Tuesday, April 5, 2016

We had a fun Tuesday in preschool!

Three quick reminders...

12:00 Dismissal on Wed., 4/13 for teacher in-service meetings.   We will not be eating lunch at school this day.  However, we will have morning snack, so please remember to pack a snack for your child! (If you register your child to attend half day care in the afternoon, they will need a sack lunch with a drink and a snack with a drink.)

Half-Day Care Registration…A registration form for half day care on Wednesday, 4/13/16 was sent home just before Easter break. School will dismiss at 12:00 on 4/13.  It is expected that your child be picked up from school at 12:00 on this day, unless you register your child to attend half-day care.  If you would like for your child to attend half-day care that afternoon, please fill out and return the registration form by this Friday, 4/8.

Zion’s Annual Dinner Auction…This year’s event is set for Friday, April 15, 2016 from 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm. All are invited to a fun evening at Old Hickory Golf Club to raise funds for our school.  Invitations have been mailed and you can now gather your table and send your reservations into the school office. 

Can you believe it's already April!!!  

While others were enjoying free choice time...

Each friend (not here yesterday) began his/her day with a special check-in!  Each child completed his/her "April My Name" for his/her portfolio.  Each friend was asked to try writing his/her first name without using his/her nametag! I then asked every friend to write his/her last name.  All were successful, some using nametags, some without his/her nametag!!!  While each friend wrote his/her name I took special note of :

pencil grip

right or left hand

copied name or wrote from memory

did he/she know the letters in own name

And...after some great time outside...we decided that it was COLD this morning (even though it was so sunny!)

Our March pie graph is now all filled in!  We all decided that black (cloudy) was the biggest part of the "pie" so we had the most cloudy days in March.  Then, the smallest part of the "pie" was green (windy), so we had the least windy days in March.  Then, a friend noticed that yellow (sunny) and blue (rainy) looked the same, or equal! We realized that March has had more rainy days than any other month so far in 2016. Being able to compare more, less, and the same is an early math skill.

Happy 4th Birthday Owen!  Thank you for sharing your special day with us!

Wiggle worm was here to welcome the start of baseball season!!!  If a friend picked a number on a baseball, that friend said the number aloud.  Then I gave the class an activity to complete that number of times...

Let's do 7 arm curls!

 If a wiggle worm was picked...

WIGGLE, WIGGLE, WIGGLE...and FREEZE! A great way to practice self regulation, having to stop and freeze when having so much fun wiggling!

Today we introduced the letter "X"!  

We remembered start your letter "at the top" then big line down diagonal, big line down diagonal to write an "X"! Then we came up with words that start with "X"! (We quickly learned it is hard to find words (that we understand) that start with "X"!)

Anytime one of our friends thinks of a word that starts with "X" we can add it to our big letter.  Or, if at home, your child sees a small picture or item that starts with an "X", bring it in and he/she can glue it to our big letter!

Then we practiced writing "X" with our special handwriting without tears crayons (nice and short to reinforce proper grip)! 

Time for small groups (centers)!

With Mrs. Mudd we each worked on a piece of our "friendship quilt".  Each friend drew a picture of his/herself or someone else being kind to a friend.  Then I took dictation as each friend told me about his/her picture.  When all pieces are complete, we will tie all the pieces together to make one big "quilt"!

With Mrs. Dose we practiced letter identification, letter sounds and proper formation of letters as we wrote letters in shaving cream with our fingers!

We worked together putting rabbits in order from 1 - 20!  Once in order, each friend had to figure out how to measure "how many rabbits tall are you"?  Not only were we practicing number recognition and sequence, we used problem solving skills to figure out that we had to lay next to the rabbits to be measured!

We improved small motor control as we weaved strings in and out of lacing cards!

Luke returned the favorite book bag today! He shared with us "There's a Wocket in My Pocket!".  We loved hearing all of the silly rhymes (and silly pictures) in this book.  Thank you for sharing this book with us Luke!

We had not been to the preschool playground in a while, so we ventured down there to check it out!

 

During Jesus Time today we realized that we can be sad and happy at the same time!  Jesus dying on the cross can make us sad.  But knowing that He did this to take away our sins and give us forgiveness can make us happy!