Stranger Danger, our feelings, and more!

This week we talked about two important subjects, our feelings (letter F) and stranger danger!  We read the berenstein bears book "Hug and Make Up", which talks about how every "bear" has a bad day, and everybody feels a little grumpy/angry sometimes but we can work through it and we will be ok.  We also had some pumpkin faces that I held up and we talked about each feeling they were showing.  Then, the kids all showed me their happy, sad, mad, and excited faces. 

We used our peg boards to practice our counting and number recognition.  And, just to let you know, these two both knew both of these numbers by sight even though they have them upside-down in the picture. :)

We played  one of the good old classics, memory. 

The kids built puzzles in the dramatic play area, where they proudly displayed them when they were completed as you can see Brynlyn and Riley doing above.

We continued to talk about shapes, and made our own shape characters out different foam shapes!  We also practiced making shapes with drinking straws. 

Our art projects this week were our "bunch of feelings" grapes where we drew the many feelings we have as faces on our bunch of grapes.  We also made a bushy tailed squirrel out of shredded wheat.  Look how much fun we had below:

For our stranger danger lesson, we read a book about strangers and how we know if someone is a stranger (anyone we don't know), and did a maze where we tried to get from the start to the police officer without encountering any strangers.  I suggest you all reiterate this topic with your children (which I know you do).  They are so innocent, and naive.  We don't talk to, go with, take candy from, or get in a car with a stranger!

We reviewed the letters D,E, and F this week.  We used our straight and curvy lines to build our letters.  Look at cute Paige excited and clapping because she made the letter D!

We talked about our "helping hands" and made a page that you will see in your end of year scrapbook! :)

We used the blocks to build words, or to count.  This was in the dramatic play area, so they could built it however they wanted, as long as they could count back to me how many blocks they used.  Aydon did a great job counting his tower.

We didn't learn any new songs this week. ( I will start posting when we do).  We did sing the alphabet, and as we did I pointed to each letter.  This is something simple for you to do at home.  Just write down the alphabet on a piece of paper and point to the letters with your children as you sing.  They will get to know each letter by sight and its announciation (instead of J,K,eminem, O,P). 

Our stranger danger motto:  "When in danger or in doubt, don't be afraid to give a shout.  Stranger danger, stranger danger!"

Shape it up!

This past week was centered around SHAPES!  Shapes here, shapes there, shapes everywhere!  We did many fun activities to incorporate our shapes.  One of the kids favorites were these foam blocks below that are all of the different shapes. 

They were very inventive in creating tunnels, buildings, castles, trains, and more!  And they were great at sharing too!

We also put together some puzzles that showed us how shapes really are all around us, including in our food, on our walls, and outside.

We sorted buttons into different "jars" and filled them to the tip top with our shapes.  This helps with shape recognition, along with dexterity skills by simply picking up and placing the shapes.

Even snack time we talked about our circle oranges and cookies.  And, we had fun doing it too! :)

Sammy the Scarecrow came to visit with his body-o-shapes and the children had a great time finding and naming the shapes on Sammy.  It's great when they are having fun and don't really even know they are doing work!

We even created our own pictures with various shapes of all sizes and colors. 

And finally, not to be forgotten was our circle bears.  I first asked the children if they thought we would be able to make a picture of a bear out of only circles.  Some said "yes" and some said "no".  They had a lot of fun seeing the bear come together, and were very creative in doing so.  Every bear looked very different even though we all used the same supplies and had the same color of circles.

We celebrated two birthdays this week.  A very happy birthday to Addison and Zackery!!


I wasn't kidding when I said shapes here, and there, and EVERYWHERE was I?  We also learned about the letters D, and E, and the number 3 this week. (do I sound like sesame street?)  And, we each were able to choose a book from my library to take home this past week.  I hope your children are sharing the songs and rhymes we learn with you and your families at home, and having a great time coming to school!

A,B,C and 1,2......for me!

As you can see from the title, we reviewed our first three letters this week, along with learning about the number one and his friend number 2.  We also continued to learn about our colors!  This week we mixed the primary colors to see what colors they could make together.  We did this using playdough and the kids had a blast with this activity.  It made me laugh to see how excited they would get when they mixed two colors to make another.  They were amazed. 
We were able to play outside this week with the parachute and balls.....obviously a well-liked activity.  We had so much fun making a "bubble" around us and incorporating the colors into such a fun activity. 
All children love to play with file folders.  They are a great way to help children learn.  We made a file folder this week that each child will bring home to remind them of their colors and color words.  Each child colored their own (with the help of my daughter and niece for those that didn't finish).  It is great how much more interested children are to play with something when they make it themselves. 

We played with the math links this week.  This was in the dramatic play area, so the kids could do what they wanted with them....sort colors, count, make patterns, and have some fun.  As you can see, they were very creative/silly and loved it.

'C' is for crawly, colorful caterpillar!

For another dramatic play, the kids took balls from this tub that had a letter of the alphabet on them,  and raced them to the other side of the room where there were two baskets.  If the ball had an A,B, or C on it, they put it in one basket, if it had any other letter they put it in the other basket.  An interactive way to incorporate letter recognition. 

To go along with colors week, the children intently (as you can see from their serious faces) :) strung colored pasta onto necklaces.  At first the children wanted me to do it for them, but when I told them that they could do it and showed them an easier way how, they were very motivated to finish their necklace right to the end of the string!

Here is Brynlyn (smiling pretty) playing a flash card game that involved color matching and shapes.  They had races to see who could fill their board the fastest. 

Your children are doing great with their colors.  Most of them know them all.  If they need a little help, just have them do their file folder a few times a week, and they will have them down in no time at all!

Happy Birthday to Haylee this week!

**I am doing my best to remember to take pictures when I can, and am trying to get photos of every child.  Please be patient with me if you feel your child is not showing up enough, I promise to take note of who I need more of, and I will do my best to be fair.

Thanks!

Primary Colors week!

This week we focused on the primary colors: red, yellow, and blue, reviewed the letter A and learned about the letter B.  We had a lot of fun learning about these things through song, crafts, and some fun centers.  Unfortunately, we had so much fun and kept so busy that I wasn't able to get many pictures this week (especially with one class having a holiday). 
Some of the fun things we did for the letter B were making a blue octopus with our handprints, making bumpy B's with sandpaper rubbings, and playing "B" ball where we shot baskets and shouted out words that start with B.  We also learned a fun bee song to go along with our letter B.  Ask your children to sing it to you.  Here are the words if you'd like to remind them and sing along:

Here is the Beehive

Here is the beehive. Where are the bees?
(hold up fist)
Hidden away where nobody sees.
(move other hand around fist)

Watch and you’ll see them come out to play.
(bend head close to fist)

One, two, three, four, five.
(hold fingers up one at a time)

Bzzzzzzzz… and they all fly away!
(wave fingers)

We learned a fun song to remember our primary colors, along with making (pretend) ice cream cones with a scoop of each color to eat. 
Your children continue to amaze me.  We recite the pledge of allegiance each day and they are picking it up fast.  (quiz them on how many stars the flag has, and why).  They are doing great during circle time.  It is my favorite time with them!

We used our primary colors to sort and pattern.

The kids did a great job practicing their letters while learning their colors!

And, we topped off the week with a button relay where the kids hopped, jumped, ran, and swirled to the other end of the room to empty their handful of buttons into the corresponding containers.

The first week of school!

I hope that your kids had a great first week of school........I know I did!!  I am so lucky to have the best job ever, and your children are what make it great! 
The theme for this week was "All About Me!"  We introduced ourselves and told everyone something special about us and, in return, learned a lot about each other.  Children are so easily satisfied, and one of the things they love most is to be asked something about themself, and then have someone really listen to what they have to say.  We made an "About Me" book that the children loved making!  We also learned the rules and learned about team work.

These team walkers were a hit for the kids.  They loved trying to see how far they could get, and working as a team to get there. 

The next preschool day we continued to learn about ourselves, and also talked about the letter "A".  Here are the centers we did today:

For our writing center, we looked for our name posted on the wall, and practiced writing it with dry erase markers.

For dramatic play, we played blocks this week.  This does more than you think for your kids, including hand-eye coordination, socializing skills, and imagination building!

Our math center this week was simply stringing lace boards.  Here we are working on dexterity,  more hand-eye coordination skills, and counting.

For arts and crafts we played with playdough!  They made playdough "snakes" and traced both upper case and lower case A's helping with letter recognition.

And our reading center was a bean bag toss to hit the letter A. 

We also made alien puppets.  The kids couldn't wait to walk out with their puppets and make all the parents say "AAAHH"  just like the letter A says. 
We also celebrated all of the August birthdays and a couple of September birthdays and sang a big Happy Birthday to NJ, Cy, Alex, Easton, and Aydon!

Thanks for all your support as parents!  I was so impressed that all the children so willingly came to preschool on the first day and were ready to learn.  I did not have one child cry!  Because of your excitement and preparation, your kids came right in and were so anxious to start!