Families

Dramatic Play and Blocks
What else says family week like housekeeping and chores? We have lots of them this week! I kept up the housekeeping area, although it did get rearranged to accommodate our grocery store in the block area. This is always one of my personal favorite centers! It was popular both days, and we learned a lot of patience and turn-taking, or at least tried. 1 register and 3 carts and never enough.
I love watching kids act like adults as they shop and count money and talk. The dialogue is so cute and entertaining! They love acting like us. We also had to learn responsibility as we put groceries back, over and over again, so others could keep playing. This center was constantly busy for 2 days. The housekeeping side of it only got a little bit of traffic, and we're ready for a change.

I love the grocery store for many reasons. One, it's cheap and easy! I just use garbage, and reinforce it with packing tape. I've been using many of these food boxes for 3 years of Kinder, plus 2 years of preschool, and they're in great condition. I have some "dramatic play" food boxes too, but it doesn't get played with as much, because I don't think they recognize it. They know their environmental print.
I also love how easy it is to tie in literacy and math, with the labels, counting, numbers, money, and sorting. So much learning as they play!

Art
Tuesday, was snack prep. I shared my family's favorite bread recipe and we made bread together. We took turns and counted scoops, and each got to add in and mix things. I like keeping this a free choice center, because they're not forced to help, but most of them choose to at some point. I was surprised some watched it mix the whole 10 minutes.
Their favorite part was kneading with their hands, so one we had the loaves rising, I pulled out play dough, and unlike last week, the table was busy with kids playing the whole rest of the time.

Thursday, we got the paint out, and people shaped stamps. Here's some samples:


Small Manipulatives
Tuesday, was bristle blocks

Thursday, was number peg puzzles (forgot a pic)

Writing
I added colored pens on the table and they loved them.

Outside
I got out the sensory table for the first time, and we learned about keeping things inside the table and not splashing, as it was filled with water this week. Since our dishes had done a wonderful job at making mud food, I decided the kids could help wash them. Like grocery shopping, doing dishes is one of those other menial chores families love. And they actually really loved washing these dishes, and ended up throwing in all the play food too. It was a hit, and they were excellent rule followers!


Large Group
We learned the word "relative," and also reviewed "unique" as we talked about how each family is unique. It's fun to talk about and read about families, because they all yell to me at once who is in their family, where their grandparents live, their cousins' names, etc. They get so excited to talk about their families!
We drew our family members in our journals, and also in a family tree. We "sang" (mostly danced) to "All I Really Need" by Raffi while we played instruments. It's all about only really needing love in our families. They loved getting to use the instruments.


Small Group
I introduced patterns with these Lakeshore people. We played with them last week, so they wouldn't be brand new today. I have learned to never expect learning with a toy the first time they use it. They need that chance to play first. I was pleasantly surprised how many could copy and extend my patterns, and a few kids even made their own patterns!

Miss Kim played a family matching game with her groups, and they talked about types of families and things families do together from the pictures.

All About Me!

We had a great week learning about ourselves, mainly so we can get to know each other. Here's a few of the things we did this week:

Dramatic Play
I kept the housekeeping up from last week. I usually keep anything up for 2 weeks, as most themes do go 2 weeks. As usual, everyone played there day 1, and by day 4, it was much less busy. Getting ready for something new!


Blocks
Tuesday, we played with the doll house. I have random people who can't sit, and a bunch of mismatch furniture, but that never stops them. They seemed to really like it. I had planned to use it during family week, but my son actually got it out this weekend and begged for it to stay out for school.

Thursday, we had out the Duplo Legos. They had a great time building towers. and used a lot of team work and cooperation to build the taller tower they could, together. One of many reasons I love block play!


Art
Tuesday, we had out play dough and blank face mats so they could make faces. In past years, the kids begged for play dough. Each kid played with it for a bit, but they definitely preferred to play elsewhere.

Thursday, we made faces. I had facial features cut out of magazines, plus paper hair, and they could glue them onto paper. Some made faces, others played with glue, and some others just made a collage.


Small Manipulatives
Tuesday, we did lacing cards. I got these at Dollar Tree and the dollar section of Target. Love them! For only $1, they're great sturdy quality, plus I love the strings! And yes, I do get excited about good strings for lacing, with nice tips that make it easy for kids. This was a surprisingly popular center, with lots of sewing all day!


Thursday, we had out the flannel board story of The Little Engine that Could. We told the story Tuesday, so today, they could play with it and retell it.




Large Group
We learned the word "unique" and talked about the things that make us special and unique. plus the things that make us all alike. We learned about each other by sharing our stars. We drew self portraits after admiring our features in the mirror.We read great books and told stories. We learned the song "Growing Up" by Dr. Jean that shares some traits we have at each age from baby-4 years old.

Small Group
I am so excited to have started small groups this week! Your kids are SO super duper lucky this year, I can't even explain. We have my neighbor, Miss Kim, coming each week to volunteer. She approached me before school started and I couldn't pass up a great teacher coming to help out! She has been the church Nursery leader of all 3 of my kids, and is WONDERFUL with children! She has fit right in from day 1, and the kids love her. Anyway, with Kim here to help, I've split the class down the middle by age, so we can do more focused activities.
My group read "I am Confident" and wrote in our journals about things they can do that makes them feel proud of themselves.
Kim's group did a giant floor puzzle of kids from around the world.

Bonus Learning:
One of our students found this cold dragonfly outside before school, not flying, and brought it in. I found a strawberry container to put him in, and he was a HUGE hit! I got down the magnifying glasses, and he was our impromptu science center. He got much more active as he warmed up, and we learned to not shake or hurt him, then released him once we got outside.

Another grandma from our class also brought us some wasp's nests with dead wasps for us to check out too. Please feel free to bring these fun discoveries! I'll admit they're a bit creepy, but absolutely fascinating too!

Back to School!

I am so excited to be back to school! We have a great class, and I can already tell they're going to get along with each other wonderfully! Here's what we did the first week of school (and I forgot to take many pics, so sorry!):

Dramatic Play
Housekeeping. This is always a favorite. We had the kitchen, food, aprons, chef hats, baby dolls and clothes, beds, blankets. bath, plus the washer and dryer for laundry. There was a LOT of playing here, as kids always seem to love playing house.



Blocks
Tuesday, we had out Mega Blocks and they were a huge hit.
Thursday, we had out the road mat and cars and road signs.


I'm doing this area a bit differently this year, because now I have those 2 storage shelves there. The foam building blocks and cardboard brick blocks will always be there and available, because I think they work into so many other areas of block play. The second shelf has cars and things, and I may rethink that always being out. It ended up a huge mess both days, with every block, and car, dumped out. So, I think I will limit what's on the shelf and available. I love when they can expand their play, but an overwhelming mess doesn't exactly invite creative play either. Back to the drawing board :)

Art
Tuesday, we painted with water colors.
Thursday, we used scissors and glue sticks. These are a staple at the writing center and always available from now on, but I introduced them today and took the time to show how to use them. Scissors are a work in progress, but they now know how to roll up glue sticks and use lids. Important life skills here.

Small manipulatives
Tuesday, we had out puzzles.
Thursday, we played with ABC lacing beads.

Writing
Tuesday, we learned where paper and our writing supplies are located. There will always be paper, crayons, pencils, colored pencils, markers, glue sticks, and scissors available. I usually add something new each day too.
Thursday, we had white boards with white board colored pencils. I am SO excited about these because they don't stain like dry erase markers!















Snack
Nothing too exciting here, just crackers and juice. We are getting the snack routine down before we get too fancy with making our own. I've added some snack helpers this year, in order to have every child have a job each week.
2 kids will help bring the writing table and red table over for snack (I like us to all sit together, family style). Another hands out hand sanitizer, while one hands out napkins, and another hands out cups. Not too hard, but we are working on staying in our seats, while these helpers walk around the table to pass out, instead of running back and forth everywhere. Again, life skills here. They even helped pour their own drinks, and I'd like them to be pouring them completely on their own, eventually.
I also focus a lot on cleaning up our spots ourselves. Snack is great for eating, but it's mostly about sharing, interacting, and being responsible, plus have good manners.

Outside
I was most excited to play outside! Compared to my first 2 years, outside play is much more exciting! We have a bigger swingset with a climbing wall, a much bigger sandbox, and the play house! I didn't even get out the sensory table yet. We have to learn rules and how to safely and properly use each thing, so we start smaller. We also got new diggers that are a huge hit! They can be in the sandbox or garden, and we are definitely going to be getting dirty this year! We've already turned the play house into a mud pie kitchen, so lots of creativity and dirt.



Large Group
Our word was "learn" and we learned each other's names and added them to the word wall. We also learned new songs like "Hello Neighbor," "Tootie Ta," and "5 Little Monkeys." They love singing! We read books, learned school rules, and played I Spy to tour the room. We also wrote in our journals about our favorite parts of school. I try to do 1 journal entry each theme. They start out with only pictures, but I write their words for them, and they start to learn the concept of putting their ideas into writing, and that their words have meaning and what they look like in print. Important pre-reading skills!

We're coming back!!

Not that you've necessarily noticed my 2 year absence, but I'm coming back!
I loved teaching my daughter and my first 2 classes, but it is also a lot of work and I felt good about taking a break to just be mom for a little while. In that time, I had another baby, and also did a year of joy school with my daughter and some neighbors. That is something I never thought I'd do, but it was great, and that's another post for another day. I did something else I thought I'd never do, since I teach school, but I also sent my daughter to preschool this year. I probably won't write much about that, but choosing a preschool was a stressful, and I admit, mostly a frustrating experience for me. I learned to let go a little of my expectations and learned to step back. I also learned that this city/county/state is in desperate need of play-based learning! It is so difficult to find.
On my 2 year break, I have brain stormed so many blog posts. I have them written in my head about how to choose a preschool, how to start one, my philosophy on sharing, and I could write novels on play-based teaching and learning. Ok, not novels, but I could preach some more on the subject. Instead, my goal is to add some more to this blog about each of our centers, why we have them, and what the children learn. I'd also love to share more about pre-reading, pre-writing, and other essential preschool skills. I've just heard one-too-many times lately that "my child learned nothing in preschool because they don't know their whole alphabet," or even better, "they're not reading yet." So, I'll save those in my head for another day. I'd also love to blog about our joy school experience, since it was a great one. For now, if you'd like an idea of skills children learn in a play-based preschool, click any of the labels to the right and you'll see activities we do that teach so many reading, math, and science skills. Not to mention all the social skills, music, art, and other fun stuff we learn. I can't wait to be back in the classroom next fall! My little class is already filled and my year is planned. It's going to be great!

Favorites!

I love finding out with the kids what their favorite things are, and then trying to cram them all into 2 weeks. Here's what they chose to do:

Tuesday:

Dramatic Play
Pizza Restaurant
Blocks
Bowling
Small Manips
Magnet board with Frozen math games from here
Bristle blocks
Art
Painting. There was spin art, marble painting, and easel painting, so they had plenty of choices.
Outside
We got out the water table since it's warm, in addition to the sensory table with a flour/baby oil combo with ABC molds. Plus, the usual balls, trucks, cars, sand box, swings, etc.
Large Group
We picked and practiced our favorite songs for the end of year program. I had in my mind what I wanted them to choose and they didn't, but I'm glad they picked songs they like!

 Thursday:

Dramatic Play
Kitchen/Housekeeping
Blocks
Lincoln Logs plus farm animals
Small Manips
Magnet board with pattern block magnets
Sorting bears
Art
Beads and pipe cleaners
Large Group
We went on our field trip. Thanks to all of you who came, and thanks to Bountiful Ridge Golf Course for hosting us! We had our 5 senses books so we could use our senses to explore. We first explored some nature by comparing different types of trees and their leaves. They were so fascinated by it.
Then, we loaded up in some maintenance trucks (their favorite part) and drove under a tunnel to get to the other side of the course, and we compared the different types of grass. They each got a golf ball and got to go crazy on the practice course, running around and rolling their balls into the holes. We finished filling out our booklets, besides taste, then loaded back into the trucks to go to the club house. We were treated with hot dogs or corn dogs and fries! What a treat! After finishing our books, it was back into the trucks and back to our cars. What a fun day!

The Five Senses

Dramatic Play
I used my favorite sense (taste) and chose to do an ice cream store. I have play ice cream cones, popsicles, and Dilly bars, plus recycled ice cream cartons and cone boxes. The ice cream cartons are filled with styrofoam balls, plus there are bowls, spoons, and fruits for toppings.
I set it up with the cash register and a table for customers, and they were set. They loved it and it was busy for all 2 weeks.

Blocks
I got out the small legos, having no idea what a hit they'd be. We've always stuck to Duplos, but apparently small legos is where it's at. This center was constantly busy and there was so much great building and imaginary play going on. I love Legos!

Art
Play dough textures. I got out the play dough, and also had a basket with random items they could put in the play dough to see what textures it made. They were excited when I told them they could try anything in the room. Soon the table was full of objects and they made all sorts of cool textures.

 We used our sense of smell by doing Jello art. I put Jello in our graciously donated spice bottles that I store in beautiful junk, and they sprinkled and poured like crazy on their glue deisgns. The room smelled so delicious and fruity all day! I underestimated how much they'd love this, but it was busy all day and we had pictures drying all over the room. I was so busy, I didn't get a pic :)

I found fun dot paint markers on clearance at Wal Mart, so we painted with those and they loved them.

We had a fun sensory experience with Magic Sand. I bought it from Steve Spangler's site. It's basically waterproofed sand. You can play with it under water, but when you pull it out, it's dry! You can build with it under water, and make water droplets on it. This was another big hit.

Small Manips
We played with:
bristle blocks
shape and color links
musical instruments
people floor puzzles

We made 1 fun snack this week to explore a new taste, homemade smoothies. I found the recipe here.
I would say half of them liked it, but at least they all tried it.

Large Group
Day 1, We read the best book about texture (of course I forgot the title and already returned it to the library), but it had tons of awesome texture words and we really worked on our vocabulary. It was really interactive and they were adding lots of their own words too to describe the textures. We then went on a texture hunt with rubbing crayons and made rubbings of textures all throughout the room. I didn't expect them to really love this activity, but they were so excited and running all over to find new things!
Day 2, we explored our sense of taste. We examined sugar and salt and couldn't determine what it was with sight, touch, or smell, so they had to taste it. Their faces were awesome. We then talked about 4 different tastes (salty, sweet, spicy, sour) and tasted many different foods, then sorted them by how they tasted. We tried chips, pretzels, sour candy, lemons, cinnamon bears, marshmallows, and chocolate. I was surprised by how many ate their whole lemon slices, yet immediately spit out their cinnamon bears.
Day 3, we made sensory bottles. They filled them with glitter and sequins, and we added water, food color of their choice, and oil. It was so much fun and they loved it!
Day 4, we went on a 5 senses scavenger hunt. There were 5 clues that led us inside and outside, searching with our senses, then they had to fill out a page in a book for each one.

We'll be exploring more with our senses on our field trip next week!

Butterfly release take 2

This was our best butterfly release yet! It was warm and sunny and they were ready to go! The flew right out, and the best part was, they stayed in the yard! Previous ones have done a few laps, then flown off, but these guys stuck around forever! They flew away a few times, but always came back. The kids were in 2 groups, each following one. It was a glorious 20 minutes of running and squealing and calling each other over each time one landed. All the pictures I have are full of the kids, and you'll be getting copies at our BBQ. This was just so much fun and I'm so glad the kids got to really watch them fly and play with them.