Starfire Preschool

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

10/20 - Fairy tale Unit (Prince, Princess, and Pumpkin)

P is for Princess, Prince, and Pumpkins!!!!! We had a blast today. Our color of the day was Orange (upon reflection I probably should have chosen Pink - oh well), our letter was 'P', our shape was Circle, and our number was 6. We started our day outside. I made these "jousting sticks" last week to go along with our lesson on Knights. They are so fun, safe, and kids love playing with them. It's just a pool noodle cut in half.

It's a fun way to get our energy out before we go in for circle time.

At circle time we sang songs, learned about the letter P, and did a short game. Then we went over to the kitchen table to learn about Pumpkins.

I had already cut the top off. The children all got to pull some of the insides out. They each got a portion of the insides of the pumpkin. We counted seeds, described the feel and smell. It was wonderful! I got words like "stringy" "wet" "ropes" and "yucky!"

While I finished carving the jack-o-lantern, the children created their own with markers and foam cut-outs. I think they liked that better than the messy real one.

They got to finish as our funny jack-o-lantern looked on. :)

After our foam pumpkins we made some mini-pumpkin cookies. The children put them on the cookie sheets and off to the oven they went.

While the cookies were baking we went upstairs for centers. I think they felt like they didn't get enough center time today - we had so many things to do.

After centers we had snack time and decorated prince and princess crowns. Then we went downstairs to frost our pumpkin cookies. The children worked really hard to frost them. They got a little frustrated at times but it's really good for them to do it on their own. They used chocolate chips to make the jack-o-lantern faces.

They worked really hard and did a great job.

We were a little pressed for time today so we had story-time while we ate our cookies at the table. These are the stories we read.

We're really getting excited for Halloween! Don't forget about the upcoming field trip to the farm next Tuesday. Next Thursday the 29th, the children can wear their Halloween costume to school and we will have a halloween themed school day.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

10/15 - Fairytale theme (knights)

We had a lot of fun today. We played outside and did several activities - the girls pretended to be princesses locked in the castle. We jousted with foam jousting sticks - didn't manage to get a picture of that because I was busy jousting of course! ;)

Look at those sweet faces!

Our morning outside time is getting much more enjoyable now that the weather is starting to cool down.

More princesses!

We went inside and had circle time where we learned about Knights and Kingdoms. Then the children came over and built sugar cube castles. We saw who could built the tallest tower and counted the cubes. They may have eaten one too!

These are the books that we read today.

In circle time we watched a short animated video called, "a knight for a day and a day for a knight." It's really old but wonderful. Then we talked about armor and each child got to dress up like a knight.

Then we went upstairs for centers.

Each child has the opportunity to follow their personal interests.

The sensory boxes are messy but fun!

Our class fish are a very important calming element of the classroom.

It's hard to see here but this center involves matching different size bolts to different size nuts. It takes a lot of dexterity. It's a simple, cheap center that you could do at home.

In individual learning today I had the children trace triangles, which is our shape of the week and then on the back draw a picture of their family. On tuesday I had them draw a picture of a person. This is part of their assessment. I will have them do this same activity at the end of the year to see how their drawing and expression skills have grown.

Another great day!

10/13/15 - Fairytale theme (King, Kingdom)

We have a new unit!! I am so excited for this unit. It is based on fairytales. We will be studying castles, king and queens, knights in shining armor, princessses, and so much more! I am thrilled! The letter of the week is "K" so in keeping with out theme, we learned all about Kings.

We made name crowns. You will notice at the beginning of every unit I will have the children do an activity similar to this. They have to match the letters of their name and glue them. They are getting so good at it already!

After we put our names on them, we decorated them with beautiful stars! These foam stickers are great because they help with learning fine motor skills.

Here is our royal class!

They did great!

Our classroom is filled with all things fantasy - we have dress-ups, sand for building castles, moon sand, wood chips, fairytale characters and more.

I created a bunch of fairytale felt board characters for them to create their own stories.

I also put out our white/chalk board. Each month I have new little things to put out in the classroom to keep the children interested and eager to learn.