Today was a great day!

Before I review our day, I want to explain a fun game to review names that you can play with your newly painted apple trees:
Place apples on (dried) painted apple tree (found in folder). These are the letters of each child's name. Place them randomly in the tree. Let the child "pick" the apple that comes first in their name... and so on. Play it as many times as they would like.
**An extension: make more apples by tracing and cutting one of the apples and work on last names (you may have to draw more black lines on the tree paper for this).

::Field Trip::
Oct 6th (Thursday)
A COUNTRY FARM
$3.50 per person {includes: hay ride, small pumpkin, witch craft and maze}
Please let me know ASAP who is coming from each family (also, if you're not planning to attend so I can get a car seat)
::more info to come::

Today we:
*made an apple puzzle to put together at home - and finish coloring if needed. (cutting skills are crucial in kindergarten and beyond, so we practice them a lot)
*played/worked in centers
*Sang our Apple Song (below)
*Drew a picture of our friend Cole
*Read "Johnny Appleseed"
*Painted our own apple trees with egg cartons
*Enjoyed Cole's favorite snack of Blueberry/Raspberry muffins and sliced peaches
*Played outside
Worked on forming the letter C correctly
*Had show-n-tell
*Played Pass the Apple (when all the children were in the center, we pretended to make applesauce with them!)
*Learned a good-bye song

PHEW! WHAT A DAY... WE ACCOMPLISHED A LOT!

Looking forward:
Kye is Star Student next week (then Liam, then Taryn)
We will study Colors
Field trip on Thursday

Apple Song (to I'm a little Teapot):
I'm a little apple, red and round.
High up in the tree is where I'm found.
When I'm ripe and ready, come pick me,
An apple orchard is where I'll be.

Please let me know if you have any concerns or suggestions.
Enjoy your day!
Jen

Apples Apples Everywhere!

So, another fun day at preschool, where we:
~wrote and practiced letter Bb
~played and worked in centers
~drew a picture of our friend, Peyton
~Enjoyed her favorite treat of zuchinni bread and grapes (seriously, gobbled up by the children!)
~painted and stamped with apple halves - we also learned how to put on and take off paint shirts, so it's easier for them to get ready for a project when their in kindergarten (AN INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT SKILL WHEN TEACHER TO STUDENT RATIO IS NOW SOMETIMES 30 TO 1).
**My goal is always to do what I can now, to help them feel successful in kindergarten. And it's in the big things like letters and numbers, but equally important is the little things, like listening to instructions and cleaning up after ourselves.**
~played outside
~and, of course, show-n-tell!

Looking forward:
We will study apples more.
Star is Cole!

Just a note: Please don't feel rushed to pay October tuition right away. The envelopes are a reminder of what's to come. We established that tuition is due before the beginning of the next month, which doesn't fall until next week. I just learned last year to give more time, so that's why I passed the envelopes out now, but please don't feel like when you get that you must pay right away... just before the next month begins. (Did I ramble or make any sense, who knows?!?)

On a side note: Thank you to Tyler for bringing apples from his "hobba's" farm.

Preschool is so a'PEEL'ing!

This week's theme: Apples/seeds

Today we:
-Made our name with 'bendy sticks' (small motor)
-Introduced a new center: Apple seed Play. It's like a sand table - but with "apple seeds" - really it's dry black beans -shhh!! They measure, sift and fill bowls with apple seeds.
-Got to know our Star: Peyton
-Worked with her name.
-Read A Day at an Apple Orchard to learn about how apples grow.
-Made paper apples
Cut into an apple and counted the seeds. First we made a guess "called an estimate" as to how many seeds we thought would be inside, then cut it open, counted the seeds and ate the apple slices.
-Played outside.
-Danced the Hokey Pokey
-Learned a new song: Apples and Bananas

Looking Forward:
School is tomorrow!
Tomorrow is Show-n-Tell (apple theme if they feel so inclined)
Letter B homework due tomorrow. This is how I'll teach the formation:
Touch the top (at the 'x'), straight line down and 'bump' the bottom. Jump back up (to the 'x') then bounce around to the middle and bounce around to the bottom.
You can also say 'did you hear that word BOUNCE? it starts with "b" (sound). What other words start with 'b'?
Next week:
Star Student: Cole
Theme: Apples

{Sign up Schedule}

::Mystery Reader Schedule::
Oct 13 - Cole's Mom (or whoever)
Oct 27 - Tyler's Mom
Nov 10 - Peyton's Mom
Jan 12 - Kye's Mom
Feb 16 - Open
Mar 8 - Open
April 19 - Open


::Star of the Week Schedule::
Week of:
Sept 19th - Peyton
Sept 26th - Cole
Oct 4th - Kye
Oct 11th - Liam
Oct 18th - Taryn

Another Amazing Day + Make up day for the blog!

What I thought was going to be a relaxed, easy-going, story-filled day of Preschool Fun quickly morphed into me thinking preschool needs to be 3 hours long to include all we need to get done in our short time together!!!

It was an amazing day filled with:
*OUR FIRST MYSTERY READER!!!!! A BIG thank you to Chloe's grandmother! She read a sweet book about 'Wodney' (Rodney).
*Working on our Preschool Friends book.
*Reading "My Friend Bear"
*Completing our Star Names project.
*Discussing and practicing the letter Aa.
*Tyler sharing is favorite snack.

So much to do with them... so little time!
It was a great day!

LOOKING FORWARD::
School is MONDAY AND TUESDAY next week.
Peyton is our Star of the Week.
Our theme is: Apples/seeds

Happy Day... Chloe!

Today started with a BANG! It's Chloe's special day here at Preschool.
Some of the things we accomplished were that we:
*made a birthday book for Chloe, wishing her many fun things.
*Played in centers
*Sang our Song of the Week
*Read Clap Your Hands & I Like School
*Made place mats for our seats and snack time.
*Had our first Show-n-tell
*enjoyed a birthday treat of CUPCAKES from Chloe!

We really worked hard on "sitting smart" (that's my term for criss-cross applesauce) and cleaning up right when we hear the Clean Up Song (not continuing to play). If we work hard now to understand why we do these things then the rest of the year will be cake!

I will be placing the book order tomorrow; you still have time to log on or bring the order to me.

Looking Forward:
Star of the Week: Tyler
*We will be working with our names

Thanks, it was an awesome week!
Jen

A few things to remember...

Tomorrow will be our first show-n-tell. Remember to help your child choose 1 item. We will connect the item to our theme in some way and give each child the opportunity to talk to the class and answer questions (a wonderful social skill to develop).

Book orders due tomorrow - I'll be ordering on Friday.

Mystery Reader (these dates aren't set in stone - if another day during the month works better, just let me know)
{Sign up changes}
September is still open if any preschool day works for anyone (dad, grandparents, etc)
Oct 13 - Cole's Mom
Oct 25 - Tyler's Mom (she has a fun Halloween book she wants to share - GREAT!)
Nov 10 - Peyton's Mom
Jan 12 - Kye's Mom
Feb - open
Mar - open
April - open
{just let me know if you'd like one of the dates}

Tyler is Star of the Week next week. (Thanks Jess, already have his stuff.)

A huge REMINDER that preschool will be on Monday and Tuesday the week of Sept 19th. Due to our (WHOLE entire family's) yearly pilgrimage to our Mecca (Disneyland), I will be gone on Thursday and want to make sure the children have two days of preschool that week (+ that's Peyton's "Star" week, so I'll make sure I talk to you, Renae).

Thanks for all your wonderful comments and support!
Jen

First Day!!!

We did it! We conquered the big day! I just kept having this thought in the back of my mind, 'this is so easy. I love this'. I just can't believe the difference it makes to feel like I can truly affect the lives of the little ones I teach. It was a good day!

So here is what happened during those two short hours:
*We worked with Playdough and cookie cutters.
* Learned about and worked in centers.
{Chloe went straight for the magnetic (paper) dolls. Taryn, Tyler, and Cole set up the train station. Kye went for the crash cars. And Peyton went up in the Reading Nook. By the end of centers the children had enjoyed building castles, playing in the kitchen, having a tea party, having a car wash, and much more).
*At circle time, we began with a song (sung to: if you're happy):
If you like to come to school, raise your hand.
If you like to come to school, raise your hand.
If you like to come to school, if you like to come to school,
If you like to some to school, raise your hand.
*Our Star of the Week is Chloe. We learned about her favorite things, worked with her name by using bean bag letters, and cheered for her.
*We read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and then created our own 'Chicka Trees' with the class rules on the leaves {so you can be aware of what our class rules are}.
*For snack we made edible 'Chicka Trees' out of graham crackers, apples, and grapes.
*After outside play, we came in for our next circle time where we introduced and played our first Homework Game. Every month we will get a homework game to keep and play with. This month: Gone Fishing for Colors!

The children are great at cleaning up after themselves. We are going to have a wonderful year!

Reminders:
* Book Orders are due Thursday.
*We will celebrate Chloe's birthday on Thursday.

Thanks!
Mrs. Wimmer
{pictures to come soon}