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!)

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!

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

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!!

Time Change

Hey Everyone- Tomorrow, Thurs. Dec 11, I need to start preschool at 10:15 instead of 9:30. I am happy to still do it for he full 2 hours unless it interferes with your nap/lunch schedule, then we could end at 11:45 if it is easier. Please let me know when you prefer it to end. I need to change because we have our Christmas enrichment dinner and we are setting up in the morning until 10:00. Originally I told them that I couldn't help because of preschool but when I found out we had over 90 signed up I can't not help. Anyway, Maren suggested that I switch days and do it today, but I realized with the practice for the program and such it would just be to much for one day. Let me know what time you think. Thanks- Shel

Today @ Katie's house

We began by gluing together our sled ornaments. Then went over the calender and took turns raising hands to tell about the REAL meaning of Christmas. I was super proud that when I asked if Christmas was all about Santa they all said NO! That's right!
We sang Christmas songs. One of them was Once There Was a Snow man, pictured below.
Snack was those natural fruit snacks from Sprouts and popcorn. Some kids LOVED them, others weren't so down.
We played the Alphabet matching game. Where we match upper and lower case letters. Then we were suppose to say a word that starts with that letter's sound. I say SUPPOSE to because Kawika was SO tired at this point that he got up in everyone's face. I feel like I need a babysitter..J/K(well not totally, but I AM NOT asking for one)
The kids played outside for a little bit before it was time to get some reading in the Pirates book. It went by SO fast.

Before Snowman

Tall Snowman

Small Small Small Snowman

PS if you can fix the spacing on the pictures that'd be great. My computer is Wack. Also as of today the Calendar is correct. So disregard any past conversations.