Color be Beautiful

Clara is sorting M&M's.

One of the kids favorite toys is a tape measure. MATH!

More measuring !!

I love walking into a room and seeing kids writing !

Lacing cards full of colors!

Color Puzzles

Soft toys - you push the animal and it tells you story .

Sorting colored bears.

This is my worksampling/ observation journal. I note things I see them do

such as " using materials in the classroom properly" " recreating stories that we have read" and "sorting things by one attribute."

Colorful blocks !

Today was a fun day.

The Train Wreck

Today.

I failed.

We are doing the story "Brown Bear , Brown Bear". I have some cool new toys that are made from the story. I have story cubes that you match the front of the animal to the back. I have a soft toy that makes the animal sounds. I downloaded from ITUNES a " Brown Bear " song. I used the story telling apron and story pieces to tell the story. We have been rocking out to " Goin on a Bear Hunt" by Steve. FUN FUN FUN!

Then... like a train wreck it happened.

I printed off black lines of all the animals. I thought it would be awesome for the kids to color and make their own book. I am not sure how it went with Beth yesterday but here are the reactions I got today.

" I dont like school."

" I don't like to color."

" Am I scribbling?"

I didn't see one smile or hear one happy child.

Then, like a typical teacher ( that should be shot and put away in a closet ) I whined...

" You guys.. I dont ask you to do many ( or ANY) coloring sheet type stuff. This will be cool, lets make a book. ( They just stare at me. ) Seriously guys ( here it comes, get ready!) when you go to kindergarten you will have to do these. We might as well get ready."

That was the train wreck.

I couldn't even believed it came out of my mouth. I offer TONS of fine motor activities for the kids to do daily so that when they ARE ready to write they have to muscles and coordination to do that. WHY am I MAKING them sit and make a book? Did they learn anything from it that I could not have taught another more appropriate way?

I did more harm than good.

I was in a meeting yesterday and a statement was made that " Children don't fail school. Schools fail children." Point well taken.

Tomorrow is another day.

Today I am in Little Rock again at a luncheon . It is an economic summit to discuss with business leaders the important of quality early childhood in Arkansas.

The kids , and Randy and Beth, started a new unit today. " Brown Bear , Brown Bear" When I did assessments this month I noticed a few friends did not know all their colors so I decided to do a little unit on colors and what could be more fun that " Brown Bear Brown Bear."

The day started off with many color activities and some special brown bear themed toys that I have . ( Yes... teaching toys. )

Today the kiddos focused on Black and White. Can you go on a color hunt around your home and find some black and white objects?

Here's the story- Enjoy !

Lots of Learning going on !

Stringing red and green beads onto pipe cleaners. We talked about making a pattern but I didnt insist that they do it " my way ". 

How many apples long is the worm?

Jaden's mom enjoying the fun conversations !

Look, I made a necklace!

This takes concentration. Look at Anna's pattern!

This  can also be a sorting activity !

I took out some new special crayons today and LOVED the pictures they made. Sometimes it takes changing out their environment a little. If that had been crayons I doubt anyone would have scampered to the table quite so fast. I did a huge no no.  I  was so excited to see Whitlee's picture and exclaimed " You drew the Very Hungry Caterpillar". I was wrong... But isnt it good ?

Jaxson did a fabulous drawing too !

Apple prints with a real apple.  I cut little notches in the side of the apple so the children could grip it better.  There is also an A stamp.  Just a little reinforcement. 

Enjoying Jaden's mom reading " There was an old lady who swallowed a pie" 

Daniel was so excited that he put the puzzle together by himself!

This is how we manage centers.  There are 8 x 10 pictures of our friends ( these are last year ) and they are numbered.  In this center 3 children can play.  We dont enforce these too much unless an area gets too crowded and a little crazy.

Someone playing house in our Dora playhouse. Did you know it speaks Spanish?

Sometimes we need a little alone time.

Pets... everywhere. They LOVE to pretend to be doggies and kitty cats.

Geneviette working a puzzle

"Here comes Rosanna!"  I think it is sweet how they watch for their little friends to arrive.

Clara reciting our poem of the week and using the pointer. Allowing them to use the pointer helps them understand the flow of reading... top to bottom , left to right. We are also able to point out punctuation marks.

What a fun full day.  Remember, I will be here in the morning when you arrive but will leave later in the morning  to drive to Batesville Arkansas to teach a conference on the future of Family Childcare.   Beth will also be here on Monday. I will be  eating with the governor. hmph!

Can you believe it? Me and about 100 other people! :)  This is another early childhood thing that I am helping to facilitate.  So glad I have great helpers and don't have to worry when I am gone.

J is for Johnny

 J  is for Johnny Appleseed ! 

Today  I gave a teaser that Saturday is Johnny Appleseed's Birthday!

Can I have this group every year?

Look what Jaxson was drawing !  I see lots of shapes and body parts!

LETTERS!

This is one of the new table activities I put out today.  I saw it on a fellow bloggers blog!  Tracing names on wax paper is so much easier. You can see through it better!

    Some of the older children used cut outs of yellow , green and red apples to make patterns with me at the table.

I emptied and cleaned out all the paint cups and for a week I have not refilled them. You should have heard the excitement today when I said I was putting new paint out! " YAY, can I go first?" " I LOVE to paint! "

Emilee brought me a scentsy in today. Let me see if I can explain : It is a warmer with a bulb that uses wax to spread yummy smells through the house . You can change out the wax to different scents. There are also different sizes. I think it is like tupperware parties where you can have a party and sell to your friends and get points to earn products... maybe. Whatever it is , I might be hooked. If you are interested, I am sure she would love to talk to you !Thanks Emilee. I am really conscience of what my room smells like when you come in. I want it to be welcoming. This will make it easier!

We love making friends!

I can't even begin to explain to you how blessed I feel with my classroom this year. I had decided that I would " slow down " this year in my personal / professional life and I think the Lord has blessed me for doing that. These kiddos are so fun, loving and calm. You cannot tell there are 16 children in this house. They are so engaged in play and learning. This is going to be a wonderful year.

Happenings today:

At the chalk board - Look I can make an A ! Look, I made my mommies head BIG! Me made my mommy!

In the green room - Ms Debbie can you video me singing the ABC song? ( WHAT CONFIDENCE! )





I caught Clara sorting our apples in the basket to small and large ! LOVE LOVE LOVE how they learn without me prompting. ALl I have to do is provide the opportunity. Then , she found a small one that had a letter A written on it. Sneaky teacher.

We had a new poem today !   

A is for Alligator. 

A is for Ants!

A is for Apples in my pants!

The kids thought this was HILARIOUS!

I have been very frustrated that I couldnt seem to caption my pictures on my blog.   I emailed a friend this morning and she helped me fix it.   I was in edit html instead of compose. Go figure. Thanks Wendy!  I had already drafted this blog so it is still a little messed up but hopefully from here out they will be better !  

Apples , Apples , Apples

How many apples in the tree?
Can you count them 1 , 2 ,3 .
How many green ones?
How many red?
Now eat an apple and go to bed.

Today a couple of the kiddos helped me to make a poster with this poem on it. We were able to talk about periods ( means stop ) and questions marks ( ask something.) I don't spend a lot of time on punctuation I just point it out.

We made apple trees like one of my blogging friends out of large green A's and a brown rectangle trunk. Then the kids used tiny apples stickers to turn it into an apple tree. I took a picture of one of my friends little hands working to get the sticker off. Notice that she is using her pinchers... which is the correct form for pencil holding. Yes, there is a method behind the madness in our play environment. You can see our orchard hanging on the wall.

The picture of the basket of apples has been moved all around the room. I put a muffin tin out beside it and they practice one on one correspondence . They have taken them to the dramatic play area to cook. They have been counted. The tongs are for more fine motor practice.

We also made apples out of paper plates today and put a sparkly A in the center. I would almost bet you money if you ask your child what A sounds like they would be able to tell you.

These activities were done in small groups. I don't believe in a lot of large group craft time. To give you a picture of how we play all day yet get these types of things accomplished: I will set all the materials out on the table and if I see a child wandering around aimlessly i will say " Hey, wandering child ( name ) would you like to make an apple tree?" Almost always the answer is SURE! Most of the time there are a few that don't like crafty type stuff or small group activities and I may have to find them an encourage them to join me. I don't force them though. So, if you see things hanging on the wall and you never see yours come home- it may be that your child was too busy learning through play elsewhere.

Ms Beth will be working on Friday with Randy. I am teaching a conference in Batesville .

I hope you all have a great week!