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.

Preschool lesson 11/11- Rain/Weather

We had another fun day at preschool. We stared out singing songs, reading the book, and talking about the seasons. I asked them what there favorite season was and then asked them what had happened on Sunday after church. Finn was so excited and knew exactly what had happened. RAIN!!!
We went into the kitchen and I put some water in a pot. As the water was heating up I asked them why it rains. This is what they said:
Alyssa- Because it's winter
Israel- So we can jump in puddles
Jade- So we can use an umbrella and use a coat
Finn- We need to have fun outside and play

I explained why it rains and then demonstrated it by holding a pan full of ice over the pot of water on the stove (about 5 inches above) As the steam goes up to the pan it forms condensation on the pan and then it starts to drip. They were fascinated by this!!!

We made the sound of a rain storm

• sit on the floor and started by rubbing your hands together like it was starting to drizzle.
  
• Then snapping like the rain falling down.
  
• Pounding our hands on our laps like it was getting harder.
  
• Stomping our feet on the floor at the same time as pounding our hands in our laps
• I also clapped while the kids were doing this to make lightning
• Then stop doing this in reverse until you get back to the end of the storm with just a small drizzle again.

The kids also really liked this so we did it a few times. We did a #6 worksheet and then played for a few min until the mom's came.

Preschool Lesson Plan (10/23)

Last Thursday we learned about RECYCLING and Reviewed NUMBERS 0-5.

QUESTION OF THE DAY---(to practice raising hands)
**What do you like to do with your mommy?
Alyssa-- paint
Israel-- "hmmmmmmmm" (I will come back to you)
Jade-- dress up, paint, and cook
Finn-- set up my trains
London-- paint and sing songs
Israel-- (still thinking)-- play

RECYCLING
We talked about what recycling means (reusing something, making new paper out of old paper, turning off lights, etc.) We dumped out a huge bag of garbage (don't worry it was clean recycleable materials) and decided if they were paper or plastic and put them into the appropriate box. We also talked about other things being recycleable (glass, metal, etc.). The kids caught onto this really quickly and were excited to pull out different things from the pile. This also worked well for "sorting" skills which we learned earlier this month.

We then made paper bag pumpkins and recycled some materials we already had around the house (ie brown paper bag and old newspaper for the inside!) Everyone got to pick their own shapes for eyes, nose, and mouth.

NUMBERS
We are reviewing the numbers 0-5 for a couple of weeks just to get number recognition down pat. We played number balloons. There were six ballons with dots (zero dots, one dot, etc.). When I played the music the kids got to hit the balloons everywhere, when the music stopped they had to pick up one balloon and come over to me. I then pulled out a number flashcard and we got to see who had the balloon with that many dots. The kids were very good at this game (we could have played for 30 minutes but we moved on!).

Next, we played number walk. We had the numbers 0-5 on foam sheets spread out in a circle. When the music played they walked around in a circle and when it stopped they stopped on a number. We went around the circle and each child told me what number they were standing on. At this point I was really impressed because everyones number recognition was way better than a few weeks ago. They did great.

We finished up with a number worksheet with numbers 1-5.

KNIGHTS AT DAWN
We finished our book by reading three chapters. I got the book on cd from the library and let the kids listen to it instead of me reading it. They really seemed to be interested in it this way. We acted out some things as we listened (pulling out a flashlight, swimming, looking for tree house etc.)

We also had snack and play time as usual! I did get some pictures of the kids but they will have to come later!

Last Thurs at Preschool! 10/16

Okay, so this is a little late, but better late than never right? We had a great time last week! We talked about following directions. Why we do what we do like... why do we brush our teeth before we go to bed instead of in bed? They thought that was funny, but it was a good way for them to realize that we do things in a particular order for a reason. We made cupcakes to show another example. So I stared with all the ingredients for the cupcakes and asked the kids if I put all the ingredients in and mixed it up if we would get good cupcakes. They said yes, so I put a few decorating sprinkles in the bowl, a few cupcake liners and acted like I was going to put the mix in. They all tried to stop me like I was crazy and that I wasn't doing it right. We got out the directions and then followed them in order and they loved taking turns putting in the ingredients and scooping it into the cups. It really helped them get what I had been explaining by seeing and do it hands on.
We also did a few worksheets on what order did it happen. I would hold up the pictures and have them help me put them in order. All of the kids really had to think about it and I would say that it would be a good idea to do another preschool lesson again on this in a few months. Briana, since Alyssa wasn't here I have the worksheets if you want them to practice with Alyssa, they had things like the first picture had a apple with a few bites out of it, the next picture had a apple core, and the last picture had a whole apple. The kids really could get that one fast, but others were much more challenging and I am working with Jade on this concept to help her. That was the basically the day.
It did take a while to make the cupcakes so if you ever wanted to do a food project I would start that toward the beginning of the day. It took much longer than I ever thought it would, but the kids really loved it so I would do it again :)

Today at Preschool (10/2)

Hooray!! We finished Dinosaurs in the Dark! It seems like the kids really enjoyed reading this longer book and I am very impressed with how much they retained. We reviewed the whole book briefly and somewhat reenacted the book with miniature toy dinosaurs. It was nice to have something that the kids could look at while we read the last two chapters. For our "general studies" we talked a lot about each kind of dinosuar-- the name, what they like to eat, and other things. We also made a "Dinosaur Notebook" just like Jack who takes notes on the different dinosaurs.

We did the October calendar and the kids spent A LOT of time talking about Halloween and what they were going to be. Then the conversation lead to Christmas coming soon and they all talked about what they wanted for Christmas and where they were going for Christmas. I didn't plan on spending so much time on this but it was really cute because the kids were so excited and they were doing a really good job of raising their hands to have their turn so I just went with it!

We spent a little bit of time with our number "4". We counted together up to 20 and then traced the number 4 in the air. We played with our number bucket (as posted from before) and tried really hard to find the "magic number 4". I was really impressed at how well the kids recognize their numbers. The kids were ready for play by then so I just sent the "writing number 4" worksheet home with them! The kids are doing great and I am excited at how well they are doing!

Lesson plan- Some things go together & number 3

This is what we did today-

• All of us sat on the special blanket and took turns telling everyone our favorite color to practice being in front of peers again
  

• We sang songs like head, shoulders, knees and toes and then I would mess up a song and have them correct me. Each of us took turns using our imagination making a song silly and we had to correct them. It was a lot of fun, but it got really silly!!!

• When we read the book today they all remembered what had happened in the last chapter and as we read, they all got so close to me and were gripped! We read 2 chapters today because they were so interested. After we were done they asked if I could read more. They really are loving it. Thanks again Maren!

• We talked about how some things go together. I held up a book and had them choose what things went together like a bee and a flower or a bee and an ice cream cone. They already understood every example that I gave them so I had them each take turns thinking of something that they like or use and then we would think of something that goes with the item. This is something that you can practice at home. They all loved it and were very creative in their answers.
  

• The #3 worksheet

• Lots of fun!!!
  

Arizona and the number 2 -9/18

We had a great day at preschool! We started by letting the kids all tell something fun they did this week so they can get used to talking in front of groups of peers. They all really like talking about themselves!!! Then we sang songs while everyone took turns going to the bathroom. One had to go so they all had to go. Aren't kids so funny that way. After that, I thought I'd read the chapter book while I had there attention and they loved it. I almost read more. As I was reading I would stop and ask questions and they would all raise there hands and shout out the answers. It was a great idea. Thanks Maren.
We learned about where we live, that within our country there are states and we live in Arizona. I told them facts about Arizona and things unique to the state as we glued the pieces to the map. To tie in the #2 I made a Arizona match game and we counted all the pieces first. Then we played the match game which was a great bit hit. They wanted to keep playing. We also did the #2 worksheet.
I almost forgot. We made our September calender. They loved putting the stickers in the boxes and we went over the months of the year raising our hand when we got to September. I had them draw an X in the boxes for the days that had already passed. Some of them totally got that, others weren't sure what that was about, so I'm not sure if I should do that again or not. Thanks for another great preschool day!