It was great to see everyone's big smiles this Monday morning!
A couple reminders...
This Wednesday, September 2 is a half day (school dismisses at 12:00 this day) for teacher in-service. Please make arrangements to have your child picked up at 12:00 this day. We will not be eating lunch at preschool, but we will have morning snack. If you pre-registered your child to attend half day care in the afternoon, he/she will need a cold lunch with a drink, a snack with a drink, and his/her nap bag (we will send down with him/her) while at half day care!
There is NO school on Monday, September 7 in observance of Labor Day.
On to our day...
We didn't waste anytime choosing free choice activities today! Many were excited to see we had "good junk" out for creating. Not only did we improve small motor control while gluing on little "sparkles" and pieces of paper. We also strengthened the finger, wrist, and hand muscles using glue and cutting with scissors!
Brooke and Korrinne found the Handwriting Without Tears magnet boards! Here they are practicing writing B and D with magnets. Then, one swipe and tada, it's a clean screen to write again!
Sophie is concentrating as she carefully places each rubber band on the geoboard! While improving hand-eye coordination, she also worked on making squares and rectangles!
Some of our friends had a great time playing house! Aubrey gets a chance to me mom! When I asked these 3 friends, "What does mom do?" Their response, "Well, she cooks!" Dramatic play enables children to practice language and social skills while interacting with other children in an informal setting.
Ben and SJ planned and worked together as they designed shields for their dramatic play!
Laina and Natalia turned into beautiful butterflies, flying away, in their land of dramatic play!
And...now that it is almost September, the August weather has arrived!!! Did the warmer temps keep us from a great time outside? Goodness no! Today the activity of choice was climbing, climbing, and more climbing!
To wrap up morning meeting, a special friend arrived for the first time this year...Tricky Mouse! Tricky Mouse brought shapes with him today. You see, Tricky Mouse, hid under a shape (while we squeezed our eyes shut tight). We then had to figure out which shape he was hiding under. If a friend chose "square" we would say together...
Tricky Mouse, tricky mouse are you in the square house?
If yes...woo hoo, we found him. If not, a friend would choose a different shape, until we found that sneaky mouse! Identifying/recognizing shapes is an early math skill.
We then took a few minutes to decide which number had the most, least, or the same on our inches tall graph. We all agreed that 38 inches tall had the most with 6 friends, while 39 inches had the least with 0 friends. We also noticed that 37, 44, and 46 had the same with 1 friend each. While 40, 42, and 45 also had the same with 2 friends each! Understanding more, less, and the same is an early math skill!
We LOVED getting to meet mat man! First I built mat man as we all listened to the mat man song!
Then, our friends helped build mat man all on their own while listening to the mat man song! Mat man helps children to learn body awareness (body parts, body functions). Putting him together as a class improves socialization skills (participating, following directions, and taking turns).
Way to go Mrs. Mudd's class...a GREAT mat man is born!
Time for small groups (centers)!
With Mrs. Burnham we played a fun game of Alphabet BINGO! She showed a letter, each friend said the letter name and letter sound. Then, found that same letter on their BINGO board and covered it up! Identifying letters and their sounds is an early literacy skill!
We tried our best at sequencing beach balls in order from smallest to biggest or biggest to smallest (or both)! Comparing and sequencing is an early math skill.
In our journals, we had to recall something fun that we did on Saturday or Sunday. Each friend then drew pictures or "wrote" a story telling us all about the fun they had while not as school! Writing in journals enables children to feel a sense of pride in their development of writing skills.
Finally, with me, each friend had the opportunity to draw his/her own mat man! I did sing the song and drew my mat man at the same time in case some friends needed a little guidance! Drawing mat man teaches how to organize and place body parts correctly!
Time for some larger motor activities in the gym!
During Jesus time today we heard he story of Noah's Ark! We realized how amazing it was that Noah trusted God enough to build such a big boat and fill it with 2 of each animal, when it wasn't evening raining outside. But, he did build that ark, that kept him and his family safe while it rained and rained and rained. But, when it finally stopped raining God made a big rainbow and promised he would never send another flood to cover the whole world. We then remembered our rainbow that we made last week and that "God keeps His promises!"
