Monday, January 7, 2013

Happy Monday!  Welcome back everyone!  I hope that you had a great weekend/Christmas break!  

We had a great day of learning in preschool today!  Check out what we did! 

We continued our new sign in routine.  The children sign their name in every day.  They are doing a great job waiting for their turn, sharing the space, and helping one another.  They are learning valuable social skills that will benefit them throughout their lives. 

We also started using our weather person today!  Alivia stuck her hand outside to check the weather for us.  As the children use weather words to describe the weather, they are learning foundational science/discovery skills.




We also talked about the seasons.  We discussed how we know that it is winter outside.  Some of the children's responses were:
"There is snow!"
"It is so so cold!"
"You need a hat!"


During Jesus time, we learned about prayer.  We learned that Jesus always listens when we pray, and He always answers our prayers!  We sang the song, "All You Have to Do is Pray" by AriSon.  The song reminds us that if we are scared, sad, or lonely all we have to do is pray to God!

We practiced letter recognition and working together as the children closed their eyes, felt the sandpaper letter, and guessed what letter it is.  The children are developing as readers and writers!  They are, again, learning life long social skills.


The children read stories together.  They use the pictures to re-tell a story we have read; sometimes they use the pictures to create their own stories.  Again, they are developing as readers!


We worked with the balance today.  The children estimated how many of one animal it would take to equal another animal.  Estimating, counting, and one to one correspondence are all foundational math skills!


We also had our new daily estimation jar today!  The children estimate how many items are in the jar, and write their name and estimation on a piece of paper.  At the end of the day, we count the items in the jar.  This activity helps the children practice math skills such as estimation, counting, and one to one correspondence. 







I worked one on one with the children to complete our mid-year assessments.  These assessments help me to know what your child knows, and what areas to focus on while in the classroom.  Skills assessed are not expected to be mastered; this gives a great resource of information for your child's individual strengths and areas for growth.  It is exciting to see how your children have learned!



The children became creative in the art center making various winter pictures.  As you know by now, creativity is a higher level thinking skill.  Engaging in creative thinking allows for more cognitive development.







The children also became creative in the block center today; they started using the blocks as skates.  We discussed how to be safe of on the skates.  The children and I worked together to write some "Skating Safety" guidelines.  We also wrote "Skating Safety Consequences."  The children involved with the skating agreed to the guidelines and consequences, and signed the paper.  We hung the guidelines and consequences on the board where they would be visible to the children. (See picture below.)

  Problem solving in this way engages the children and teaches them how to resolve issues of concern in a positive way.  The children are also  learning life long social skills such as listening to the thoughts and opinions of others, participating in a small group, and engaging in conversation to express their own ideas.  















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