Merry Christmas!

Thank you for your generosity with donating many food items for our giving tree! It is always amazing how much food we receive. It is very much appreciated. Here are the MWF class sorting and boxing up the food items. 
Total food: 5 boxes and 3 full bags!!!!!

The Giving Tree is loaded!!!

Busy workers! They were impressive and
very efficient! Look out employers!!

Everything boxed and bagged!!
Thanks for your awesome help children. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Salt-dough Ornaments

I found a great salt-dough ornament recipe years ago and every year the children enjoy using acrylic paints to make them colorful! The recipe is simple and easy; a great activity to do with children. Add a string or pipe cleaner and put on your tree. 

Here is the recipe:

3 Ingredients: 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, and 1/2 cup water (or more as needed). (I usually triple the recipe - it depends on how many ornaments you want to make....)

1. Add flour and salt together; mix and then add water. Add more flour as needed. 
2. Knead dough until it's soft and pliable
3. Roll with rolling pin and cut out shapes with cookie cutters 
4. Place on un-greased cookie sheets 
5. Use straw to poke holes on top for the string to go through 
6. Prick each cut out with a toothpick (to keep it from bubbling up while baking)
7. Bake in 250 oven for 30 minutes (I take them out before they start getting brown)
8. I leave the ornaments out on the counter for a couple days to completely dry out and harden. And then they are ready to paint and add glitter if you are brave. 

https://www.mommypotamus.com/how-to-make-salt-dough-ornaments/
(This blog gives a great tutorial on how to make them with pictures included!)

Here is how ours turned out!

Pretty colorful!
(Except the plain ones on the right). 

Rhyming words

The MWF class has been learning more about words that rhyme as well as onset letter sounds. I start with a simple word like cat and then write the last part "at" on the white board and have them add other letters to the front of the word to make a new word. We've done this activity several times during large group and the children have done quite well. It's taken some practice and learning what consonants and vowels are.  We've learned that using vowels in front of the word doesn't work, but consonants sound much better! 

Here is what we did today.

Words from the "ag" family. 

Yes, we realize some of these words

aren't real words, but it's still fun

to play with sounds and words. 

BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS!!!

"Reading books" in preschool is a pre-cursor to learning how to read in Kindergarten and beyond. In preschool we focus on the emerging skills that are needed before they learn conventional reading in Kindergarten. Some emerging literacy skills you may see with your child: looking through books pretending to "read" while looking at pictures; re-telling stories they've heard multiple times; asking to be read to (multiple times) as they make connections between the characters, story line and text; reading a book front to back, left to right; running their fingers along the text as they "read"; enjoying books and asking to be read to, phonemic awareness, letter recognition, understanding that written words have meaning and their spoken words can be written down, and much more!

Early literacy is key to helping young children succeed as readers later on. In preschool, our focus is on appropriate activities that fit the children's developmental level and needs. We read books aloud at least 2 times a day, and more if the children request it. The books we focus on have repetition, rhyming, prediction, rich in language, informational, high-quality story and text. We also emphasize letter recognition and the phonetic sound of letters; we accomplish this by introducing a letter of the week. We talk about words that begin with that letter and the sound they make. Learning that each letter makes a different sound is also part of early literacy.

I hope that you encourage book reading at home; reading to your children at bedtimes and other times too!! Research says that children who have been read to at home have a higher chance of being good readers! 

Here is some reading that is happening here at preschool....love it!!!

A child "reading" to the teacher.
Children "read" books
by looking at the pictures.

Being read to in the tee-pee with Ms. Cassidy.

This is after closing story
before children go home! 

READ ON!!!

Santa is coming to town....

I enjoy putting out the Santa hats during Christmas time and see what the children do with them. The role playing, language and fun they have with them is always interesting and creative! 

I believe these four were planning
a Christmas party.

Santa asked for his name written down,
and then taped it in on his shirt.

Another Santa! 


HO, HO, HO!!!

Coloring and Cutting!

Each year, I print out a lot of different paper ornament patterns for the children to color and cut out (if they choose); the ornaments are then put on our preschool Christmas tree or taken home. The MWF group has been super busy with making ornaments. The free art table is crowded and busy - it's neat to see them work busily and end up with very creative paper ornaments! 

It's a blurry picture, but it just means
they were busy! 

Finished product!

Another action shot. 

Concentration.

These two were very focused while
cutting out their ornaments.

Non-toy children's gifts

Need some ideas for Christmas shopping?

On the website, Your Modern Family, Becky Mansfield lists 50 of her favorite non-toy children's gifts. Here's a sampling:

- "Make them a photo album of memories from the year (use an album where it has room for you to write and share why you loved that moment)

- Tickets to an event

- Classes at a local gym, art studio, dance studio, soccer clinic…

- A gift certificate for books – check out Scholastic and order a gift card for a gift of education

- Recipe cards and ingredients (Make cookies or even playdough)"

Click on this link for more ideas….  www.yourmodernfamily.com/?s=Non-Toy+Gifts+for+Kids

Preschoolers as teachers!

"I'm going to pretend to be the teacher," one child told me last week. He headed over to the letter of the week chart and grabbed the picture cards we use to introduce the letter of the week. He sat down on the teacher spool and started showing "the class" (a teacher and one child) the picture cards and asking, "What's this?" It's great to see children pretending in many different ways and roles.

The teacher and his assistant!

"What's this?" the teacher asks as he holds
out picture cards for the students to see.

Monsters, Mars, and Dinosaurs!

You just never quite know how a day will go in preschool. As a teacher, one makes plans and typically everything goes as planned, but there can be random, unexpected happenings. And it's all good. Take for instance, yesterday in the MWF class, several children were building with blocks; I overheard comments about Mars and traveling to outer space, so I grabbed my iPad and we started learning about planets which turned into watching videos about the Milky Way. Who knew! 
And then we have children chasing each other on the playground pretending to be monsters! And others pretending to be dinosaurs stomping and roaring around the classroom. Preschool is the place to be! 

Screen Time

I wanted to share this good information with families regarding Screen Time at home. It is just a small section of the full article. The link to read the full article is below. I actually struggle with having a computer in the classroom as this distracts children from other hands-on learning opportunities. I believe that children gain much more knowledge and learning from touching and experimenting with real objects, compared to touching a screen. I know that technology is an important part of our world, but I also thinks it limits us as well. 

"Educational apps and TV shows are great ways for children to sharpen their developing brains and hone their communication skills—not to mention the break these gadgets provide harried parents. But tread carefully: A number of troubling studies connect delayed cognitive development in kids with extended exposure to electronic media," writes Liraz Margalit, PhD, in a Psychology Today article.

Margalit explains that "parents who jump to screen time in a bid to give their kids an educational edge may actually be doing significantly more harm than good—and they need to dole out future screen time in an age-appropriate matter...When a young child spends too much time in front of a screen and not enough getting required stimuli from the real world, her development becomes stunted...Much of the issue lies with the fact that what makes tablets and iPhones so great—dozens of stimuli at your fingertips, and the ability to process multiple actions simultaneously—is exactly what young brains do not need.

"Tablets are the ultimate shortcut tools: Unlike a mother reading a story to a child, for example, a smartphone-told story spoon-feeds images, words, and pictures all at once to a young reader. Rather than having to take the time to process a mother’s voice into words...kids who follow stories on their smartphones get lazy. The device does the thinking for them, and as a result, their own cognitive muscles remain weak."

Source: “What Screen Time Can Really Do to Kids’ Brains,” by Liraz Margalit, PhD., Psychology Today, April 17, 2016

Do not knock over blocks!

As often is the case in the block area, someone builds a structure, leaves to go to another area, and the next thing you know - boom, crash; the structure is destroyed. Last week, we (myself and MWF several children) came up with a solution to this problem. Make a sign that says, "Do not knock over blocks!" We soon discovered that several signs were needed, so one creative gal made the signs - drew the picture and wrote the words. Pretty impressive. We saved the signs and use them (almost) everyday. 

Bulletin Board

I rounded up some helpers in the MWF class to help paint the background for the Bulletin Board in the hallway entry.  We started with a blank white paper, orange, brown and light bluish paint, rollers, sponges and off we went. It turned out very well. Ms. Larisa added the tree later. Each class made the leaves; during preschool we put pine cones and acorns into a box along with fall colors and let the children roll and shake it. Then, Ms. Larisa cut out leaf shapes. 

They really got into it. It was interesting to see the different
painting styles each child had. These four were
very dedicated to getting the job done! 

Time to add the sky.

You'll have to come to the preschool to see the finished product! :)

There were 3 in the tub....

I find it interesting to see what children do with the "tub" in the library area. It's often used for reading and enjoying books, but it's often transformed into other things too. Here are some girls who need to rest a little. Looks comfy, eh?!

Hair Salon

The "house area" of the preschool, also referred to as dramatic play, has a variety of things for children to pretend play, take on roles and use "scripts." There are dolls, baby blankets, stuffed animals, dress up clothes, pretend food, dishes, play phones, calculators, "beauty supplies" (empty bottles, play hair dryers, combs, empty make up containers), purses, play shoes, etc. It seems like a lot of items to have available (and it is), but the children use and enjoy everything provided. A lot of language emerges in this area, along with children taking on roles (mom, dad, baby, etc.), negotiating, and using scripts in play (The mom says_____, The dad says _____). There is a lot of learning taking place in just one area of the room. 
For awhile now, the TR class has demonstrated a lot of interest in "fixing" hair with the supplies that are available, so I thought it would be neat to turn the house area into a hair salon. I was going to call it a beauty shop, but several older children looked at me and had no clue what I was referring to, apparently that is an "old" term! (I stand corrected!) 

The preschool Hair Salon is open for business. 

Just give us a call for an appointment and we will try to fit you into our busy schedule. 

The salon is a busy place! 

Getting all pretty here!

There was some great role
playing going on here.
Ms. Cassidy fit well into her role
as the customer! 

Christmas Boxes!

We have been learning a lot about people and children from "around the world," and so I presented the idea of packing 2 Christmas boxes (for Operation Christmas Child) to the MWF children during circle last week, and they seemed pretty excited about it. It took us less than a week to gather the items we needed, pack them and even create fun little cards for the children who will receive these boxes/gifts. I think it was an incredible lesson in giving to others. This was my first time to try this with children and I believe it was very successful, and I would definitely do it again. Thank you to all who gave! 

We are ready to start packing those
shoe boxes! And they were very
helpful, making sure each box had
exactly what it needed!
I even let them choose which
stuffed animal should go in each -
they discussed, voted and decided
on just the right one to put in each box.

One done, one more to go! 

Stamping card pictures for the children.

I printed out a picture of our class, each of
us signed our names. I thought it would
be neat to include our address on the back.
Who knows, maybe the child who receives
the box will write us a letter?!

Happy Halloween!

This week our focus is on the book, GO AWAY, BIG GREEN MONSTER! It's a great book that helps children overcome their fears about monsters - by telling the monster to GO AWAY, AND DON'T COME BACK UNTIL I SAY SO!

MWF Class

TR Class

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

Preschool t-shirt!

Tada! The preschool t-shirt is ready to go for children and adults!

$10 per shirt. Orders due by Wed, Nov 8! 

(Order forms are at the preschool) 

A Campus Visit and more (TR)

We had a super exciting and busy day yesterday. This group are book lovers. Between Ms. Chantel and I, we read about 3-5 books a day (during choice time), and could read more, if we had time! 

We had a picnic snack at the Larks Nest in Erb Hall at the college. Very exciting. And then, we stopped by the "rocks and trees" on the way back to preschool. Fun times!

These two were reading out loud two different
books in the tub. The third child was the audience.
The one on the left has her hand up doing the
motions to Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree.

She's holding the book just like a teacher
would.

And more reading!!

snack time at the Larks Nest!

ROCKS AND TREES!!

This area is located next to Lemons Center

on campus.  

One Little Monkey Swinging in the Tree!

Hello there.

Another monkey....

Two friends holding hands on a rock.
How sweet. 

Then two more joined them.

You can't hear them,
but they were making monkey sounds.....

HAPPY FRIDAY!

A Campus Visit

This year we are only going a few places on campus, not because the children don't enjoy it, there are just other themes I'm trying to cover this Fall! But we did fit in a dorm visit and snack at the Larks Nest today!

Ms. Chantel's room

Enjoying a snack at the Larks Nest!

A friendly college student came by

while we were having a snack and

high-fived everyone!