Open House

What a great Open House we had. I hope that everyone left as pumped about our new year as I was. It was wonderful to meet the new sweet kids and families and to see the " oldies" again after the summer. It is amazing how much growing a child does in the summer from three to four years old. Each day ( starting tomorrow - our first day! ) I will blog about our daily adventures. Please check here daily around 2 pm to see what we have been up to. This blog is a great way to connect with your child and talk about what they have learned. Here is the normal conversation without background knowledge. " What did you do today? " Child's response " Play." With this blog your can say " I saw that you cooked something today, what was it? Was it good? What did you do to help make it? I saw you had something new in the block center today, what was it ? Did you go for a walk today? Did you have a special visitor today?" Using this blog you can help me by building on what I am doing at school.

Here are a few pictures from last night.

This old fire truck is getting old. I actually thought earlier in the day about taking it out but then Katelyn and Emeri jumped in and rushed to a fire. When they got there Emeri grabbed the hose and put out the fire and Katelyn got a gas can ( I was worried at first... ) and made sure they truck was filled up with gas. I'll be keeping the fire truck. :)

Creating wonder for kids is not all that hard. How do you like the flags?

The art center is under the loft. We added the patio lights to it. Hopefully it wont be a QA problem. They dont get too hot. LOTS of learning and creating goes on in this little space.

I moved the dress up area downstairs this year. Did you notice the old phone on the wall? It has a cord and a receiver.

This is Ty, Orrins little brother ( future student ) playing with the cars. I love the way they put them around the stump in a circle. Learning... right under our noses.

I can tell all our parents are going to have a close bond this year and that excites me. As a matter of fact, many of the mommies are having a " coffee and kleenex" party at Cafe on Broadway tomorrow morning.

My helpers last night.. thanks girls!

Kids spaces deserve special touches too !

Future Picasso area.

I dont " teach" a letter a week but I can highlight one, right ?

Everyone needs to be alone ever once in a while.

We dont do a daily calendar time but we do count down to special events.

Bringing home.. to our home. Each child is bringing a picture framed for our room.

Comfy reading area. I still need to clean the couch- that is on today's list.

I love my new science area.

Writing center . I do not "teach" handwriting but I give them lots of writing experiences.

Music... did someone say.. MUSIC?

Art work area --- empty frames ready to be filled.

Mirror in the kids bathroom - they deserve pretty too !

3 d art display area

Randy made a plexiglass outdoor painting easel.

The MUD KITCHEN. This will be new this year and I will admit I am a little nervous but excited too. I made mud pies when I was little .. therefore, so will they.

As we get into the year I will try to highlight each area and what we learn in those areas.

Everyone get excited tomorrow is our first day !

LEARNING IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT SO LETS START PLAYING !

Kindergarten Tour

Today was the day that we go to tour the kindergarten where the older kids will go in the fall. I have six that will be moving up.

First thing this morning we were greeted by Emeri's pet !

Mr. D met us outside, he is the counselor.

We went in the library !

The computer room !

We peeked into Mrs. Fox's room.

We met the music teacher.

The gym is awesome. It has a climbing wall.

We met the art teacher !

We sat in Mrs. Freking's room . They were acting out a story that we know called " The Little Old Lady Who Wasnt Afraid of Anything. "

In Mrs. Freking's room the kids sat on balls. I plan to email her and ask her opinion of how she feels this works.

Mrs. Braun met us in the lunchroom .

After getting back home we stayed outside to practice our program for Friday night. We had to take a break to watch the tree limb truck come by and pick up some large limbs. I love this picture of all my little farm hands peering over the fence. While I was gone Beth ( Cohens mom ) and Mary ( Williams mom ) played outside. The kids said they had fun playing with the parachute. Thanks girls !

To little cow pokes....

This is a good example of how I teach letters.

Its a jungle out there!

Today we started talking about animals that live in the jungle. When I say the words " theme teaching " I cringe. I need you to understand that my goal is not teach the kids all they can learn about jungle animals so that when you visit the zoo they can spill it all back to you and you can pat us on the back to say " Job well done! He knew what a rhinoceros was ! " Themes are the VEHICLES I use to teach all of the things our children need to experience to be ready to move on to kindergarten. Now.. notice I didnt say MASTER .... I said experience. While we are learning about all the jungle animals ( which they love ) I can help them build social and emotional skills. We can sort and count and trace and hear colorful stories. We can use great language to broaden their vocabulary. The BONUS is that they learn actual facts while we are doing all of the other important things. Did that make sense ?

Today we made binoculars to go on a safari hunt .

We also learned that a giraffe is about 16 feet long. First we estimated how tall we thought a giraffe was. I got answers from this tall ( pointing above head ) , to as tall as a house. After we made guesses the kids helped me mark off 16 feet on the floor and then the kids laid head to toe on the carpet . It took 5 kids to make 16 feet ! Now.. we have a better idea of how tall 16 feet is.

Lots of animal dress up today!

I had about 10 inflatable jungle animals that the kids enjoyed.

We also sang new songs like " Mary Mack" , " Im being swallowed by a Boa Constrictor" and" Five Monkeys Jumping on the Bed." Our book today was " Rumble in the Jungle."

Randy and I were gone in the afternoon to a professional development

What a fun day !

Opps !

I worked all day with Jodie today. I have had business obligations outside of work lately and today's TA was cancelled so I let Randy have some time off. It was really nice to work with a woman all day. The downside to that was - at nap time I didnt do what I normally do. I didnt blog , I didnt get notes ready that I wanted to send home. :) It's all good.

The note was about our Thanksgiving Feast next Wednesday. It is from 11-1 at the community building. You are invited and you can also bring family. Normally the kids do a couple songs and then we eat and you leave - with your child. It is just a little time to spend together. It is not a program at all . I cook turkey or ham and traditional stuffing and provide drinks ( Tea or water and milk for the kids ) You will sign up to bring side dishes like green beans, corn, rolls etc... The sheet will go out tomorrow and I would like to know by Monday who is coming and how many people will be with you and what you plan to bring . That way, I have a day or two to plan and fill in the gaps.

Today we make a little book that emphasized positional words like beside, under and on. It was a Thanksgiving book that would say the turkey is " under the tree " and the child takes his turkey and shows me where under .. is. I got this out of a mailbox magazine.

It was so chilly at lunch today ( and our bodies havent quite adjusted from the summer ) that we only went out for 30 minutes. I would like to remind you that ABC rules , which are based on best practice for children everywhere , state that there is no such thing as bad weather - only bad clothing. So, PLEASE make sure your child has clothing appropriate to wear outside and stay warm. If you think or have been told all your life that going outside when it is cold will make you sick - here is a good read for you ! CLICK HERE!

People and Places that Provide us Food

Happy Monday. As I typed that subject line, I realized that most of my table activities today are Halloween type stuff and do not go with out learning unit at all. Oh well ...

I put jackolanterns out so the kids could pretend dressing up and trick or treating!

Environmental Print

Environmental Print is the print of everyday life: The symbols, signs, numbers, and colors found in McDonald's, Wal-Mart, Exxon, Pizza Hut, 7-Up, and on websites, for instance. They offer excellent entry points for young children to begin to learn to read, write, and do math.

The reasons to use environmental print: It is everywhere and, because it is, it is a natural starting point to teach young children to read, write, and do math. Children have a concrete connection to everyday print. They "read" it within the context of their everyday experiences--their interests and backgrounds. It bridges the gap between the functional print of school and the print outside. It doesn't cost a lot of money to use.

Below is a fun game we played today with EP. There is a video to show you how it works.

This was made from a kleenex box. Types of food are on each side. The child rolled the cube and whatever was on top, they would tell me where they might be able to find that food. For instance , you see the taco now. They might say TACO BELL.

Other learning activities that were out are these erasers that are Halloween themed from the Dollar Tree. We sort them, stack them, count them....

Here we use a tiny tong to grab spiders and transfer them.

See the spider in the playdoh ?

We have a new " cutting pool." One child at a time can go in the pool and sit and cut. They love it and I love the cutting practice they are getting.

We have a new community helpers puzzle .

Noah stenciling.

Below you see Dillion using a tiny tong to pick up tiny spider and transfer them to the pumpkin. This is great for strengthening those fine motor skills to write!

What a MESS! Late last night we went to the storage and took all my Halloween stuff out. I have too much.... right ?

I love to see children pretending to be a teacher.

I try to use as many writing experiences as I can. A child can know and recognize all their ABC's but not understand that putting them all together makes words. Today we wrote out our menu and made a shopping list. We even counted the number of items we had on our list. We use every opportunity to learn!

The kids loved this book.

It has been a good day. Busy... but good.

This will be a busy week. Looking ahead :

Tomorrow night at 6:00 we will meet at the pavilion at Gates in Cheri Whitlock for the Dad and Me pumpkin decorating hayride.

Wednesday we are walking to IGA and touring the grocery store.

Thursday Rosanna's mom is coming to make home made tortillas !

Friday we are walking to Eureke Pizza to tour and hopefully TASTE some yummy pizza !