I Mustache You Something...

Do you love your job? I am sorry if you don't because I have the best job in the whole world! Some of the kids were taping their mouths shut with scotch tape today and I was like “hey, you want me to draw a mustache on that?” and they were like yeah. So I did... pretty soon everyone wanted a tape mustache. So we all had tape mustaches on all afternoon! Hilarious!!! One little girl added tape to her chin too and asked if she could have a beard!!! LOL

The Little Red Hen~ Makes a Pizza

This is one of my favorite books to read with the preschoolers. I love the way they make connections to the original Little Red Hen story. I love all the new vocabulary and how the book invites interaction by having the children count anchovies, mix and roll dough, and chime in on the repeatitive phrase "Not I!". We always follow up this story by making our own paper pizzas!

The kids love painting on the "sauce" and sprinkling on the "cheese" and adding the "toppings".

We have had other toppings in other years but here is the basic recipe:

Pizza Crust- small white paper plate

Pizza Sauce- white glue mixed with red or orange paint

Cheese- shredded white or yellow paper

Pepperoni- red paper circles

additional topings-

Black Olives- black paper circles punched in the center with a paper punch

Green Peppers- green squares cut from green felt

Cook on drying rack! :)

Enjoy!

Kiss starts with K!

One of our weekly literacy activities is to have our Star Student look through the "Letter Bucket". During our Morning Meeting they take out the items in the letter bucket. The kids all say what they are and then they have a chance to name words that start with the letter. We write the words on our Smartboard. Lots of times the items in the letter bucket are renamed, but often the students come up with original words.

Today our letter was "K". So the kids are saying words like kangaroo, kitten, etc. One of the girls raises her hand and says, "I know  Miss Kelly, kiss starts with K." I said, "Yes it does!" To which she informed me... "I know that because I saw it on my TV they always say... Every kiss begins with K." As she repeats the catchy jingle for Kay Jewelers! Too cute!

The Joy of Oobleck! Integrated Learning at its best!

Today we filled the sensory table with corn starch and water, a.k.a. Oobleck! The kids just love this stuff. I love the Integrated Learning that happens. The children are using descriptive vocabulary, making scientific predictions and observations, experiencing cause and effect, experimenting with volume and measurement, exercising their large and small muscles while refining their hand eye coordination as they scoop and pour... and practicing important social skills as they negotiate over different containers and role play with their peers.

I must say at one point during our free choice time I looked over and the sensory table was surrounded entirely by girls as five boys sat at the art table making bead necklaces! Got to love it!
We love to read Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss to compliment this activity. Check out the book by Jennifer Williams too for more great activities to go with other concoction inspired stories!
Enjoy!

Promoting Physical Activity/Setting the Foundation - Meeting Dan Gartrell

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to attend a workshop hosted by the iconic Dan Gartrell. His books have been integral to the development of my guidance techniques and philosophies. So as one might expect he is a celebrity in my world of early childhood education. He ranks right up with Dr. Jean (Whom I have also met and even had my picture taken with her... "nerd" I know!) What a delightful man I might add! I absolutely fell in love with his contagious laugh!
 Mr. Gartrell talked about the importance of being responsive to the activity levels of the children in your classroom, especially the boys. He discussed how classrooms are failing to help boys succeed because often the expectations are not developmental appropriate for young children.
Many times there is not enough active learning and physical activity happening in classrooms. This puts the very active learners, many of whom tend to be boys, at a disadvantage. Dan proposes that teachers take a closer look at the structure of their schedule and the expectations of their classroom to determine if they can better support the learning for all students. He suggests that promoting physical activity is proactive guidance. This seems like common sense when you think about it... But then there is always the question, "Yes, we understand that, but how do we address those who are telling us get them ready for kindergarten...") And by that they often mean teach them to sit and listen....
Dan's answer was welcomed by everyone in the workshop. His response was this...
He talked about setting the "foundation for learning" and how when we teach children the skills they need in developmental appropriate ways, those skills will not be lost or unlearned when they move on to classrooms that might not be as developmentally appropriate.  This fundamental statement brought a nod of agreement from our workshop group, as well as, much needed reassurance for many of us to continue to focus on creating developmentally appropriate classrooms without guilt! Thanks Dan, for a great learning experience!

This is Dan's book which I think is essential reading material concerning guidance and creating responsive, respectful, learning communities.


And here are a couple more of his books...
Enjoy!

When I Grow Up... Jobs from A to Z!

We spent the month of December exploring different jobs people do and discussing what we want to be when we grow up. This is such a fun topic to share with preschool children...

Here is a list of some of the activities we offered to support their exploration of this topic.

In the block area we set out hard hats, blueprints, Home Depot aprons, and the play work bench.

In the dramatic play area we set out lots of different career costumes. For example, Police Officer Role Play Costume Set , the astronaut costume, and Chef Role Play Costume Set .

The sensory table was filled with Snap Blocks with Building Base , nuts and bolts, and other materials for creating machines or any other invention.

Having a job means learning about money, so we put out calculators and play money in the math area together with money sorting mats.

My groups love to play "Teacher" so I added some "teacher" types props to the language and literacy area.

At the easel in the art area, we had Berets and mini painters palettes with water color paints in them.

In the science area we set up a color lab. The lab offered the children the chance to experiment with colors. There were coffee filters and test tubes of  Liquid Watercolor with pipettes. The children had white lab coats and safety Goggles to wear.

Here is one of my little friends experimenting at the science table! Not only was he experimenting with the colors he was also experimenting with the goggles... Hmm, wonder what happens if you squirt this stuff on the goggle!

These are some of the books we read during our "Careers Unit".

 

I love to do a writing activity where the children get to answer "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I ask them to draw a picture of themselves doing the job they would like when they grow up. I then write their responses on each child's page. Here is a Free Copy of our When I Grow Up Activity sheet. My favorite answer, "I want to be a doctor and a McDonald's worker." Too funny!

Enjoy!