Community Helpers

So far our Community Helpers unit is going a bit slow; as Christmas programs, projects, and excitement has taken over. However, my students LOVED my "grocery store" center. I had some play money, real empty food boxes, cans, etc, and play grocery carts. We took a couple extra brown bags from Winco, and I found these WalMart name badges as clip art.

We set up store and they played their guts out! This week I decided I would let them play "Post Office". I am cutting a big hole out of a large box for them to mail letters. I have paper, envelopes, pens, pencils, and homemade stamps. I found the stamp template by typing in "postage stamp coloring pages" into my Google search. Then I did the same only I typed in "christmas coloring pages" and "USA coloring pages" to get the pics for each stamp. Tomorrow, I will put the "glue" on the back of the stamps, so that when they play post office they can actually lick and stick the stamps! You can find the stamp glue recipe here: DLTK

I think it will be tons of fun!

Munchers

I saw these great ideas to help with literacy. You could "feed the trash cans/ monster all sorts of things: ABC cards, magnet letters, colors, shapes, etc. To go to these awesome blogs, with even more incredible ideas, click on the pics. On the Dr. jean and Friends website is this darling song:

(Sung to the tune Tiny Tim)
I have a hungry friend.
His name is Mr. Munch
And what he likes to do all day is gobble up his lunch.
He likes the letter ___ (for example H)
And things that start with ___(make /h/ sound)
And he is very happy when he goes munch, munch, munch, crunch.

Children's Books Read By Their Authors!

Amazing find!!! Here is a website that has the following stories read by their authors or different celebs:

The Kissing Hand
Splish, Splash, Splat
Ladybug Girl at the Beach
Charlie the Ranch Dog
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Pinkalicious
Strega Nona
The Polar Express
The Mitten
Where the Wild Things Are
Olivia
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Smash! Crash!
Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly

May-Plants

I found this sensory box idea here, and wanted to be sure I remembered it for mext year!

Weather Bear
Darling idea for the little ones to help choose what to wear during different types of weather! I chose the black and white version and pasted them into the paint program first, so I could choose my own colors.

Monthly Themes-Dramatic Play

Here are my monthly themes and my plans for dramatic play:

January (weather) rain coat, rain boots, umbrella, coat, snow pants, scarf, winter hat, winter boots, sun screen bottle (cleaned out and lid glued on), and sunglasses.

February (transportation) uniforms, steering wheel, train out of boxes ad cunductor hat/ overalls, pilot wings, bus driver hat, and bike helmet.

March (Dr. Seuss) red and white tall hats (Cat in the Hat), elephant trunk (Horton), fish hat (One Fish..), other crazy items to dress up like characters from books.

April (animals) masks from oriental trading

May (plants) overalls, hoe, shovel, flower pots, fake flowers/ plants, farmer hat, and gloves.

June (insects) butterflies/ nets, rubber insects, beehive/ bees, and rubber spiders.

July (camping/ safety) small tent, sleeping bag, hats, boots, hiking gear, flashlights, wood for a "fire", and marshmallows.

August and September (back to school) back packs, school supplies, school clothes, toothbrush, comb, shampoo bottle, wash cloth, coat, and clock.

October (all about me) phone, wigs, dress-up clothes like mom and dad, play make-up, mirror, and stuffed animals for pets with leashes.

November and December (neighborhoods and community helpers) set up a grocery store with play food and money, post office with paper/ envelopes/ stamps with home-made glue, restaurant with play food and money, bank with play money and play checks, car wash, farm, veterenarian, police, and fire fighter.

New Stuff

So, to get back to my "new procedures"...
I really haven't had to do very much to make some good changes. I researched a bit and really found nothing to be that super helpful. So, I did some evaluating of my own...tried to put myself in the children's shoes, and realized that they were getting bored with the old routine. AND, because I have a large number of young ones right now, having to sit in their seat for any length of time is going to be a challange. For now, these are the changes I've made (and they seem to be working):

1. I found new, more exciting songs to go with every part of my circle time. A welcome song, an attendance song, a days of the week song, a date song, and a weather song. Each one is a bit more peppy than my old songs, and I can either add actions or get volunteers to help with each.

2. I am making a conscious effort to pick a "helper" for everything! Keeps them paying attention to who is going to be able to help next.

3. I am keeping things short and sweet. If they are seeming too squirly for something, I hit it quickly and move on.

4. I follow the same routine every single day! Kids ALWAYS do better when they have a routine.

5. I have also changed my curriculum time to include some more interesting and engaging centers, so the kids have something to look forward to.

I am not perfect, and I'm sure as the next few weeks go by, I will again need to tweak things. But, for now it has helped tremendously.

Preschool Packs

I am obsessed with this website! I love these packs for my centers, and SUPER love the clip art!

Need for New Management

Recently I have completed a very LARGE family assignment, which is a great relief! I now have a little ...(I stress the word little because I have a 2 year old and a 4 month old), a little more time I can spend on my preschool planning for this upcoming year. And by "this upcoming year" I really mean in a few weeks! Yikes! Has summer really sped by that quickly? Anyway, I am wanting to change the way I do things at school. Things have felt a bit unorganized and chaotic lately, and I am on a mission to implement as many procedures as I possibly can! No...but really, much change could take place for the better, and I want to make it happen! So my next few posts will be devoted to classroom management. How do we manage the classroom so that we don't go home at night begging for a backrub, a Pepsi, and a Tylenol? (I'd like to have enough energy when I go home that I can deal with and enjoy my children, without even thinking about touching the remote control!)So...tonight I research. Tomorrow, in between canning green beans, I hope to post some fabulous borrowed (stolen) ideas. Good night!

Camping

This blog is a lifesaver! Was running out of safety stuff to last the rest of the month. We will do some camping instead. Check out these printables!
And...here are more printables from another great blog! Thank you people! Totally awesome!

Poison Safety

I wanted to find pics that were as real as possible. We will do this sheet one day, and on another day I will pull out actual items and they can sort them.

Water Safety

Here is a sheet you can print with tips for water safety. I made my own! Found free coloring pages and clip art online. I used the tips from the link I gave you already.

Front:
Back:

Reading Resource

Reading Rockets is one of my favorite websites! They are an AMAZING reading resource for both parents and teachers. Their free reading guides are available for download here. They also provide a literacy calendar which has a theme for each month, and resources for each theme! Their section titled ABC of Reading houses an article called Reading 101. I believe everyone should read this article! When you start to understand the process of how children learn to read, it will make you a much better parent/ teacher!

Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt

I saw this idea here and wanted to make one of my own! I will be able to use this during my "neighborhood" unit, or during all of the walks we take during the spring and summer months!

Monthly Themes

My Monthly Themes:

January-Weather
February-Transportation
March-Dr. Seuss
April-Animals
May-Plants
June-Insects
July-Camping/ Safety
August- Back to School
September-Back to School (cont.)
October-All About Me
November-Neighborhoods
December-Community Helpers

Preschool Assessment

My local school district sent out a list of things that they would like to see in-coming kindergarten students master pre-k. So, I've turned their list into my assessment sheet. Feel free to print and use for your little one. Better yet, peek at mine, and then contact your local school district to make your own! I made two columns so you could pre-test in the Fall and post-test in the Spring. I just do check marks or X's.

Butterfly Life Cycle and Craft

This is about the cutest thing I've seen in a long time! We are studying butterflies this week. I can't wait to do this project! I found it here. I also want to do this coffee filter butterfly! Found here, or another version here.

Spiders

Here are some links I will use for my "spiders" theme:
Spiders Theme
File Folder Game
Picture Sort

Worm Farm

Worm Farm

Bees

Summer seems the best time to learn about insects. Since my class is called the Bumblebees, I thought we'd begin by learning about them. Here are some of the ideas I found on the internet which I will use this week:
Pheromone Activity (smelling) and scroll down for the Waggle Dance activity also!

LOVE this whole site! Here is the link for their bugs unit.

Baby

Since I had a baby, and have been on maternity leave, I decided that my first day back would be all about babies. Here is a cute game on the Nick Jr. website, which has the children choose things that the baby needs. On Kid Soup, they have a bunch of darling baby animal crafts and games. Then I created the following worksheet for counting.
I will also have coloring pages to complete, and a station with baby dolls, clothes, diapers, etc.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

I'm not sure when I will use this, but I thought it was darling! I love this book too! So do the kids. Maybe I could leave it up on the wall and we could add to it each week as we learn our alphabet letters.

ABC Game

Need to practice identifying the letters we have worked on thus far. So I am making a large set of letters (A-J) for each kiddo. I will cut and place them scattered on the floor. Then, I will call out a letter, and they will have to run and find it on the floor. There will be enough that each should be able to step on one. Should be fun!

St. Patrick's Day

Some fun stuff for St. Patrick's Day!

Crafts and Printables: Enchanted Learning

Crafts, Rhymes and Printables: Kid Soup (More stuff if you pay their membership fee. I LOVE this site!)

Crafts: Preschool Learning and Crafts (Tons of other good preschool info on here!)

About St. Patrick's Day

Lucky Charm Marshmallow Treats Recipe

The Foot Book

We read The Foot Book yesterday, and decided to create our own! I had the kids vote on the pages in the book we would copy, then got to work with the camera. The kids were the characters in the book. We acted out each page, then I printed the pics, and assembled them into our very own Foot Book! I can't show the book because the kids pics are already in it. BUT, they loved it! Parents will too!

Our guest readers have been amazing, and the kids can't wait to see who will be reading to us next! I found another website with some great ideas for each story here. Enjoy!

More Dr. Seuss

Here is a great link for activities to go along with the different Dr. Seuss books. We're going to have our first guest reader tomorrow, and he has chosen Horton Hears a Who. We will also make Horton "ears" to wear around the classroom. Got the pattern here. Can't wait!

Dr. Seuss Flyer and Sign-Up

Here is what I handed out to inform our parents about our plans for Dr. Seuss and March! I always make 2 flyers on one page to try and save paper for my employer. Just an idea to get your creative juices going!

March is Dr. Seuss' Birthday!

I plan to dedicate all of March to Dr. Seuss and reading. We are having parents sign-up to come in and read to the kids during circle time. I am also trying to round up local community helpers (firefighters/ police officers), and possibly even some local celebs (football players, news anchors) to come in and read to the kids. The internet is full of Dr. Seuss ideas, as many elementary schools celebrate as we plan to.
The Dr. Seuss website Seussville is a great resource! Games, printables, videos, activities, and stuff for parents and educators.
Here is a great biography about Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss). It is written for grown-ups, but you may be able to pick out some interesting facts to share with the wee ones!