Though Halloween looked a little different this year at school, we still had a blast! It was so much fun seeing all the children dressed up in their costumes!! Our day was filled with Halloween centers, crafts, a ghost dance party, and our leader for the day was Miss Kate's Halloween spider named "Spidey." It was a great day!
The children loved exploring everything that makes them who they are! We talked about things that we all have in common and things that are unique and different about each of us. We examined many physical characteristics such as skin, hair, and eye color. We talked about our families, names, and some of our favorite things. Hope everyone enjoyed the All About Me books and placemats that came home! Introducing............... Matman!! Matman is part of the curriculum we use called, Get Set For School. Matman teaches us how to draw a detailed person. We will practice this throughout the school year. This is also an introduction to the various wood pieces we use to build letters. Matman is made up of big lines, little lines, big curves, and little curves. This is the language the children will hear as I teach them to build and write the letters of the alphabet. We start by using these wood pieces for games to learn the names. Below we are playing a game called Tap, Tap, Tap.......a class favorite! We are also strengthening and practicing our crayon grip with our personal name cards, building and writing our names each day, as well as working in our own My First School Book. This book goes along with the Get Set For School program. We use these a few times a month. Some songs we are singing and books we are reading: So excited to be back on the playground and to start each day with some mindful breathing and yoga flows!!!
Both classes had a great start to the year! The children seem very comfortable wearing masks and we are doing our very best to keep some distance between each other while in the classroom. Over the past two weeks we have been learning our new routines, meeting new friends, and exploring everything about our new classroom. This is what we have been up to: Below are some highlights of our classroom: The children love to follow along with our schedule. They always know what is coming up next. During circle time each day, we usually incorporate a song or a poem. This week we sang Who Stole The Cookie, to help recognize and learn each other's names. At the end of circle we play a quick math or literacy game. This week we guessed which letter the worm was hiding under. Some projects we have been working on include painting the first letter of our name with glue and jazzing it up with a class favorite, GLITTER! To go along with a book we read, Froggy Goes To School , by Jonathan London, we made our own version of Froggy. We have also been exploring many different materials that we will be using throughout the year. We made a collage practicing the correct way to use a glue stick and scissors. We ended the week dot paining our full names. In science we examined different rocks and shells. We found things that were the same and different and picked our favorite of each to draw or trace. Each class also went on a nature walk. Below are some books we have read to go along with the All About School theme.
Over the next two weeks our theme is All About Me! This month we have been busy building, designing, and creating. The dramatic play area was turned into a dig site. The children had the opportunity to become young architects and create blueprints. From there they were able to use a variety of materials to bring their designs to life. The children also had the opportunity to solve a problem with legos. Each child was given a lego person. Their job was to build a structure that covered the person so he or she would not get wet during a rainstorm. The children worked hard creating their individual lego shelter. During small groups we have been working on letter writing activities. We are starting with the letters that have straight lines including, L, E, F, and H. In math we have been building number sense with quantification activities. In literacy we are working on rhyming. For the past two months the children have been signing in each day as a part of our daily routine. As seen in the pictures above, each child has a name card where they first build their name, then write it on the card. I have seen excellent growth in name writing skills!!!
During the month of February we started talking about different feelings and emotions. We read the book, The Color Monster by Anna Llenas. The children were able to make their own monsters based on how they were feeling that day. We also talked about friendship and what it means to be a good friend to someone. We finished the month with different Valentine's Day activities and a celebration.
During our winter theme the dramatic play area was transformed into an ice rink. Lots of hockey games and visits to the hot chocolate stand! At the sensory table the children worked hard to free the polar animals that were stuck in the ice. During small groups we played a counting penguin game, started to write the numbers 1-5, and practiced letter recognition. At the easels the children were able to make winter scenes with blue, white, and silver paint.
During the month of November we learned about nutrition and making healthy food choices. We painted with vegetables, made fruit and veggie smoothies as a class, made healthy food choices at our Preschool Grocery Store, and enjoyed stories such as There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie. Each child had the opportunity to feed the Lady.
The wind and cold didn't stop us from having fun at Ward's Berry Farm last week. The animals were a big hit! This friendly goat wanted to join our preschool class:)
The colors and smells of fall are starting to show up in our classroom. Our fall trees are on display and will be sent home at the end of the week. The sensory table is filled with the smell of apples and cinnamon. Some songs we have been singing are: I am Special and Five Autumn Leaves. The OPEN chart below is how the children make their first choice during center time. We are working on using complete sentences when coming up and making a play choice.
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November 2021
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