Leaves are Falling....

This week we spent time learning about the trees and their leaves. We began by reading the book, We're Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger.

 The book and our discussions helped us to learn how to find different types of leaves and classify them by their color and shape. After our circle time we went on a leaf hunt of our own. Each child was given a bag to carry and we led them out to various paths around the school building. There were excited shouts, "I found a yellow one!" "Look at this huge one!" "I think this is the maple leaf!" It was a great experience for us all...and it is always a fun adventure to take our learning outdoors. Here are some photos from the experience:

After the leaf hunt we returned to the classroom to do some counting with our leaves, sorting, and to make leaf rubbings.

Another book we read this week was one of my favorites, Leaf Man by Lois Elhert.

I love to read this book with the children. The illustrations are so imaginative and absolutely beautiful. After we read the book we used the felt board to make our own leaf people. The children enjoyed manipulating the leaves to make their own designs. After circle time we also incorporated the Leaf Man book into our centers and the children were able to create their own leaf person using real leaves.

It was a great week spent learning together. Our easel was being used to finger paint beautiful fall scenes, the sensory table was used to sort various nuts from trees, and we sang many songs and finger-plays together. Here is one more peak at some of our learning. We introduced patterns by using different colored leaves. The children practiced making their own "AB" pattern strip. We will continue to work on the skill or recognizing and making patterns throughout the year.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the fall leaves and scenery before they are gone!

Fire Safety Week

Our class loved learning about fire safety because it meant they could practice "STOP, DROP, and ROLL" in the classroom as well as have a visit from some real fire fighters from our local fire department. We spent time reading books to learn about fire fighters and their equipment. The children were fascinated to watch a real fire fighter get dressed and put on all of his gear. Here is an inside look at our visit:

Here are some of our learning activities that look place throughout the week:

We played Firetruck Bingo to practice number recognition. This was a popular center...we love Bingo dabbers!

YUM! At one center we practiced following direction to make a tasty firetruck treat!

 We used shapes to create our own firetruck pictures.

 We painted with toy firetrucks to make these great pictures of firetruck tracks. This was a great fine motor skill of moving the trucks back and forth in the paint.

We also borrowed this fabulous firetruck tent to play in. We wore our firefighter helmets and took flashlights inside the tent with us.

It is my hope that through all of these fun learning activities and experiences the children went home and shared with their parents about the importance of fire safety, smoke detectors, and "Stop, Drop, and Roll." We had a great week together....I am wondering if we will see some fire fighters again soon on Halloween....it seemed to be a pretty exciting costume in our classroom!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Our Very Own Butterflies

We had a wonderful unit on caterpillars and butterflies. I had found more than a dozen monarch caterpillars in a field of milk weed at the beginning of the month and placed them in a butterfly net in the classroom. Everyday we enjoyed checking the net to see if anything had changed and the children patiently awaited the reveal of our first butterfly. Here are some pictures of the process:

This is a picture of one of the preschoolers drawing her observations of the caterpillars for the day. As you can see....we had several green chrysalis in the net.

We read the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar several times. Then we completed many activities based on the book including putting butterflies in order by their shape and size, sorting butterflies by color, matching butterflies, and making artwork.

 In this activity we used bingo dabbers to recreate the artwork that Eric Carle used in his book.

I surveyed the class to see if they liked some of the foods that we read about in the book. They were able to practice name recognition and place their name on the chart for this activity. As it turned out...everyone likes lollipops and no one likes to eat green leaves like the caterpillar! :)

Our sensory table was filled with birdseed and other things that start with the letter "B" this week including butterflies. The children enjoyed manipulating the items in the table and making new discoveries.

This last picture is an example of our name caterpillars. The children practiced putting their letters in order to create their name and then they decorated their caterpillars.

We had a great week and the excitement and pure joy when each butterfly hatched was priceless. I loved hearing the children's shrieks and laughter as we let each butterfly fly free. It is one of my favorite activities to do with them. 

I wanted to share a few photos of the children letting our butterflies go outside. I had to crop and edit the pictures for privacy purposes but I hope it gives you a glance of the enchantment. The butterflies were willing to rest on our fingers and on some occasion they flew away immediately but on one of the colder, rainy days we had to place them on our fence to allow them time to adjust to the climate and within a few hours they had both flown away.

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.