Imagining warm weather coming!
As we near the end of April and begin May, we all are hoping for warmer weather and since we can really only imagine we live someplace where weather can be consistent, we decided the month of May will begin our imagination theme. So, we finished up April transitioning from talking about places in our world into the world of imagination.
Our preschoolers practiced counting 1 through 20 in fishbowls; as they were instructed to glue fish onto numbers one through 20 in sequential order. This is terrific practice for our preschoolers who will be going to kindergarten next year as that is an expectation to be able to count from 1 to 20 and recognize all of those numbers. For the younger preschoolers, it helps them to get to know the numbers in this sequence and to recognize them upon sight.
After talking about these fish, we discussed submarines and the purposes they have as they go to the bottom of the ocean. Then we use their imaginations to create submarines out of carrots using baking soda and water. By placing baking soda inside a baby carrot; when you place it in water it first sinks, then rises to the top like a submarine.
We reviewed the various creatures who live in our world and talked about where they live. One of the teachers created a box that had various animals on it; she would roll the box or let preschoolers take turns rolling the box and whatever image came up on top the preschoolers would have to find that creature's home in our classroom. If the kids saw a bee, they would have to find the beehive in the room, if they saw a bear they would have to find the cave, if they saw the fish they would have to find the ocean and if they saw people they would have to find the kitchen set, etc.
To assist us in differentiating alive versus not alive we read a book about 10 rubber ducks by Eric Carl. The preschoolers and teachers talked throughout the book about which animals were alive and which animals were not: for example a flamingo versus a rubber duck. As an adult you may think this is a little far-fetched but please remember the world of imagination is huge to a child and they often have a hard time differentiating between what is alive and not alive. Hence, some children get a little scared of 'Chuck E Cheese' when they see him walking around the restaurant.
Different teachers came in after we did the number of the day, and we talked about space again. This time (because we are transitioning into a new theme) we asked the preschoolers to imagine they were going to make some galactic goo. This galactic goo is made up of glue, watercolor paint, glitter and liquid starch. All ingredients were placed into a Ziploc bag and after we sealed them, the preschoolers were able to mix it without getting goo all over the preschool room. If you take the goo out at home and leave it out it will actually become very easy to play with. If it starts to become sticky again you can either add a little bit of water or liquid starch and it should fix itself back to play mode again.
When the afternoon preschoolers came in we talked again about the changes in the seasons and weather and the preschoolers were asked to re-create 'Olaf's' face in a paper plate puppet. The goal of this is to see if they can place the eyes, nose and mouth on to the correct areas of a face.
After that, we practiced a letter recognition activity very similar to what some people might do in kindergarten. Preschoolers were given a page with various letters and asked to only find the D's and circle them. This activity is terrific for letter recognition.
The afternoon preschoolers requested we do a few songs and their favorite is of course the 'Cool Bear Hunt' and five little monkeys. So, in preparation for graduation we practiced both of the songs again. You will be getting the invitation for graduation this week followed by the choices your children make for what songs they want to sing at graduation. The words and directions will be sent home along with youtube links if needed to help you practice with your child at home.
We put numbers 1-20 in sequential order in the afternoon preschool this week by using popsicle stick puzzles. These are easy to make at home by taking pictures from magazines or printed out and gluing them to popsicle sticks. Take a sharp knife and separate the picture along the edges of the sticks to create a puzzle. We place the numbers 1-20 on the sticks and as the children arranged them in order, the puzzle was put together!
A teacher in the afternoon took empty water bottles and weighted them down with a little bit of water then decorated them with Disney characters to introduce the fun Disney characters we will be featuring in our lessons in the coming month during our imagination discussions. The children were eager to get to take turns knocking down these characters with a ball. If your family drinks a lot of bottled water this is an easy game to re-create at home this summer!
On Wednesday we went back to the moon by making moon sand for all the children to enjoy. In this science lesson, we just needed to mix baking soda with water and black watercolor paint and a little sparkle for good measure. The children helped mix it in our sensory bin and at the tables in bins then helped the teachers combine it all to be played with throughout the day in both preschool sessions.
After going to the moon to make moon sand, we looked back at the Earth and used paper plates to create the Earth by squirting green, blue and a little bit of white paint onto the back of the plate, then flipping it over and rotating it on a piece of paper to create a circle mixed with these colors common to the version of Earth we see in photographs.
Once back to Earth, we imagined looking up at the moon and talked about and looked at photographs of the various phases of the moon. After seeing it for real on the screen we used a helpful worksheet to shape the icing from Oreo cookies to match the cycles of the moon. (No Oreos were eaten during this activity, we only played with the food.)
Once back in our classroom we reviewed the letter M after reading, 'If you take a Mouse to School,' and made a monster after talking about other things that start with letter M.
This activity was for process and not product as the children painted their monsters any way they wanted and the teachers will add the eyes to them to send home next week.
Before heading home the morning preschoolers went to the ocean and fished for letters in small ponds as they used magnets on the bottom of strings to capture items with paper clips attached to them. In these ponds, the children also had to try to only catch fish and not the garbage and little someone left behind. This reminded some of our preschoolers about conversations from Earth Day when we discussed the idea of recycling and taking care of our planet.
While some children fished, others made turtles at the tables by gluing on the appropriate parts of a turtle to styrofoam bowls. The teacher talked with the children about re-purposing supplies in this manner and again reminded them about recycling.
As children rotated between these two stations, we also added in a 'create the ocean' class project as the children's feet were placed into gallon sized Ziploc bags and then wrapped in bubble wrap to create 'waves' on our paper ocean. This was a huge undertaking but a lot of fun was had by the children as they worked together to walk around the paper creating waves for a classroom ocean. The children then were each given a fish to place in the ocean before heading home.
When the afternoon children came in for the end of this week we talked a lot about various Disney favorites to get them excited about the upcoming change in theme. The teachers made Winnie the Pooh puppets for the children to advance on the face labeling activity from Monday and were asked to draw a face on them this time. This was an advancement in making sure the children are able to verbally label the parts of a face as they are placed on the item.
Next, the children played a word and letter recognition game with their teachers as they searched for sounds and letters associated with various famous imaginative characters.
This led them to play Disney BINGO. The children were shown an image on our screen and asked to try to find it on their BINGO card. I think they could have played this game all day as you could hear a pin drop and squeals of excitement as they looked for and found images.
One of the images on the BINGO cards was from the movie Up which lead to the discussion and imaginative idea of a house being picked up off the ground by balloons. The children then created this image from their mind on paper using house cut outs and paint.
As the houses 'floated' up into space the children in the afternoon then played in 'space goo' of sorts as well. The afternoon teachers made this goo ahead of time so the children were able to play with it for this small motor developmental activity.
Lastly, as we came back to Earth in the afternoon, we talked about Peter Pan's friend Wendy and how Captain Hook made her 'walk the plank.' We made an ocean using blue paper and added our balance beams to the 'water'. The children first took turns 'walking the plank' then eventually made us all smile when they held hands on their own and did the whole beam together!
What's Coming Up?
The invitation for preschool graduation will be going home on Monday. Please read the entire invite then contact us with any questions. We hold this event earlier than normal times to account for the high school schedule and auditorium availability. The children have all posed for their 'graduation photos' in their caps and gowns and will earn a certificate as well as show off their singing skills followed by a small reception in the preschool room where we will eat treats and pass out the scrapbooks of their time in our program.
As we near the end of April and begin May, we all are hoping for warmer weather and since we can really only imagine we live someplace where weather can be consistent, we decided the month of May will begin our imagination theme. So, we finished up April transitioning from talking about places in our world into the world of imagination. 
Our preschoolers practiced counting 1 through 20 in fishbowls; as they were instructed to glue fish onto numbers one through 20 in sequential order. This is terrific practice for our preschoolers who will be going to kindergarten next year as that is an expectation to be able to count from 1 to 20 and recognize all of those numbers. For the younger preschoolers, it helps them to get to know the numbers in this sequence and to recognize them upon sight. 
After talking about these fish, we discussed submarines and the purposes they have as they go to the bottom of the ocean. Then we use their imaginations to create submarines out of carrots using baking soda and water. By placing baking soda inside a baby carrot; when you place it in water it first sinks, then rises to the top like a submarine. 
We reviewed the various creatures who live in our world and talked about where they live. One of the teachers created a box that had various animals on it; she would roll the box or let preschoolers take turns rolling the box and whatever image came up on top the preschoolers would have to find that creature's home in our classroom. If the kids saw a bee, they would have to find the beehive in the room, if they saw a bear they would have to find the cave, if they saw the fish they would have to find the ocean and if they saw people they would have to find the kitchen set, etc.
To assist us in differentiating alive versus not alive we read a book about 10 rubber ducks by Eric Carl. The preschoolers and teachers talked throughout the book about which animals were alive and which animals were not: for example a flamingo versus a rubber duck. As an adult you may think this is a little far-fetched but please remember the world of imagination is huge to a child and they often have a hard time differentiating between what is alive and not alive. Hence, some children get a little scared of 'Chuck E Cheese' when they see him walking around the restaurant.
Different teachers came in after we did the number of the day, and we talked about space again. This time (because we are transitioning into a new theme) we asked the preschoolers to imagine they were going to make some galactic goo. This galactic goo is made up of glue, watercolor paint, glitter and liquid starch. All ingredients were placed into a Ziploc bag and after we sealed them, the preschoolers were able to mix it without getting goo all over the preschool room. If you take the goo out at home and leave it out it will actually become very easy to play with. If it starts to become sticky again you can either add a little bit of water or liquid starch and it should fix itself back to play mode again. 
When the afternoon preschoolers came in we talked again about the changes in the seasons and weather and the preschoolers were asked to re-create 'Olaf's' face in a paper plate puppet. The goal of this is to see if they can place the eyes, nose and mouth on to the correct areas of a face. 
After that, we practiced a letter recognition activity very similar to what some people might do in kindergarten. Preschoolers were given a page with various letters and asked to only find the D's and circle them. This activity is terrific for letter recognition.
The afternoon preschoolers requested we do a few songs and their favorite is of course the 'Cool Bear Hunt' and five little monkeys. So, in preparation for graduation we practiced both of the songs again. You will be getting the invitation for graduation this week followed by the choices your children make for what songs they want to sing at graduation. The words and directions will be sent home along with youtube links if needed to help you practice with your child at home.
We put numbers 1-20 in sequential order in the afternoon preschool this week by using popsicle stick puzzles. These are easy to make at home by taking pictures from magazines or printed out and gluing them to popsicle sticks. Take a sharp knife and separate the picture along the edges of the sticks to create a puzzle. We place the numbers 1-20 on the sticks and as the children arranged them in order, the puzzle was put together! 
A teacher in the afternoon took empty water bottles and weighted them down with a little bit of water then decorated them with Disney characters to introduce the fun Disney characters we will be featuring in our lessons in the coming month during our imagination discussions. The children were eager to get to take turns knocking down these characters with a ball. If your family drinks a lot of bottled water this is an easy game to re-create at home this summer! 
On Wednesday we went back to the moon by making moon sand for all the children to enjoy. In this science lesson, we just needed to mix baking soda with water and black watercolor paint and a little sparkle for good measure. The children helped mix it in our sensory bin and at the tables in bins then helped the teachers combine it all to be played with throughout the day in both preschool sessions.
After going to the moon to make moon sand, we looked back at the Earth and used paper plates to create the Earth by squirting green, blue and a little bit of white paint onto the back of the plate, then flipping it over and rotating it on a piece of paper to create a circle mixed with these colors common to the version of Earth we see in photographs.
Once back to Earth, we imagined looking up at the moon and talked about and looked at photographs of the various phases of the moon. After seeing it for real on the screen we used a helpful worksheet to shape the icing from Oreo cookies to match the cycles of the moon. (No Oreos were eaten during this activity, we only played with the food.)
Once back in our classroom we reviewed the letter M after reading, 'If you take a Mouse to School,' and made a monster after talking about other things that start with letter M. 
This activity was for process and not product as the children painted their monsters any way they wanted and the teachers will add the eyes to them to send home next week.
Before heading home the morning preschoolers went to the ocean and fished for letters in small ponds as they used magnets on the bottom of strings to capture items with paper clips attached to them. In these ponds, the children also had to try to only catch fish and not the garbage and little someone left behind. This reminded some of our preschoolers about conversations from Earth Day when we discussed the idea of recycling and taking care of our planet.
While some children fished, others made turtles at the tables by gluing on the appropriate parts of a turtle to styrofoam bowls. The teacher talked with the children about re-purposing supplies in this manner and again reminded them about recycling.
As children rotated between these two stations, we also added in a 'create the ocean' class project as the children's feet were placed into gallon sized Ziploc bags and then wrapped in bubble wrap to create 'waves' on our paper ocean. This was a huge undertaking but a lot of fun was had by the children as they worked together to walk around the paper creating waves for a classroom ocean. The children then were each given a fish to place in the ocean before heading home.
When the afternoon children came in for the end of this week we talked a lot about various Disney favorites to get them excited about the upcoming change in theme. The teachers made Winnie the Pooh puppets for the children to advance on the face labeling activity from Monday and were asked to draw a face on them this time. This was an advancement in making sure the children are able to verbally label the parts of a face as they are placed on the item.
Next, the children played a word and letter recognition game with their teachers as they searched for sounds and letters associated with various famous imaginative characters.
This led them to play Disney BINGO. The children were shown an image on our screen and asked to try to find it on their BINGO card. I think they could have played this game all day as you could hear a pin drop and squeals of excitement as they looked for and found images.
One of the images on the BINGO cards was from the movie Up which lead to the discussion and imaginative idea of a house being picked up off the ground by balloons. The children then created this image from their mind on paper using house cut outs and paint.
As the houses 'floated' up into space the children in the afternoon then played in 'space goo' of sorts as well. The afternoon teachers made this goo ahead of time so the children were able to play with it for this small motor developmental activity.
Lastly, as we came back to Earth in the afternoon, we talked about Peter Pan's friend Wendy and how Captain Hook made her 'walk the plank.' We made an ocean using blue paper and added our balance beams to the 'water'. The children first took turns 'walking the plank' then eventually made us all smile when they held hands on their own and did the whole beam together!
The invitation for preschool graduation will be going home on Monday. Please read the entire invite then contact us with any questions. We hold this event earlier than normal times to account for the high school schedule and auditorium availability. The children have all posed for their 'graduation photos' in their caps and gowns and will earn a certificate as well as show off their singing skills followed by a small reception in the preschool room where we will eat treats and pass out the scrapbooks of their time in our program. 
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