Brazil, Australia and the USA

I don't think I can really express how much I have loved having your kids in my home this Christmas season. I have loved seeing their excitement and the kindness and Christmas spirit that they bring with them every day!

On Monday we traveled to Brazil. They have some amazing Christmas displays in Brazil: huge trees and beautiful nativities. Families in Brazil frequently make their own nativities. Some of these, and some of the nativities displayed around the country, are made out of recycled products. So, we made our own recycled nativities!

On Wednesday we visited Australia. Christmas in Australia is very similar to Christmas here, with one big difference, it's summer and school is just getting out for summer break! The kids were very confused by this concept. In Australia, Christmas involves swimming in the ocean, barbecues and sandmen instead of snowmen! We had lots of fun making our own sandmen!

By Friday, our Grinch was filled with the kind acts that the kids have done this month. This is just a sample, I definitely didn't catch all of them! (These hearts will be coming home in January, I apologize for not getting them into suitcases today!) This meant that today we got to have a Christmas party!

We rounded out our travels with the USA. We talked about what we do for Christmas in our families and then did some of those activities! We had a great time painting, playing games, singing carols and reading stories. For snack time, we made our own Christmas wreaths that were very tasty. 

Have a wonderful break and I will see you all in January!

Mexico, Sweden and Germany

We learned so much on our travels last week! 

On Monday we traveled to Mexico. We read a fun book about all the many celebrations they have in Mexico during the month of December. (After which, I think I may move. They have so many fun holidays!) The kids' favorite was The Night of the Radishes. Kids in Oaxaca, Mexico picked amazingly huge radishes and carved them into Christmas decorations. They were truly amazing! Here is an example:

We made our own Mexican Christmas decorations, but we went the simpler route and made paper poinsettias, which are also popular in Mexico. 

For snack time, we made bunuelos (fried tortillas with cinnamon sugar). They were delicious!

On Wednesday, we headed back across the ocean to Sweden. We talked about St. Lucia day, the traditional costumes that boys and girls wear, the foods they eat and the parades they have. We practiced cutting by making our own pictures of St. Lucia.

On Friday we moved south to Germany. We talked about some of the many Christmas traditions we have the originated in Germany (Christmas trees, candy canes, and many songs such as Silent Night and Oh, Christmas Tree). We also learned about another holiday that is celebrated in Germany on December 6th. St. Nicholas Day. I talked with St. Nicholas before preschool and he said that he would stop by and fill the kids' shoes with treats, just as he does for children in Germany. We put our shoes under the tree to await his delivery! While we were waiting, we took part in another German tradition, making ornaments out of Christbaumgeback (salt dough).  The kids got to help mix and knead the dough, cut out shapes and then painted them after they had been baked!

A Letter from Mickey

I can't believe I forgot to write about this in my last post! Oh well, two posts for today. A few weeks ago, when we learned about mail carriers, we wrote and mailed letters to our favorite Disney characters. Today, we received this reply! Take a minute to read through it, I was very impressed with the people at Disney. They also sent a signed post card for each student, which was sent home today!

Christmas in Italy and Israel

This week was the start of our Holidays Around the World unit. I have had so much fun planning this unit and have learned lots of things that I didn't know. Hopefully this kids will love it as much as I do!

Our letter of the week was L, which was just perfect for learning to sing Deck the Halls! The kids are getting pretty good at the words and have definitely got the "Fa-la-la"s down. We also learned about things that start with L and worked on writing and finding the letter L. Today we did some fun review activities to go over what we've learned about the alphabet so far. We used some trucks to haul blocks to the mat and match the letters on the blocks to the letters on the mat. After that we used stickers to complete some alphabet mazes!

On Monday I introduced the new unit, had the kids make their suitcases and passports, and introduced our friend, Mr. Grinch. We read How the Grinch Stole Christmas and talked about what Christmas is really about. This month, as the kids see each other doing nice things, they get to add hearts to the Grinch. If he is filled up before the last day of school, we will have a special Christmas party on the last day! So far we have four hearts for things like helping other students clean up, asking nicely for things we wanted and waiting patiently when we couldn't have them right then. At the end of the month, I will send the hearts that each student earned home with them so you can see the nice things they've done!

On Wednesday we started our travels with Christmas in Italy. We learned about some of the foods they eat in Italy on Christmas like spaghetti and panettone. We also talked a lot about Befana, the Christmas witch who rides on a broom and brings Christmas presents to the kids in Italy. To show what we learned, we made broomstick Christmas Tree ornaments.

Today we traveled to Israel and learned about Hanukkah. We read several books that talked about why Jews celebrate Hanukkah and what they do for their celebrations. We made a couple of our own menorahs. One out of paper and one to eat for snack!

We also made our own dreidels and played the dreidel game. The instructions were sent home in their suitcases in you would like to play at home!

Doctors, Dentists and Police

Sadly, I must apologize for the lack of pictures this week. We did so many fun things and I completely forgot to take pictures of most of it.

We talked about the letter k this week and had lots of fun pulling out the paint to do something a little bit different!

On Monday we learned about doctors and had a special visitor come talk to us about some of the things doctors do. He brought his stethoscope, blood pressure cuff and a book about the body. Surprisingly, the kids were most interested in learning about bones.  

Wednesday was all about dentists. The kids were shocked and amazed to find out that teeth are actually bones. We used a mouth, some teeth and some dice to practice counting. The kids rolled their die, then put that number of teeth in the mouth. We also learned about the different parts of the tooth.

On Friday we learned about Police Officers and had another special visitor. He brought along some of the tools he uses on his job like a taser, handcuffs, and bullet proof vest. The kids loved seeing all of his tools, especially the car.

Our tool belt is filled with all the jobs and tools we learned about in the past month. I think this has been the favorite unit so far. The kids have loved learning about different jobs and sharing their experiences with people who do them!

I also have to share the new purchase made for the preschool this week, a rug! It helps us learn about the alphabet and learn to stay in our own space.

Thanksgiving

 Before we get to Thanksgiving, we did have one regular day of preschool last week! During centers time, we talked about colors. One of the centers was playing Candy Land. The kids loved playing and games are such a great teaching tool. Along with helping them review colors, it also gives us an opportunity to talk about playing fair and being good sports. We worked on taking turns and being a good sport whether you win or not. The kids were so nice to each other and wanted to keep playing until everyone made it to the end! 

For our occupation that day, we talked about teachers. We made a list of all the different types of teachers we know about and what we learn from them. The kids then took turns being the teacher. We learned how to do a flower dance, how to play soccer,  how to sing the Bob the Builder song and about the colors in the rainbow.

On Wednesday we got to celebrate Thanksgiving. We used the opportunity for a little social studies and learned about the first Thanksgiving. We watched clips from several videos on the Scholastic website that gave the kids an idea of what life was like back then. We talked about the Mayflower and then made and raced our own little boats. We then learned a little about the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians and what they were celebrating at the first Thanksgiving. The kids got to make their own Indian headbands after learning about their significance in one of the video clips. Finally, we talked about what they might have eaten at the first Thanksgiving and made our own version with turkey sandwiches, corn and apple slices.

Fire Fighters

This week has been all about fire fighters! On Wednesday we learned about fire safety. We learned about how we would get out of our preschool if there was a fire. We also talked about stop, drop and roll. On Friday we went to the fire station and learned even more from the fire fighters there! They also gave me a ton of information that I will be sending home with the kids on Monday. 

Make sure you talk about fire safety at home. Help kids practice different ways of getting out of the house and designate a meeting place outside.

Occupations

We've done so much in the past week that I don't even know where to start! The kids are having so much fun learning about occupations.

Our bulletin board for the month is a tool belt that holds tools for each occupation we will be learning about. Each day the kids get to take an envelope out, look at the tools and guess what occupation we will be talking about that day.

On Monday we talked about construction workers. The kids had lots to tell me about that job from all the construction they've seen in our neighborhood! We learned about all the different tools and tractors they use to get their jobs done. We then got to build and paint our own houses.

On Wednesday we learned about pilots. We had a special guest (my dad) come talk to the kids about being a pilot. He brought a bag full of his tools to show the kids, which they loved! We learned about how a plane flies, how the pilot gets where he needs to go and how he keeps his passengers safe. We love guests and are looking forward from hearing from a few more throughout the month. If any other parents want to come talk to us about their occupation (or one they know a lot about) we still have a few times open!

Today we talked about mail carriers. We learned the parts of the letters and wrote some letters of our own. 

And of course, we have spent lots of time learning about the alphabet, numbers and shapes. One activity we did this week was putting the alphabet back in order. The kids did so well! Most of them were about to get to the letter I, which is as far as we've learned and some were able to do a little more!

The Weather

Last week we finished up our weather unit! We learned a little bit about graphing by making a graph of our pets. After that, the kids made their own weather graphs.

One day was spent learning about rainbows. We had tons of fun making a rainbow in a bowl. If you want to try this at home, the instructions can be found here, http://www.kidzone.ws/science/rainbow.htm . It was really easy and super fun! The kids then got to make their own rainbows out of fruit loops.

We have been talking a lot about shapes and numbers, so we pulled out the playdough to help us practice. Anything involving playdough is always a hit! This is another fun thing you can do at home that helps turn playtime into learning time.

We finished off the unit by making a bulletin board of all the things you've learned. In case you haven't noticed, I love to use the bulletin board as another learning opportunity. The kids love to show off what they've learned. In case you can't interpret what you see, we have a tree, clouds, a very small sun, a few rainbows, a little rain and lots of snowflakes! 

I am so excited to start our occupations unit next month. It's always fun to talk about what you want to be when you grow up. Don't forget to meet at the park on Wednesday for some Halloween fun!

Claw-Claw the Kite

While learning about wind yesterday, the kids wrote a story about Claw-Claw the kite. This story is entirely theirs, I merely wrote it down for them!

Hi! My name is Claw-Claw. I'm a kite. One Sunday, my friend Leecy was at the park flying me. Suddenly, a big storm came and blew me away. A big wind named Blower was so scary. He was blowing me away from Leecy and I knew she would be so sad. Blower took me all the way to Mexico. When we got there, I hid behind a fall tree and Blower couldn't find me. Leecy asked her mom to drive her to Mexico to get me. Her mom tried to get me down from the tree, but it was too high. So she asked politely if she could borrow a ladder and she got me down! Then they took me home and locked me in the garage so Blower couldn't get me and they locked all the doors so Blower couldn't get any of the other kites. The End.

We have been working on asking politely when we want something another student has, so I was so glad they put that into the story! They have great imaginations!

Clouds & Rain

This week we have learned about clouds, rain and wind.

One of the favorite activities, of course, was making mud and dirt! We rained milk into a pile of dirt and it turned into mud. While the mud cooled down in the fridge, we crushed some cookies into dirt to go on top! Lots of fun and a super yummy snack!

We also used our time in the kitchen to make rain in a jar. We (I) poured boiling water into a jar and put ice cubes on top to make it 'rain' inside the jar.

After that, we moved back to the preschool room and each student got to make their own rain in a jar, with the help of some shaving cream and colored water. After a little bit, the shaving cream started to dissolve and the kids all decided they had fog in a jar! I was so impressed that they made that comparison.

Today we talked about the wind. The weather cooperated nicely with a great breezy day. We spent centers time talking about patterns and they all did really well!

During our group activity we pretended to be wind, experimented with what things the wind could move and made our own windsocks!

Getting Our Hands Messy

We have been having lots of fun with manipulatives lately! I love finding new ways for the kids to practice the things they know and they love playing with new things. Play really is the best form of learning at this age!

Last week, we talked about the letter F. We first played charades with words that start with F. After we were done, we took some of those words and showed them with playdoh.

Fish

 Fancy

Today, we used shaving cream to practice writing letters and drawing shapes. If you can't pick them out, this picture shows F, T and C. The kids thought I was a little nuts for a minute, but once they got in there, they loved it!

Apparently our fun with shaving cream inspired them, because they continued it through snack time! They made lots of squares and triangles and then made a goose. (Inspired by the song "5 Little Geese". Yes, it is usually ducks, but we're learning about G this week. Plus, honking is so much more fun than quaking.)

Our First Field Trip

Thank you all for coming to the farm with us and making our trip such a success! I think the kids all had a great time learning a little more about cows and getting hands on experience with the things we have been learning. I was so impressed by how polite our kids were and the fabulous job they did listening to Farmer Jason!

Stayed tuned for pictures of some upcoming science experiments! We will be exploring clouds and rain this week! On that note, if it happens to be raining any morning in October, please plan on your preschooler being outside making some observations during class! (Not that it's actually going to rain, but I can hope.)

The Z Was Zapped

Today during circle time, we read The Z Was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg. The kids absolutely loved it. I think several of them would have been happy if I'd just read it over and over for the rest of class! I would definitely recommend checking this one out from the library and reading it at home. If you haven't read the rest of Chris Van Allsburg's books, you need to check him out. For us adults, his artwork is beautiful. For the kids, he is so creative and writes in a way that helps the kids use their imaginations.

Here is another of my favorites from him:

Also, for those that had their fingers crossed for our plants, we have success! As of today, all our plants have sprouted! The radishes are doing really well. I might even have to thin them out to get some decent sized ones.

More Farm Fun

Due to our shortened week and our Grandparent's Day craft (which took much longer than anticipated), we took some extra time last week for the letter C and reviewed what we have learned so far. The kids loved playing with the playdough!

We continued learning about seeds by observing different fruits and veggies, looking at where their seeds are and how they grow. We then got some extra gluing practice by gluing all the red things we could find onto some tomatoes.

We also used some of the fruits and veggies that we looked at to paint pictures with! Cauliflower and green beans were the favorite painting tools. We were having so much fun that I didn't get any pictures taken while they were working, sorry!

We ended our seed week by reading about The Little Red Hen. The kids were not impressed by how rude her friends were, so we made our own bread to show how they could be much better helpers than the animals in the book! We threshed our own wheat, ground it and made it into rolls. They turned out pretty yummy!

We even made our own butter, which was apparently very hard work!

The kids made their own story wheels of The Little Red Hen while we took turns shaking the butter. Unfortunately, I couldn't find my brads that I thought were with the rest of my school supplies, so we skipped that part. A couple kids just drew a picture of a brad on their wheels!

I wanted to add a note here about my philosophy of preschool, just in case you were wondering. During preschool we do a lot of exploring and playing with the things we are learning about and  then the kids do a worksheet or a craft to take home. I try to let the kids do these on their own as much as possible. This means that they won't come home looking perfect! Frequently the kids follow the directions on the worksheet, and then start doing something else (coloring all the circles instead of all the squares, for example). It is good practice for them either way and we do plenty of other practice on following directions. So don't stress when their work doesn't come home looking perfect! Preschool is all about learning how to be independent and do their work on their own, even if it doesn't look beautiful that way!

Down on The Farm

During the past week, we have started our new unit on farms. During the first day of the month, we sorted through all kinds of animals and other items to find things that belong on a farm. The kids colored everything they found and put it up on our board. If you look closely, you can see the pigs that are hiding in the barn. 

We took a quick break from the farm on Friday to make gifts for our grandparents. The bookmarks turned out really cute and were super fun to make!

This week we are learning about some of the plants you might find on the farm. We learned about how seeds grow and then planted some of our own. The blue container in the back holds radish, carrot and onion seeds and each student has their own cup containing flower seeds. Keep your fingers crossed for us that everything will grow! We will be observing our plants throughout the month and then sending the flowers home (and hopefully eating some of our vegetables!).

After washing up, we made some fancy pictures out of seeds. It was great practice for using glue and following an outline.