Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween- We are having super high winds, and cold, cold temperatures today.  For the first time in as long as I can remember it also SNOWED TODAY!

We do a pretty regular day in Preschool at Halloween, we do not do costume parties or have the children come to school in costumes.  We do some special pumpkin/jack-o-lantern activities, but just as they are incorporated into our normal school day.  We have a special snack, but not a sweet one.  We gave the children mini bagels with orange cream cheese and raisins to make a pumpkin face.

Willow Room:  MWF class

We read "Bumpy Little Pumpkin" by Margery Cuyler

We asked the children "Do you have a pumpkin at your house?"

We glued orange circles squares and triangles on a small paper plate to make a pumpkin.

We painted with rollers over a pumpkin shape stencil at the easel.

We played "Pass the pumpkin" (like hot potato), "Pumpkin in the red barn" ( a rhyming song) and "There is a dog in school" for music today.

We did a pumpkins on the move rhyme.

We had our muddy pigs (corn starch, water, and brown paint with plastic pigs) again today.

We put our pumpkin out with holes poked in it and Mr. Potato Head Pieces.

Maple Room: MWF class

We read "Froggy's Halloween" by Jonathan London

We used thread spool rollers that we dip in paint and roll back and forth across the paper.

We had pumpkin shape paper at the easel with glue and black pieces of paper to make eyes, nose, and mouths for a jack-o-lantern

We did The October song, 5 little acorns, stomp and clap, and Pass the pumpkin ( like hot potato) for music today.

We did a sink and float activity and one of the things we checked out to see if it would sink or float was a huge pumpkin.  (It floated)

We also voted for which pumpkin face we wanted carved into our pumpkin.  Then we carved that face into our pumpkin.

Oak Room: Pre- K class

We read "Nothing at all" by Denys Cazet ( a story about a scarecrow) and "Little Owls Night - a book on CD. by Divya Srinivasan

We made masks using a paper plate with holes cut out for the eyes.  The children could create whatever they wanted, with yarn, construction paper, markers, etc.

We had pumpkins cut in half at the easel for painting.

We used tweezers and pumpkin seeds to sort and also to dip into liquid water colors to see what would happen.

We had corn in the sensory table with little pumpkin cups.

We made a list of words that start with the letter H and we practiced writing the letter H on dry erase boards.

We all sat in a big circle and and made a spider web using yarn.  The teacher went around the circle and as she asked each child "What would you catch in your giant spider web?", she wrapped the yarn around the foot.

We did a spider rhyme and wore spider rings to act out the song.

Stay and play:

We read "Flo and Wendell Explore" by William Wegman

We drew pictures using oil pastels, then we did a water color wash on top of the picture with sponge brushes.

We did Everybody's jumping", an action song, and It's a small world, using an instrument called a guiro tone block.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, October 30, 2014

Maple Room- Thursday class

We read "That is not a good idea" by Mo Willems

We played an ABC GO FISH game.  We worked on conversation skills.  we worked on our names- some are still working on first names, but some have started their last names.

We did the October song, Fall leaves, to the tune of wheels on the bus, tommy thumb, and over the deep blue sea.

Oak Room: Pre- K class

We read "Sam and the Firefly by P.D. Eastman

We did a sponge painting activity using alphabet stampers to illustrate the story.  In the story the firefly lights up the night sky with words, so we used black paper and white and yellow paint.

We did a firefly rhyme, five little acorns for music time.

We lined up to go out of the room in ABC order using flash cards.

We took a vote on how to carve our pumpkin.  Then we carved it.  We removed the seeds with tweezers and divided them into egg cartons, putting 10 in each one.  This way we can find out how many seeds our pumpkin has in it.  We estimated ahead of time, some said 10, some said 1000. ( We have about 360.  We will dry out the seeds and do some activities with them.

We did our graph asking "Does your name have the letter H in it?"

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

We read "Bumpy little Pumpkin" by Margery  Cuyler
We also read the BIG book "Farmer Duck"

We asked the children today "Do you have a pumpkin at home?"

We glued orange circles, squares and triangles onto a small paper plate to make a pumpkin.

We used rollers at the easel to paint over pumpkin stencils.

We did "Pumpkin in the red barn", "Pass the pumpkin" and "Dog in school" for music today.

We did a pumpkins felt board rhyme.

Our pretend hen hatched her pretend eggs, and now we have pretend chicks.

Trinity preschool activities for Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Willow Room: MWF class

We had fire fighter Jim visit our class today and talk abotu fire safety.

We read "Dot the fire dog" today.

We asked the children "Have you ever seen a real fire fighter?"

We decorated paper fire hats with black tempra paint and the number stampers  9 1 1.

We had Dalmatian shape dogs at the easel and we used corks dipped in black paint to add the  spots to the dogs.

We had a paper with a building drawn on it and pretend fire coming out of the windows.  The children used real water in the fire extinguisher bottles to squirt the fires out.

We used Mr. Potato Head pieces to decorate our pumpkin.  The children could add the pieces into holes we punched with a screwdriver ito our pumpkin.

Our pretend Hen "hatched her eggs" and now we have little pretend baby chicks.

We did "I'm a firefighter, the fire truck song, When it is autumn and the cool bear hunt for music time.

Maple Room: MWF class

We read "The little orange house story" by Jen Stangi

We did pumpkin painting with real pumpkins that we cut in half crosswise.

We had leaf shape stencils and special water color pen brushes at easel.

We had fire fighter Jim visit our class today to talk abotu fire safety.

We did the October song, Scarecrow, scarecrow, silly dance contest for music today.

We did a Halloween Pipe cleaner Beading Activity today.

We had pretend flames in the water table floating.  They each have numbers on them and the children had squirt bottles with water in them and they would squirt the "flame" the number of times that was on it.  So a flame with a number one got one squirt.  A flame with the number ten, got ten squirts.

We had pretend fire extinguishes and pretend flames around the room, the children could pretend to put out the fires.

Oak Room: Pre-K  class

We  read "Owl Babies" by Martin Waddell and "the little old lady who was not afraid of anything" by Megan Lloyd.

We made owl pictures today using fiber fill, paper, google eyes, crayons, feathers, and twigs to make an owl family picture.  The kids loved doing this today.

We did "5 spotted owls", "One little pumpkin smiling", and Face the facts" for music today.

Stay and Play:

We read "Cock a doodle HOOOOOOOO!" by Mike Manning

We painted with brushes that slip onto our finger tips.

We did the ABC letter sounds song, 5 little ducks, and Let's go fly a kite while moving with ribbons.

We played the game "Trouble" as a group and we enjoyed the car race track.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Oak Room- Pre- K class

We had fire fighter Jim visit our class today to talk about fire safety.

we read "Little Raccoon's Big Question" by Miriam Schlein and Raccoons by Allan Fowler

We worked in our letter journals on the letter H, we drew pictures and wrote words that start with the letter H.

We did "Pass the pumpkin" "Raccoon Raccoon" ( a finger play), and "Wiggle in my toe for music today.

Willow Room:Tue/Thurs class

We had fire fighter Jim visit our class today and talk abotu fire safety.

We read "Dot the fire dog" today.

We asked the children "Have you ever seen a real fire fighter?"

We decorated paper fire hats with black tempra paint and the number stampers  9 1 1.

We had Dalmatian shape dogs at the easel and we used corks dipped in black paint to add the  spots to the dogs.

We had a paper with a building drawn on it and pretend fire coming out of the windows.  The children used real water in the fire extinguisher bottles to squirt the fires out.

We used Mr. Potato Head pieces to decorate our pumpkin.  The children could add the pieces into holes we punched with a screwdriver ito our pumpkin.

Our pretend Hen "hatched her eggs" and now we have little pretend baby chicks.

We did "I'm a firefighter, the fire truck song, When it is autumn and the cool bear hunt for music time.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, October 27, 2014

Maple Room- MWF class

We read "Franklin's Halloween" by Paulette Bourgeois

We made pumpkin lanterns.  The children got some cutting practice in while they created these fun fall decorations.

We had paint and brushes at the easel.

We did letter A activities

We did our first skype talk today with someone in California.

Oak Room: Pre- K class

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

We made paper jack 0- lanterns.  The children drew on lines on the paper, and added a face.  We staple it into a circle shape and added a handle.

We had painting at the easel.

We did Miss Mary Mack ( using a BIG BOOK), Late Last Night, and a 3 little possums rhyme.

We put our pumpkins on a table with markers and a wet rag.  The children could draw on the pumpkin with the markers and then erase it.

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf" by Lois Elhert

We made wreaths using real leaves and paper leaves.

We painted as "a team " at the easel sharing the space and the paint.

We did "Over in the meadow", "Come and join in the game" and "As I was walking" for music today.

We cut open our pumpkin today.  We looked inside and smelled it and played with the seeds and the stringy parts that were insice.

We also read the book "Press Here"

We have our pretend hen in the room- she is almost ready to hatch the eggs.

Stay and Play:

we used paint and brushes at the table.

It was beautiful outside so we had our snack outdoors and played outside extra time.

We did Brown Bear and on the count of 5 for music time.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, October 24, 2014

Oak Room: Pre-  class

We read "One smart sknuk" by Harriet Ziefert

We cut out circle shapes for a tree top, then we cut out a tree trunk shape. We glued them to paper and glued on leaves that were cut punched using a hand held leaf puncher.  We made the leave various fall colors.  We used markers and crayons to add other elements to our fall pictures.

We did a 5 little coyotes (rhyme using props and music)
and we used the clackers to do "alligator stomp"

We practiced writing the letter G on dry erase boards.  We made a lst of words that begin with the letter G.

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "No sleep for sheep" by Karen Beaumont

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

We painted with corn cobs by rolling them in boxes with yellow and white paint.

We painted with regular brushes at the easel.

We did a rhyme of various colored wagons,

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

Maple Room- MWF class

We read "There was an old lady who swallowed some leaves" by Lucille Colandro
We used a large puppet for this rhyme and we had her eat the items in the book.  The we had her sneeze and the props all came out onto the magnetic board.

We used pumpkin and leaf cookie cutters to make prints on orange paper with glitter paint

We painted leaf shapes at the easel.

We did The October song, Scarecrow, scarecrow, and Pumpkin in the straw for music today.

Activities to do at home to develop fine motor skills in preschool children

Fine Motor Skills:

Children going into kindergarten are expected to be able to do so much more now than in the past that requires good fine motor skills.  They are expected to be able to hold a pencil, write their name, first and last, have good scissor skills, etc.  

While we work on those skills here at Trinity, some children have weaker fine motor muscles, or possibly, just have not had additional experience with the materials needed to develop those muscles.

Make a game of the ideas below, don’t make it be work or seem like punishment:

Here are a few ideas for helping your child build their fine motor hand muscles.

1. Scissors:  Children should use blunt tip, kids’ scissors to cut little snips of paper or cut out simple shapes.  Remember, thumbs point up to the ceiling.  Small paper is better as it is hard for children to manage moving a large piece of paper when learning scissor use.
2. Tearing: Have your child rip up pieces of scrap paper, junk mail, etc.  They could then use glue to attach the pieces to paper.
3. Pencils- For young children the jumbo pencils are good or put a pencil grip on a pencil to make it easier to manage.  At first you can have them just scribble, encourage them to press down some too.  Many children with weak fine motor muscles make barely legible pencil marks.
4. Markers, Crayons, etc.  All good for developing those muscles.  Crayons, break them into pieces no longer than 2 inches so they need to pinch them to hold them.  Longer crayons rest on the hand and don’t require as much muscle work.
5. Modeling clay:  This is similar to playdough, but more firm.  You can get it at Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Kmart, Meijers, etc. This works the hand muscles, and they can make fun creations.
6. Playdough, This works too, it just is softer, so does not work hand muscles as well. We have a good recipe for home made playdough.
7. Slant board  or easel: When the paper is flat on the table, the child does not have to work as hard to write or draw, if you are able to make the paper vertical or at least slanted, they need to hold the pencil, crayon, etc. more firmly to use it.
8. Tweezers: Picking up small objects using tweezers or just picking up small objects with fingers is great for fine motor too.  We pick the corn off feed corn cobs as a way of doing this type of activity.
9. Small water color size paint brushes.  You can use any kid of paint, water colors, or even water.  The idea is that the child holds the paint brush with a finger grip, not a whole hand hold.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "Pigsty" by Mark Teague

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

We fingerpainted using chocolate pudding on pig shape paper.

At the easel we separated apple shapes according to size.

We played with "muddy pigs", corn starch and water mixed with a little brown paint to make mud, and plastic pigs for some great sensory fun.

We did a 5 clean and dirty pigs rhyme

We worked on our fine motor skills by peeling stickers off a paper and adding them to a barn shape.

Oak room: Pre- K class

We read "The bravest of the brave" ( a skunk story) by Shutta Crumb
 and Night Creatures by  Wade Cooper

We also read the letter G book.

We worked in our journal notebooks on letter G words and pictures.

We had pumpkin shape sponges at the easel and orange paint.  We also had green paint with small brushes so the children could add embellishments to their pumpkins.

We did a Nocturnal animal rhyme and "Gt ready get set, lets dance " for music time/

We had a new construction building toy out today and we have corn kernels in our sensory table.

Maple Room: MWF class

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

We did acorn painting.  We dipped acorns and little bumpy balls in paint and rolled them back and forth in a box on top of our paper.

We did Down around the corner at the pumpkin patch for music.

We did letter S activities, we reviewed the letter and Sound motion .  We read the letter S book and asked do you have the letter S in your name?

Stay and Play:

We read "Pete the cat books- "His 4 groovy buttons and also In my school shoes: by Eric Litwin

We did a group painting project with trucks and airplanes with a large box and rolled them down an incline to make the tracks from the wheels.

We did Leaves on the trees and on the count of 5 for music today.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, October 23, 2014

Willow Room- T/TH class

We read "Pigsty" by Mark Teague

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

We fingerpainted using chocolate pudding on pig shape paper.

We sorted apples by size on the magnetic board.

We did scarecrow, scarecrow, what do you see?, Jump up turn around, and I like my hat for music time today.

We had muddy pigs in the room!  We mixed corn starch and water with a little brown paint and put plastic pigs in the mixture for the children to explore.

We did a 5 clean and dirty pigs rhyme

We read "The farmer in the Dell", using a BIG Book.

Oak Room:  Pre- K class

We read "I'm not sleepy! by Jane Chapman
and Incredible Owls by J. Martin (which is a fact book about owls)

We made "eyes in the night".  The children used two corks taped together to dip in glue and press onto black paper.  Then they sprinkled colored glitter onto the glue to look like eyes glowing in the night.

We did Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and acted out using props, and "Can you leap like a frog?"
 for music time today.

We did our name and letter graph for the letter G "Does your name have the letter G in it?

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Oak Room:

We read "Bat's Big Game" by Margaret Read McDOnald and "While the world is sleeping" by Pamela Duncan Edwards

We made bat prints by using glitter paint on dark blue paper.  We later cut the paper into bat shapes and hung them around our room.

We did "Pumpkin in the brown straw", "Dance with me", and "Nocturnal Animal rhymes" for music time today.

We looked for bats that were hidden around the room. We traced the bat shapes onto a large piece of paper and as the children found the bats, they placed them onto the outline.  This helped with some counting and figuring out how many more bats we needed to fine.  After we found them all, we hid them again.

Willow Room- T/TH class

We read "Peek a boo Puppy"  "The Apple pie tree " by Zoe Hall

We painted using prickle ball rings and fall colors of tempra paint.  We held the prickle balls with a clothes pin as a handle.  We put leaf and acorn shape frames around our art.

We did The freeze dance, couch potato pokey, and 5 little ducks for music time.

We played with rakes on the playground today.

We introduced our pretend Mother Hen to the children today.  She is sitting on a tray with play eggs in it.  She will be in our room until the eggs "Hatch".

We made apple pies with the applesauce we made last week.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, October 20, 2014

Maple Room- MWF class

We read "The biggest pumpkin ever" by Elizabeth Bennett

We used oil pastel crayons and made leaf rubbings.  The children used black construction paper to place over leaves taped down to cardboard.  They used the side of the oil pastel crayons to rub across the paper and make a print of the leaf.

We had leaf shape stencils at the easel.

We did 5 little leaves, 4 little leaves, ( a rhyming song) and Fall leave ( tune of wheels on the bus)

We are starting the letter of the week in our class, however, we are using a phonics program and are not doing the letters in order. We start with the letter S.

Stay and Play:

We are painting with balls as paintbrushes, and fingerpainting.

We did a shape game.

We did Little fish, and who stole the pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. for music today.

Oak Room: Pre- K class

We read "Stellaluna" by Janel Cannon

We had a discussion about "What animals are nocturnal?"  What is "nocturnal?"

We made bats out of toilet paper tubes.  We painted the rolls black and cut out wings to add. They will hang from the ceiling in our room.

We dud "5 little bats"; "Sticky Bubble Gum" and "A little faster on 3" for music today/