Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Harvest Party

Thank you for all the donations to our Harvest Party.  We had so much fun.  Thank you to our moms who came in to help out for the morning!

Check out our fun!

Pumpkin Seed Art

Practicing our numbers!


Thank you Ms. Joanne for planning this fun activity for the children.  They LOVED making edible acorns.

They are so cute!

Concentration


Taste tested candy corn and graphed our results!







YUMMMMM....our fun snack!  Apples with caramel dipping sauce, pretzels, and cookies!






Our preschool day....








Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Special Guest Reader

Mr. Miller (Soren's daddy) came in one morning to read to the children.  They LOVED his stories.  Thank you Mr. Miller!!!

If anyone else would love to read to the class, let Ms. Dede know and we would love to have you come to our classroom!








Sunday, October 6, 2013

Awesome Apps


Endless ABC App (Free!)
FUN FUN FUN!!!  I love how it increases their vocabulary, reinforces letter sounds in a really cool and funny manner.  This doesn't need a lot of parent support, but you will find yourself giggling and playing along.


Scribble My Story  (There is a free version and a paid version.  $2.99)
My daughter just introduced this to me yesterday!  It makes storytelling come to life.  They can create their own story and then watch it come to life at the end.  (This might need some parent support).


I have more to share, but I am out of time right now.... stay tuned.

WAAG - 10/7 - 10/11/13

Letter of the week: L
Colors of the month:  orange & yellow

Monday is going to be Fire Safety Day!  (We are working on having a firetruck come to our center, but it probably won't be until the end of the month. Our community helpers are super busy.)   We will learn a song called:  "I'm A Little Firefighter" and talk about fire safety.  The children will use some shapes and build their own firetruck for art.

Wednesday is going to be a BUSY day.  I apologize about having pictures and a field trip on the same day.  It wouldn't have been my preference either.  However, it was unavoidable with the pumpkin patch's schedule.   Please have your child at school promptly at 8:30.  


1.  I will have masking tape with your child's name on it attached to the shelves above the cubbies.  Please take this and attach this to your child's booster seat if they are not riding with you.   BOOSTER SEATS CAN BE LEFT AT THE TOP OF THE STEPS NEAR THE DOORS WHERE WE DISMISS THE CHILDREN.  

2. I would like to get them ready for the trip and talk to them about what they might see, experience and how I expect them to behave. 

3. I will also ask any drivers to stay and I will hand out your list of who will be riding with you.   Ms. Joanne and I are ultimately accountable for all the children but I will need your help to be 100% sure of who you have in your vehicle and you know where they are at all times.  This is a super fun field trip!!!  Weather permitting, they will love the tractor ride to the pumpkin patch!  Farmer Jim is so much fun!  If weather isn't cooperating they have indoor activities about corn that they children can do.  (Crossing fingers, this has never happened for me.)

4.  Make sure you hand your picture money to Ms. Dede directly.  

5.  Once we return from the pumpkin patch, depending on the photographer's schedule we will either eat snack first or have our pictures taken first.  Rest assured I will help make sure hair is in place and smiles are on their faces.  :)  I'm a mom too, and I know how I get when it is picture time.  Drivers do not need to stay, they can return at dismissal once I have all the children in the classroom and accounted for.

6.  Lastly, Ms. Pat would really like to squeeze in a music lesson before we dismiss them for the day.

Friday is back to work for us! Learning L, singing about Larry Lion (our alphafriend for the week) and doing some pumpkin exploration.  

*ALL of our Alphafriend's songs are sung to the tune of "Skip To My Lou"  They all follow the same pattern:

Larry Lion
/L/ /L/    L   (Say the sound L makes 2x and then say L)
Larry Lion
/L/ /L/    L
Larry Lion
/L/ /L/    L
Listen, look & say /L/ (point to ears, eyes, mouth and say the sound L makes)

They have already learned the songs for:
Edna Elephant
Fifi Fish
Hattie Horse
(in case if you want to sing with them at home)  




Remember if you have any pumpkin seeds you can contribute this month, just rinse and dry them and I would love to use them for an art project at the end of the month.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

WAAG 9/23/13

WAAG (Week At A Glance)

This week we have been work on Letter H.  We used bingo dabbers to write H, and played I Spy H.  We talked about the /h/ sound and glued hearts to a big letter H.

We conclude our apple unit this week.  The children answered Ms. Dede's riddle... 

What is a red house with no windows, no doors, and has a star inside??   AN APPLE!!  Then we had fun making apple prints.  Even Brownie enjoyed an apple snack.

They learned how an apple grows from a seed, to a sprout, tree, flower, and then fruit!  We made a HUGE apple and they will label the parts of an apple tomorrow.  PLUS, we will be making homemade applesauce with Ms. Joanne using a traditional strainer that the children will need to use their muscles to help mash the apples.  (Thank you for the contributions of apples.)

***  Keep checking your child's backpack.  There are occasional reminders and statements from the office.  Important classroom news, and of course their amazing artwork.   Coming home tomorrow will be a permission slip for their upcoming field trip, the October calendar and book orders. ***

Looking ahead to next week:
We will review letters E, F, and H.  Make a book about the color red. We may even get to paint at the easel this week and have fun getting messy with some fingerpaints.  I can't forget about my smelly dough!  They will love smelling and playing with the orange kool-aid playdough I made.

Our picture day will be Wednesday, Oct. 9th (after our field trip).  Once I get the order forms, I will send them home ASAP.  You do have the option to purchase individual pictures or just the class photo.

Enjoy the rest of the week and have a super weekend!

Friday, September 13, 2013

Rice...Rice...and more Rice....

I bet you were probably thinking, what in the world does she want with all that rice?!?

Preschoolers love to pour, scoop, dump anything and everything in the sensory table.  Colored rice is a favorite.  It can be a little pricey to make, so I decided to make my own.  THANKS to all the donations of rice and some watercolor that we had, I made some very vibrant colored rice!  I think it is better than what I can buy (If I might say so myself.)

*** Thank you for all the donations!!  Glue sticks, markers, rice, baggies and more! ****



Thursday, September 12, 2013

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Beautiful Weather!

Preschool LOVES our playground!!




Tuesday, August 27, 2013

YEAH!!! Success!!

The 1st day was a success!!  No tears!!!  I was so impressed with how well they transitioned into their new routine.  I can't wait to share everything I have planned for them  Oh my goodness they are sooooooo smart!  They recognized their own name and knew how to sit and listen at circle time.  I am very excited to see then again tomorrow.  We will be reading The Crayon Box That Talked  and drawing our self-portrait on a crayon shape.  

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Please.....

Please...please...feel free to comment!!  I would love to hear from you!

Around my room in a few pics.... (2 days!!)

 










Friday, August 23, 2013

3 days!!! Sooooooo exciting!

Getting ready to go back to school tomorrow to finish getting the room ready.  I wonder whooooo's coming to preschool??


Thursday, August 22, 2013

4 more days.....

Interesting fact about Ms. Dede....

I love to cut laminating!  I find it relaxing!!  I have got my work cut out for me...



I wonder what all the owls are for?

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Pleased to introduce....

BROWNIE!!
Our class guinea pig is a boy and he is 9 months old.  He loves carrots, parsley, apples and the crinkling sound of snack bags and when the refrigerator door opens.  Very friendly and LOVES attention.


The Talking Crayon Box

I chose my blog title very carefully.  I have such a passion for teaching and celebrating the uniqueness of each child.  As I am preparing my lesson plans, I came across one of my favorite books to read at the beginning of the year.  "The Crayon Box That Talked" by Shane Derolf.  This book encourages my passion.  It focuses on "harmony through diversity".  With some tweaking, I felt that it was the best title for my blogging journey through preschool.  Check it out at the local library or on amazon.com.



5 days and counting....

I was excited to have a special guest visit me today.  I had the pleasure to talk to Soren (a returning kiddo).  It was so nice to see him again and get to talk to him about coming back to school.  I will be in the building the next 2 days (ok...the next 5 days) preparing.  :)  If you would like to visit, come on over!!