Today in Preschool!

Today in preschool we:

• celebrated Liam's birthday!
• worked on our number book (hopeful we will finish before the break).
• enjoyed a new center- "Santa's Workshop!" The children loved playing 'Santa and his elves' as they worked to make toys and put them in the toy shoot to send them on their way (I just provided a workbench and the children provided ALL the imagination).
• learned about changing of the months and what happens in December at CircleTime.
• Read a book, "The Legend of the Candy Cane"  then talked about how candy canes are a pattern.
• created our own patterns on our felt boards
• painted our Candy Cane patterns with our thumbs!
• enjoyed Liam's birthday treat!

What a day!  We are adjusting well to the changes and have some more exciting days ahead.
See you tomorrow!!!

Looking ahead:

1. School tomorrow and Thursday (show-n-tell).
2. Field Trip to the library next Tuesday.
3. Next Thursday is our PJ party (and last day before the break).

We Love Our Families!

To in preschool we discussed families.  We had great conversations about Moms, Dads, Grandparents, and even dogs (because they are family, too).
We also:

• worked on our cutting skills
• enjoyed centers (the children loved the new center where they we able to string alphabet beads)
• worked on sitting, listening, counting, and singing skills during Circle Time
• read, "Alice the Fairy" by David Shannon
• discussed families
• introduced the children to my 'stick figure' family
• enjoyed making our own stick figure families - they titled them "Family Creations" 
• enjoyed the weather outside (are we going to have another one of those no snow/water years?)
• focused on letter Ee

We also welcomed a guest, Oxtin, who joined us for part of the day.  He may be coming to the preschool.

It was a great day.
jen

Fall

We are continuing our theme of Fall and working hard to understand more about the seasons of our Earth.  Today we:

• practiced our names
• sorted fall leaves with UPPER and lower-case letters on them
• enjoyed centers where we worked with blocks, legos, alphabet matching, and, of course, pretend play.  
• sang, counted, listed days of the week, recited poems and such during Circle Time
• read Fall Leaves Fall by Zoe Hall
• gathered our clipboards and crayons and ventured outside to 'find' our class tree, then closely looked at the tree then drew what OUR tree looks like in the Fall
• practiced writing skills as we wrote out the word Fall
• enjoyed snack and outside time
• had an EVENTFUL show-n-tell
• ended the day with our Scholastic magazine 1,2,3 Autumn and watched a Scholastic video on how a pumpkin grows.

Another enjoyable day here.  It is so wonderful to see the  bonds forming between friends and watching new friendships blooming.

Thank you for the good times with your children!
Jen

FALL::

Fall is the time when the leaves fall down.
Orange, and yellow
and golden brown.
Fall is the time when the leaves fall down.

That is the poem/song we learned today about the Season we are discussing in Preschool.

Today, we also:

• -worked with our names (we are getting them!!).
• - did leaf rubbings and also took time to really LOOK at leaves.
• -enjoyed centers and individual work time with the teacher (on letters & sounds).
• - discussed the turning of the months.
• -read The Four Seasons
• Enjoyed one of my favorite activities: Fall Rock Painting.  

Fall Rock Painting:
Each child marks their paper with their name.  Then each child gets to choose the Fall colors they want to dob on their paper.  (It is important to let them experiment with squeezing the containers so they understand what "a little" and "a lot" really is.) Then came the only part I helped them with - rolling up the long paper and putting it into an oatmeal container.  They picked two rocks and tossed them in the container and closed the lid.  Then the fun began!  They shook it as long as they wanted to - some decided to go hard, some decided to roll it on the table.  After they thought they were done, they opened the lid and pulled out their unique masterpiece!
*I didn't use brown because I thought I would take over all the other colors, but next time, I for sure will - it will look more Fallish!

We then:

• enjoyed playing outside -for maybe the last time for a while :(
• ate our snack.
• worked hard on letter Cc.
• and ended the day with show n tell.

It was a wonderful Fall day!

Looking forward:
- Letter Cc homework is in folders.
- Next week we will continue with the theme of Fall.

About Today...

I have some 'splainin to do! Do you know those days that go nothing like planned? That was this day - in such a good way. Today was the day the conversations happened. Centers took a bit longer today (explained below) but snack time was extraordinarily long due to yummy food and funny chats. So I am sorry there was no project today - nothing to show for our hard work- but please know that a lot DID happen today. Today we:

• worked hard on our names
• enjoyed stamping at the Writing Center (we chose stamps then had the option to write their name)
• Listened to a CD on tape of 'Chicka Chicka Boom Boom'
• Watched THE BEST ALPHABET video - it's from the Waterford Institute.  The children loved are very involved in this video.
• Enjoyed Isaac's fave snack - "ChipsnQueso" (one word) where the children talked and ate and talked and ate.  For literally 20 minutes!  That's where it all changed.
• Ran and played outside (I think if I told them no outside time they'd of strung me up by my toes - they love it).

had show n tell.  Thank you, Porter, for scaring the wits out of us with your LIVE cat-eye spider      

All in all it was a wonderful day. 

What Happened Today...

Today was tricky - it was our make up field trip to the orchard, but no orchard could be found- all the apples are gone. So we went another way: we had a pumpkin mystery! At the park we spread out pumpkins with a letter of the alphabet written on each one. We had a scavenger hunt (sans clues) to find the pumpkins then had to put them in alphabetical order. For a prize they earned a bag of candy pumpkins (sorry about the candy - not often - but just had to). Also, today we: - worked with bendy sticks - enjoyed centers (lots of reading in the tree/play house today) - listened to a Halloween song choice - the children are going to choose the song we sing to you on Halloween - read "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" - made shape apple trees -enjoyed snack time -played outside -ended the day at the park Thank you for a fun day with these children. See you tomorrow!

one more way to keep in touch...

A blog is a great way to keep you informed of changes, upcoming events, and especially what we do here each preschool day. This way you can ask your child more detailed questions about their day. So we will start it up again! Today we: - drew pictures of what we would give Isaac for his birthday. (Some funny ones: a pillow pet, fire, and a ME- from Daisy.) - we played in centers. Today is our last day with the Apple Seeds but we will replace it with some Halloween fun on Thursday. - Read "A Day at an Apple Orchard" and cut open Red, Yellow, and Green apple. We got to taste-test each apple to decide our personal favorite and colored in our favorite so everyone would know. We discussed and shared how we all have different likes and it's important to respect them (We wouldn't want to make fun). - We loved playing outside. - We especially enjoyed getting to know Isaac better and celebrating his special day with some rainbow cupcakes (thanks, Brea)! It was a great day! Looking Forward: - Tomorrow (Wednesday) is our makeup Field Trip. Because all the apples are now gone we will be making our own apples to pick. You will still pick your child up at the park (at the end of 910 West) at the regular time. -Thursday we will be "cheering" Isaac's name and he will be sharing his favorite snack. Reminder that tuition is normally due before the new month begins, but because of the rescheduling it may have gotten confusing. No problem - just a reminder that it is now due. Thanks!