Wednesday, May 14, 2014

End of year reminders!

Next week, May 19 - May 21 there is NO hot lunch being served.  Please bring a cold lunch these 3 days!

The last day of preschool is Wednesday, May 21.

Join us for "Popsicles at the Park" on Thursday, May 22 from 9:00 - 11:00 am at Laurel Park.  Come and play with your preschool friends and enjoy some yummy popsicles to kick off the summer!

Welcome to our Wednesday!

Another new center in our room this morning!!!  The children were able to use tangram shapes and explore them with mirrors.  Not only did they work on spatial relationships, but enjoyed learning more about themselves by simply looking in a mirror!

Kayla expressing her creativity as she draws pictures for Mom and Dad!

The beginnings of a lego creation...these 3 boys were discussing how to create the best "Zippy" out of legos!

More creating in the writing center!

Aidan was missing home a little bit, so he decided to look at family pictures to say hi to mom and dad!

Our lego creation turned into an entire lego and block city!!!  Great job working together!

Kinetic sand was open for sensory play today!!! We love getting to build with it, smash it, form it, pull it apart!!!  Great for working the finger, hand, and wrist muscles!

“Sensory play also contributes in crucial ways to brain development.  Think of it as ‘food for the brain.’ Stimulating the senses sends signals to children’s brains that help to strengthen neural pathways important for all types of learning.  For example, as children explore sensory materials, they develop their sense of touch, which lays the foundation for learning other skills, such as identifying objects by touch, and using fine-motor muscles.  The materials children work with at the sand and water table have many sensory attributes – they may be warm or cool, wet or dry, rough or smooth, hard or soft, textured or slimy.  Discovering and differentiating these characteristics is the first step in classification, or sorting- an important part of preschoolers’ science learning and discovery” (Gainsley, 2014, p.2)

Look at all the creating and writing!!!

Olivia and Kayla chose to read a book together!!!  

Derek and Sam were trying to figure out...hmmm...I see my hand in the mirror, but when I reach over there, it's not there!!!  They thought it was hilarious (It was fun to watch too!).

Back by popular demand...Who's Missing?  

Many of the children told me last week how much fun they had with this activity, so...to wrap up morning meeting, we practiced our recalling skills (cognitive).  Some of the children were given a chance to be "The Recaller".  He/she went to the opposite side of the room and hid his/her eyes. Another child hid under the blanket.  "The Recaller" returned and had to tell the group which child was "missing"!  Not only did we work on recalling, but also self regulation.  It was difficult to keep the secret of who was under the blanket, when all he/she wanted to do was shout it out!!!  This time was more difficult than last, as we had ALL students participating together.  Having to remember the 14 other students sitting on the stage is VERY tricky.  We still did a wonderful job!

We had a little extra time this morning for large motor time!!!  We danced to a fun song, "What Do the Letters Say?"  The kiddos had the best time dancing, but were learning too...letter recognition and letter sounds!

Pete the Cat came to visit again today, but with his white shoes!

Pete steps in many things, changing the color of his shoes.  But does Pete cry, goodness no!!!

During small groups, with me, each child got to trace his/her shoe (they thought it was awesome to get to take off a shoe and put it on the table!).  Once traced, with a color of his/her choice, he/she colored the shoe.  Then, he/she dictated to me what he/she stepped in, just like Pete!

We created in journals today!  It was free choice, he/she could choose to write a story, draw a picture, use stencils, or whatever he/she wanted to create.  This opportunity enables children to use a variety of materials for self-expression!

With Mrs. Dose, we worked on Pete's Patterns!!!  Since success for everyone is different.  Each child had to opportunity to finish coloring 2 shoe patterns that I had already started, then were able to color 2 shoe patterns that they created on their own, or had help from Mrs. Dose to get started!

It was a chilly day, but we still ENJOYED our outside time!!!

We did it!!!  We ate lunch in the cafeteria with the big kids!!!  Everyone thought it was so awesome and did a good job with this big change!!!  (We will eat there again tomorrow, but then back to the classroom for the rest of the year!)

During Jesus Time today, we talked about what a question is.  I drew a big question mark, then the children practiced writing big question marks in the air with magic fingers.  Then, thru questions, we were reminded of the story of Philip helping the man from Africa understand the Bible!!!  We did a great job remembering the story and remembering that we are God's children, that He loves so much!