First Day Frenzy

Today was our first day back. I think no matter how much you plan and how many hours your put into making everything perfect -- it never will be. I mean... everyones' idea of a perfect day is different , right ? Some days perfect is everyone got home and no one was bleeding. Some days, it is a child that has a hard time making friends breaking a barrier and bonding with a another child. Somedays it is a DING moment as a teacher when you realize something new about yourself. Today was a perfect day too. We made it. We made it .....

I have been SO excited about starting back to school. You will hear me say this 1000 times this year , but I LOVE MY JOB! I have been working on all the little details and planning our day. I get up at 5 am to walk and go to the gym. Yesterday I did and I was SO pumped about getting into routine. This morning at SEVEN AM Randy says " OH MY DEBBIE - IT's 7 !" Overslept on the first day of school, really ? Agh......... Anyway, thankfully, I had put the awesome peach french toast casserole together last night to pop in the oven this morning. ( Awesome as in.... only two children ate it. Hmm... tomorrow we will try something more simple. ) We made sure everything was ready and opened the door on time. As we met the kids outside today, we didnt have one crier. There was one that thought about it, but decided against it. ( Thank you little guy! ) Tomorrow might be different. WHY? You ask.. today should have been the hard one ? The first day they are excited about new friends and new stuff ! Tomorrow, we are old news and they realize, " hey wait.... you mean we will do this EVERYDAY?" So, please remember to keep your goodbyes quick and I promise to hug , hold and console anyone that has a hard time

( Oh yeah! KUDOS on the moms that met at Cafe on Broadway for breakfast this morning. KLEENEX AND COFFEE is what we called it ! Was kleenex needed ? If you took pictures, please text them to me and I will get them on the blog tomorrow. )

Today was spent talking a lot about " what we do " and yes... " what we don't do." All in all, I think it was a good day. I mean, some of these kiddos have never been anywhere like our type of setting so we cant expect them to come in and just KNOW what to d0. We did have two extra hands helping us today ( Beth and Jodie) and I honestly don't know what we would have done without them.

We did initial art today. Kids are really big on knowing the first letter of their name. Many times it is the first letter they can pick out. This year I have 5 K's and 4 M's. This should be interesting.

We played outside twice. Tomorrow we may have to rearrange our time out a little . After lunch was pretty hot today. The kids did love the new stuff out there though.

I think it is important to make a room pretty for the children as well as functional and a learning environment. These shelves hold pictures from home. Parents, if you havent brought in yours , please do so. I have frames here if you need them.

Also, isn't our tree BEAUTIFUL! Julie , Scarlett's mommy painted the tree for us and today we put our fingerprints on it. I was in a awe . Look how much detail is on there - the heart in the middle ... wow. I want to do one each year and save as a keep sake . I already had some moms ask would Julie do more and I approached her about it. She is going to come up with a price. So, if you think you might want one for a family tree or a present for grandma etc.... I'll let you know soon how much it will cost you !

It made my day to see the kids make friends !

I can't wait to do it again tomorrow ! ( I will be uploading TONS of pictures on Facebook.. so what for them and tag yourself if you would like. )

Blow flowers

Before the kids arrived this m0rning I was able to take a 2.5 mile walk around town. I feel so blessed to be able to live in the town that I live in. It was not quite day light yet and was so peaceful and beautiful. As the kids arrived, I met them outside. I love getting in a little outdoor play first thing in the morning. It kind of centers us all to get ready to learn.

I love the way Andrea is " writing." The letters arent quite there yet but she is doing the left to right progression.

We talked about " blow flowers" or dandelions. I told the kids I can remember when we would get them and make a wish and blow them just like you do a birthday candle. This was great fine motor practice.

When we are finished with a " project" I put all the left over materials in our art center .Hopefully our creation inspire the kids to pick that materials up and try something different.

Wind Socks !

I love walking into a room and seeing something like this. Total..... comfort.

This is ANOTHER of the MANY reasons I hate worksheets. This is a weekly reader. If you skip the back which is usually a worksheet, it is a pretty good publication. Although, I am a little anal and would LOVE for them to send a year at a time instead of assuming I am focusing on farm in March. Any who... When you receive this at home usually the back is blank- we havent filled it in. Why ? Worksheets are NOT Age appropriate for 3 and 4 year olds. But let's just look at this ONE sheet. IF I...had made this worksheet what is the first thing I would have done differently ? We teach our kids all year... green means go. When they look at a stop light automatically they think.. green means go. SO WHY.. WHY... would this publisher put NO in green. No doesnt mean go.. it means STOP. Why confuse the kids ? Little things.. that irk me. :)

After talking more about wind today we made wind socks.

I love Nolans drawing on this wind sock. The sad faced little boy is his brother. I asked why. He said " He misses me.." How sweet.

Then you have the kid on the ball in the classroom ! " Look ! I made a pattern. "

The boys did a great job making a city today!

In addition to all our normal stuff we do, the kids took a walk today to look for wind. They didnt SEE wind but they saw the affects of it. They saw a flag blowing. They saw a tree's baby leaves blowing. They saw a whirly gig.... giggin.. : ) When we came in to do our journals Rosanna said " Ms Debbie, I cant draw wind." GREAT CONVERSATION STARTER! We talked again about why and what she might draw that would show wind. I think she decided on a tree bent over as though the wind was blowing it.

Have I said lately how brilliant my kids are and how much I love them ?

More Wild Animals

We's had another fun day at preschool. Here is Orrin . We learned that an elephant sucks water up his nose and them puts it into his mouth. Practicing this with a turkey baster from one dish to another dish was fun !

One game we played was a file folder game called Lions Lollipops. Each of the children had pictures of various objects. If it started with the L sound they placed their pictures on the lollipop.

After reading the book " Caps for Sale" we painted paper plates green. Why ? It's top secret for a project we are doing tomorrow!

One of the kids favorite songs we are singing this weeks is " Im being eaten by a boa constrictor". Each day someone uses this laundry bag and acts out the song. Other songs we are singing are "Miss Mary Mack" , " We're Going on a Lion Hunt", and " Five Monkeys Jumping on the Bed."

Small groups was when we read the story " Caps for Sale." We used the BIG BOOK and I pointed to the words as I read. Another important thing to do when reading with your child is asking " what do you think will happen next?" and letting them turn the pages one by one. In circle time we used the " Caps for Sale" magnetic board pieces to retell the story. I allowed the children to tell me the story.

Other things we did today were listened to several different types of music. We were reminded of the story about the giraffe that we read yesterday. The cricket told him " Sometimes you just need a different type of music." We listened to snipits of classical, pop, country , blues , a lullaby and many more. The kids favorite of course was Justin Bieber.

I love it when I hear the kids playing and something automatically turns into a learning experience. At lunch today Daniel was talking to the other children and he turned around and noticed the thermometer hanging on the window. He asked me what it was. It turned into a group discussion on what a thermometer is, when it is hot does the red go up or down and why. Loved it... .

A New Friend !

Can someone turn on the heat please ! It is SO cold outside today! Even in the freezing temperatures we had a brave new friend start school with us today. The little girl with Malia in the picture below is Andrea. Andrea is Daniel's cousin. Andrea is taking Danny's place.

I love watching the kids play with the light table and the mirror !

Kayla was so proud of her outfit today .

Nolan and Dillion sorted the color wheels at the light table without being asked. This is how " learning while we play " works. The kids start to do things without being promoted. They are naturally curious.

William playing in the water table.

We took out new pet themed puzzles today.

Randy reading a book with Nolan .

Another natural progression of play. The kids extend what I talk about in circle time to their play. I walked in the room and the girls were in there and had set up a little " pet grooming " shop.

Furby's ! Remember these ? I know they aren't real pets but Ive been itching to get them out !

Andreas first painting at school.

I love how the veteran kiddos put their arms around the new friends and welcome them in.

Rainy Day toys came out today! When it is not possible for us to go outside ( and that doesnt happen very often ) we still provide gross motor play !

For art today the kids were prompted to make a kitten puppet. I took these two pictures to show you something . By looking at these two cat pictures one might assume that the child's picture on the left is younger or a boy and the one on the right might be an older child and a girl. Both of these pictures were colored by boys that will be going to kindergarten next year. And actually the one on the left started writing his name long before the one on the right. Some kids just LIKE to color or write and for some it is far too boring and they just want to get finished. That was the case here. When I look at these pictures I dont think one child is more advanced than the other , I just see that one wanted to color and one didnt. Eventually, the boys ( and girls ) will need to get to a point that they have the patience to follow the task through and to the best of their ability - but not in preschool. Exposure is all the activity was for them. We did use them later to sing the " Three Little Kittens " . The kids sometimes LOVE this type of activity. Some never will... we are all different. Kids are all different. The old saying is you can't judge a book by it's cover. In this case, you can't judge a preschooler by his coloring skills .