What we've been doing in January and February

In January we missed two days of school because of the record snowfall!  In fact the local news was calling Dec. 2016 and Jan. 2017 Snowpocalypse!  We beat 50 year old records for the amount of snow that fell and the number of days in a row that were below freezing so the snow didn't melt but just kept piling up.

We added three new students in January and February!  Welcome friends. 

We celebrated Groundhog day by climbing through tunnels, making our shadows on the walls (we

turned off the lights and used a flashlight to make the shadows) and crafting our own groundhogs.  We learned to sing a new song.  It's sung to the tune of "I'm a little teapot".  The words are,  "I'm a little groundhog, furry and brown, I'm popping up to look around, If I see my shadow down I go, six more weeks of winter, OH NO!"  Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow so I don't know when we'll get outside play time, but I hope soon.

In January our theme was being responsible and we made chore charts.  The kids chose the chores they put on their charts.

In January we spent several weeks reviewing the numbers 0-10 and the letters A-N.  After such a long Christmas break and the extra snow days we needed to spend some time cementing these concepts again.

We also had time to build

paint

and experiment 

In February we began introducing the new letters again.  We learned O makes a sound like Tarzan swinging through the trees and that the P is the beginning sound of lots of delicious food like pretzels, popcorn and pizza! Yum.

The kids made their pretzels in the shape of the letters in their names!

We also learned about parrots and made parrot masks!

We're learning more about being a good friend in February since that is our overall theme.

We read a book called "Big Hugs, Little Hugs" 

We have lots more to do this month so stay tuned!

 

Now accepting new students

Several of our students in the afternoon class that meets from 12:30-3:00 have moved or are moving in the next few weeks and that has opened several spots.  If you have a 3 year old that you didn't think was ready for preschool last September, but who you think is ready now,  maybe they would like to join us in January.  Or maybe you have a 4 year old that isn't currently enrolled in preschool and who would like to have that experience for 5 months before attending kindergarten next fall.  Just drop Cindy an email or give her a call and we'll chat about whether this is a good fit for your child.

A new year of preschool

We've just completed our first week of preschool and again I have two DARLING classes of students!  Our first week has been full and eventful.  

The kids have loved doing Guessing Can!  Guessing can is part of our circle time each day.  Children are assigned beforehand to bring an item from home that is usually tied into our theme or the letter we're working on.  For example, since we were studying the letter Aa they might bring an apple, a toy alligator or anything else that begins with an Aa.  Then they hide the item in a #10 coffee can and give the rest of the class clues to what's inside.  The class uses their deductive skills to guess what's inside.  This week it was so cute because several of the kids who were assigned guessing can just couldn't contain themselves.  When I asked one little boy "Is it an animal?" he responded "no it's applesauce".

We also learned what a #1 looks like and sang along to a DVD from Heidi songs  http://www.heidisongs.com/index.php about the number one.  The words are "Number one, number one, you are long and straight and tall.  Number one, number one, you're always first of all".  The kids LOVE to sing.  We learned the chant about 5 little monkeys swinging from a tree, because there's an ALLIGATOR in it and Alligator begins with A.  They enjoyed performing this chant for the parents during parent pickup.  They also sang "If you're happy and you know it" letting everyone know that "yes" they are happy.

We read "10 apples up on top" by Dr. Seuss, "Counting Apples" by Joan Holub and "The Pout-Pout Fish goes to school".  

We ate 3 types of apples for snack time and took votes on which one was best.  Red Delicious apples were the winners over Granny Smith's and Galas.  Another day we had friendship gorp.  Each child poured a different ingredient into the bowl, we stirred it together and everyone got a scoop.  The snack followed a discussion about how each of us in the class is different but we can all have fun together.

We practiced painting with watercolors and many of the kids opted the next day to paint additional paintings during free choice.

During our little scientist time we blended blue and yellow water and found out it makes green.

We made alligators from construction paper.  I got this cute idea from preschoolalphabet.blogspot.com!  

This next week we'll be studying the letter Bb, the number 2,  introduce our first sight word "and", investigate more science about the color wheel and talk more about "Courage" which is our overall theme for September.  We'll also begin work on our "All about me" books.

Registration for Fall 2016 is now open!

If you're interested in registering for Fall 2016, please download the registration form and return it to me with the registration fee of $50 to hold your spot!  If you have questions or would like to see the preschool, just drop me an email.

October - A time of daydreaming, imagination, a trip to the Farmstead and Halloween!

We took our first field trip to The Farmstead in Meridian.  We rode a hay wagon, picked pumpkins, rode a cow train, jumped on a giant inflatable pillow and "swam" through the corn bin.  Often the best kind of learning happens when you think you're "just having fun"!

We continued learning our letters and their sounds.  We learned Ee is

 for elephant and engine (we built fire engines from our snack foods).  We also discovered that Ee can say it's real name as in the word eagle!  We talked about how important Aa and Ee are because they are vowels and there's a vowel in every word we read! 

We learned Ff is for fall and fish and Gg is for ghost and gumballs and H is for Halloween and hippo and Jj is for jack-o-lantern!  We began singing songs about our numbers 0-10.  We use the DVD "Jumpin Numbers and Shakin Shapes" by Heidi Songs!  This helps the children to hear, see and move their bodies in association with the numbers. Click this link if you would like to see a sample https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=jumpin+numbers+and+shakin+shapes+number+8   

We do a lot of singing in our school.  We turn on "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" when it's time to clean up a project and move to another activity.  By the second or third week of school they only had to hear a few notes before they would all say "It's chicka, chicka, hurry clean up!"  We also sang songs and chants like "Baby fish, do do do do do do, baby fish do do do do do do, baby fish do do do do do do baby fish.  Mama fish....."  They sang "Five little ducks" when we were working on the letter D.  They sang "The Autumn Song" from Scholastic's Calendar Time and Flip Chart.  https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=jumpin+numbers+and+shakin+shapes+number+8  The lyrics are sung to the tune of "London Bridges"   Windy Breezes blow around, blow around, blow around, Windy breezes blow around in the autumn.  Autumn leaves come tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down.  Autumn leaves come tumbling down On the ground.  Take a rake and pile them up, pile them up, pile them up.  Take a rake and pile them up And jump right in!"  They loved dancing and moving to this music as they learned that Autumn and Fall are two words to describe the same thing.  Their favorite songs during October were "I'm a mean old Witch" and "Five little pumpkins".  

We read several books about using our imagination like "Quick as a Cricket"   And "Where the Wild Things Are"    We also read "It's Not a Box" and then followed up with our own "imagination boxes".  

Of course we finished up the month with a Halloween party!  The kids wore their costumes and we played bowling for ghosts, Halloween bingo and ate spooky treats!

September 2015 - A new school year begins!

My darling AM class came in confident, excited and enthusiastic!

The first day they began by finding their names and practicing writing skills!

Playing with play dough was a big hit too!

Story time seems to be a favorite for many of them.

They love building a town with roads, cars and  buildings!

Getting to "play" on the computer is fun too!

September's theme was courage!  We learned a new song which is sung to the tune of "Bingo".  The words are "If you climb a tree even though it's high then you are being brave. B-R-A-V-E, B-R-A-V-E, B-R-A-V-E then you are being brave!!  If you try something new even though it's hard then you are being brave......."  This is an original by Miss Cindy :)

They took this song to heart.  They wanted to do lots of things that were new and hard.  In the first month we learned letters Aa, Bb, Cc and Dd.  We learned their names, their shapes, the sounds they make, and lots of words that begin with those sounds. We began making an ABC book by adding a page for every new letter we learned.  We counted how many days were on the calendar and started learning the names of the days of the week.  We painted pictures and learned to use scissors and how to hold a pencil correctly.   We jumped on the trampoline and climbed on the play equipment, blew bubbles and drew with chalk during the beautiful month of September!

These are the cute kiddos in my PM class.

We are off to a great start!!!