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!

Happy Grams, Listening, and a Whole Lot More!

I don't normally blog on Mondays, but today was just a great day! I need to share it with you.

So, as some of you know, last week was tough. I'm not sure what the source of the behaviors were, but the kiddos just had a hard time listening and staying in control of their bodies. I talked with some people who work at the elementary school, and the situation was similar over there. It was just one of those weeks. I decided to spend this week reviewing expectations and rules. I also decided to add in a few new positive reinforcements to help inspire the children to have a good week.

One of those new reinforcements is a Happy Gram. My hope is to send home one Happy Gram with each child every week. On the Happy Gram, I will write about a good moment the child had in school that day. This good moment could be anything from good behavior to mastering a new academic skill to simply having a great time doing an activity. I award the Happy Grams at the end of the day, and all of the children cheer for them! Today was a huge success with this! The children were motivated to work so well with each other, and they were really great listeners. I was super proud of them all!

We also reviewed what listening looks like today. I showed the kiddos an online story called, Henry B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen, (you can find it here) and we talked about the troubles Henry got into when he didn't listen and how much better his life was when he did listen. We talked about how to tell if someone is listening, and how we can do that in the classroom. I am already noticing a difference in how the children are listening, and I'm sure that by the end of the week the kiddos will all be super listeners!

We're starting to explore color this week. I'm not sure if we'll do a full study on color, but I've been noticing the children drawing a lot of rainbows in their journals so I figured I'll see what kind of interest there is. To start the exploration, I added some colorful rice to the sand table and started a sticky easel in the art center. Here's what the exploration looked like:

 The easel is covered in a piece of contact paper, which makes it easy to stick things to it.

 I cut some strips of construction paper and the kiddos stuck them to the easel in whatever design they wanted.

There was all kinds of measuring and counting going on in this center all afternoon! It was also a great chance for them to practice sharing and working together.

I've got more color activities planned for the rest of the week, and we'll see where they take us.

Our first sign of spring visited us today too:

He visited us a couple of times throughout the day, and the kiddos were very excited to see him! I was too! Bring on the spring!

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!

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!

 

The Coolest Thing Ever!

Okay, I’m going to do two posts today. One to show what happened during preschool hours on Wednesday and Thursday, and one to share all the fun we had at our Read-A-Thon.

On Wednesday, I introduced the kiddos to water beads (A.K.A The Coolest Thing Ever!). Water beads are a polymer crystal that absorbs water and gels similar to gelatin; this polymer is the same substance found in diapers. They are traditionally used for floral arrangements, but they are a ton to explore in preschool too! They come in many different colors, and we made four different colors. The really cool thing about clear water beads is how they disappear if you put them in water. When we began interest areas, I had all of the clear water beads hiding in a tub of water. I asked the kids if there was anything in the water, and, of course, they looked at me like I had seven heads because obviously there wasn’t anything in the water. They were so surprised when they reached their hands into the water and came out with handfuls of water beads.

After they explored for a while, they helped me make yellow, blue, and purple beads. The only frustrating thing was they had to wait until the next day to see the colored beads since they take 4-6 hours to rehydrate. 

 

We also had a great time making Orange Banana Smoothies with Jodie on Wednesday! The kids get so excited about cooking days; they ask me almost everyday if today is a cooking day. 

On Thursday, we made our own watercolor paints. Not only was this a great literacy (following the recipe) and math (measuring and counting) activity, but it was a great lesson on colors. I only let the kids use red, blue, and yellow food coloring for the paints, but I told them we were going to make purple, green, and orange colors too. They had to guess which colors to mix together to make these colors. Sometimes they were right and sometimes they were wrong, but every time they were excited about the new color they had made.

During small group time this week, we’ve been working on our counting skills and our letter recognition skills. On Monday, the counting group played a game called Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. They drew a card to find out how many guests they would have for dinner, and then they worked together to set the table for their guests. On Thursday, they played a game with water beads. They were given a cup with a number written on it, and they needed to put the correct number of beads into their cup.

The letter recognition group went fishing for letters (buried in water beads) on Monday and learned some letter songs to help them remember what the letters look like and what sounds they make on Thursday.

Overall, we had another fantastic week at SON Shine!

The Worst Thing That Can Happen To A Preschool Teacher...

Well, as many of you who I see on a daily basis noticed, I completely lost my voice this week. I felt wonderful - I didn't have a sore throat or a cough or a fever or a headache or any other sign of the flu or a cold - I just simply lost my voice. That has never happened to me before, and I hope it never happens to me again! I realized fairly quickly that this is the worst thing to happen to a preschool teacher. Thankfully, it was almost completely normal today. The kids did a fabulous job being super listeners to help me deal with the lack of a voice! I was actually pretty amazed at how well they listened when I told them my voice couldn't get any louder than a whisper! Thank them for me!

Now, on to the good stuff. Yesterday, we had an afternoon visit from the firefighters. It was a blast for the kiddos, and it went very smoothly. I was so happy that no one was afraid of the firefighter in the full uniform (although it might help that this particular firefighter was Keely's dad - Thanks, Ryan!). Last year, I think I ended up with four kids trying to sit in my lap because they were scared. They learned all sorts of ways to stay safe from fire, and, of course, they got to see the fire truck! What a fun time everyone had!

We did a few more investigations with water. We learned about sinking and floating by making boats out of aluminum foil. The kids made a prediction about how many bears it would hold. I got all sorts of predictions from 5-115! Then they added bears one at a time while we counted to find out how many bears would make it sink. Mrs. Twedt was surprised that one of the boats held 64 bears!

We also did an investigation of how water reacts on wax paper. The cool thing about water is that it really wants to stick together, so on wax paper, which repels the water, you can push the drops of water around to see this sticking in action. We used eye droppers to make drops of water on wax paper. Then, we took pencils and dragged the drops around the paper. Some kids tried to break the water drops apart, which is actually pretty hard to do. Some kids tried to push all of their drops together to make one mega-drop.

We also did some cooking today! Since we weren't able to cook with Jodie this week, I brought the cooking into the classroom. We made Doughnut Muffins - they're muffins that taste exactly like doughnut holes! The kids read a recipe to find out what and how much to add. They did all the stirring, the measuring, and the pouring (with some guidance from me, of course). After the muffins came out of the oven, we rolled them in butter and then cinnamon sugar! Yummy! They were a hit! Even one friend after saying, "I'm not sure if I like these," told me they were tasty!

I got a newsletter out on time today, so check your child's bag/folder! Don't forget our Read-a-thon is next week! I'm really, really excited, and I hope that you are too. There's a note on the newsletter about signing up for the supper before the Read-a-thon. We need to know for sure how many people are coming, so we know how many pizzas to get!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Water, Water Everywhere!

We started our water study, and the kiddos have been enjoying it! We have been starting each day this poem:

Water

Water, water everywhere, water all around,
Water in the ocean, water in the ground.

Water in a river, water in a creek,
Water in a faucet with a drip-drip leak!

Water from a waterfall, rushing down from high,
Water from a dark cloud, raining from the sky.

Water at a fire, gushing through a hose,
Water in a garden, so every flower grows.

Water for the animals swimming in the sea,
Water, water everywhere for you and for me!

by Meish Goldish

The cool thing about poetry is there are so many early literacy skills the kiddos can learn from it. Just from watching me read the poem, they can learn that text flows from left to right and top to bottom, that the words I'm saying match up with the words on the paper, and (since I illustrated the poem I created for my chart) that the words and the pictures match up! We have also picked out rhyming words, and we're going to go on a letter hunt through our poem later this week! It has been really cool watching the kids enjoy this poem.  

Since we're studying water, we have been doing lots of activities using water, of course. On Monday, I filled up some tubs with water to put in the sand table. It has been nice this week, so I was able to wheel it outside. The kids have been exploring how to make water wheels work, practicing some fine motor fishing skills, and just experiencing water!

I had the water table inside today, so the kids had more time to explore the water. We did some water painting outside. We used paintbrushes to paint the sidewalk with water. The cool thing about that is the sun dries the water up fairly quickly, so we always have a fresh canvas to paint. (Unfortunately, I managed to forget my camera inside both times, so I was unable to get a picture of this.) 

Hopefully, you have received your pledge forms for the Read-a-thon by now! I can't wait to see what we can do for St. Jude's. Keep in mind, though, if you don't feel comfortable asking others for money but you'd still like to participate in the Read-a-thon, you are more than welcome to! I would love to have every student participate that night regardless of how much money we make! Our main focus that night will be to have a great family time while learning about early literacy skills - the support we collect for St. Jude's will just be the cherry on top!

Sand and Water

Sand and Water

Many important math and cognitive skills are gained in the sand and water area. When children play around with filling cups and comparing which cup holds more/less, they are building measurement skills. They can use many manipulatives to practice patterning, counting, and geometry skills. This is also a great place for children to strengthen their fine motor skills. Since most of the play that happens in this area involves children using their hands to manipulate small and large objects, the muscles in their hands are strengthened each time they visit.

Communication about the exploration that is happening is greatly encouraged. Children describe what they see happening and what they are doing. They make predictions about what might happen if they change something, and they work with classmates to create pretend situations. All of these experiences help build upon the children's language and social skills.

Ideas for Home:

 

Creating a sand and water area at home is easy! Considering your bathtub is a great big water table, bath time is a great chance for children to explore the concepts I explained above. Provide your children with various types/sizes of cups or buckets and allow them to play around in the water.

 

A sand table doesn't necessarily have to be an expensive table filled with sand. You can simply find a tote of an appropriate size and fill it up with any time of scoopable objects (e.g. noodles, rice, beans, etc.) Again, provide your child with various scooping utensils and allow them to play around.

Source:
Dodge, Diane T., Colker, Laura J., Heroman, Cate. (2002). The Creative Curriculum.
        Washington DC: Teaching Strategies Inc.