Pizza!!!

The kids made their own pizzas today with our practicum student. It was a success. I was worried if they would actually eat their creations. There were a couple kids who were unsure, but gobbled them up anyway.

Happy Valentine's Day

The kids have been working hard at home over the last couple weeks to write out their valentine cards for their friends. We have also been creating mailboxes at preschool.

 I am always impressed with the amount of genuine manners and kindness that spreads around the circle as they are opening each note. 

Special of the Day: Messy Hand Day

We have been doing our Daily Specials for a couple months now and the preschoolers continue to enjoy them all.  Today I let the birthday boy decide which kind of day we should have. He chose messy hand day with clay. Some of the other kids suggested play dough instead and so I offered to take out both. The divide between the two tables was too extreme not to document, but both were full of social interaction and imaginative conversations.  Both groups stayed engaged at their tables for about 45 minutes.

At the play dough table the children were involved in a chain of play scenarios. At first they used heart cookie cutters of  multiple sizes to create their families. Slowly they starting creating families out of other things (balls and snakes).  Lots of dialogue and squishing, molding and rolling. 

Words were exchanged.

At the other table, we found the clay had dried out a bit. I gave the interested kids the bowl full of clay and added water. I told them they would have to get it wet to soften it up.  

They started out with exploration of the slippery clay.

 

Then it turned into a full body experience. At which point I had to take a deep breath and focus on all the things they were learning, especially the friendship that seems to be forming.  The dialogue was so creative and rich that it was fairly easy to take a step back and not think about the clean up process.

Leaving a slippery trail. Slippery trail. Leaving a slippery trail.

Adding more water.

To read more about some other Daily Specials: 

Special of the Day: Drawing Lessons

Drama Day: The Magic Kingdom

Project 365: Catching up.

It has been very busy at preschool with the arrival of our new practicum and intern students from the local university. I have kept up with taking daily pictures of our outdoor play, but got behind on sharing them on the blog. There were several days throughout these photos that we were unable to make it outside due to very low temperatures and wind chills. I always keep a few extra pictures set aside to use on those days and for the weekends.  Enjoy!

Day 21: Collecting Fairy Wands.

Day 22: Sledding Backwards.

Day 23: Tire Jumping

Day 24: Stuck inside again. Clear the room and Dance!

Day 25: This sound.

Day 26: Sun and shadows.

Day 27: I is for Ice

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Day 28: Running for five and back inside. Colder than it looked!

Day 29: Investigating.

Day 30: There is something wrong with the engine.

Day 31: Ice Jail.

Learning the Alphabet Backwards.

For the last couple weeks, we have been focusing on the alphabet. We started on the first day with Z, Y, X. I have found that kids find it more interesting and are paying better attention to the letters out of the expected order. 

Before we even started talking about the letters, I explained that letters are made out of curves and lines (horizontal, vertical, and diagonal). They have really enjoyed practicing and using the big vocabulary. The first five letters we learned were made up of only lines, which makes them easy to practice writing.  We do a lot of letter practice during circle time. We practice drawing the letters in the air with our fingers. We use the dry erase board. We check to see who has the daily letters in their name.  We are also working on their own alphabet books to take home when we reach the beginning of the alphabet. There are lots of other letters laying around the classroom. They are pointing out letters everywhere and of course diagonal lines!

Pages from one alphabet book. The choose what they want to draw that represents each letter. 

Thanks to our librarian, we have a wide range of alphabet books to look through right now. 

The box in the next two pictures was inspired by Happy Hooligan's post about their Cardboard Drop-Box . I have been wanting to make one for quite some time. I was excited when I had the thought to do an alphabet themed box. They love playing with it.

 


We usually use natural clay or homemade play dough in the classroom. For Christmas I received a few boxes of "Modeling Clay" or "Plasticine." This is a new medium for us and has been very popular. One of the first days it was out they were very interested in making letters. I helped them look closely and see what letters they should make if they wanted to create the whole alphabet.  Some of them also practiced creating their names.

Other fun around the classroom.

Upwords has proved to be a fun toy  for the preschoolers. We have two sets of the game and they use it on a regular basis.