I need a vacation!

It's the time of year when people start vacationing around town or some place far off and magical. So, this week we looked at a variety of places someone might visit.  

The first visit was to a farm out in the country.  We talked about and built barns using our magnetic geometric shapes (a class favorite) and planted crops while making our pig project which was made out of pink paper plates. Be sure to visit these links for information about working on these items at home too.  

Our next stop was the beach where we planned what to pack in our suitcases together with a great vacation app then went to the tables to cut out pictures of what we might want to bring on a trip. After everyone completed this, they did such a nice job we shared what we packed with one another at the circle. 

Our math activity was to graph how many sea creatures we found on our trip to see what we saw the most and least of as we had this adventure.  We also decorated our fish to catch while at the beach and worked on making a vacation bucket list.  The children were asked what they would like to do as we go into the coming vacation weeks and we wrote down things like, "play in the snow, build a snowman, go to the park, and swim!" 

As they finished their lists, we placed them all into a bucket in the room and pulled them out to read to the class.

We decided to dream big on Friday and think of places around the work we could visit. Paris was a fun adventure we thought we could take so we hopped on a plane and flew to the tables to make planes out of clothes pins and Popsicle sticks. 

 We sang "Frere Jacques" and went to a "French cafe" to buy pastries on our grocery lists. This is a great way to teach money math to children.  You don't even need to actually use money, you can use toy coins or 'tickets' and have them practice counting out the amount needed to 'buy' something.  In preschool, the children love to play restaurant, store, etc. and are building communication skills, vocabulary and math concepts all at the same time.  

Lastly, and one of my favorites, we talked about the Eiffle Tower and built our own versions of them with marshmallows and toothpicks. This is a fun challenge that can withstand some time out for display because as the marshmallows get stale, they harden and hold the designed shape even better.

 What's coming up?

Our Preschool Holiday Party is THIS FRIDAY, December 20 during our regular preschool time.  Santa is set to appear right away and can't wait to share some holiday cheer with the children.  This will be our last day of preschool for the semester and then we will be back in February with our extended morning times and an afternoon session for new preschoolers.  

We are still taking preschoolers for the PM session so feel free to pass along this blog post so they can check us out and get in contact with me.  Throughout our time off, I will still make posts about what we are doing and how we are preparing for the spring semester.  

Report cards went home on Friday, please sign them and send them back to school so we can use them to look for improvement next semester.  Have a save and happy break and we look forward to seeing everyone again in February!

People in Our Neighborhood

This week we have been talking about people in our neighborhood and the ways in which they help us. 

We have enjoyed playing firefighter by practicing staying low and getting out of a fire and working on our Stop, Drop and Roll techniques.  






We explored the science behind fingerprints as we studied our own as police officers and we learned about what equipment doctors, crossing guards, judges, plumbers, and mail carriers use.  We also took turns being veterinarians as we placed band-aids on the animals who visited our animal hospital.

We learned about riding the train and what the conductor does to get ready to take us where we need to go by hearing and reading a story on the big screen.

We read a book about a day in the life of a fire fighter and learned a song about community helpers and what it means to live in a community. 

The dentist was a fun person to pretend to be this week as well.  The children loved getting to place the teeth in their paper mouths and then decide if their patient had few or many cavities.  

If you saw marshmallows come home with yellow or black markings on them, hopefully you heard how the patient got them (by not brushing.)

 

My favorite part of the week was when we visited our Media Center (the Library).  We heard some great stories from our head librarian and even sang songs with her.  

After hearing the snowman tale and helping her assemble the main character, we were allowed to explore the library and see what great books there are to learn from in this exciting place!  Enjoy the many photos we took on this great field trip!

    

We had even more fun with other projects and writing activities that all kept us super busy this week!  

Mail carrier was another favorite as we wrote letters or drew pictures, placed them in envelopes, added a 'stamp' and put them in our mail bags to deliver.

As we worked on all of this, the high school students were busy finishing up their case studies with the preschoolers as winter break approaches, we will be ending our fall semester and plan to work hard on our case study scrapbooks as soon as we return in January. This means we need to make sure all observations and samples of student work are gathered before December 20th. 

You will be learning more about the case study and what goes into it in January when we are taking a break from preschool to put these great big books together. 

Whew!  What a week! 

What's Coming Up?

Our Preschool Holiday Party will be Friday, December 20th from 9:30 - 10:50 in the preschool room.  Please RSVP any names of children who will be in attendance so the 'Big Guy' doesn't forget anyone.

Next week we will be talking about vacations and we are planning to take a few trips to some fun spots kids enjoy exploring.  

Preschool tuition for Spring 2014 AM session was due last week so you will be hearing from me if I need to know about your plans for February.

We are STILL TAKING PM session preschoolers.  The times are 1:00 to 2:30 Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the cost is a ONE TIME FEE of $150.  If you are interested please email me asap.