Week 3 wrap up.

This week was AWESOME!!!    The children are learning so much.   They are like little sponges...just soaking up everything we do!   I love this age!!   This week we focused on the letter T.   We did lots of turkey activities!  We also read the story Yellowbelly and Plum.   They loved this story about friendship and making new friends at school.   On Wednesday, I gave them their own copy of the book and they followed along while the CD read the story to them!  By Thursday, some children were reading some of the words in the story on their own!    Awesome!    The above picture shows the song/chant we did this week.   We had a very exciting day on Tuesday.   We found out that one of our friends can read!   Luc read the whole chart to us and then went on to read several other charts to us!  We were all very surprised and excited!!!   All of the children were screaming, "Luc, we are SO proud of you!  You are a rockstar reader!!!"   Luc was just beaming....and Mrs. Weathers was crying...happy tears of course!  

Layna is painting her T-T-T- Turkey!

Following along while the CD reads our story

We practice writing everyday!   This week, we practiced the letter A, B and T

Alex is working on his turkey!

On Thursday, we worked on our fine motor skills.   Play-Doh is a great way to strengthen them!  We also used our number stamps to cut out numbers.  

Here we are saying our Five Little Turkey Poem.   You better watch out!  We will chase the last turkey standing!!  Gobble Gobble!

Next week, we will focus on the letter C and continue to play games and review letters A, B, and T.    This weekend, spend some time talking about the letter C.    I bet you could even play I-Spy while in the car and find the letter C on street signs!   The letter C is everywhere!   The letter C says "cuh".   This sound is typically a little difficult for most young children.   They tend to say that the letter C says "suh".   We will work on this letter and sound up until Thanksgiving.   Don't forget...no school on Monday!  

Weekend Yard Sales!

I woke up Saturday and decided to try a few local yard sales. I haven't been to a yard sale in years!! Oh boy, just look what I've been missing!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! The class donations have purchased the following items for our room. I think I was super thrifty and got the most for our money! We are still in need of several things and I will continue posting our wish list items on the blog. Thank you for the parent who is giving our class the tweezers and also for the surprise items I found on my desk!!! Wow!!!!


Also: If you would like to comment on the blog, you can!! Just click on Add a comment at the end of each post. I have enjoyed reading the comments already posted!

Below are my goodies from today's yard sales.
GRAND TOTAL: $74

Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate

Wrapping up our 2nd week

We have been busy little bees!!!! We focused on the letter B this week. Your children now know the letters A and B and their sound!!!! Yay!!!! Next week, we will move on to the letter C. Please reinforce the sounds at home. For example: "Can you pick up your C-C-C cup? Or "It's time for Buh-Buh bed! " Or "Do you want an A-A-A apple for snack?"

If you have a desktop at home with a mouse, please let your child practice using the mouse. A great online game is Www.starfall.com

ALL of the children need lots of practice using scissors. We are building strong hand muscles. Can you see them showing me their mighty muscles in the pictures??? Practice at home!!!!!

Layna brought her hula hoop and baton for Show and Tell. We had so much fun in the gym. I even practiced up on my hula hoop skills!!!

It's WEEK 2!

Over the weekend, I reflected on our first week of Pre-K.   Overall, I think we had a very productive week.   Of course, there were a few kinks that had to be worked out...but we managed well!   On Monday, we practiced walking in a straight line and becoming independent in the bathroom. I am really encouraging independence this  year.   We also spent a lot of time on procedures and transitions.    We try to keep the same routine in our classroom each day, but of course with Pre-K we must always be flexible.   I never want our room to be so structured that we miss out on "learning as we go".    My goal is to to have an organized, structured classroom that also encourages curiosity and individuality.     So, as I reflected over the week, I realized that nearly all of the students are really struggling with fine motor skills.   A simple task, such as holding a crayon or pencil, can be quite challenging for these little hands.    So...for the next few weeks, we are going to focus on sharpening our fine motor skills.   I am a product of a Montesorri classroom, so I want to incorporate many of the same things that I grew up learning.   One of my favorite activities (that I now realize was used to develop fine motor skills) was punching letters that were written on paper with toothpicks.    I also loved using  tweezers to pick up cotton balls and placing them in a cup.    I was learning through my "play" and I didn't even know it!!  

So...if anyone has any spare tweezers, cotton balls or toothpicks at home....I sure would love to use them in our room!  

This week we will be reading "Five Little Pumpkins" poem.   I hope to take a video of the children and post it on Thursday.  They are absolutely adorable doing the motions.    We are also working on a craft to go along with this poem.   It is going to be super cute.   I plan to hang them in our hall outside the classroom.  Ask your child if he/she can recite the poem to you at home.   They almost have it memorized!  

On Wednesday, the children are welcome to bring a Halloween treat for their friends.   We will have 7 friends on Wednesday.    I am planning to bring in some pumpkin muffins. I wonder if they will like my healthy version of Halloween food??   : )      We will be reading lots of books about pumpkins too.     

Until next time... 

Our first week of Pre-K!

 These little sweeties are so excited to get the day started!

 Caden and Bradley are using their imaginations on the car rug!

 Abbie loves to use her "magic" wand to sing the sounds of the alphabet!  A-a-a-a- APPLE!

 Jacob sings along too!

 Layna found another alphabet where she can use her "magic" wand.

 Layna put on the "weather girl" coat and is telling the class that it's SUNNY today!

 Turn the wheel to sunny!

 Luc loves to name all the letters.   He knows them all!

 After we sing, we take turns writing the letter of the day. 

 R.J. is doing a great job!

 Abbie holds up the CIRCLE as we sing our circle song.  

 This week is "Say No To Drugs!"  Our class participated in the decorate the shirt challenge!  We turned all of our hand-prints into owls!!  Look Whooooooo's Saying No to Drugs!

 Jake thinks its super fun to get dirty!

 Layna and Luc are finding letters to put on the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree.

 Caden was such a helper today.   His job was to name all the letters to his friend, R.J.

 Look at how we can climb!

 Caden was pretending to be a T-Rex today!   Aaarrrgh!!

 Wheeeee!

 This might be one of my favorite pictures of Alex.  He is playing peek a boo on the train.

Caden and Luc have become big friends!