Tuesday, April 2, 2019

We had a great Tuesday in preschool!

Two quick reminders...

12:00 Dismissal on Wednesday, April 10...for teacher in-service meetings. 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 (forms were sent home last week for those that need to register for half day care (due this Friday, 4/5). If you already signed up for 4/10 using a previous form, you do NOT need to send in the registration form again). We will not eat lunch at school this day (unless enrolled for 1/2 day care), but your child will need a morning snack.

There is NO school Friday, 4/19 and Monday, 4/22 in celebration of Easter!

Here we go...

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 write first and last name today! While each friend wrote his/her name I took special note of :

pencil grip

right or left hand

copied name or wrote from memory

We were excited to see a new manipulative out for free choice, interlox! How can you connect them to build up or out, or even both?!?!?

A little play time with some new pets at Palace Pets!

Some friends were working on teeny, tiny creations this morning! Such creativity being used while improving small motor control!

We noticed that another month has come and gone...it is now April!!! Our March pie graph had been colored in! We compared March to all of the other months. We noticed that only one other month had just 3 colors, and only one month had less than 3 colors.  Being able to compare and understand more, less, and the same is an early math skill!

 To wrap up morning meeting there were 7 Easter items, but some looked the same except for being a different color!  We studied them, reviewed the colors, and locked them in our brain.  Then, I covered them with a blanket and took 1 away...what was missing?  Taking one away couldn't fool them, so I took 2 away.  Two couldn't fool us today either!  Recognizing and recalling is an early cognitive skill.

Another beautiful morning to spend outside for large motor time!

Hudson returned the favorite book bag today, bringing in "Green Eggs and Ham" to share with us!  We loved hearing from Hudson about his favorite part of the book, and seeing his drawings.  We then enjoyed hearing the story as Mrs. Mudd read it to the class.

This activity is one way to encourage the love of reading.  Also, this activity allows the children (and teacher) to be introduced to new books!  Furthermore, it helps to continue to build home and school connections!

We introduced the letter "N" today!  

We remembered start your letter "at the top" then big line down, back to the top, big line down/diagonal, big line up for "N".  Then we came up with words that start with "N".

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

Then we practiced writing "N" with crayons (nice and short to reinforce proper grip)! 

Time for small groups (centers)!

We had some decorated eggs that were all mixed up!  First we sequenced them from smallest to biggest.  Then biggest to smallest!  Then, we noticed that some of them were decorated the same, so we sorted the eggs by decoration!  Sequencing and sorting are both early math skills.

With Mrs. Cooper, we had to help the plastic eggs be put back together again!  Each friend was given the bottom half of the egg with a lowercase letter.  His/her job was to say the letter and the sound it makes, then find the matching uppercase letter and snap the egg back together.  Not only did we practice recognizing/identifying letters and their sounds, putting the eggs together is great for improving small motor control!

We enjoyed quiet time on the carpet to "read" to self...understanding that letters make words and words tell us a story!

We improved our writing, interviewing, and math skills as we surveyed the preschool teachers/assistants. We asked the question, "Do you have a dog, cat, or other pet at your house?" Dogs received the most votes!!! 

Yay for another round of large motor time outside to get our bodies moving, climbing was quite popular today!

During Jesus time today we remembered Jesus loves us so much that He paid the ultimate price to save us from our sins, so we can live again with Him in heaven one day!

See you same time tomorrow!