Aloha! Welcome to Hawaii!

Our last day luau was so much fun! Between our special snack, a chance to play in water, and a decorated room, the children could hardly contain their excitement!

We started the whole thing off by boarding the plane and getting ready for take off. We fastened our seat belts and chewed some gum (so our ears wouldn't pop), and set off for Hawaii. While on the plane, we watched an in-flight movie, Mickey's Hawaiian Holiday.

When we arrived in Hawaii, we got our very own leis! Then we headed off to explore (interest areas). The kiddos made their own grass skirts, relaxed on the beach, made sand castles, and watched a volcano explode.

The next part was my favorite part of the whole day! Judy brought in a sprinkler for the kiddos to play in! They couldn't have been more excited! It was a little chilly (and sprinkling a little in the afternoon) so we weren't out for very long; it was long enough for them to enjoy the experience though!

After the sprinkler, we came back inside and enjoyed a tasty Hawaiian snack. We made kabobs with some traditional Hawaiian foods - pineapple, bananas, cherries, ham and cheese. Not only did this taste fantastic, but trying to get their food on their skewers was a great fine motor experience for them.

After snack, it was time to hop back on the plane and return to Lake Mills. We got some more gum for the flight, and enjoyed another in-flight movie. This one taught us to say the name of the state fish of Hawaii - the humuhumunukunukuapua'a.

We had a fabulous time in Hawaii! It was such a blast to share this with your children. Hopefully, they had as much fun as I did!

The Best Day Ever (Two Days in a Row!)

We had the best week this week! In planning the last week of school, I never imagined how wonderful and fun all of the events would be. It was truly the best way to end a great year!

I'm going to talk about our East Park trip tonight, and I'll share our luau fun tomorrow.

First of all, I figured that the van trip was going to be a super exciting for the kiddos since we had never taken a trip like this before. Their faces were so happy and shiny as we headed out! The kiddos in my van were noticing all kinds of things on their way - everything from cows, to trains, to flowers - and these things kept them talking the whole way!

As soon as we got to the park, we piled out of the vans and had a quick snack.

Then it was off to play! If you have never been to the giant playground at East Park, you absolutely need to go sometime! When I lived in Mason City last year, I used to jog right past this playground and I always thought that it looked cool. Cool doesn't even begin to describe this park. There were so many towers and tunnels and obstacles for the kids to maneuver through that the kids would have been content to play forever, if we had let them.

Initially, the kiddos were mostly interested in the equipment - bouncing, balancing, running, swinging, climbing, etc. After a while though, there was some pretty cool dramatic play happening. I saw kids pretending to be in cages, to have magic powers, and to drive trains. It was also super cool to see the morning kiddos building relationships with the afternoon kiddos. It's amazing how my two groups really became one big group this week - I loved it!

After we played for over an hour, it was time for lunch. Lunch was a bit of a struggle, because of the crazy, crazy winds. We had milk and ranch everywhere from our blown-over cups and baggies. Everyone got their fill, though, and then we quickly reapplied sunscreen and headed back to the playground.

Finally, it was time for us to go home. The kiddos were covered in sweat, dirt, and chocolate milk, but they were still beaming. What a great day! On the trip home, we had a few sleepers, which made me smile. They played so hard!

Throughout the day, I heard a number of kiddos excitedly saying, "This is the best day ever!" That is music to a teacher's ears, let me tell you! Sharing this day with all of the children made my heart so stinkin' happy!

Oh, What a Beautiful Day!

It has been absolutely gorgeous outside this week! We've been spending gobs and gobs of time outside, because, let's face it, that's where we all want to be.

We've been starting our day off with interest areas. Since we only have 6 days of school (after today) left, I've been working on wrapping up a few things with the kids. We've been filming our movies, writing thank you's to the various people who have helped us this year, and finishing up the final touches for graduation.

Yesterday, we went outside for the remainder of the day. The kids were absolutely amazed that we had circle time, snack, and faith time outside! When we go outside for long periods of time like this, I take our interest area materials with us. We've been singing/dancing to music, playing with cars, building with blocks, and playing some games on top of the normal outside stuff. The difference in what the children decide to do with the materials is amazing to see. Here's what it looks like :

 Reading books

 Snack time!

 Creating a city

Tying knots in the "garden"

I'm hoping to film the last movie today! We should be ready to go for graduation! I'm really looking forward to it!

Please remember to return the blue permission slip for the field trip by this Thursday! 

Kindergarten Round-Up and Dr. Seuss

Today was an exciting day! Kindergarten Round-Up was so much fun for the kids! For me, it was exciting to provide them a chance to share everything they know with their future teachers. The whole day went so well. The kindergarten teachers were marveling at how well this year's group of preschoolers behaved while they were at Round-up. At one point this afternoon, one of them came back into the room where the children were all playing and said, "Wow! You wouldn't even know there are kids in here!" They were busy playing hard and staying focused! (Which makes for one, proud preschool teacher, let me just say!)

I, unfortunately, forgot my camera in the morning. Luckily, I had it this afternoon though, and in terms of the activities, the two sessions were identical. Morning parents - look at these pictures and pretend the children in the picture are yours, and I'm sorry I forgot my camera.

The kindergarten teachers will be letting you all know how your children did as soon as they've had a chance to fully review all of their information. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know!

Also, I feel compelled to tell you all how incredibly sad I am that my young friends will not be with me forever. I can't believe they'll be heading off to kindergarten and k-prep already. I feel truly blessed to have had this time with them, and I hope they stop in to see me every once in a while after they leave me for The Big School. I'm going to miss them so, very much!

This week we've been talking about Dr. Seuss. We were busy finishing up our bodies last week, so we missed celebrating his birthday. We'll be celebrating all of this week though! We started out by graphing our favorite Dr. Seuss books on Monday. The Lorax won by a landslide. (Of course, I wonder how much peer pressure played a role in this. Most of the kiddos were intent on picking the winning book instead of their actual favorite. It's all good though! Graphing is graphing either way!) We also read The Cat in the Hat and made some hats to go along with that story. I will be hanging most of these hats in the hallway as soon as I get a chance. To make the hats, the students had to find the pictures that started with the letter on the brim of their hat and glue them on the stripes. When we finished with those hats, some of the kiddos wanted to make hats, like The Cat's, that they could actually wear. Here's what they came up with:

Today, since it was absolutely gorgeous outside, we went outside when we returned from Kindergarten Round-Up. The kiddos blew some bubbles, ran around, and played a fun game of hide and seek with a rock they decorated. It was a great time, and I'm so excited to see signs of spring around us.

(looking for rocks to collect and to play hide and seek with)

We are still looking for volunteers to help with tip day on Saturday! Please sign up if you have any time free that day! Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who have already signed up!

Snowmen and Scrambled Eggs

Thank you all for bearing with me as I prepare for this verification visit. What a crazy, crazy time this is! As you know, I got a sub for today and worked on various files and portfolios throughout the day. I have got to tell you: it is torture to be away from the kiddos (especially when I can hear them laughing and having a good time and I'm doing paperwork....). I thoroughly missed them, and I cannot wait to be back to teaching next week.

I wanted to give you just a brief update of some of the things we've done recently. Yesterday was a blast and a half. The children had so much fun going outside and playing in the snow. Snowman building was the greatest fun! The kiddos laughed and laughed as they rolled gigantic snowballs and tried to pick them up (phenomenal gross motor experience, by the way!). They ended up making about five preschool-sized snowman throughout the day.

We also had a super fun time cooking with Jodie yesterday. We made scrambled eggs and the children all got to crack an egg. Most of them are actually pretty good at this, which surprised me! Then, they got to use an old hand-powered mixer to scramble them up. I think this was definitely a favorite cooking experience for them!

We finished up our animal study this week, and next week, we'll beginning a study of the human body. Since the preschoolers love to move so much, they'll love learning about why and how their bodies move the way they do.

Hopefully, after Tuesday, I'll be able to give you a much more in depth review of what we've been up to. Thank you, again, for hanging in there with me!

Have a fantastic weekend!

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!

Writing and Dancing and Letter Sounds...Oh My!

Wow! This week flew by faster than any other so far! Here’s what we accomplished on Wednesday and Thursday:

We started journaling this week. Each child has a journal in which they write at the beginning of each class. In just one week, it is amazing to see how intentional their drawings and writing have become. At the beginning of the week, I saw a lot of this:

 The kids would draw a picture, and I would add the words.

By the end of the week the kids were beginning to experiment with writing their own words, so I saw a lot of this:

 It may not look like much, but those symbols at the bottom of the page are my friend's words! He will read them to you if you ask him to!

It is just the neatest thing to watch these early literacy skills growing in my young friends!

Ever since the Read-A-Thon, music has become a huge part of our classroom. The new CDs I’ve downloaded onto the iPads come in handy in so many ways. There are songs to help us line up by the letters our names start with, songs teaching us about rhyming, and songs just for fun. I’ve started taking the iPads into our music and movement area, and they are always in use. 

 Dancing to The Penguin Dance!

We experimented with making music using water on Friday. The kids used baby food jars and a metal spoon to make music. They noticed how the pitch of each jar was different and how it could be changed by adding or taking away water. 

Outside, we played a game called Around and Around. The game was an exercise in alliteration (when two words start with the same beginning sound). The kids would walk around a pile of play food saying this rhyme:

Around and around and around we go.

Where we stop, nobody knows!

When I called, “Stop,” they would quickly grab a food item. I then pulled a picture card from my pile. The child who had a food that started with the same sound as my picture card won that round. This is a challenging skill for most of the preschoolers, but they are beginning to catch on. Take some time to talk about the beginning sounds of words with your child if you have some free time this weekend and let me know how it goes!

Next week, we’re going to start a study of Lake Mills. As I have been changing the dramatic play center to include different types of jobs, the kids have taken a strong interest in running a business and the different jobs people have. I’m hoping to take some field trips throughout this study to various businesses in Lake Mills. If you would like to assist with these field trips or have an idea for a field trip, please let me know!

On Monday, we are having a costume party. I sent home notes on each child’s shirt on Thursday, so hopefully you all found them. Please send your child’s costume with him/her on Monday. We’ll be parading our costumes throughout the church and at the big school. (The afternoon class will be participating in the costume parade with the big kids at the elementary school this year! I’m way too excited about this!) Then we’ll come back to the classroom for special snacks and games.

It should be a great week! I can’t wait!

What a Child's Hair Might Look Like If She Had Full Control

We've had a crazy busy, and definitely fun, week already!

Here are some of the highlights from Monday and Tuesday:

 We've been working in small groups again. The above picture is what our Guess Who's Coming to Dinner game looks like. I can already tell the children's counting skills are beginning to get better and better! It's been fun watching them grow!

 We opened up a hair salon in our dramatic play area. We have been exploring jobs that involve water. So far we've talked about firefighters, car washes, and now hair salons. Today we had friends getting hair cuts, dying their hair all sorts of colors (including rainbow.... watch out parents! :P ), and getting manicures - all pretend, of course. We used water color paints as nail polish for one important reason: it washes off! These real experiences help children build all kinds of cognitive, social, and language skills!

Outside we've been playing Pick Pocket Tag. The kids tuck a long piece of fabric in their back pockets or in the waistband of their pants. When I say go, they try to pull the tail off their friends. If their tails get pulled they have to sit down, but they can still pull the tails of the friends who run by. It is hilarious to watch them play! Sometimes they end up circling each other for a long time - that makes me laugh every time!

For those of you who attended the Read-A-Thon, I'm going to ask that you turn in all of your pledges by next Thursday, November 3. (Holy cow! November already!) Have all checks written out to SON Shine Preschool. We'll deposit them all and then send one check to St. Jude's. Thanks again for coming and participating!