Preschool Buckaroos

Our welcome week took on a "Wild West" theme because of the decorations in our classroom. The inspiration also came from a trip that my husband and I took with our family to TEXAS over the summer. The children enjoyed pretending to be cowboys and cowgirls. We read the book, Charlie the Ranch Dog by Ree Drummond together.

 The book is one of my favorites because it is told from the perspective of a basset hound. The class has already been hearing stories about my own basset hound, Dudley. I love to incorporate him into the classroom during story time.

We also engaged in many Wild West activities in the classroom. For example, we made our own cowboy hats and cowboy vests. We used brown paper bags to make the vests and the children were able to add fringe to their vest using scissors and color to decorate them.

Other activities included using a hool-a-hoop to rope cattle, panning for gold in the sensory table, and playing a board game called Buckaroo.

 We put pictures of cattle on onto small chairs and our carpet area became a place to herd the cattle. The children loved this large motor activity.

 The children loved sifting in the sensory table to find piece of gold. For this I found a yellow colored bean at the grocery store and added it to the sand. They used metal pans and sifters to pan for gold.

This game is great for the preschool age. They love to try to add items to the horse such as a hat, a saddle, and rope before the horse decided to buck it off. There we lots of laughs at this center!

We had a blast in the Wild, Wild, West together! I would consider making this unit longer in the future because there were so many great ideas online and in Mailbox magazines to incorporate learning into the classroom.

First Day of School

     Our first day of school was filled with fun! We sang songs together to practice learning names, we explored new toys with new friends, and we painted with watercolors.

     For circle time we read the book, The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. The book helped to soothe some of the tears that were had early in the day and to remind all of us that we are loved. I was very excited that both classes are full of book lovers! As we read the story together many were asking questions and eager to interact with the illustrations. I am looking forward to many more read-alouds with them! After finishing the book, we made our own kissing hand cookies. Here are some action shots:

     Judging my the crumbs at clean-up time....these cookies were a big hit!

I am happy to say that the first day of Preschool was a very fun-filled day and I am looking forward to many more. I am thankful for the families that share their children with us.

Back to School

The smell of Fall is in the air and the "Back to School" buzz can be heard everywhere you go. I am  giddy with the excitement and anticipation of new preschoolers. As I have been cleaning and preparing the classroom I can't help but wonder what toys will be their favorites and what their personalities will be like. I know we will have so much fun together this year.

Here are some of the things I have been busy doing:

Name tags

 In our Preschool classroom it is ALL about name recognition. I have been making labels for cubbies, name cards for snack, and name tracers for writing practice. The name cards on the ring will be used frequently  during our circle time to practice name recognition and spelling.

Bulletin Boards:

After a trip to Satico's...my favorite teacher supply store...I was ready to create Welcome bulletin boards. I recruited my friend Jessica to help me decorate and I think they turned out great. I will be creating a rodeo/farm welcome theme for the first week. I hope the children will enjoy finding their name throughout the room when they come to visit! Parents will also be able to pick an apple from our supply tree to bring in an item for the class. This will help us to cut down on costs throughout the school year.

Job Chart:

Next I created a job chart sticking with the ranch theme. The kids are usually very excited to have a special role in the classroom. I think this will be a great tool for teaching responsibility.

I have spent a lot of time in the classroom deciding which toys to put on shelves and rearranging furniture. I am happy with the way the classroom layout looks. I hope the new preschoolers are happy with it too! I anticipate some of their favorite areas in the room being the play house, the dramatic play area, and the sensory table. Only a few days left until our meet and greet!


Classroom Layout:

Enjoy your labor day weekend! I hope everyone has a great "First Day" of school.