A Holiday Reflection

Goodness! It seems crazy to me that Christmas has come and gone already. I hope you are all enjoying the break!

Something struck me this holiday season that inspired me to post today. During the various family celebrations the last couple of days, I received many, many gifts to use at SON Shine. This isn't unusual, necessarily. Ever since I made the decision to attend college to major in education, I have received gifts for my future (and now, current) classroom for birthdays, Christmases, and even for my wedding. The difference between receiving those things then and receiving them now is that now I know exactly how those things are going to impact the educational journey of the 21 specific children who attend SON Shine.

It makes my heart melt to know that there are people all over the state who are investing in the future of my students. There are people all over who know how much your children mean to me and are thinking of them this Christmas.

I have a passion for what I do, and I am willing to put in whatever time it takes to help the kiddos succeed. Though, like anything, when you put so much of yourself into something, it can be super easy to burn out. I entered the holiday season feeling burnt out. Don't get me wrong, I still looked forward to going to school every morning. I just needed some time to be me - time to step out of "Mrs. Hansen's" shoes and to wear high heels, curl my hair, and wear dresses without worrying about ruining them with paint.

So, I did just that. I went to Christmas Eve church feeling like a put-together young adult instead of a preschool teacher. Then, after enjoying a service without thinking about what lesson plans I did and didn't have ready for school the next day, I came home to open presents from my family. That's when I found my passion again. Knowing that my family members think about how they can help the children and put time into picking out gifts they will like and learn from inspires me to get back in there and continue to do everything I can.

I have been enjoying this time off and the opportunities I've been having to think like myself instead of like a preschool teacher, but I'd be lying if I said I don't think about the students every day. They are truly the greatest gifts I have received this year, and I want to thank all of you for allowing me to be a part of their lives!

I hope you all have had a very merry Christmas! Enjoy the rest of your break! I'll see you on January 3rd!

The Truth About Preschool (Sometimes)

Today, I feel the need to be honest with you all. Here's the deal: preschool is not always sunshine and rainbows. These last couple of days have been an example of that. The children are starting to get very excited about Christmas, and I certainly don't blame them - I'm excited too! This just makes it hard for us to get things accomplished. We've spent lots of time this week doing different relaxation techniques (e.g. deep breathing, taking short rests, practicing quiet vs. loud), and they have helped some. I've also been trying really hard to point out the children who are following directions. If your child has been coming home covered in stickers, that is why. Accentuating those positive behaviors helps the children who might be struggling to see exactly what behavior is expected.

I've been trying to take my cues from them. If they're not interested in something, I try not to force it on them. That's why I made a complete change in lesson plans this week. Instead of learning about Kwanzaa (I tried to get them interested in it, and those attempts, unfortunately, didn't work.), we've just been focusing on Christmas.

I created a couple of Christmas-themed games for the kiddos to play when they first arrive at school. The main focus for this week was letter recognition, but we also worked on some problem-solving skills and fine motor skills.

We talked, again, about the different traditions people have as they celebrate Christmas. One of the traditions we talked about was writing a letter to Santa. About half of the students were able to email Santa this week. If you'd like to check out how we did that, check out http://emailsanta.com . It was so much fun helping them type their letters and watch the video in which Santa reads their email and responds to it!

Since we've been stuck inside much of the last few weeks, we've been playing a ton of gross motor games inside. The children's favorite is definitely Color Monster, but they also enjoy Red Light, Green Light and What Time is it Mr. Fox?.

The afternoon class did a fabulous job singing for WELCA today! There were many laughs from the crowd as the children danced and sang! I was very proud of them! (Of course, I forgot to bring my camera down, so I don't have any pictures...I'm sorry about that.)

I know next week is probably going to be just as challenging as this week, but I love to watch the kids get so excited about the upcoming holidays. We'll get through the last three school days together, and then spend some much needed time with our families!

Just a note about winter weather: We follow the Lake Mills Community School's decisions. If they cancel, we cancel. If they are delayed, our morning class will be canceled, but our afternoon class will be normal. If they get out early for bad weather, we will get out early as well (I'll give you a call if this happens).

In order to keep our floors as dry as possible, I would like it if each child has a spare pair of shoes (could be slippers, tennis shoes, or whatever you else you might have) they can change into when they arrive. (Of course, right now, it doesn't matter so much, because all of our snow is gone - what a weird December!) It works best if the pair of shoes can stay at school. Let me know if you need any help finding an extra pair for your child! If you could bring a spare pair of shoes for your child before Christmas break, I would appreciate it.

Have a great weekend!

From Pinatas to St. Lucia Day Hats

These last two days have felt like the most hectic days so far. I’m sure that’s just because I’m tired though. (Christmas break is only a week away!)

We talked more about Las Posadas yesterday. I’m hoping we can make a piñata one of the days this week. The kids love hearing about the different traditions in Mexico.

In the sand and water area, I put out some boxes and all the supplies the kiddos needed to wrap some presents. They were very excited about this! It’s fun to watch their different approaches to wrapping the present. I had some kids cut the wrapping paper into tiny pieces and then tape each piece onto the box until it was completely wrapped. I had some kids who set a tiny box in the center of a giant piece of wrapping paper and they just squished and taped until it was all covered and stuck. Then, of course, there were a few who must have had some experience watching their moms and dads wrap presents, because their packages were near perfect! Anyway they chose to wrap was an excellent exercise for those small muscles in their hands and fingers. 

Today was St. Lucia Day! We started the day by watching a video of a Swedish choir dressed in traditional clothing and singing the St. Lucia Day carol and by learning a bit about how they celebrate.

Afterwards, the kids made their own St. Lucia hats. The hats they made are traditionally worn by the boys in the procession. I had a few crowns (minus the candles, of course) for the kids to experiment with as well. 

 The afternoon class has been working hard to get ready to sing on Thursday for WELCA. (The morning class has been learning the same songs, so they’re definitely not being left out!) We’ve been working on a few Christmas carols to sing, and we’re even using instruments this time. The kiddos are super excited, and I can’t wait for everyone to see! We’ll be singing at 2:45 if you are interested in seeing it for yourself.

For the next couple of days, we’ll be finishing up our Las Posadas celebration and diving into Kwanzaa! It’s been a really fun study so far!

Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel, I Made It Out of Air......Wait, Air?

What a great way to spend a week! We've been learning about different holidays people from around the world celebrate in December.

We started out by talking about what our families do to celebrate in December. All of the families at SON Shine celebrate Christmas, so the children excitedly told me about decorating Christmas trees, putting up lights, baking cookies, visiting Santa, and opening presents.We decorated our own Christmas trees, which will be hanging in the alley entrance way. I can't wait for you to see them! The kids were very creative, especially in the colors of paint they chose to paint their trees in.

 

 First, they painted their trees.

  

 Then they made their ornaments. This was a great chance for them to practice their cutting skills.

 

Glitter is our forever friend. We're still finding glitter everywhere in the room, and we haven't had it out since!

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we learned about Hanukkah. It's amazing to me how much the children remember about how people celebrate Hanukkah after hearing just one story. Their favorite part is that the Jewish people eat doughnuts in celebration of the holiday! 

We made dreidels on Tuesday and played the traditional dreidel game. The kids had a blast with it! I was impressed with their sportsmanship too. If they spun the letter that meant they didn't get any of the "pot" of candy, they just waited patiently until it was their turn again. The earlier children learn life skills like this, the better off they'll be when they have to handle competitive situations in real life. While we were playing the game, I played some Hanukkah music for the children. That's where the title of this post comes from. In one song, the lyrics talked about making dreidels out of different materials, like mud, sand, and air. The kids laughed and laughed when the singer sang about making a dreidel out of air. What a ridiculous thought!

We started learning about the nights of Las Posadas, which is celebrated in Mexico, on Thursday. We'll continue on Monday, and I'm hoping to have a full blown Mexican celebration! 

The children handled the classroom rearrangement beautifully! I feel this change is an incredibly beneficial one; I've already noticed a change in how they are playing. Here's my favorite example:

The children generally avoided the block area in the past. For the last two days, there has constantly been at least one kiddo in the block area. The play that comes out of that is fabulous too! Check this out: I walked over to the block center on Thursday to check out what a rather large group of children were up to. They had lined up our wooden buildings so the doors matched and they were attempting to roll a marble from one side to the other. I was blown away by their creativity! It was the neatest thing! (I apologize that the pictures are sideways. My camera was not cooperating with me...)

 This is what the whole thing looked like.

Here's a different perspective. (P.S. I love this picture!)

Also, just for fun. Here's what happens when the kiddos catch me watching them read:

They make me love my job! 

I hope you have a fabulous weekend! I'll see you all on Monday (or Tuesday).

Classroom Changes

Ok, I apologize the lameness of this post. I will post about what we have been up to at the end of the week. (It has been a fantastic week too! We've been learning about all kinds of cool holiday traditions, and I definitely look forward to sharing them with you!)

Today, I want to give you a heads-up about some major changes the board and I made to the classroom today. As we're getting closer and closer to our Department of Education verification visit in February, I've been working harder and harder to make sure we're demonstrating our implementation of the standards. As a result, I needed to change the room around to make sure the students were able to play in every interest area every day. So, when you come tomorrow, you'll see this in the north room:

and this in the south room:

It'll be interesting to see how the children respond to these changes, but I feel like we have more opportunities this way.

If you could do me a favor and prepare your children for these changes, that might help me out a little bit. Sometimes with young children too much change can unnerve them a bit, so letting them know the classroom is going to look a little different might help them adjust easier.

See you tomorrow!

Holiday Celebrations Around the World and a Whole Bunch of Singing!

Wow! This week went by super fast! I realized yesterday that we only have two and a half school weeks until Christmas break! How did that happen?

We spent a lot of time this week trying to get back into our routines. Coming off of long breaks can be a challenge for preschoolers, but luckily we didn't have any problems! We also spent a lot of time preparing for Sunday! I cannot wait for you all to see the hard work the kiddos have been putting into our little program! I think you'll enjoy it. :)

We have been working on transitioning from our Lake Mills study into a study of holiday traditions around the world. In the next two weeks, we'll be learning about various celebrations families around the world celebrate, like St. Lucia Day (Sweden), Los Posadas (Mexico), Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas. To start this study I added a few celebration artifacts to the classroom and let the children explore. They:

 made bouquets out of artificial poinsettias and

decorated a Christmas tree.

A few of the kiddos made and decorated trees out of play dough and a few painted some trees too!

Outside of those beginning exploration activities for this new study, we also: 

 played doctor and patient in our clinic,

played many new math games where we practiced counting, patterning, and number recognition, and

played with endless amounts of play dough.

Next week, we'll really start to delve into the different celebrations, and I'm incredibly excited about it!

I'm also excited to see you this Sunday! Remember to have your child in the classroom wearing a yellow SON Shine shirt by 10:00 so we can be ready to go by 10:30! I know there are a few kiddos who don't have a shirt yet, but I'll have one for them to borrow on Sunday and I'll be ordering a few more so that you can have one to keep. See you then!

 

What I'm Thankful For....

Okay, I apologize for missing a full two weeks of blogging. Between parent/teacher conferences and Thanksgiving, there was a lot going on. I should be back on my regular blogging schedule now though!

I know I'm a little late in this post, but I wanted to take some time to mention all the things I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving/holiday season.

1. I'm thankful for each and every one of my awesome young friends. They bring smiles to my face every single day and make all the work completely worth it. 
2. I'm thankful for the SON Shine families. You all care so much about your children, and I am so grateful you let me be a part of their lives.
3. I'm thankful for the parent board members. You five ladies help me make many, many decisions and plan our fabulous events. I certainly couldn't make SON Shine the place it is without you!
4. I'm thankful for the staff of Salem Lutheran Church. They are always there to lend a helping hand whenever I need it. Their support means so very much to me. 
5. I'm thankful for the members of the state legislature who fought hard to keep the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program going. Being able to release the financial burden preschool can have from the shoulders of the families is a fantastic thing, and I know it is helping all of you!
6. Lastly, on a more personal note, I'm thankful for my own family and friends who support me and provide me a chance to step away from SON Shine and relieve some stress.

I hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving! I'll leave you with some pictures from Monday and Tuesday.

We made body tracings and the children used all kinds of materials to decorate them. (They're hanging in the hallway outside our classroom, so feel free to check them out!)

 Kick Bowling - it's like bowling, but you kick the ball instead of rolling it!

 Lots of music....

Lots and lots of music!

Quiet End to a Busy Week

The last two days have been very quiet at SON Shine, and I’ve got to say that I really enjoyed them. Of course, quiet does not mean that we haven’t been learning; I just mean the kids have been very intent in their play and I have been doing my best to let them lead the way.

(First of all, I apologize for the lack of pictures. My batteries died yesterday, and I didn’t have a chance to get to a store to buy new ones last night. Sorry about that.)

We spent yesterday taking a little detour from our Lake Mills study. The kids have been increasingly interested in the marble tubes we have, and I decided to capitalize on that interest and see how the children solve problems. I built a few towers and took pictures of them before the kids arrived on Wednesday. During interest areas, I had the kids look at the pictures and try to build the same towers I had. It was cool to see them work as a team (or at least try - that’s definitely a skill that is still being developed) to create the towers. It was a great opportunity for them to practice taking turns and using words to communicate their ideas too!

We had Cooking with Jodie yesterday, and we made grilled cheese sandwiches! I think my favorite part about these sessions is the time the kids have to talk to each other. They share the craziest, most detailed stories during these times!

Today, since the afternoon class didn’t meet, the morning class had a relaxing day. Instead of doing my planned teacher-directed activities, I let the kids have complete control over what they wanted to do during interest area time. Many of them decided they wanted to use the listening center to listen to our letter songs – the ones from our graduation program last year. (It’s so much fun listening to them talk while they listen to those songs. They’re constantly saying things like, “Hey! This is Keely’s letter!” and “I remember this one! It’s Tara’s letter!”) The others spent a great deal of time building with the Legos. There was the inevitable singing and dancing to Tooy-ta and The Penguin Dance, and we even had some fun with the parachute.

All in all, it was a great way to end the week!

Have a great weekend!

From Freezers to Safes to Paint Mixers - Our Walking Tour of Lake Mills!

Our study of Lake Mills is in full swing, and it is turning into one of the most exciting studies so far!

Our walking tour of Lake Mills yesterday was a great experience! My goal was for the kids to start thinking about what kinds of experiences they’ve had in Lake Mills and what kinds of workers there are in this town. I had originally only planned to walk by the businesses on the sidewalk, but Judy and I decided it would be even more beneficial to the kids if we went into those businesses and asked the employees what kind of work they did. I’m so glad we decided to do that!

We got to see the different areas the mechanics use to fix cars at Dave’s, explore the ice cream freezer at the grocery store (Brrrr!), see the librarian in action, walk into the safe at the bank, examine the paint mixer at Singelstad’s, and learn all about what kind of workers it takes to run The Grand! We were even surprised to find some bakers in Lake Mills. I was so proud of the kiddos who were brave enough to walk into these stores and ask the employees what their jobs were! What a fantastic experience we had.

 Learning about being a mechanic at Dave's!

 In the freezer at the grocery store!

 Watching the coin machine at the bank!

Also, I need to send a huge thank you to Judy for changing her schedule and coming on a Monday! Without her, we probably wouldn’t have been able to go, so thank you, Judy!

We spent some time writing our very own stories yesterday too. We created characters for our stories by cutting shapes out of peanut butter sandwiches. Then everyone helped write a story about these characters. It was so much fun to see how different their stories were! Children really do have the very best imaginations! 

Today we spent a chunk of time opening a Pizza Ranch in our dramatic play center. Many of the children asked to go into Pizza Ranch on our walk yesterday, but I didn’t want to walk in without letting the employees know first. I’m hoping I can set up a field trip specifically to Pizza Ranch in the next couple of weeks, but I’m still working on that.  Until then, the kids will have fun pretending to work in a pizza restaurant at school!

Dramatic play scenarios like this are perfect, real-life experiences for the children to practice writing skills! Take a look at some of these notes the children wrote while they took orders. Keep in mind that there are stages of writing. Everything from scribbles to letter-like figures to inventive spelling are typical of preschoolers and all lead up to the writing skills they will learn in elementary school.

I'm so excited to see where this study will take us! 

Please remember to sign up for a conference time for next week!

F.Y.I: On Thursday, we will not be having our afternoon preschool class. The school district is getting out at 1:30 to allow for families to head to the volleyball game, and I want to make sure you all have those same chances.

When I Grow Up, I Want to be Micky Mouse!

First of all, thank you, thank you, thank you for helping your children with their homework on Monday! Taking that time to count with your children shows them that you care and it is a memorable experience for them!

With that homework, we did a couple of activities. On Monday, the children all guessed how many pieces of candy they thought they might get. I had guesses from 2 pieces to 1721 (pronounced seventeen twenty-one – it’s impossible to not smile at these things) pieces. We compared our guesses with our actual number of pieces the next day. No one guessed completely correct, but there were a few who were pretty close.

The wrappers opened up a whole new world of sorting. We sorted by color, type, size, and chocolate/not chocolate. The afternoon class was particularly interested in this activity, so they helped me create a graph of some of the favorite treats. The two favorite candies in the afternoon class were Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Willy Wonka candies. 

We also started a study of Lake Mills this week. We began by talking about what kinds of workers we might have in Lake Mills. We made a list of all the jobs our parents hold, and wrote a classroom book about what we want to do when we grow up. Some of my favorite answers to that question were an engineer (almost fell backwards out of surprise at that vocabulary!), Mickey Mouse, and Diego.

In the block center, we built our own model of Lake Mills. The children helped build The Grand, Pizza Ranch, Mills Theater, and a horse pasture. After they finished these buildings up, they started on their own houses. As they played in our pretend city, they discovered a need for a gas station and a fire station too. It was a blast to watch them build and label their constructions!

We also started building a city outside. My hope is to find some big boxes we can paint and decorate to be the different businesses in Lake Mills, but for today, we simply used sidewalk chalk. I drew a set of roads, complete with stop signs, for the children to ride the scooters on. The children helped me come up with ideas for what kinds of businesses we would need in our city. We ended up with a grocery store, a hardware store, a hospital, a farm, a gas station, and some houses. The children had fun as they pretended to drive around the city.

On Monday, we’ll be taking a walking tour of Lake Mills (just the downtown area, most likely)! The children will have a chance to look around the town to see what kind of businesses there are, and hopefully, they will begin to incorporate them into their play. Please dress your children warmly!

Have a fantastic weekend! See you on Monday!

Costume Party Fun!

Happy Halloween!!!! We had a blast at our costume party today! Here’s what we did:

We started the day off with one of my favorite Halloween books, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. It’s a lot of fun to read with young children, because there are many opportunities for them to help tell the story. They really got into it!

We made some Spooky Hands with Mrs. Twedt. This was a great exercise in fine motor control; it was kind of tricky getting that popcorn into those gloves! The children loved it, though. Most of them took it out of their bags to share with the parents and family members who picked them up at the end of the day!

Then it was time for our parades. In the morning, we walked over to the “big school” to visit Mrs. Hunchis and Emma’s mom in the AEA office, the secretaries in the high school and central office, and the lunch ladies. I want to thank all of those people for letting us stop in and show off our costumes! It meant a lot to the kiddos! In the afternoon, we were able to be a part of the elementary school’s costume parade. The children had a blast showing off their costumes and looking at everyone else’s. Most of them were very excited to see the 3^rd grader dressed as ketchup to match my mustard costume!

After the parades, we came back for a much needed snack. We made Mummy Pizzas! When I first told them we what we were going to make, most of the kids looked at me with disgusted looks and said, “I am not eating that!” Once they saw what they really were, they were a hit though.

To finish off our day, we had a game and an art activity. The group was split in two and one group played a game with me while the other did the art activity. The game was called Mix and Match Pumpkins. The kids took turns racing to some big cut-out pumpkins and gluing one piece of the face to it. By the end of the game, we had some pretty crazy looking pumpkins. Painting pumpkins was the art activity. The kids got creative as they painted. One kiddo even said, “They can be anything we want them to be, Mrs. Hansen!” That’s the kind of creativity I love to see.

What a great day it was! Thank you to everyone who made it wonderful!

Don’t forget to help your child with his/her homework tonight! It shouldn’t take long at all, and you can send it back with him/her tomorrow! Thanks!

Have a great time trick or treating!