9/10/2015 - Transportation Unit

Today was a wonderful day at preschool.  I am really coming to love my job and look forward to seeing your little ones each time they come.  Today I threw in some new things and it will take some adjusting but the kids are really grasping it well.

 After circle time we did a word strip of our names.  I will be doing this with the children at the beginning of each unit.  We did one with seashells for our ocean theme.  Today we used cars to match and spell our names.  They did great!

 Please keep practicing writing their names each day and learning to recognize the letter sequence.
I'm sorry I didn't get those name strips sent home.  I will make sure they go home on Tuesday.  

 I am really happy about how the individual learning sessions are going.  I pull out two or three children at a time and work with them on certain skills while the others are playing with centers.  I think the kids really enjoy it and it's giving me the opportunity to teach things that are too involved for the entire group.

 We worked on ABABAB patterns again today.  They were much faster and I could see the little light going on.  What fun! We also worked on sorting.  They would look at vehicle pictures and sort them into ones that have wheels and ones that do not.

Behavior Chart!

Now that the children have really grasped the schedule and they are comfortable with the classroom and each other, I felt like it was time to implement a behavior chart.  The children begin each day on the color green.  If they behave well, clean up their stations, and are kind to the other classmates, they get moved up to Blue.  If we have any misbehavior such as hitting, whining, or rudeness - then they move their picture down to yellow or even red.  If they reach red then I will send a note home to you.  My goal is for this never to happen because I feel that if the children are properly motivated and busy, then it should never get that far but it's there just in case.  If they reach blue by the end of class, then they get to pick something from the treasure box.  

 Centers are great way for the children to relax and learn through play.

 Snack time  :)

 After snack time we went upstairs for a craft.  We made stoplights - and yes, this idea does correspond with the idea of the behavior chart.  Red means stop the behavior, yellow means slow down and think about what you are doing, and green means it's good - go ahead.   ;)

 I was so impressed with their work.  Great job!

9/8/2015 - Welcome to transportation!!!!

T is for Transportation!!!!!

I am so excited for our new theme!  This month we will be focusing our attention on vehicles.

Our letter of the week is "T," our color is "Red," and our shape is a "Rectangle."  Today in circle time we categorized vehicles into ones that are appropriate for land, sea, and air.  Then we graphed which category had more vehicles.  We sang songs.  Read the book, The Little Blue Truck, and to top it all off learned about traffic lights.  We sang a song about traffic lights and identified what the colors mean.  You are welcome to sing this little song with your children to help them remember.

(To the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, little Star)

Twinkle, twinkle, traffic light
On the corner, shining bright
Red means stop
Green means go
Yellow means slow, slow
Twinkle, twinkle, traffic light
On the corner, shining bright

After circle time we had some fun making this craft - edible traffic lights!

 The children spread the frosting on the rectangle (graham cracker) with their fingers.

Then the used red, green, and yellow M&M's to make the traffic lights.

 Great fun and they were delicious too!

 After our craft/treat, we headed upstairs to the classroom for centers.  We have all new centers out now and I am so excited and happy to announce that the long awaited light board is working.  The children loved it!  With everything being new, we did have to re-learn some of our rules but all in all, it was a success.

 The light board is a wonderful resource.  It is great fine motor practice and visual stimulation.  We also had the opportunity to practice turn taking with this new addition to the classroom.  ;)

 Along with our transportation theme came some exciting changes to our room including this huge street rug.

 The new centers are all transportation based.  These are about counting cars.

 Now that we are a month in and the children really have the routine down, I am moving my focus away from teaching them how to properly utilize the room to individualized instruction.  During center time I am pulling a few children at a time over to another table to practice and teach certain skills one on one.  I am really excited to be able to do this now.  It is very important to me that each child get my undivided attention for at least a few minutes each time they are here.

 Today I focused my instruction time on sequencing.  These are simple ABABAB patterns.  The children "read" the pattern and tried to anticipate what would come next.  The homework I will send home on Wednesday will focus on practicing this skill.

 I also put up a fun new giant poster.  It identifies what animals can be found around the world.  It is a fun brain break for the kids to go find an animal of their choice.

 Again, the children are free to roam the room during center time to learn and explore whatever interests them most.  There is the library, dress-ups, toys, literacy, math, sensory, and practical living activities.

 After centers we met at the long table for a sensory experience.  It is just shaving cream that I encouraged the children to explore.  We used our fingers to make shapes.  This activity is fun for some, and not for others.  I never insist that a child do anything that makes them uncomfortable, but ask them to just stay with us so that no one feels excluded.

 It was good messy fun!

 Last but certainly not least we did an art/literacy project.  We did a do-a-dot page of the letter "T."  T is for Truck.

As always I am so impressed by your children and I can already see the progress that they are making.  Today flew by.  We had so many fun things planned.  It's going to be a great month!

Monthly Reading logs!

This is something I'm really excited about.  I wish that I had been ready to implement it in August but better late than never right?  I will put this out at the beginning of every month.  Please take a worksheet.  When you read a book to your child, have them color in one of the shapes.  At the end of the month, if all of the shapes have been colored in, your child can bring it to school and redeem it for a prize!  I didn't have time to go over this with the children at school so please explain this to them and help them get excited about it.  Nothing boosts literacy in young children like being read to and seeing their parents reading.  

 I know these are sideways but I'm technically challenged and don't know how to flip them.  :)  You get the point though.