Saturday, February 25, 2012
Uu is for umbrella
We read a story (The Umbrella by Jan Brett) about a boy who tries to find animals in the forest. While he was climbing a tree to get a better look, different animals start piling up in his umbrella. The other story (Umbrella by Taro Yahima) is about a girl who gets her very first umbrella and she can't wait for it to rain.
The theme Umbrella allowed us to talk about weather.
Our centers were cutting and practicing to write the Letter in our names (or improve our penmanship). We couldn't always get to those centers - we have been tending to run out of time, probably because we spend a lot of time time talking about our theme.
Our art/craft: 1) an umbrella collage - The children were able to use the glue bottle and sprinkle rice (for rain) on the glue. They applied more glue and I sprinkled on the glitter. The children chose whether they wanted a three dimensional or a two dimensional collage. The 3-D collage was an open cupcake liner and the 2-D collage is when they folded the liner in half to make a half moon shape. The hardest part was trying to get the chenille stem to stick to the paper. Hot glue would have worked better, but that's too dangerous for my comfort. 2) The children colored an umbrella with crayon. I then crumpled it up and soaked it in diluted black paint to give it a dreary day look. It didn't turn out the way the book claimed. The paper easily ripped and one batch of diluted black paint made the paper look purple.
Here are this week's photos as well as a video at the end. Note: Next week, we will do the theme "Cc is for caterpillars". I ordered caterpillars, which will turn into butterflies and we have been looking at them this week with magnifying glasses.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The theme Umbrella allowed us to talk about weather.
Our centers were cutting and practicing to write the Letter in our names (or improve our penmanship). We couldn't always get to those centers - we have been tending to run out of time, probably because we spend a lot of time time talking about our theme.
Our art/craft: 1) an umbrella collage - The children were able to use the glue bottle and sprinkle rice (for rain) on the glue. They applied more glue and I sprinkled on the glitter. The children chose whether they wanted a three dimensional or a two dimensional collage. The 3-D collage was an open cupcake liner and the 2-D collage is when they folded the liner in half to make a half moon shape. The hardest part was trying to get the chenille stem to stick to the paper. Hot glue would have worked better, but that's too dangerous for my comfort. 2) The children colored an umbrella with crayon. I then crumpled it up and soaked it in diluted black paint to give it a dreary day look. It didn't turn out the way the book claimed. The paper easily ripped and one batch of diluted black paint made the paper look purple.
Here are this week's photos as well as a video at the end. Note: Next week, we will do the theme "Cc is for caterpillars". I ordered caterpillars, which will turn into butterflies and we have been looking at them this week with magnifying glasses.
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| Trying to squeeze the glue out |
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| 3-D umbrella collage |
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| adding rice |
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| Our caterpillars for next week's theme |
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| Our center - cutting |
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| Coloring the umbrella and adding rain (they loved this part) |
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| Trying to look at the caterpillars with magnifying glasses. |
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Vv is for Valentine
On Monday and Tuesday we celebrated Valentine's Day. One child really wanted to make and bring the cookies, so he was able to share it with his class - thank you! We ate cookies, listened to a story about Valentine's Day, finished up our parents' card, added stickers to our classmates' cards, "delivered" the cards into each person's "mailbox" (cubby), and did a valentine craft. Besides those fun activities, we also learned about the sound of the letter Vv on those days. On Wednesday and Thursday, we did our circle time chart, learned how to write the letter Vv, and listened to a story about like, love, and appreciation. Friday was a day off. Some of us went on a field trip to Sensory Time. Pictures will be posted on Facebook.
Our art/craft was: 1) bleeding hearts - I cut out heart shapes in tissue paper that bleeds color when you wet it. It turned out to be a beautiful project! 2) painting with ping pong balls - I put the watered down paint on the paper and then the children tried to blow the ping pong balls through the paint. I asked them why it wasn't working and they observed that the ball got stuck in the paint. After, they tried blowing it around, they were then able to rock their trays and let the ball roll through the paint. It really turned out neat. The marbles tend to be heavier and mixes the paint up, whereas the ping pong ball lightly drags the paint so that the lines look feathery and you can see each color, instead of a blend.
Our centers: Besides being able to play with toys like the tree-house doll house, motor links, cars, castle, tracks and trains, and much more during transitional times, our main center is name writing and cutting. The children are learning to cut various types of lines and to better their cutting skills. Also, I created name worksheets for each child. For example - my name is Esther. If I was a student, my worksheet would have me practice tracing and writing E...s...t...h...e...r and then the name put together. I tell the children that the letters on their worksheet are their letters and they need to learn the name of the letter, so they can spell it and learn how to write it. Some children are still writing their name the way they did when they entered my program with all capitals. I have to try to get them to change that habit.
We will be working on the cutting and name writing for a few weeks.
Enjoy this week's photos:
Our art/craft was: 1) bleeding hearts - I cut out heart shapes in tissue paper that bleeds color when you wet it. It turned out to be a beautiful project! 2) painting with ping pong balls - I put the watered down paint on the paper and then the children tried to blow the ping pong balls through the paint. I asked them why it wasn't working and they observed that the ball got stuck in the paint. After, they tried blowing it around, they were then able to rock their trays and let the ball roll through the paint. It really turned out neat. The marbles tend to be heavier and mixes the paint up, whereas the ping pong ball lightly drags the paint so that the lines look feathery and you can see each color, instead of a blend.
Our centers: Besides being able to play with toys like the tree-house doll house, motor links, cars, castle, tracks and trains, and much more during transitional times, our main center is name writing and cutting. The children are learning to cut various types of lines and to better their cutting skills. Also, I created name worksheets for each child. For example - my name is Esther. If I was a student, my worksheet would have me practice tracing and writing E...s...t...h...e...r and then the name put together. I tell the children that the letters on their worksheet are their letters and they need to learn the name of the letter, so they can spell it and learn how to write it. Some children are still writing their name the way they did when they entered my program with all capitals. I have to try to get them to change that habit.
We will be working on the cutting and name writing for a few weeks.
Enjoy this week's photos:
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| The color kept separating, so I needed to mix the colors with the paint brush. Then I used droppers to drop paint on their paper. |
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| A very important part of our day - hand washing. We use bar soap, because it doesn't fall off their hand and into the sink. While the children wait their turn to wash their hands before snack time and after outside time, they look through the books. It's our library time. |
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| The children earn stickers for following the rules - raising their hand for a turn to speak, listen to others, hands to themselves, being a good friend...and when they earn a row of stickers, they get to pick a toy out of the prize box. |
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| Painting the bleeding tissue paper hearts. |
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| They are decorating their friends' cards. |
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Ff is for flags (and Presidents' Birthday)
This week we talked about the flags around the world as well as ours. I mentioned that this month, two of our Presidents are recognized on their birthday (Washington and Lincoln).
For art, the children made their own flags. They also did marble roll painting.
For centers, the children built countries and put their flags in their structures. They also played with different magnets.
This coming Friday, there is no school, so come join us on our field trip to Sensory Time.
This Monday and Tuesday, we will celebrate Valentine's Day and learn about the letter Vv. There will be cookies, but also pack a snack.
Enjoy this week's photos:
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| Our building material |
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| A beautiful day to play! We thought it would be too cold. Some children wanted to stay in, but after they went outside, they had a blast! |
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| Being silly and making us all laugh |
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| Joining in on being silly. |
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| Granola bar mustache! |
Friday, February 3, 2012
Ww is for wind - January 30 - February 3, 2012
As you all saw, I posted the upcoming field trips on my door. I will send those files to you as the field trips come up. The first one to Sensory Time on Friday, February 17th is on our day off. They have a $3 special on Fridays, so the price is no longer $7! I hope you can join us.
This week's theme was wind and the letter was Ww. The art project where they blew bubbles colored with food coloring onto paper did not work very well. After they blew a few bubbles, we stood back and flung the colored bubble solution on to the paper. The second art project was to color a diamond shaped paper, to make kites that you put on display. We used oil pastels, which are really nice to work with, because they are so smooth.
For centers, they blew leaves across water, blew cotton balls across the table, blew up balloons and let them go, and played with toys. Blowing up the balloons was difficult. The pre-k'ers seemed to be able to blow up the balloons after many tries and the preschoolers struggled.
I read a very long book called, The Girl Who Loved the Wind, by Jane Yolen. It is pretty advanced and has a lot of big words. I gave them pillows to lay on and I asked them to listen to the story without talking, like they would at the movies. They did a really good job following these instructions. Despite the level of the book being at a 4th grade level, the children understood the main idea of the book!
I'm almost done testing the children. I will be e-mailing each of you about your child, instead of doing conferences. If you want a conference after you receive the e-mail, then let me know.
Enjoy this week's photos:
This week's theme was wind and the letter was Ww. The art project where they blew bubbles colored with food coloring onto paper did not work very well. After they blew a few bubbles, we stood back and flung the colored bubble solution on to the paper. The second art project was to color a diamond shaped paper, to make kites that you put on display. We used oil pastels, which are really nice to work with, because they are so smooth.
For centers, they blew leaves across water, blew cotton balls across the table, blew up balloons and let them go, and played with toys. Blowing up the balloons was difficult. The pre-k'ers seemed to be able to blow up the balloons after many tries and the preschoolers struggled.
I read a very long book called, The Girl Who Loved the Wind, by Jane Yolen. It is pretty advanced and has a lot of big words. I gave them pillows to lay on and I asked them to listen to the story without talking, like they would at the movies. They did a really good job following these instructions. Despite the level of the book being at a 4th grade level, the children understood the main idea of the book!
I'm almost done testing the children. I will be e-mailing each of you about your child, instead of doing conferences. If you want a conference after you receive the e-mail, then let me know.
Enjoy this week's photos:
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| Flung the colored bubble solution, instead |
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| coloring the kite |
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| Coloring the bow |
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| Some of our kites on display |
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| blowing the cotton ball across the table |
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| Trying to blow up the balloons |
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| Letting the balloons go! |
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| Tracing the letter Ww |
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| Practicing |
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| They wanted me to take a picture of their joint effort structure. It looks amazing! |
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| Here are the words we put together on Fridays. This week we reviewed the letter Jj and made the word jet and we learned about the letter Vv and made the word vet. |
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