Saturday, May 14, 2011

TTh Preschool News - Week of May 8

Hello Preschool Families,

We know that Father’s Day isn’t until June19, but we wanted to celebrate all of our Dads this week! One of the “Dads” we learned about was God our Father! We sang a song about God that you can find on Cullen’s ABCs that goes like this:

My God is so great!
So strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my God cannot do!
My God is so great!
So strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my God cannot do!

The mountains are His
The rivers are His
The stars are his handiwork, too
My God is so great!
So strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my God cannot do!
For you!

And we adapted that song a little bit to sing a song about our Dads at home who we love so much….

My Dad is so great!
So strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my dad cannot do! (Repeat)

I look up to him
To teach me what’s right
To show me the things I should do

My Dad is so great!
So strong and so mighty
There’s nothing my dad cannot do!
Yahoo!

We hope you enjoy the early Father’s Day change dish that we made for you!

See you next week!
Miss Jean, Miss Amy and Miss Pat

MWF Preschool News - Week of May 8

Hello MWF Preschool Families,

We had so much fun at preschool this week! We were able to spend a lot of time this week outside playing on our playground and taking walks. There were also several centers set up outside that we could participate at. There was a painting easel, jump rope, a water center with sponges, and we even learned some of the sounds that different birds make.

This week in art we painted some beautiful flowers that will be displayed in the hall later next week. We also painted small pictures using marbles. It was a new experience trying to paint by rolling a marble and trying to keep it in the pan. Our pictures turned out really neat.

Wednesday was a busy day for us. We had chapel with Pastor Greg, and he reminded us that our friends are gifts from God. We also sang the song “God is so Good.” Later that day we learned a new game inside called “Heads Up, Seven Up.” This game was so much fun that we even played it again on Friday.

Here are some other things we did this week…

Played the game “Terrific Tens” with dice
Practiced tracing the number 10
Listen to the story The Surprise Garden by Zoe Hall
Played various matching letter games
Learned to read the book I Go
Listened to the story Grow Flower Grow by Lisa Bruce
Played Jenga
Wrote in our notebooks
…and listened to the story The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.

We have even more fun stuff planned for next week. Enjoy your weekend!
Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean, and Miss Pat

Friday, May 6, 2011

MWF Preschool News - Week of May 1

Hello MWF Preschool Families,

May is here, and the flowers are blooming! Dandelions are found all over the playground as well as in the little hands of preschoolers. The Spring time energy can be felt both inside the classroom and out.

Speaking of the classroom here’s a look at what we did at preschool this week.

In art we made a special picture for our Moms and Dads using paint and our hand prints. It was so nice on Friday that we were able to make our art project outside! We used spray bottles filled with thin paint to spray a misty mural on paper. It is so nice to be able to enjoy the fresh spring air after being cooped up all winter.

At our math table this week we played a dice game called “Nifty Nines”. We discovered the many combinations of numbers using dice that add up to the number nine. We also played a game called “Reach for the Top” using our dice. The game is really based on luck of rolling the right numbers, but it gives us a chance to practice tallying and graphing our results. We also really enjoyed competing with each other to see who could reach the top of their paper first.

This week we also practiced tracing the number nine, matching together rhyming words, reading a book about Family, and making cards for our moms and friends. We listened to the stories Sunny Day by Anne Milbourne, On Top of Spaghetti by Paul Brett Johnson, and Who Made the World by Kathleen Long Bostrom. We also all had fun playing in Dance Bags and going outside to the playground.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Amy, Miss Michele, Miss Jean, and Miss Pat

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Simple Sixes and More

Hello Preschool Families!

We’ve been playing a dice game in the MWF class the last several Mondays that would be great fun at home for all the children - and it would be a great way to learn some important math skills! It is a game I learned at a math workshop that I attended during January’s Early Childhood Conference. The workshop was given by a representative from Box Cars and One Eyed Jacks which is located in Canada.

We start with a tray of 36 dice (which can be purchased from Box Cars - click on the Math Manipulatives link or other places, I’m sure). The tray is great, because it's easy to see if we need to search for missing dice at the end of the game! To play Simple Sixes, someone rolls all of the dice (we roll them into a shallow box to keep them contained). Then, everyone starts looking for dice combinations that add up to 6. So, you could pull out six 1’s, or two 3’s, a four and a two, or a simple six! You can go around the table and take turns or you can use a sand timer like we do and try to find all the sixes before all the sand is on the bottom.

After we learned Simple Sixes, we expanded to sevens, eights and now we’re on Nifty Nines! Usually we will have children at the math table all morning long for these games. Let me give you one other suggestion if you decide to play this at home. When your children are counting the combined dots, have them count the dots on the larger number die first. For example, if you rolled a six and a three, first count the six dots, and then move on to the next die with seven, eight and nine. Scroll down a bit to the previous post to see what the game looks like in our classroom!

Have fun playing and learning!
Miss Jean