Five for Friday and a FREEBIE!!!

I officially started counting down the days left until the end of the school year...last week!!!  Seven days to go with the kids (They don't come to school on Friday)!  Then a week of home visits, and another week of paperwork and packing up my classroom, and the school year will be over!

I keep telling myself that I need to give as much energy and excitement to the happenings going on in our classroom as I did at the beginning of the year, but every day this gets harder and harder to do...

{One}  Last week, for one of our small groups, we taught the kids how to make a flower.  We discussed what shapes flowers can be in, and then let them have at it.  Then, we cut out the shape of their flower (as you can see, they're all different) and glued them onto a stem that we cut based on how tall they are.  We are going to glue something on the back that says "  This is how tall your child was in preschool 2013-2014" and take these to their families when we go on home visits.  Rather than do a Mother's Day gift - since we're not in school for Father's Day - this is their end of the year gift for their family.

We added the flowers to our bulletin board to make a backdrop for families to take pictures on the last day of school, as we are inviting them in that afternoon for a slide show and memory book project.

{Two}  This week, we read Dinosaurs Love Underpants and I planned a few activities that went along with the dinosaur theme, which the boys in my classroom absolutely LOVED!  I saved this unit for the end of the year because it is one of my favorites and I wanted to have some engaging activities that still kept the children interested in school.  The story gets them laughing every time, and I couldn't help but laugh too!  

I created this Dinosaur Number Match 1-10 activity specifically for this unit, which you can pick up FREE on TpT.  

The kids counted the number of dinosaurs, found the clothespin with the number written on it, and clipped it to the correct number on the card.  If you download the activity, please rate it and follow me on TpT.  I'm a fairly new seller, and would really appreciate the support!

{Three}  We have toy dinosaurs that have been in our classroom all year, and the kids love to play with them, especially the boys.  For this art activity, the kids dipped the dinosaur's feet into paint and walked or stomped a trail on the paper.  I had kids that never go over to the art table try this activity several times!

{Four}  Why read this story if we weren't going to decorate our own pair of underpants?  I found this Underpants Writing Activity on TpT last year when I taught kindergarten, and it's still FREE!  It's also easy to adjust to any grade level.  We just painted them with watercolor, and I wrote down what their favorite part of the story was, so we could hang our underpants out in the hall for everyone to see!!!  The kids got a good laugh out of that one!

{Five}  The last few weeks, we've been making cosmic suncatchers, which I found on the blog Babble Dabble Do.  We quickly found out it takes approximately 3-4 days for them to dry, so you either need to do them several at a time over a few weeks (we only had 5 lids) or ask for donations before doing this activity.  Also, 2-3 drops of food coloring is plenty!  The color does spread while the glue is drying, so you don't need much, but they turned out pretty cosmic, I would say.

Hop on over to Farley at Doodle Bugs Teaching to check out all of the other blogs participating in Five for Friday.  Thanks for reading!

Spring is Here!!!

It's been a while...a few months actually...but I'm back to blogging.  We've been doing some exciting things in preschool, and with all of the breaks, snow days (we had somewhere around 14 this year! yikes!) and evaluations going on around here, I have realized the school year is almost over.  Our little tykes have 5 weeks left of school and then they will be moving on to the Big School!

To get on to business and F-U-N, it's time for: 

{ONE} Our class went on a nature walk this week to see if we could find all of the signs of Spring.  Children noticed baby trees and flowers popping up out of the ground, the buds on the trees and bushes, the sun and clouds in the sky, they heard the birds chirping, and felt the wind blowing.  

During our walk, we collected branches, sticks, pine cones, seeds, rocks, and wood chips to put into our discovery tub.  Then today, I added bugs to the tub for the kids to explore when they get back to school as a surprise!  

{TWO} Last week, when we came back from Spring Break, we did a writing piece with the kiddos.  We asked the children to think about something they did over Spring Break, and they were actually excited to write about it!  I couldn't wait to hear their stories!!!  This one says, "I'm playing with my sister with Barbies!"

Since this is preschool, I encourage them to say their sentence to me and I write it down on a sticky note to type up later.  We say each word and I say something like, "What do you hear at the beginning of 'sister?'"  Then, I ask, "What else do you hear when you say the word 'sister?'"  Often, they write down the first sound and last sound in the word.  I am thrilled they feel confident enough to write letters now...you should have seen their writing a month ago!

{THREE} The last few weeks, we've been talking about rain and rainbows.  This week, the children painted stripes of the colors of the rainbow on a sponge and then painted sponge paint rainbows!  We had to get the sponge started so they could see the colors, but they turned out pretty cool...even the ones that were a little more free form.  That's what preschool's all about!

{FOUR} To continue with the rainbow theme, at small groups, we talked about the 10 second rule.  The kids picked out a strip of paper from each color of the rainbow, then put some glue at each end and then made an arch on a large piece of construction paper.  Then, they layered the strips to make a process based rainbow!  

The 10 second rule was to have them count to 10 when holding the strips down to make sure the strips stayed glued on...we encouraged them to count aloud, so they also practiced counting at the same time!

{FIVE} I've been doing this for a few years now, and love it every time I do it.  I tell the kids we're going to paint a handprint rainbow, and that they get to pick which color they would like to get their hand painted (or they can pass if they want).  Some children were more involved than others, but all of them loved the rainbow when it was finished!

The clouds above the rainbow were done with puffy paint.  We put glue, shaving cream, and white and black paint into a bowl for the kids to mix together and paint with their hands!  The kids that like shaving cream, but usually don't like to paint LOVED this activity!

I enjoy participating in the Doodle Bugs Five for Friday linky party because I get to find new blogs, and see what other teachers are doing in their classrooms.  So, go ahead and hop on over to visit and take a look!

Stuffed with Thankfulness!

Look at all of the things we did this week in preschool...

 

{1} The theme this week was, "We are Stuffed with Thankfulness!"  During small group, children chose what color paint they wanted to use for their handprint to create their turkey.  Then, they chose a different color/colors to paint their fingers for the turkey feathers.  They did very well painting their own hands and fingers for this open-ended art project.  They placed their handprints wherever they wanted, and it actually turned out better if they made the turkey body wider with more than one handprint.  Finally, they glued on the eyes, nose, waddle, beak, and feet.

 

 

{2}  During Centers, children got the opportunity to strut like a turkey during our Turkey Trot.  We painted one of their feet, and then put their footprint on a white piece of paper to use later.  Then, they strut across the paper, flapping their wings, and gobbling like a turkey.  And again, after their footprint was dry, they created a turkey using feathers, eyes, a beak, waddle, and feet.

 

 

{3} For another small group (we do one small group a day, so they go to all of the small groups by the end of the week), students drew a picture of a turkey on a paper, and they named the turkey.  We wrote the name of the turkey on the bag (for example, Mr. Tom or Tom the Turkey), and they had to think of things that started with the same beginning sound.  They drew the picture of the animal, food, or object on a small white piece of paper (i.e. T says /t/ = train, tooth, turtle), and put the picture in the bag.  Then, children shared the name of their turkey and what they were able to come up with to put in their bag that started with each sound.

 

 

{4} One of the things we have been working on is making patterns.  We have used linking cubes, gears & plates, letters, buttons, and objects we use to sort.  Earlier in the week, I was working on making patterns out of linking cubes with one of my students, who began making a tall tower out of them.  He stood the tower up on the table, then let it fall off onto the floor, and it broke apart.  Though he wasn't making a pattern out of the blocks, he was engaged and discovered something new he could do with them. 

 

The following day, I noticed the same child was making a tower out of the linking cubes, and it was longer than the table.  Seizing a teaching opportunity, we attempted to stand the tower up and it fell apart.  This started a frenzy of children helping us to build the tower taller and taller until it almost reached the ceiling.  Then, we all counted to three and let go of the tower, watching it fall to the floor.  The linking cubes being made out of plastic, some fell apart, and some of them bounced!!!  This was an activity that started with a math concept and turned into an activity about discovery, and working as a team to make something together.  I was amazed at how well all of the students worked together, and the critical thinking that was taking place to solve problems and create solutions during this activity.  :)

 



 

{5} Previously, I posted about our color songs we sing each week, which you can view here.  We learn a new song each week, along with the sign language for the color word.  I print out the words to each song, along with real pictures of the items mentioned in the song (i.e. a fire truck and stop sign for red).  If you would like the words for each color song, click on each color below to access the song on YouTube:

 

Red

Orange

Yellow

Green

Blue

Purple

 

I was unable to find the green song on YouTube, as it looks like the video has been deleted.  So, I provided you with the words!

 

To the tune of: Row, Row, Row Your Boat

 

G - r - e - e - n

G - r - e - e - n

I know how to spell green

G - r - e - e - n

Caterpillars are green

And grasshoppers too.

I know how to spell green

G - r - e - e - n

 

This week, I put all of the other color posters in the Book Corner for students to practice reading with a pointer.  The children were interested in reading the posters, but they were too tall to fit on the Big Book easel, and children were having trouble standing them up so they could read the words.  Today, we placed them along the wall to encourage them to continue practicing tracking print, and to gain more confidence that they are readers!

 

 

Be sure to check out all of the other blogs that participate in Doodle Bugs' Five for Friday by clicking on the image above!

 

Currently October & Five for Friday



Wow!!!  I cannot believe 3 weeks of school has come and gone.  Now that the beginning of the school year is over, and the kiddos are getting into the routine, maybe my head will stop spinning long enough to blog...which means my Currently October with Oh' Boy 4th Grade is a little late, but better than never!!!

{LOVING}  I am absolutely loving the teaching staff I am working with this year.  There are ideas flowing from everywhere...almost too many and I want to do them all!  One of the ideas I received is doing a color of the week. 

{ONE}  This week, we talked about the color orange.  I taught them the orange song, and created an orange poster with the words and pictures to teach them one-to-one so they can practice reading the chart on their own and tracking print.  Here we are writing the word orange at the end of the week!

Then, on the last day of school for the week, we all wore the color orange and in the afternoon, we brought in an orange item to share with the class.  One of my students brought in a pumpkin, and I taught them how to play Hot Potato, and how to dance to this song by the Wiggles.  This was a fun impromptu game that they really enjoyed! 

 

 

Next week, we will be learning the yellow song.  This is the front side of my yellow poster.  The yellow song is the longest song of them all, so I had to put the rest of the words and pictures on the back!

 {THINKING}  I am new to teaching this preschool program this year, and to having it be an all day program.  We are getting evaluated on October 30th, the day before HALLOWEEN.  Not only do I need more time to get into my schedule and routine, and get used to the program, but this might be a bit of a challenge for classroom management. Oh boy!

 

 

{NEEDING}  With the start of the new school year, taking graduate classes, learning about the new way to record assessments online, and getting evaluated in a few weeks, I am in need of a good book to de-stress!  If you enjoy reading fantasy, murder mysteries, or historical romance, and know of a good book or series, I'd love to hear about it so I can immerse myself in a good read!

 

 

{TRICK for the kids, TREAT for you!}  My teaching partner had the wonderful idea of having her students cut up cooked spaghetti to practice fine motor skills.  I decided to hold off a few weeks, and do it the week of Halloween and add gummy eyeballs to make it creepy!  Muahahaha!!!!! :)

{TWO}  We reread the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom from the first week of school, and created activities to go along with the story.  Students did an art project by painting a trunk for the tree, and we painted their hands.  They put on as many handprints as they wanted, and glued on letters to create a coconut tree.



{THREE}  We've also been talking about the first letter of their name.  So, we punched out the first letter of each students name with the die cut machine, and put them on our very own Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree.

{FOUR}  Last week, we went on a nature walk around the school grounds and collected leaves, nuts, seeds, pine cones, sticks, and rocks.  This week, we placed them in a science tub with magnifying glasses for the children to look at and explore the natural environment.  They really enjoyed this activity, and we even found a few baby ladybugs!

{FIVE}  One of the observations my classroom aide and I have made about our students' interests is that they created a campfire out of blocks.  At one point, they even asked to move chairs so they could sit around the campfire!  To encourage their interests, we turned the dramatic play area into a campsite today so they could go camping, and moved the blocks into this area so they could build their campfire there.

I am going to use a flashlight this week to tell ghost stories during Read Aloud.  Among other stories, I am going to read the story The Dark, Dark Night by Christina Butler, a story about a frog that gets scared by his own shadow.