Tuesday, May 5, 2009
New website for supplies
I know this year is coming to an end. but it's always good to have learning supplies on hand. My friend showed me this site that has some great deals stuff. Enjoy : www.discountschoolsupply.com
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Last couple times
Last Preschool at my house we went over the letter Y. We talked about things that start with that sound. Then we played a "mother may I?" game where if the word started with a Y then they could move forward. We also played hide-and-seek with sounds. We worked on our worksheets and had fun gluing yarn everywhere., I'm sure you loved that. I will miss doing this next year.
S0 a couple weeks ago when it was that COLD Wednesday class at my house, we made ourselves into the letter V. Then we did some fun games at the computer reviewing some past sounds and worked on our worksheets. That was right before grabbing our yummy rabbit crackers to take to the park and freeze our booties off. Good times. We missed Alyssa though.
S0 a couple weeks ago when it was that COLD Wednesday class at my house, we made ourselves into the letter V. Then we did some fun games at the computer reviewing some past sounds and worked on our worksheets. That was right before grabbing our yummy rabbit crackers to take to the park and freeze our booties off. Good times. We missed Alyssa though.
Today at Preschool!
Today we talked about action words! We took pictures for the blog then we went to the neighborhood playground and put the action words into action!
We came back and had snacks while we read 3 chapters of the book then had playtime.
We came back and had snacks while we read 3 chapters of the book then had playtime.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Today at Preschool
We started with circle time/calendar and sang all our favorite songs. Then we started our super long craft project. I had pre-cut objects from magazines and had foam stickers ready to place in their alphabet books. It ended up consuming our whole morning and we still weren't able to quite finish it. But I was amazed at how each paper clipping pulled from the bin they immediately knew what page to glue it to. Finn did not want to use any papers for the letter M stating, "This is my mom's letter because her name is Maren and her birthday is in March!" It was so cute! The girls all agreed that the ballerinas just had to go on their B page! They are so smart and it was a great learning day!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Rest of the Year!
Hooray the McKenzie's are back! Here is the schedule for the rest of the year. If you have a conflict with a day that you are teaching please try to trade with someone!
We are going to try and take one last field trip using the Culture Pass from the Library! My vote is Children's Museum or the Science Museum! We can decide when it gets closer. I am throwing out the date of MAY 1 (that's a Friday). Please let me know if that works for you! Then we will decide where we are going!
I will be gone by May 13. So if you guys want to do an end of the year party or get together of some sort someone else will need to take charge! Unless of course you just want to do it before the 13th and I would be glad to do it---just let me know!
So take a look at the side bar for the rest of the year's schedule!
We are going to try and take one last field trip using the Culture Pass from the Library! My vote is Children's Museum or the Science Museum! We can decide when it gets closer. I am throwing out the date of MAY 1 (that's a Friday). Please let me know if that works for you! Then we will decide where we are going!
I will be gone by May 13. So if you guys want to do an end of the year party or get together of some sort someone else will need to take charge! Unless of course you just want to do it before the 13th and I would be glad to do it---just let me know!
So take a look at the side bar for the rest of the year's schedule!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Today at Preschool
Today we started preschool with our art project. The goal was to do straw paintings (note to self: must water down the paint first) I t did not go exactly to plan, but, was fun anyhow.
We then went in and worked on the letter Xx. We talked about its sound and then did a writting page. We then read the last Sunset of the Sabertooth and Started Midnight on the Moon. We followed this with snacks and play time.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Today at Preschool!
I apologize for slacking on the blogging! I don't know what my problem is! Here is a very brief run down of the last two preschool days at my house!
DAY 1
Question of the day-- Do you like summer or winter better? What do you like to do in the summer/winter?
Then we made a graph from our question! This was a great way to talk about most, least, higher, lower, and to also have a visual of our question! I will definitely start doing this more! This actually covers a lot of general math skills as well!
Then we reviewed phonograms o, c, a, d, and learned s. We reviewed the writing of these letters as well using the visual of a clock. All of these letters start at 2 o clock and make a circle or part of a circle! It was kind of a lot of writing but they did get through the whole thing and it was an excellent review!
There was all of the other every day things like circle time, calendar, centers, play time and snacks!
DAY 2
Easter!
Ww---Today we learned about Ww! I started saying words like water, wood, and the kids got the letter right away! What smarties! Then they each had to come up with a word that started with W. They were each able to do this without any problem. Then we made a giant w on the floor with tape. We hopped (like the Easter Bunny) on the path of the w first saying down down down up up up down down down up up up (to make the shape of the w). Then we said wa wa wa (not wa wa wa like a baby but the sound of w--how do you type that one up?)
Then we did some fun Easter crafts. We made a paper bag bunny and some Easter basket cupcakes!
DAY 1
Question of the day-- Do you like summer or winter better? What do you like to do in the summer/winter?
Then we made a graph from our question! This was a great way to talk about most, least, higher, lower, and to also have a visual of our question! I will definitely start doing this more! This actually covers a lot of general math skills as well!
Then we reviewed phonograms o, c, a, d, and learned s. We reviewed the writing of these letters as well using the visual of a clock. All of these letters start at 2 o clock and make a circle or part of a circle! It was kind of a lot of writing but they did get through the whole thing and it was an excellent review!
There was all of the other every day things like circle time, calendar, centers, play time and snacks!
DAY 2
Easter!
Ww---Today we learned about Ww! I started saying words like water, wood, and the kids got the letter right away! What smarties! Then they each had to come up with a word that started with W. They were each able to do this without any problem. Then we made a giant w on the floor with tape. We hopped (like the Easter Bunny) on the path of the w first saying down down down up up up down down down up up up (to make the shape of the w). Then we said wa wa wa (not wa wa wa like a baby but the sound of w--how do you type that one up?)
Then we did some fun Easter crafts. We made a paper bag bunny and some Easter basket cupcakes!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Today at Preschool!
Here is the rundown for our fun day at preschool....* We started out with our circle time songs on the magic blanket
* I showed them three different pictures, toys, tree, time and they all had to guess what the letter of the day was! They all were right on!
* This is when the wiggles began so we took a short recess to play and also have snack
* During snack (apples and pretzels) we read 2 chapters of our book.
* Then we talked about volcanoes, Israel shared that he had seen one in Hawaii. We went into the basic description of how the heat and pressure build causing an enormous eruption!
* Then for the fun we created a volcano out of clay and then we all painted it. We all took turns pouring the baking soda, dish soap, and then for the vinegar! The reaction was priceless!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
No Preschool Tomorrow!
I texted everyone earlier, but I am now wondering if everyone has texting on their phone. But due to some unexpected family coming in town for the day, I have to cancel tomorrow! I am so sorry. I can do my lesson plan on Friday if that works, or if it is too close to spring break I understand, just let me know. If you want just message me here or call. Thanks! :)
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Today at Preschool
(I did not show them a picture of him smoking)
Today at preschool we did three things
1. I wrote letters Aa- Pp on my board and had them write them on their boards making sure to stay in the right lines (top, middle, bottom)
2. We looked at an art book and talked about different colors and shapes in art and then looked at Jackson Pollock and saw how he did not really have any shapes in his art. Then we made our own Jackson Pollock paintings
3. We read the last chapters of the Magic Tree House book.
1. I wrote letters Aa- Pp on my board and had them write them on their boards making sure to stay in the right lines (top, middle, bottom)
2. We looked at an art book and talked about different colors and shapes in art and then looked at Jackson Pollock and saw how he did not really have any shapes in his art. Then we made our own Jackson Pollock paintings
3. We read the last chapters of the Magic Tree House book.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
February and March
Sorry this is getting so hectic! I looked at the schedule for the next few weeks and here is what I think will work! Shelly is leaving town on the 20th of February so we will have Nicolle move to Thursdays! I fixed everything on the side and even went into March! So please look it over and let me know if there are any problems!
Nicolle--since you only do one day this month let's just have it be a regular preschool day (music and or numbers)! We can do another field trip thing or Easter Party in April!
Nicolle--since you only do one day this month let's just have it be a regular preschool day (music and or numbers)! We can do another field trip thing or Easter Party in April!
Monday, February 9, 2009
One more change!!!
Tomorrow Preschool will be at Briana's. Kawika is sick and I'm not sure what it is so I want to wait a little., plus Briana was so kind as to offer. Thanks Briana! That's the plan as of now. I may take over for her, we will announce that change when it is for sure (who knows what may change between now and then.)
Katie
Katie
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Changes
There are a couple of changes to the schedule for February! (Shelly and Briana switched a week!) The changes have been made on the side bar!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Today at Preschool
WOW---what a busy day today was! I had a lot planned and we really got through most of it but it was really busy. Luckily it was a good kind of busy because the kids didn't really even want to play much---play time only lasted 10 minutes! Here is the general run down:
Monkey Game
We played the monkey game right at the beginning until everyone arrived. Grab rubber bananas with large tweezers and place into monkeys mouth. This is suppose to help with fine motor skils (ie writing later). The kids LOVED this and asked to play several other times during the day.
Question of the Day
"What is your favorite book?" The kids loved standing up and sharing their favorite book with everyone.
Sight Words
I decided to start exposing the kids to a few simple sight words that aren't necessarily "sounded out". Today we did the words "I see a....."
Game-- there were shapes hung up all around the room. Each child took a turn, stood up, and said "I see a (circle..etc)" and then went and pulled down the shape. They brought it back to the group and everyone repeated "I see a circle".
When each child had a shape I put the words "I see a" up on the wall. Each child took a turn and brought up their shape and put it at the end of the sentence. Then they got to use the magic pointer (ie a wooden food skewer) to point at each words while everyone read them together. The kids had a great time and really picked it up fast.
Then I read the little book to them. We looked at the cover of the book (which is actually a prerequesite for Kindergarten to know where the front cover of the book is) and talked about it. Then we opened it up and used our fingers as the magic pointers to point to each word and read them. Obviously they can't read the shapes but I told them that they can always look at the picture to help them figure it out!
Then the kids colored their books. I tried to emphasize staying in the lines! They did pretty well but I think that something that could be emphasized even more!
Play Time, Snack Time, Story Time (we only read the books that the kids brought, no Ninas today)
White Boards
We got out the white boards. Each child should have a white board and little cloth eraser in their bags now. I wrote their name at the top and had them practice trying to use correct proportion and staying in the lines. London did very well with the lines and using capital and lower case where needed. The rest really needed help but started to get the hang of it.
What a fun day! After preschool my mind was racing with ideas and suggestions so here they are:
BAGS
PLEASE have the following in your child's bag:
sippy cup
pencil box with scissors, crayons, pencil, white board, white erase marker (I highly suggest black since there was much commotion about the other colors) and glue stick
white board
cloth eraser (I provided one for each child today)
Suggestions:
* have your child read their book to you
* write your child's name on their whiteboard with permanent ink
* show child how to write their name with the correct proportions and practice writing this on their whiteboard (they are really getting good at tracing but the free hand tends to be everywhere---which is totally to be expected at their age but now we can start showing them the correct way!)
* for future preschool lessons--make a connection between tracing and free hand, maybe have them trace on paper and then try it on the white board (for example only one child could write the letter A on their whiteboard without having to trace it and of course it was Alyssa because she has the A in her name but that was when I realized that we need to make more of a connection between recognizing, tracing, and writing!)
** If you really want to be over zealous try this (I did it with Alyssa just because I was curious and I am new at teaching the "letters" part of preschool--
1) Get out some paper and pencils.
2)You (adult) writes all of the capital letters in random order on one page, lower case on another page.
3) Point to each letter at random and have child say the letter (SKILL--recognizing letters) Do this for capital and lower case (I even made a note of which ones Alyssa got confused on!)
4) Give child a blank sheet and have them write letters. I just went in order and told her she could write either capital or lower case. (I made a note of which ones she needed help on!) (SKILL-- writing without tracing). I didn't worry about proportions just general shape.
5) Point to each letter and have child say the sound of the letter. (SKILL-- phonics) (again I made notes)
I wasn't sure where Alyssa stood on all of these skills but now I have a better idea and I know which letters she could use some extra practice on! If any of you want to do this I highly recommend it! I don't mean to use this as a comparison of the kids because they are all doing so well---but if any of you do this, let me know how it goes that way I will have a better idea what to spend more time on in future lessons! For example---Alyssa recognizes all of her capital letters but got confused on a few of the lower case letters. Also, there were 9 letters that she couldn't write on her own. Now I know which letters to have her practice! HOWEVER---if you feel like completely ignoring this idea that is fine too! The kids are doing so well and I would love any ideas suggestions on what to work on for the writing/reading part of preschool! KATIE---let's have a little pow wow about how we want to split up letters and writing etc.
Monkey Game
We played the monkey game right at the beginning until everyone arrived. Grab rubber bananas with large tweezers and place into monkeys mouth. This is suppose to help with fine motor skils (ie writing later). The kids LOVED this and asked to play several other times during the day.
Question of the Day
"What is your favorite book?" The kids loved standing up and sharing their favorite book with everyone.
Sight Words
I decided to start exposing the kids to a few simple sight words that aren't necessarily "sounded out". Today we did the words "I see a....."
Game-- there were shapes hung up all around the room. Each child took a turn, stood up, and said "I see a (circle..etc)" and then went and pulled down the shape. They brought it back to the group and everyone repeated "I see a circle".
When each child had a shape I put the words "I see a" up on the wall. Each child took a turn and brought up their shape and put it at the end of the sentence. Then they got to use the magic pointer (ie a wooden food skewer) to point at each words while everyone read them together. The kids had a great time and really picked it up fast.
Then I read the little book to them. We looked at the cover of the book (which is actually a prerequesite for Kindergarten to know where the front cover of the book is) and talked about it. Then we opened it up and used our fingers as the magic pointers to point to each word and read them. Obviously they can't read the shapes but I told them that they can always look at the picture to help them figure it out!
Then the kids colored their books. I tried to emphasize staying in the lines! They did pretty well but I think that something that could be emphasized even more!
Play Time, Snack Time, Story Time (we only read the books that the kids brought, no Ninas today)
White Boards
We got out the white boards. Each child should have a white board and little cloth eraser in their bags now. I wrote their name at the top and had them practice trying to use correct proportion and staying in the lines. London did very well with the lines and using capital and lower case where needed. The rest really needed help but started to get the hang of it.
What a fun day! After preschool my mind was racing with ideas and suggestions so here they are:
BAGS
PLEASE have the following in your child's bag:
sippy cup
pencil box with scissors, crayons, pencil, white board, white erase marker (I highly suggest black since there was much commotion about the other colors) and glue stick
white board
cloth eraser (I provided one for each child today)
Suggestions:
* have your child read their book to you
* write your child's name on their whiteboard with permanent ink
* show child how to write their name with the correct proportions and practice writing this on their whiteboard (they are really getting good at tracing but the free hand tends to be everywhere---which is totally to be expected at their age but now we can start showing them the correct way!)
* for future preschool lessons--make a connection between tracing and free hand, maybe have them trace on paper and then try it on the white board (for example only one child could write the letter A on their whiteboard without having to trace it and of course it was Alyssa because she has the A in her name but that was when I realized that we need to make more of a connection between recognizing, tracing, and writing!)
** If you really want to be over zealous try this (I did it with Alyssa just because I was curious and I am new at teaching the "letters" part of preschool--
1) Get out some paper and pencils.
2)You (adult) writes all of the capital letters in random order on one page, lower case on another page.
3) Point to each letter at random and have child say the letter (SKILL--recognizing letters) Do this for capital and lower case (I even made a note of which ones Alyssa got confused on!)
4) Give child a blank sheet and have them write letters. I just went in order and told her she could write either capital or lower case. (I made a note of which ones she needed help on!) (SKILL-- writing without tracing). I didn't worry about proportions just general shape.
5) Point to each letter and have child say the sound of the letter. (SKILL-- phonics) (again I made notes)
I wasn't sure where Alyssa stood on all of these skills but now I have a better idea and I know which letters she could use some extra practice on! If any of you want to do this I highly recommend it! I don't mean to use this as a comparison of the kids because they are all doing so well---but if any of you do this, let me know how it goes that way I will have a better idea what to spend more time on in future lessons! For example---Alyssa recognizes all of her capital letters but got confused on a few of the lower case letters. Also, there were 9 letters that she couldn't write on her own. Now I know which letters to have her practice! HOWEVER---if you feel like completely ignoring this idea that is fine too! The kids are doing so well and I would love any ideas suggestions on what to work on for the writing/reading part of preschool! KATIE---let's have a little pow wow about how we want to split up letters and writing etc.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Zoo
Be to the Zoo by 9:30 am. Anyone want to carpool or caravan?
Kate Martell is coming she has a pass and 2 additional adult passes.
Gavin can get discount tickets : Need to know by Thursday Morning if you want those.
Phoenix Zoo
Kate Martell is coming she has a pass and 2 additional adult passes.
Gavin can get discount tickets : Need to know by Thursday Morning if you want those.
Phoenix Zoo
Adult (13+) 14.00 11.50
Child (3-12) 6.00 4.50
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Today at Preschool (Nicolle's)
I have been a little slow in my postings so here goes the last two times.......
Our Christmas party was SUPER fun! We decorated cookies, sang our favorite Christmas songs, read the Christmas story, talked about helping at Christmastime and everyone shared what they can do to help others. I wish I wrote it down cuz it was really cute!
Music day was also very eventful or should I say LOUD! We talked about beats to songs and we clapped to the beat of the ABC songs. Then I got out the pots and pans and we hit our spatulas and wooden spoons to the beat of our favorite children's songs! Thankfully Recker was a sound sleeper that day! ;) We also went over the music scales and hand gestures... do re mi fa so la ti do. Everyone sang up and down the scale, what beautiful voices! Then we all sang our favorite songs... The girls LOVED the princess songs and Israel was okay with the classic nursery songs. For snacktime we had yogurt, apples, and cheese sticks. (the kids were not digging apples so most opted for the yogurt.) I will hopefully get pics posted soon!
Our Christmas party was SUPER fun! We decorated cookies, sang our favorite Christmas songs, read the Christmas story, talked about helping at Christmastime and everyone shared what they can do to help others. I wish I wrote it down cuz it was really cute!
Music day was also very eventful or should I say LOUD! We talked about beats to songs and we clapped to the beat of the ABC songs. Then I got out the pots and pans and we hit our spatulas and wooden spoons to the beat of our favorite children's songs! Thankfully Recker was a sound sleeper that day! ;) We also went over the music scales and hand gestures... do re mi fa so la ti do. Everyone sang up and down the scale, what beautiful voices! Then we all sang our favorite songs... The girls LOVED the princess songs and Israel was okay with the classic nursery songs. For snacktime we had yogurt, apples, and cheese sticks. (the kids were not digging apples so most opted for the yogurt.) I will hopefully get pics posted soon!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Today at Preschool--Briana's
Okay--I have been horrible about blogging my preschool days! Before Christmas we spent a day on PATTERNS! The kids did really well and caught on quickly! We did two and three color patterns. I showed them a pattern on a strip of paper with the last spot empty and then we had to fill it in! After that we took wood dowels and foam square beads and made each pattern on our stick. The kids really liked this part and were able to recreate the patterns really well!
On Thursday (January 8) we did lots of letter stuff! We first played the balloon game! We had 6 balloons and each balloon had a letter on it! When the music plays they hit the balloons all around and when it stops they have to bring a balloon to me. At first I just said "I am looking for the letter Ll" and so on. Then it got harder..."I am looking for the letter that says sssssssss." The kids were doing awesome so we made it even harder..."I am looking for the letter that starts the word lollipop". The kids did extremely well with this too!
Then it was on to AT words. We used the white board and magnetic letters to make lots of different AT words and tried to sound them out! Sat, cat, bat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat. The kids caught quickly-as they usually do and were able to get the words pretty quickly just by changing the first letter and then making it's sound! I plan on doing this with lots of other words, ED, ET, and so on!
We had snacks, play time, and read Night of the Ninjas (we started over because I had no idea where we were or what the story was about and the kids really couldn't agree!)
On Thursday (January 8) we did lots of letter stuff! We first played the balloon game! We had 6 balloons and each balloon had a letter on it! When the music plays they hit the balloons all around and when it stops they have to bring a balloon to me. At first I just said "I am looking for the letter Ll" and so on. Then it got harder..."I am looking for the letter that says sssssssss." The kids were doing awesome so we made it even harder..."I am looking for the letter that starts the word lollipop". The kids did extremely well with this too!
Then it was on to AT words. We used the white board and magnetic letters to make lots of different AT words and tried to sound them out! Sat, cat, bat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat. The kids caught quickly-as they usually do and were able to get the words pretty quickly just by changing the first letter and then making it's sound! I plan on doing this with lots of other words, ED, ET, and so on!
We had snacks, play time, and read Night of the Ninjas (we started over because I had no idea where we were or what the story was about and the kids really couldn't agree!)
At the end we had a few minutes, so we did "STATIONS" as does every kindergarten in the world out there! We made two stations "patterns" and "sorting" both previous activitites from my house. We split into groups and each group spent 5 minutes or so at each station. It was a great review activity and kind of fun to wrap up the day!
And AGAIN---I am very impressed with the kids and their learning! How exciting!
And AGAIN---I am very impressed with the kids and their learning! How exciting!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Zoo Day!
Okay, I just talked to the zoo and found out that we need a total of 15 paying individuals (ages 3 and up). So if we want to invite just a couple more friends to come then I think we'll be okay. The preschool rate is $4 per person. I will be filling out the reservation form so we will have a confirmation number when we get there and it will speed things up. I am going to see if my sisters can come and feel free to ask whoever else you all would like. Just let me know so I can add them to the reservation. Thanks! :)
Quick Catch Up
I cant remember exact details of the last few Preschools at my house, but, we have been working on cutting things out. We made the Christmas tree ornaments and the time before that (I think) we colored shapes according to my directions and then cut them out.
Katie's house 1/9/2009
- Took turns talking about dentists (as I was/AM still numb from my appointment)
- Upper and lower case letter recognition with the acorn board.
- Sang Alphabet backwards to help them sound out each letter.
- Play dough play time. Made Snowmen, and shaped out the first letter of our names.
- Outside playtime
- Ate pretzels and/or mini organic:) cheese sandwich crackers and/or cheese stick
- Read Chapter 4 of Night of the Ninja
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Music and Activities for the months of January and February
January 16th: Music Day at Nicolle's
January 30th: Phoenix Zoo
February 13th: Music Day & Valentine's Day Party!!! If everyone can bring Valentine's cards for each student that would be great!! We'll be making goodies and a craft project.
February 27th: Dinosaur Museum
Hopefully everyone is on board with these activities! It will be nice weather for the zoo, so I figured we better take advantage while we can!!
January 30th: Phoenix Zoo
February 13th: Music Day & Valentine's Day Party!!! If everyone can bring Valentine's cards for each student that would be great!! We'll be making goodies and a craft project.
February 27th: Dinosaur Museum
Hopefully everyone is on board with these activities! It will be nice weather for the zoo, so I figured we better take advantage while we can!!
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