Arctic Animals!

The arctic animal projects that were presented to the class were fantastic.  The creativity and diversity was great to see.  We learned many facts and it was a great way to supplement to what we are learning in class. I hope you all enjoyed working with your child on these.  The students showed a lot of pride in their work.

Preschool is just so much fun!

Check out our bulletin board.  The students worked very hard on their bears.  We practice using scissors on a regular basis.  One of the cues we use to help a child position their hand is "thumb on top". 

Our teddy bear picnic was so much fun.  We lined the animals up according to size (to go along with our discussion about large, medium and small).  We had some pretty significant debates about a few of the animals and which was actually bigger. 

We have been working on story writing.  We've discussed how everyone can be an author and illustrator.  Students have had the opportunity to write their own stories and dictate them to a teacher.  They have also contributed in whole class stories where each student can contribute to one story.  Remember every child is at a different level or writing.  Some are learning how to scribble while others are writing mock letters, letters and even words. 

One of our class stories. 

Here are a couple photos of our graphing of the gummy bears! 

Our sensory table is full of oats (for the Three Bears), bowls and spoons.  It has been a very popular center this week.

Shaving cream and teddy bears!  Here are some photos of some of the students in the class playing with shaving cream.  Shaving cream play provides a sensory experience but also provides an opportunity for so much more learning.  While playing with the bears the students were encouraged to count them, use their pointer fingers to draw or write in the shaving cream, and so much more. 

Graphing and Sorting

We used gummy bears today to sort by color and graph.   Every child participated at their own level whether it was matching, sorting, distinguishing most, least and the same (and using that language) or even answering the question "how many do you have altogether."  Every child was successful and of course had a tasty treat when they were finished.

Teddy Bear Picnic

As you know we've been learning about bears.  To have a little fun, expand our learning and to have an opportunity to share we will have a “teddy bear” picnic in our class on Thursday and Friday.  Please allow your child to bring in his or her favorite stuffed animal to school on Thursday we will share about our animals and eat teddy grahams and drink juice with our animals. 

                   

Bears, bears and more bears!

This week we focused on bears.  Two main themes and books stood out to be of most interest to the children.  First, Goldilocks and the Three Bears was a hit.  The students enjoyed listening to the story and watching it retold with props.  Many students spent much time in the dramatic play center with the story props.  Our sensory table will be full of dried oats next week (porridge) and we will continue to expand on the story.

Here are some of the props available in the dramatic play center!

                                                           Scarlet and Goldilocks.

                                          Ellie is using the story props with the felt board.

 Bear in a Square was also a favorite this past week.  The students especially enjoy the activities to go along with the book.  We play a game where the bear gets hidden under a shape and the students take turns guessing which shape it's hiding under.  During this time we aren't just working on shape recognition but also on turn taking, predicting, using full sentences (i.e. "The bear is under the blue diamond"), color recognition etc...  The students have had a blast playing in our large group activity time but also with each other during center choice time.

                                              We made shape collages this week!

                                                 Zander beginning his shape collage.

                        Our name chart.  Everyday students place their name on the chart as part of attendance.  This promotes name recognition, participation and counting (we count who is present).

Even snack time is educational!

Check out how we use pretzel sticks. 

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a fantastic winter break.  I apologize to my Wed/Friday class for missing school on Friday.  My surgery time was moved up and it could not be postponed.  I did hear that a good time was had by all.

We welcome Mrs. Brandi Moore to our class.  She is a U.C. student teacher studying Early Childhood Education.  She will be in our class every morning until March.

We also welcome Donnie to our Wednesday/Friday class starting January 11th!

I'm very excited about the plans for this month. We will start our month off with some classic stories with some new twists.  We will read Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The Three Little Pigs   Do you see a theme?   Not only are these stories favorites of many students they also incorporate so many ways to expand learning.  For example in Goldilocks and the Three Bears we get to learn all about comparing and contrasting (large, medium, small etc...).  Each story lends itself to go in many directions for learning.  It's my philosophy in early childhood to allow the students to help guide the learning.  Meaning my role as a teacher is to incorporate the content standards based on the student's interest.  This way the students are more invested in their learning.  Play is the a young child's work after all.  I look forward to seeing where these stories take us.

-Remember our class is a peanut and tree nut free class.
-Nap items need to be returned.