'Tis the Season for Fun

One might think there isn't a lot we can cover in a two day week of preschool, however that person would be wrong!  We address the changing weather and seasons daily in preschool as we go over the Today Board each morning and then discuss what Pirate Pete should wear.  The preschoolers choose to add coats, hats, boots and so on that are suitable to the weather outside each day.  

This week we chose to discuss each season and the weather that connects to those seasons.  The preschoolers worked on math with mittens by arranging them by color or pattern, then by size and for our older preschoolers, by eliminating which number is larger or smaller.  This is a game you re-create with your children at home any time!

After we matched our mittens, the preschoolers lined up around the circle of chairs that each held an image relating to weather.  Maybe there was a sun, a rain drop, a cloud blowing wind, etc and as the music stopped, the children sat on a chair and told the teachers which season their weather item belonged to before moving on as the music played once more.

One of our art projects dealt with fall as we colored giant coffee filters with various markers and rinsed them in the sink to hang up to dry.  The colors bleed together in a tie-dye affect looking like the changing colored leaves we see this time of year.  We will have these on display at our Halloween Party Wednesday, October 30th.

The focus on fall continued with reading
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert then examining leaves from outside and using crayons to create imprints of the leaves to take home.  This activity was the class favorite and is something anyone can do at home with some leaves, crayons and paper.  I challenge you to head outside this week and grab some leaves from the neighborhood to do this at home.  What a great fall activity to do as a family.

What's Coming Up?

Our Halloween Party is Wednesday, October 30th from 9:30 to 10:45 AM.  We will be trick - or - treating around Palatine High School as soon as everyone arrives and then will head back to the room for treats.  Please remember we only need 1 dozen of something since we have 21 preschoolers bringing items, we will have more than enough food.  

Friday and Saturday is the Palatine High School Dance Show, GLOW.  I bring my children every year and it is always a great family night out.

Check out Trick - Or - Treat hours on the Village of Palatine Page and other FREE Halloween events in District 211.

Moving Safely Through October

Safety and Transportation were combined this past week as we talked about police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances.  With only two days to work on this topic, we scratched the surface and will be going further with Police Officer and Fire Fighter guest speakers in the spring.  

We had a visit from the Palatine High School Police Officer on Friday as we practiced a lock-down drill with the children.  Our officer stopped in to tell us what a terrific job we did and passed around a high five to the preschoolers as they asked if we could, "do it again!"  We told them we will play the quiet game with him again at a later date.

While a visit from a police officer is going to be the highlight of the week, we had some pretty awesome experiences and activities dealing with modes of transportation as well.

A Sailing We Will Go!

We set 'boats' a sailing in trays filled with water by placing paper on the water's service and using surface tension to move the 'boat' across the water by adding a drop or two of soap to the water.  (If you try this at home, know that once you do this, you will need another new tray with water because the surface tension has broken and can't be set up the same again in that original tray.)

Green means go, red means stop and yellow means SLOW DOWN!  



We talked about traffic lights and then made our very own to take home after we played the very popular game, Red Light, Green Light.  Teachers and preschoolers took turns holding up either a red, yellow or green sign and then the children would respond to the signs by stopping, moving slowly or running toward the person with the signs.  You can also play this game with no visual cues once the players all know the rules.

Up, Up and Away!

The children talked with us about all modes of transportation that fly and then were able to paint air planes made out of toilet paper tubes.  They also loved learning about how hot air balloons work and participating in our science activity where teachers blew up balloons in a variety of sizes then let them fly about the room.  

The kids guessed which balloons would go further based on the size and amount of air that was in them.  This was another favorite of the week.

Checking for Understanding:

My favorite method used this week to check for understanding of modes of transportation was when we passed around various pictures of modes of transportation to the preschoolers and asked them to color and cut them out.  
 
They were then challenged to bring their image to one of two posters in the room of an outdoor scene where they needed to know the boat would go in the water, the bike on the sidewalk, the car on the road and the plane in the air.  This was such a wonderful way to see who mastered our topics for this week!  Try something like it at home!

What's Coming Up?
Next week is another two day preschool week due to College Night at PHS.  So, we will have preschool on Monday and Friday but NOT on WEDNESDAY!

The best family friendly night of the year is THURSDAY as Trick or Treat with Pirate Pete comes back around.  It's from 5 - 6:30 and is open to any family looking to trick or treat in a safe and warm place where they can really show off their costumes!  Come ready for games and treats!

Invitations went out on Friday for our Halloween Party which will be on Wednesday, October 30th from 9:30 - 11:00.  Please bring your child dressed in costume and ready to trick or treat.  We will be heading around the building for our treats as soon as everyone arrives then coming back in the preschool for snacks.  Please start bringing your snacks to school on Monday, October 28th and remember 1 dozen is more than enough.

Having a Blast!

Space is one of my favorite units in preschool and what a wonderful time we have had this week!

The preschoolers have enjoyed learning the names of planets and making our own planets that glow in the dark to take home!  

One of our teachers created her own story about an alien moving out into space.  After that, the children had a blast, creating their own alien headbands to pretend to be from other planets.  The preschoolers assembled the eyes and antennae then helped the teachers piece them all together to wear around the room.

 We talked about what we would imagine life to be like on other planets and made an "alien pond" out of Squishy Baff and later in the week we turned that goo to red water.  

In our "down time" we are always enjoying books and 'cooking' in the kitchen.  The preschoolers chose the 'Alien Pond' a lot this week as well because the texture is
too fun to resist!

Congrats to our Star of the Week Duet!  Great job Girls!

   We decorated space ships to hang in the room as we finished up the week talking about space.  We are going to keep them hanging in the room for the next week to remind us of what a great time we had during this unit!

 The children enjoyed this fun trick where they designed their own constellation in 3 easy steps: 

Step 1:  Color your star

Step 2: Use a hole puncher to punch holes all over the paper to create your constellation then...

Step 3 - just hold a flashlight under the paper and look up at your ceiling.  As long as you do this in a dimly lit room, you can see your creation!  For older children (and adults) try to punch real constellation patterns!

 Follow our board on Pinterest to see other fun things you can do at home to further the discovery in space.

Our Annual Pirate Pete Preschool Wear Ordering is upon us!  We are taking orders for ADULT SIZES in sweatshirts ONLY at this time.  Your preschooler will receive a Preschooler Sized t-shirt in the spring once both sessions begin.  Those will be complementary but if you would like one of these sweatshirts, they are $15 and we will be placing the order in about a week, so fill out this order form ASAP.

What's Coming Up?

We have a two day week this week as we talk about Safety & Transportation.  We will be waiting until our Spring Semester to have a visit from the Police Department and Fire Department.  However, we will be having drills for Lock Downs and discussing Fire and Tornado Drills as well.  When these happen, you will be notified if we have any difficulties.  

Next week we only have school Monday and Friday due to College Night for District 211.  We will be talking about Seasons as we are in the midst of the beauty of Fall right now!  

Mark Your Calendars for the Palatine High School Trick Or Treat with Pirate Pete on October 24th at 5:00.  It's a FREE family fun event, bring the kids - I do!

Our Halloween Party will be Wednesday, October 30th from 9:30 to 11:00 and we will be trick or treating around the school as well as stopping in our Media Center to have Story Time with our Librarians!  Invites will be coming home this week with further details!

We've got SPIRIT!

Homecoming for high school students is a time to decorate the halls, wear crazy clothes, ask people to the big dance and enjoy the big game while cheering on our team.  For our preschoolers, we took full advantage of the Spirit Week wardrobe challenge and learned all about various sports (including football of course).

Monday was pajama day and our little pirates fit right in wearing sleepwear to school with the rest of us. It's the best day of the year!  Wednesday was amazing as our preschoolers arrived as Wacky as ever in their crazy outfits with wild hair!  We enjoyed playing games out in the hallway and took a group picture by some of the Homecoming decorations.  Friday, is always full of Pirate Pride, and with Super Fan Friday we did it right showing red all over the room as we celebrated another birthday with a preschooler and teacher as well.

Patterns and sorting were a large focus for us this week as we organized various sporting equipment by sport, size, color and shape. We talked about the Olympics and strung beads on our medals to build fine motor skills.

As we did all these activities and more I noticed a few commonalities that show up at the start of every year- an absense of summer scissor use. The high schoolers have been observing the children's social and emotional competencies and taking drawing samples for their case studies but I've been observing small motor (hand coordination) skills as the children work. This is why I decided to add this information into this week's blog. 

Parents often ask me, "what can we work on at home?"  Here's one answer for nearly everyone - scissor skills. Most preschool aged children enter preschool not knowing how to properly hold a pair of child appropriate scissors and don't know how to use them.  In fact, most kids need to be told and shown how to open the scissors back up again after they squeeze them closed.

We have scissors in our classroom to help the children learn this but I thought I'd send a few tips home to you as well.  Make a game out of cutting with your child by giving her some straws and then holding a contest to see who can cut the straws up into the most pieces. This gives your child incentive to cut as you do the same activity TOGETHER.

Play dough is another great item to practice cutting around the house. I don't recommend allowing your child to cut unsupervised so please be sure to be with him as he works these skills. One more thing, I ask you to save cutting paper for the end. This is a tough skill that takes time to develop and its best to play theses games first before setting you and your child up for an afternoon of frustration. 

I'm going to be sending more tips your way as these weeks go on, please feel free to ask more about this should you have further questions or follow me on Twitter to see more links about fine motor skills in preschool aged children.

 What's Coming Up?

We are going to be talking about Space next week and have been starting to get the room ready for the season of Halloween.  If your children have started talking about Halloween, it's because we now have a giant spider web hanging from our ceiling!  

A flyer went home on Friday for the Trick or Treat with Pirate Pete Festival we have at Palatine High School each year.  It's on our calendar as well but FYI (it starts at 5 PM and is FREE Trick or Treating for ALL!)  Our Halloween party is going to be on Wednesday, October 30th from 9:30 to 11:00 and more information will be coming soon.