Talking points Oct. 19 and 21

Another wonderful fall week! I can't remember ever having such a beautiful fall and the kids and I loved our time outdoors, collecting leaves, listening to the birds sing, and playing in the fresh, cool air.

To get more specifics ask your cutie-pa-tootie about:

• the books "Where the Wild Things Are", "It's not a stick", "Skeleton and Mummy" or "There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves"..........ACHOO!


• the song "There's mean old witch with a HAT!"


• the letter "E" sound "egg, empty (the guessing can), eyes, ears, elephant"


• writing letters in chocolate pudding (messy but lots of fun and memorable)


• the song "I am a Pizza" and "Monster Day"


• doing puzzles with lots of pieces


• using Halloween stamps to make a card
  

Next week, don't forget the Halloween party on Thursday!

Miss Cindy teaches preschool in her home in West Boise.

Halloween fun Oct. 12 & 14

What a fun week we've had! The kids imaginations were running on full speed as we took a Halloween walk. They floated around the preschool room as ghosts, howled like wolves, stomped like Frankenstein, rolled like pumpkins, slithered like snakes and crept and spun like spiders.

We also:

1. read "Harold's purple crayon" and "Quick as a Cricket"
2. learned the "L" sound as in lions, lambs, leaves, lollipops, and ladybugs.
3. learned the stages of a ladybugs life and did leaf rubbings (PM class only)
4. made ladybugs and counted the spots on their wings.
5. learned the song "I'm a mean old witch".
6. played a memory game where they had to match pictures of Halloween things.
7. played a matching game with Halloween candy.
8. built towers from marble works and talked about gravity.
9. played charades.


We had our first SUPERSTAR of the WEEK in our PM class, because she has a birthday coming up. I'll send you an email when it's your child's turn to be the SUPERSTAR, but here's what you can look forward to. They bring a poster or pictures of them as babies and growing up. It can highlight their hobbies and interests. We read their favorite book. Our SUPERSTAR'S favorite book this week was "Franklin's Halloween" and she baked cupcakes to share with her class. It was a great hit in our class and I can't wait for everyone else to have a turn.

Miss Cindy teaches pre-kindergarten and preschool skills to 3 and 4 y-ear-olds from Boise and Meridian, Idaho.

Talking points Oct. 5

October's theme is Imagination and Creativity. It's the perfect time to focus on those with the cooling temperatures, leaves falling, darker days and Halloween just around the corner . The kids loved the decorations that my daughter put up on the front porch and shared them with some of you at pick up or drop off time. They were all enthusiastic about the creativity games and activities that we did on Tuesday. It was a full day since we only meet once this week. Ask your child about:

• the letter "N" sound. (We also reviewed S, T, I, and A)
  
• his/her Halloween stamp paper (some turned them into lanterns)
• his/her cereal necklace sponsored by the letter "N"
• the story "It's not a box" (it's about a bunny that uses a box and his imagination)
• the game "What would a pickle say?"
• what was in the guessing can. (Nuts in the AM class and a nickel in the PM class. Thanks Moms for helping your child bring something with out letter!!)
• the monster song.
• making a "nest page" for our letter book and the stages of a chick hatching

I can hardly wait for next Tuesday! See you then.

Miss Cindy run an in-home preschool for 3 and 4-year-olds from Boise and Meridian, Idaho.

Talking points Sept 28-30

It was a fun and full week. We......

• had the children start doing the guessing can. They were great and really enjoyed it.
• learned the two sounds that "I" makes: i as in iguana and i as in ice cream cone.
• made iguanas, igloos and ice cream cones.
• went on a nature scavenger hunt in the backyard.
• learned about Sacagawea's bravery.
• read the book "The little old lady who wasn't afraid of anything".
• painted impressionistic paintings of sunflowers, t-rexes and other items.
• practiced writing our numbers 1-10 on special white boards that have the numbers dotted.
• played the penny game.
• played the egg carton game (putting the correct number of beans into each cup).

Remember next week we meet on Tuesday only as Meridian schools are on break next Thursday. Watch for an email with the guessing can schedule.

Talking points Sept.21-23

This week the biggest news was I introduced the helpers wheel. To their credit, all the children want to help with everything....... all the time,....... so we have a wheel now, so they know what their "job" is. They might be a line leader, a snack helper, the weatherman, pledge leader or the guessing can helper. They were all very excited to see their names next to a job on the wheel! This might work for home chores too! :)

We also:

1. Learned the letter "T".
2. Made turkeys and turtles to remind us about the sound.
3. Read "Froggy learns to swim" and "Humpty, Dumpty climbs again" which were both about overcoming fears.
4. We learned a song about "Hercules" the turtle who wants to stay in his shell.
5. We practiced counting objects and made the bean project. Your child counted out his/her own beans and after I checked their counting he/she glued them to the paper.
6. We identified pictures that begin with the letters "T, S and A" and eliminated pictures that didn't have one of those beginning sounds. All of them are quickly identifying those sounds now.

Next week we'll be learning the two sounds for the letter "I" and finishing up our month on courage by hearing stories about Sacagawea. See you all then!

Talking points

Have you ever asked your child what they learned at school that day and gotten either the shrugged shoulders or the "I don't know?" response? Well to combat that I'll post "talking points" each week so that you can know what specific questions you can ask your child that will get them talking (hopefully with excitement) about what we learned in preschool.

Here's what's happening in preschool Sept. 14 and 16th:

1. We are continuing to learn about being courageous so we read "Little Quack" about a duckling nervous to leave his nest and on Thursday we'll read "Brave Irene".

2. We are reviewing the letter "A". We made an alligator with the afternoon class on Tuesday and did apple trees with both groups.

3. We began learning the letter "S" this week and made a page for our sound book (This will be sent home later this year when we've completed all the letter sounds.) with a painted snowman. We colored on the white board the objects that start with the sound of "S"( like starfish, sun, socks, square) and left blank the objects( like tree) that don't begin with the "s" sound. On Thursday, we'll be making a snake and spider to reinforce the "s" sound.

4. We count out loud for lots of things like holding the piece of tissue paper in place while the glue dries, or how many days we've come to school, or how many children are in our class, or how many jumps they do on the trampoline or how many ducklings were on the pages of "Little Quack".

5. We used play dough on Tuesday and will be introduced to math counting rods this Thursday.

6. They all love the guessing can and I'll be contacting each parent soon to let you know when your child will have an opportunity to bring something for the can.

I hope these talking points help trigger memories for your child so they can share more of what they are learning.

Kids say the funniest things

One of the many reasons I love children is the funny things they say. They haven't developed any social filters, so whatever is on their minds, comes right out of their mouths. Just the other day, I was teaching a class of beginner swimmers. I asked them if they could show me their bubbles. One precocious little boy said, "Anything is completely possible". Another time, I was reading a story to a class of kindergarten students. I don't remember what the book was and maybe that explains what happened next since not even I was caught up in the story. One child raised his hand and I thought he wanted to comment on the story, but instead he told me he had lost a tooth the night before. Instantly five other hands flew up and we spent the next 5 minutes talking about ways that loose teeth come out. Sometimes you just have to throw a lesson plan out the window and go with the flow.