Tuesday, September 7, 2021

  Welcome back to preschool...I pray you had a relaxing Labor Day weekend!

One quick reminder before we look at our day...

Preschool Playground Night…Join me (and all preschool classes) on the evening of Thursday, September 9 from 5:30 - 6:30 pm at Veterans Tribute Park on Kisker Rd.  A great way to meet and get to know other preschool families at Zion…and have a little fun too!

Here we go...

We began our day with a special check-in!  Each child completed his/her "September My Name" for his/her portfolio.  Each friend could choose whether or not he/she wanted to use his/her name tag for guidance!  While each friend wrote his/her name I took special note of :

pencil grip

right or left hand

copied name or wrote from memory

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, another friend would choose a different shape, until we found that sneaky mouse! Identifying/recognizing shapes is an early math skill.

We headed off to chapel in the commons today!

Pastor Rouland led chapel today, he reminded us about different kinds of peace. Peace and sharing with others, and peace and quiet (relaxation). But, Jesus is the one who gives us real peace. He loves us, forgives us, and is always with us!

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...another GREAT mat man is born!

We took full advantage of the awesome weather for large motor time outside!

Time for small groups (centers)!

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!  

In our journals, we had to recall something fun that we did over the long weekend.  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.

With Mrs. Cooper we played a fun game of Alphabet BINGO!  She said 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.

We had the best time on the parking lot playground! Especially since we had a little extra time outside before lunch today...

And... that's a wrap on this Tuesday!

Thursday, September 2, 2021

Happy Fri...I mean Thursday from Mrs. Mudd's class! 

Some friends chose to express creativity as they painted with watercolor paints.  We are also learning patience!  Many friends wanted to paint, but we only have room for 3 at a time.  So, if you want a turn to paint and the easel is full, put your paints on the table (in a line) so we know who is next!  Then go play until your name is called for your turn.

We enjoyed finding geoboards with rubber bands out this morning! A great way to improve small motor control, hand-eye coordination while practicing forming shapes!

During morning meeting, we noticed our weather tally changed from August to September, and that our August pie graph was filled in.  We learned what a pie graph is and discussed what the different colors meant.  We decided we had the most sunny days and the least cloudy days.  Comparing data and understanding more, less, and the same are early math skills.

We headed to chapel in the church sanctuary led by Mr. Debrick, school principal. He reminded us that we are all servants of God, and that we should always share the love of God with others!

Science Time!!!

Scientist Mudd came to visit today for our first class science experiment!  Science enables children to explore and experiment while developing skills using the scientific method of problem solving: observing, predicting, testing predictions and generalizations.

First we made some observations about dirt and water.  What does it feel like? What does it look like? What does it smell like? What does it sound like?

Then we made some predictions (our friends not here yesterday) about what will happen when we add water to dirt...

Time to mix it up!!!

So, what did happen???  We all decided that we made MUD!!!  

 We then made observations about the mud that we created!  

So far our best weather day yet for outside time...it was PERFECT!!!!

Time for small groups (centers)!

With me we practiced letter identification/recognition (early literacy skill), and writing 6 different letters (E, F, H, L, I, and T).  I showed the group the letter, if a friend knew the letter he/she would shout it out (yes...we were excited to get to shout in the classroom!).  We would then say it together.  Finally each child did his/her best to write the letter as I spoke how to write the letter (for L, big line down, little line across the bottom).  This may have been a first time to write letters not in his/her name...very proud of each friend!

With Mrs. Dose we worked collaboratively on a piece of art for our classroom!  We remembered that "God Keeps His Promises" by painting and creating an awesome rainbow.  Excellent job following directions and working as a team!  The final piece looks amazing!!!

We improved large motor control with a little dance party (to VBS songs).  Not only did we get the wiggles out, we had to remember 3 directions:

No running

Stay on the brown carpet

Hands and feet to yourself

We sorted pom poms again by color.  But, today, we did it by ourselves AND we had to use tongs (strengthens finger, wrist, and hand muscles) to pick up the poms! No fingers allowed!!!

Then...more of that gorgeous weather for time on the parking lot playground!

That's a wrap on this short week...see you after Labor Day!