September 7th, 2017
Just like that a new school year begins. There are a bunch of new little faces for the 2018-2019 school year. I look forward to seeing them grow and learn and play together.
On our first day we read The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. We made our own Kissing Handprints with a special poem as well. Throughout the year some things will be sent home and some will be saved in a portfolio to take home at the end of the year.
This week our focus was on our routines and how to be at school with one another. A great interest has been taken in our morning meeting where we do gross motor action songs and games together, sing nursery rhymes, and practice letter learning (through song, dance and fine or gross motor activity). As the school year progresses, special leader day (more info to come) activities will be incorporated into our morning meeting as well. We started off our letter learning this week with the letter L, we sang songs about L, formed it with our fingers and bodies, practiced saying the sound it makes, and use play dough, buttons and stickers to build L.
Throughout the year we will be focusing on two letters per week, and rotating this with a more focused learning of numbers and shapes (also informally learning everyday). For those who are ready for writing specifically, I follow the letter order in the preschool book from the Handwriting Without Tears program. It is designed to start with the letters that are easier to write in uppercase, although I do still teach both upper and lowercase at the same time.
Incorporated into our routines are everyday skills and learning that take place, such as the responsibility of setting up and clearing your own dishes, washing hands well, how to walk on the sidewalk with everyone as we go to and from the parks, safely crossing the street as a group, dressing your own self, and taking care of all our toys and materials to name a few.
Everyone has been doing really well with using a timer to know when to clean up (with verbal cues as playtime draws closer to an end). I am very impressed with this for the first week back!
Mat Man was introduced this week. We sang Mat Man's song while we built his body. Mat Man is a fun and involved way of learning the parts of the body and their positioning in relation to other body parts.
We spent some time this week talking about ourselves and our families, what a family is, and people and families are different and that is okay. We also used people sponges to paint a picture of our families. Below is a list of the books we read about this topic.
Families Families Families by Suzanne Lang
The Family Book by Todd Parr
The Okay Book by Todd Parr
Just like that a new school year begins. There are a bunch of new little faces for the 2018-2019 school year. I look forward to seeing them grow and learn and play together.
On our first day we read The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. We made our own Kissing Handprints with a special poem as well. Throughout the year some things will be sent home and some will be saved in a portfolio to take home at the end of the year.
This week our focus was on our routines and how to be at school with one another. A great interest has been taken in our morning meeting where we do gross motor action songs and games together, sing nursery rhymes, and practice letter learning (through song, dance and fine or gross motor activity). As the school year progresses, special leader day (more info to come) activities will be incorporated into our morning meeting as well. We started off our letter learning this week with the letter L, we sang songs about L, formed it with our fingers and bodies, practiced saying the sound it makes, and use play dough, buttons and stickers to build L.
Throughout the year we will be focusing on two letters per week, and rotating this with a more focused learning of numbers and shapes (also informally learning everyday). For those who are ready for writing specifically, I follow the letter order in the preschool book from the Handwriting Without Tears program. It is designed to start with the letters that are easier to write in uppercase, although I do still teach both upper and lowercase at the same time.
Incorporated into our routines are everyday skills and learning that take place, such as the responsibility of setting up and clearing your own dishes, washing hands well, how to walk on the sidewalk with everyone as we go to and from the parks, safely crossing the street as a group, dressing your own self, and taking care of all our toys and materials to name a few.
Everyone has been doing really well with using a timer to know when to clean up (with verbal cues as playtime draws closer to an end). I am very impressed with this for the first week back!
Mat Man was introduced this week. We sang Mat Man's song while we built his body. Mat Man is a fun and involved way of learning the parts of the body and their positioning in relation to other body parts.
We spent some time this week talking about ourselves and our families, what a family is, and people and families are different and that is okay. We also used people sponges to paint a picture of our families. Below is a list of the books we read about this topic.
Families Families Families by Suzanne Lang
The Family Book by Todd Parr
The Okay Book by Todd Parr
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