Play ball!

This week we celebrated the Cubs and other sports teams as we played ball in a variety of ways.  The first activity of the week was with football as the children played a matching game where they had to count the laces on half of a football then find the matching other half of the football to make a whole football.  Then, we flipped the pieces all over and mixed them up and played it again with actual numerals.

We didn't just work on numbers but letters this week as we passed out individual letters on paper for the children to trace with play doh and pipe cleaners to shape the letters in another way besides writing them.  Each paper had a letter with an image of a sport that connected with that letter as well.

You can't talk about sports without talking about the olympics, and since we just had some olympic events this year we talked about the rings that everyone sees when the olympics are on TV.  We used paper cups to make circles when we dipped them in paint and placed them on white paper.  Some children did their own designs with the rings while others chose to try to copy the one we showed on our screen at the circle rug.

We took a few trips to the gym this week as well and played a variety of games over the course of the week.  We played scooter ball which is a combination or soccer on scooters or volleyball on scooters.

We also played soccer a few times this week with a variety of sized balls and were surprised to see so many children brave enough to be goalie.  We usually ended up hosting a scoring contest with the children as they took turns kicking the ball in the net and learning that soccer is a game where you can't use your hands to try to score.

Hockey was a fun game we adapted this week with our blow up hockey sticks and a small foam ball.  The children laughed and laughed as they chased the small ball around the gym floor while swinging their blow up hockey sticks.

Back inside the classroom we learned what a pennant is and made some with baseballs the teachers made specifically with the letters of each child's name sketched on them.  The children had to find all the letters, trace them to be sure they were correct and then glue them down in order of their name.  

Then we had more baseball fun by threading the string for the laces on some paper plate baseballs.  Threading string into some holes punched into paper or a paper plate are perfect to work those small motor muscles that help with writing and the children love activities like this instead of having to just write on paper all the time.

What's Coming Up?

On Friday an email went out to all current and would be preschool parents about our spring semester.  We will be accepting spring tuition payments starting on Monday.  Both morning and afternoon tuitions are a one time fee of $200 this year since they both will be about 2 and a half hours.  If you have not emailed Mrs. Stary back about which session you would like and you are a current parent, please do so this coming week so we secure your child's spot.

This coming week we will be talking about space which is always a lot of fun.

Next week (the week of Thanksgiving) there will be no preschool due to the Thanksgiving holiday.  Enjoy the week off of school!