Apples and Farms

Our Fall Farms unit is under way! We have learned about the letters A and H, the numbers 1 and 2, squares, and the color red. Over the next couple of weeks we will have fun with scarecrows, vegetables, and Fall leaves and extend our farm into a farmer's market. We'll also have fun with the story "The Little Red Hen". We'll learn about the letters S and L, the numbers 3 and 4, and the colors yellow and orange. We'll begin our numbers bag which is a fun activity with a home extension that you'll hear more about soon. Coming up we also have lots of songs to sing, books to read, art to make, games to play, and time to explore and be with friends.  I love working with your children, I love teaching preschool, and I'm excited for the weeks to come! There is a Fall break in October so there will be no preschool October 16th or 18th.  Have a great day!

Apples on the button tree

Apples on the scale

Apple picking



peeling and spiraling the apple for apple pie rolls

Cutting the apples with a child safe knife (the plastic lettuce knives at the dollar store work great!)

adding the cinnamon to the roll

Eliza was a good helper :)

Grandpa came to visit us

We wrapped the apples in the rolls, baked them, let them cool, and now we're ready to eat. They smell so good!

The bean box is updated for the Fall

working hard

Playing the game "One Red Apple"

running to get the apples during the game

Hannah's turn to visit

She wanted to come up with the art project by herself so she thought it up and got it all ready :)

Making applesauce

They loved smashing the cooked apples

 

yummy applesauce

 

Looking at Fall items through the microscope

Learning about farms

 

 

Milking the cow :)

Fresh eggs and milk straight from the farm to the table

playing and painting with water

watering the tree...or...making mud :)

cleaning the tractor/lawn mower

The bucket of water, some water toys, and paintbrushes kept them happy for a long time on a hot day

We filled up our star bucket so we had some special time playing in the upstairs playroom

My Friends, My Family, and Me!

Wow, I can't believe it's a week into September already.  We just finished up our first unit, My Friends, My Family, and Me!  Last week we learned about our friends (getting to know each other better) and our families, and on Tuesday we focused on our feelings. Today's topic was about all the things we can do.  I didn't get pictures of them working on their "I Can Do It!" books but I was really impressed. It seems really simple (I can cut, I can glue, and I can color) but for most of them it took some work. They listened really well to the directions...only cut the yellow page, not the book...and be careful to not glue your pages together, put the colored squares on top of the glue...and try to use your hand muscles to keep the color on the apple. Besides doing good listening, a lot of them made big improvements on using scissors. It's the little things like this that make preschool so rewarding for me :). And more important than scissor skills are the social and emotional skills we're working on. I love it! We finished introducing our preschool values. Over the last 2 weeks we've worked on being helpful, kind, grateful (which included using good manners), and curious.  These, along with the ones we've already introduced (respect, patience, and trust), are our 7 values that I use to teach the social and emotional skills they need at this age.

Next week we will start on our Fall Farms unit. We will start off with an apple theme which includes making apple pie rolls and applesauce- yum! I will also start working on letters, numbers, colors, and shapes. Most of this work is done through fun games and activities. Additionally for those kids who are interested and ready (often those who are starting Kindergarten next year) I will spend individual time working on some activities with them during center time. We will start with the letter A, because we're talking about apples, but we will not go in alphabetical order. Anyway, I really enjoy each one of these kiddos and I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Focusing on getting the buttons on the string

 

I introduced the word tree for those who are ready to try out some writing. You can see she's already had practice, and she will be 5 in a couple of weeks, so she was ready and excited to take on the challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

On the day there was a heat advisory we had a shorter recess and pulled out the big mat for some extra gross motor play inside.

The kids were showing me how helpful they could be during clean up time. I'm also grateful for Jessica's help on this day when Christen was out of town.

Music time with the instruments

These pictures/times of everyone being so engaged in an activity always make me happy!

I love watching them work together and figure out how or when they want to share and how to communicate that to their friends. 

We worked together to make a beautiful mural. I cut this one up so they could each bring a piece home but I'll have to do another one that we can hang in our classroom.

It turned out gorgeous...and very colorful :)



The trains were a hit.



We played a game where somebody went away for a minute while we hid another one of our friends under the blanket and then the first kid would come back to try to figure out who was missing and guess who was underneath.  Can you figure out who's hiding in this picture?

A bean bag toss "feelings" game- each basket had a face that showed a different emotion and when I gave a quick scenario (you opened a present, or you couldn't find your favorite toy) they would toss the beanbag into the basket that showed how they would feel. 

Working on name writing

He wanted his mom to see the design he made with his snack so I told him I'd show her the picture :)

They're getting pretty good at pouring water.

I'm making a book that shows them practicing the different values and I needed some more pictures for the "helpful" page so I tried to remember to take pictures of them putting things away. When I'm finished with the book I'll let them each take a turn bringing it home to show their families.

Another helpful picture.

We got out the tent and they had fun pretending to camp and fish.

 

 

See you next week!