

We made applesauce today.  Everyone helped cut up the apples and we added sugar and cinnamon.  Then we watched and smelled it as it cooked.  We tasted it at snack time, but we are saving the rest to use to make apple turnovers next week.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, October 11, 2013

Oak Room: 5 day pre-k class

We read "The growing story" by Ruth Krauss

We did a page in our "all about me book"  We did the favorite color page, the children drew a picture in their favorite color crayon.

We did "Spaghetti legs" and we played a letter matching game, upper case and lower case letters, the children come up and press a buzzer after they find the match.

We asked the children "What words start with the letter "E"? As they thought of words, we add them to the list.  

We did an experiment with color today.  You draw with a black marker on a white paper towel and then brush it with water and let it sit.  The colors that are in black will separate out.  Each child got to try it.

Maple Room:  MWF class

We read "There was an old lady who swallowed some leaves" by Lucille Colandro

We used eye droppers to put water colors onto paper towels.  We had leaf shapes at the easel with paint.

We have a large puppet of "The old lady who swallowed..." and we have props she eats, we used this today.
We did "the October song", "5 little pumpkins smiling at me", "Ten in the bed", and "Tommy Thumb" for music time.

We played a color memory game, which color is missing?  

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "No sleep for sheep" by Karen Beaumont.  We talked about what we knew about farm animals.

We painted with corn cobs.  We had painting with brushes at the easel. 

We did an apple rhyme "Tasty colored apples"

We did "Over the deep blue sea", "Everybody has a face", and "Tommy Thumb" for music. 

Stay & Play:  

We read "Grizzwold" by Syd Hoff

We mixed cornstarch, powder paint and vinegar and used the substance to paint our pictures.

We got a race track out and built it with the kids, they had fun making the cars go fast.

We did "We are the dinosaurs", we move to the music with maracas pretending to be dinosaurs.  We also did a ladybug color rhyme.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, October 10, 2013

Oak Room: 5 day pre- k class

We read "Put me in the zoo" by Robert Lopshire  and I am me.

We made handprints for our all about me books.  We did finger painting today.

We did "Shoo fly" using rubber flies to land on different body parts. and we did "The body part game" (from the shake, rattle and roll CD)


We asked "Does your name have the letter E in it?

The sensory table has purple moon sand in it.


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

We did a story using pictures on our magnetic board- called "Mixed up breakfast"  and we read a book about senses called "My 5 senses" by Aliki

We painted today with jello dissolved in a little bit of water, so we could smell the paint.  We painted using paint brushes attached to popscicle holders.

We had magnetic face pieces at the easel- the children can put various pieces together to create a face.

We did "Say good day" (Carole Peterson CD), "When I was a little fish" (Susan Salidor CD), and "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, 2 little blackbirds combo song" (Greg and Steve CD.)

We asked the children "What is your favorite animal?"

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Oak Room:  pre-k 5 day class

We read "The shape of me and other stuff" by Dr. Seuss and the letter E book.  WE also read "Rain brings frogs, a little book of hope"

We worked in our journals on letter E pictures and words.

We did "She'll be coming around the mountain" and "I can dance" (sit still, stand up and dance)

We are weighing and measuring how tall the children are. 

We used inch cubes to measure how long things were, a line on our rug, our feet, etc.


Maple Room- MWF class

We read "A color of his own" by Leo Lionni and "Pete the cat, I love my white shoes" by Eric Litwin

We made glue sun catchers.  The children squeezed glue onto wax paper and add a few drops of food color.  hen they used a toothpick to swirl the colors around.  We used the primary colors, red, yellow and blue.

Swirling the colors together in the glue to see what colors you can make.

The children squeezed glue onto wax paper, and then use eye droppers to add color.

Color swirling was fun!

We did "The October song", "Wiggy, Wiggy, Wiggles", and "Toe, Leg, Knee" for music time.

We did scat the cat- a color rhyme, we did a color mixing experiment, and we practiced writing our names.


Willow Room- MWF class

We read two stories today.  "Can you find my breakfast?" a felt board story and "My five senses" by Aliki

We painted with Jello for the sense of smell and watercolors for our sense of sight.

We had magnetic face pieces at the easel.

We listened to animal sounds and tried to guess which animal was making the sound.  We asked the children "What is your favorite animal?

We did "Good day" by Carole Peterson (animals sounds song), "Animals on the farm" we did it to the tune of The wheels on the bus.  and "When I was a little fish" by Susan Salidor

Stay & Play:

We read "Milo and the magical stones" by Marcus Pfister

we did "Sticky bubble gum" and "Tap your toe and follow me" for music time.

We painted with cars and trucks on big sheets of paper.  This activity uses large arm movements.

Car and truck painting on large sheets of paper - fun designs are made by the various kinds of tires.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Oak Room: 5 day pre- k class

We read "Even more parts" by Tedd Arnold ( A very cute series of books)
We also read "Five little monkeys jumping on the bed"

We sponge painted with assorted "body parts" heads, tops, pants, shoes, boots, bow ties, purses, etc. to create people.  The children then used small brushes to add face details if they wanted.  They are build a kid sponge painters for 12.95 from Lakeshore learning store.
http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C917%2C345&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1381251329060

Assorted parts to make bodies.

Late, she drew on arms too as the sponges did not have arms.

We did "The little fish" "Everybody has a face" and the letter E song for music time.

We have water in the sensory table today with soap to make it bubbly fun. 

The children in the pre- k class noticed when they pushed down on the funnel, the bubbles came out the top, they were trying to push harder, thinking they would come out more.

I suggested they move it to a spot that had more bubbles and when they pushed down, the soap bubbles came out the top and rolled down the side.  They tried it in others spots to see where it worked best. 

We played a small group game today, shapes and colors.  Games are a wonderful activity with preschoolers, it teaches them concepts as well as taking turns, rooting on a friend, following directions, and sitting and paying attention.

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

We listened to s story on a CD called "Apple Trouble"

We did a large group art project, we cut a large tree top shape and the children used apple shape sponges to add apples to our tree.

These are actually scrubbing sponges for dishes, but they are apple shape and perfect for sponge painting apples.

We had dry erase markers and farm animal stencils at the easel.

We did "Put your finger in the air", "Little old wagon" and "Your face will surely show it" for music  today.

We did a few fun "apple" activities today too.  We use the flannel board apples with numbers on them for a counting rhyme and also a group activity where we have a smaller worm that fits behind one of the apples and the children take turns guessing which number apple, Mr. Appleworm is hiding behind.  This is easy to make at home too, we do it with various shapes and use it for colors, numbers, alphabet, shapes, etc.  

Apple sorting , the children put the green apples on one tree, yellow apples on another tree and red apples on the third tree.  They can pick them up with their fingers, but we also have tweezers there for more of a challenge and great fine motor development.

Why art is important in preschool (and elementary school too)

From the Dec/Jan issue of Mailbox magazine (an idea book for teachers)

"82% of scientists responded "YES!" they would recommend an arts and craft componet in education as an important background for scientific innovators....why?  Because they believe that promoting creativity and problem solving sets the stage for innovative thinking years later."

  This is why it is important to give children a variety of experiences....so they can use their brains to think, not just memorize or regurgitate answers