We have started our second full week of school and today we started off with a bang. It was a little crazy at drop off which does happen from time to time and that craziness will die down as we progress into the school year and everyone becomes more comfortable with the routine. So I thank you for bearing with us during this crazy mornings! Once we got our day going we had a wonderful time learning, playing and exploring. Last week I failed to mention because of the number of little friends enrolled on Tuesday I have another assistant who will be with us this year to help us make our classroom a success. Valarie Barclay will be with us on Tuesdays, she has worked in Zion's After-school Program the past couple of years and last year she worked in the school cafeteria and in ELP. This year she is working in ELP two days a week at the Sonshine Center in the full day classrooms, spending Tuesdays with us and working in the cafeteria. We are excited to have her join us this year in our classroom and appreciate all she has already done and will do to make our classroom a success. We added some more into our daily routine this week and will continue to do so in the weeks to come. Enjoy reading about our day and viewing the pictures of your beautiful children.
Free Choice Play
The rest of the room was open today for us to explore and see what there was to play with and learn. This will probably be the last week for some of the toys that are in our classroom. New toys and puzzles will be brought out every few weeks to keep our minds and bodies engaged and learning. Some toys will stay as they are favorites and are comfort items to some friends when they arrive in the morning.
The rest of the room was open today for us to explore and see what there was to play with and learn. This will probably be the last week for some of the toys that are in our classroom. New toys and puzzles will be brought out every few weeks to keep our minds and bodies engaged and learning. Some toys will stay as they are favorites and are comfort items to some friends when they arrive in the morning.
Play-dough Fun
We have had fun playing with blue play-dough this month. Play-dough is a great way for us to work our finger and hand muscles as we roll, squeeze and play with the play dough. It is fun to see the neat creations we make when we are playing with them. This months play-dough toys are fishes that we would see in the blue water.
We have had fun playing with blue play-dough this month. Play-dough is a great way for us to work our finger and hand muscles as we roll, squeeze and play with the play dough. It is fun to see the neat creations we make when we are playing with them. This months play-dough toys are fishes that we would see in the blue water.
Sensory Table
Today we opened up the sensory table for the first time this year. We were are all new to the classroom so this was pretty exciting to see what was in there. Currently we have uncooked rice in the table with scoops, cups, plates and spoons to play with in there. The sensory table will be changed periodically through out the course of the year with different things for us to play with and explore. It will be open most mornings when my friends arrive at school. This is a great way for us to play and feel with different textures and work on our pouring and scooping skills. Our number one rule for the sensory table is that we need to keep whatever is in the table in the table.
Today we opened up the sensory table for the first time this year. We were are all new to the classroom so this was pretty exciting to see what was in there. Currently we have uncooked rice in the table with scoops, cups, plates and spoons to play with in there. The sensory table will be changed periodically through out the course of the year with different things for us to play with and explore. It will be open most mornings when my friends arrive at school. This is a great way for us to play and feel with different textures and work on our pouring and scooping skills. Our number one rule for the sensory table is that we need to keep whatever is in the table in the table.
Magnet Board
Today we also opened up the magnet board. This is an area of the classroom that the children are able to learn, create and explore with different magnets. Currently we have letters and numbers out for us to work with. As we head into different holidays and seasons different magnets will be brought out to work with. Exposure to the different letters is a great way for us to become familiar with what the letters look like, how they are formed and being able to start to recognize the letters of maybe our names.
Today we also opened up the magnet board. This is an area of the classroom that the children are able to learn, create and explore with different magnets. Currently we have letters and numbers out for us to work with. As we head into different holidays and seasons different magnets will be brought out to work with. Exposure to the different letters is a great way for us to become familiar with what the letters look like, how they are formed and being able to start to recognize the letters of maybe our names.
Writing Table
The students always have the choice in the morning to draw and color if they would like, there is always blank paper for them to use and leftover coloring sheets that we have done in our classroom or that have been donated to the classroom. We had some friends who really enjoyed coloring today. This papers will make there way home through out the year when they do them. It is a great way for them to have the freedom to do what they want and how they want. It is also a great way to work on holding a writing instrument as well.
The students always have the choice in the morning to draw and color if they would like, there is always blank paper for them to use and leftover coloring sheets that we have done in our classroom or that have been donated to the classroom. We had some friends who really enjoyed coloring today. This papers will make there way home through out the year when they do them. It is a great way for them to have the freedom to do what they want and how they want. It is also a great way to work on holding a writing instrument as well.
First Round of Centers
Starting this week we will be adding in more centers to our day. The way centers will work is they will be the same all week and your child will do a variety of centers on a particular day. If they do not do it on the first day the attend school they will do it on another day they attend. This allows for us to work with a smaller group of children and to be able to accomplish all we want to during our school day. This is how our half day preschool classrooms run and some of our full day classrooms. I try my best to mimic the same way accomplish things in preschool in our ELP classroom so the transition to preschool is a smooth and happy one!
Cookie Monster likes to Eat One Big Cookie
To help us review the color blue and the number one we practiced our pre writing skills by coloring cookie monster with the color blue and then using a glue stick to place glue on a brown cookie that we glued onto Cookie Monsters hands. After we had our cookie glued on we had our pointer finger painted with black paint so we could turn our cookie into a chocolate chip cookie. This activity also allowed for us to talk about what kind of cookies we like to eat.
Starting this week we will be adding in more centers to our day. The way centers will work is they will be the same all week and your child will do a variety of centers on a particular day. If they do not do it on the first day the attend school they will do it on another day they attend. This allows for us to work with a smaller group of children and to be able to accomplish all we want to during our school day. This is how our half day preschool classrooms run and some of our full day classrooms. I try my best to mimic the same way accomplish things in preschool in our ELP classroom so the transition to preschool is a smooth and happy one!
Cookie Monster likes to Eat One Big Cookie
To help us review the color blue and the number one we practiced our pre writing skills by coloring cookie monster with the color blue and then using a glue stick to place glue on a brown cookie that we glued onto Cookie Monsters hands. After we had our cookie glued on we had our pointer finger painted with black paint so we could turn our cookie into a chocolate chip cookie. This activity also allowed for us to talk about what kind of cookies we like to eat.
One Slice of Blueberry Pie!
Today to help us wrap up our study of the color blue we used a q-tip and blue paint and made blueberries in our one slice of pie. We were also able to incorporate the number we have been working with by having one slice of pie. This activity allowed for us to work on our fine motor skills as we had to hold the q-tip with our finger and thumb, dip it into the paint and then dab it onto our slice of pie. As we worked on this activity we talked about what color we were using and what kind of pie we like to eat.
Today to help us wrap up our study of the color blue we used a q-tip and blue paint and made blueberries in our one slice of pie. We were also able to incorporate the number we have been working with by having one slice of pie. This activity allowed for us to work on our fine motor skills as we had to hold the q-tip with our finger and thumb, dip it into the paint and then dab it onto our slice of pie. As we worked on this activity we talked about what color we were using and what kind of pie we like to eat.
Morning Meeting
Happy Monday! The first picture in this series shows how great we are doing sitting at Morning Meeting, we started off by saying Happy MONDAY! We then sang our Morning song to get to know our friends name, we added the calendar today as we talked about the month of August the day of the week and the number 29. We then reviewed the color blue and identified different blue objects on our blue board and sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We then practiced counting the number one by clapping our hands one time, nodding our heads one time and rubbing our bellies one time. We also practiced holding up our one finger to work on our finger muscles. We then read a book about our Eyes, Nose, Fingers and Toes with the Sesame Street Characters helping us out. We will talk about our different body parts through out the year as we learn about how God made us. We closed our morning meeting with a prayer for snack.
Happy Monday! The first picture in this series shows how great we are doing sitting at Morning Meeting, we started off by saying Happy MONDAY! We then sang our Morning song to get to know our friends name, we added the calendar today as we talked about the month of August the day of the week and the number 29. We then reviewed the color blue and identified different blue objects on our blue board and sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We then practiced counting the number one by clapping our hands one time, nodding our heads one time and rubbing our bellies one time. We also practiced holding up our one finger to work on our finger muscles. We then read a book about our Eyes, Nose, Fingers and Toes with the Sesame Street Characters helping us out. We will talk about our different body parts through out the year as we learn about how God made us. We closed our morning meeting with a prayer for snack.
Snack Time & Jesus Time
After we washed our hands and went potty we sat down for our yummy snacks. Please remember that all food entering our classroom has to be peanut and tree nut free and each child needs a cup in spill proof cup. After snack we had Jesus Time where we talked about how we pray to God and then we read a book about praying. We then sang Jesus Loves Me and practiced saying an echo prayer
After we washed our hands and went potty we sat down for our yummy snacks. Please remember that all food entering our classroom has to be peanut and tree nut free and each child needs a cup in spill proof cup. After snack we had Jesus Time where we talked about how we pray to God and then we read a book about praying. We then sang Jesus Loves Me and practiced saying an echo prayer
Outside Play
We did go outside today for a short period of time it was really hot out, but it was nice to get out and explore! We are practicing standing on the owls in our classroom so that we can be ready to head outside. After we were outside we headed back in, but we took a different way back to our classroom it was a great way for us to see more of the campus and for us to work on our gross motor skills as we had to climb some stairs. We all did great outside today!
We did go outside today for a short period of time it was really hot out, but it was nice to get out and explore! We are practicing standing on the owls in our classroom so that we can be ready to head outside. After we were outside we headed back in, but we took a different way back to our classroom it was a great way for us to see more of the campus and for us to work on our gross motor skills as we had to climb some stairs. We all did great outside today!
Music and Movement
We came back inside and sat down on the carpet and sang some songs and did a little dancing. We started learning The Rainbow Song that will help us learn the different colors of the rainbow and we did a favorite of my little friends from last year THE FREEZE DANCE!
We came back inside and sat down on the carpet and sang some songs and did a little dancing. We started learning The Rainbow Song that will help us learn the different colors of the rainbow and we did a favorite of my little friends from last year THE FREEZE DANCE!
Final Centers of the Day
Painting
Today we finished a project we started last week. First we had to water color a sailboat. After we were done we were given a pair of scissors and a strip of blue paper that we had to cut to make the sky on our paper. Last week we cut blue paper and made the ocean floor. After we cut our strip of paper we had to use a glue bottle to squeeze the glue onto our paper so that we could glue the pieces of paper that we had worked so hard to cut out. We then glued our beautiful colored sailboats onto our paper.
Painting
Today we finished a project we started last week. First we had to water color a sailboat. After we were done we were given a pair of scissors and a strip of blue paper that we had to cut to make the sky on our paper. Last week we cut blue paper and made the ocean floor. After we cut our strip of paper we had to use a glue bottle to squeeze the glue onto our paper so that we could glue the pieces of paper that we had worked so hard to cut out. We then glued our beautiful colored sailboats onto our paper.
Bingo Dauber Sailboat
We will work with bingo daubers almost every week. They are always a favorite with this age group and they are a great way for us to work on our pre writing skills holding the bingo dauber. We are also able to work on our self control skills as we try to not press down to hard or lift it up to fast. Fine motor skills also come into play as we have to find the circle and go up and down on the paper. Today we did a yellow and red sailboat. We have been talking about boats and water when we have morning meeting and how they belong in the ocean. We had to use our problem solving skills to match the correct color bingo dauber to the correct area of the paper. This also allowed us to work on color recognition of red and yellow.
We will work with bingo daubers almost every week. They are always a favorite with this age group and they are a great way for us to work on our pre writing skills holding the bingo dauber. We are also able to work on our self control skills as we try to not press down to hard or lift it up to fast. Fine motor skills also come into play as we have to find the circle and go up and down on the paper. Today we did a yellow and red sailboat. We have been talking about boats and water when we have morning meeting and how they belong in the ocean. We had to use our problem solving skills to match the correct color bingo dauber to the correct area of the paper. This also allowed us to work on color recognition of red and yellow.
Mr. Square Man
Today we made a man all out of squares to help us learn more about the shape of a square. We picked our color of square for the body then two legs, two arms and then two squares for the hands and feet. We then used star stickers for his eyes and nose and then used a crayon to make a mouth. This also was a great way for us to work on our color identification, out counting skills and our body awareness skills.
Today we made a man all out of squares to help us learn more about the shape of a square. We picked our color of square for the body then two legs, two arms and then two squares for the hands and feet. We then used star stickers for his eyes and nose and then used a crayon to make a mouth. This also was a great way for us to work on our color identification, out counting skills and our body awareness skills.
Play
During the day different music is played in the classroom, I am a firm believer in exposing children to a variety of music and I also believe that it helps set the tone for the classroom. Currently we are listening to a variety of nautical music and are able to see different fish and creatures that swim in the ocean on our t.v.
During the day different music is played in the classroom, I am a firm believer in exposing children to a variety of music and I also believe that it helps set the tone for the classroom. Currently we are listening to a variety of nautical music and are able to see different fish and creatures that swim in the ocean on our t.v.
We had a busy day in our classroom and as I said before we are starting to get into our routines and our day is starting to shape and mold into how the school year will go. I am seeing lots of interaction with my friends with each other and imaginative play is starting to peek out with some. Our play will continue to change over the course of the year and that is exactly what is to be expected at this age in early childhood. Have a wonderful evening and look forward to seeing you all later in the week.