More science and sensory activities!

This week has FLOWN by!   Time goes by fast when you are having fun!   On Monday, we learned how to read the weather forecast.   Many of the students noticed the days of the week at the top of the forecast because it looked very similar to our daily calendar!    We talked about the high and low temperatures for each day and what kind of clothing would be appropriate.  After looking at the seven day weather planner, each student drew a picture of the weather.   They did a great job of drawing the sun and clouds.   Some students even added the temperatures to their page.  I am very proud of them!   Below you will see a picture of the children showing off their personal weather forecast sheets! 

This week during our circle time, we practiced our songs for our upcoming Pre-K program.  I don't want to spoil any surprises, but you are in for a treat!   Below you will see a picture of us making paper mache globes.   We will be using the globes during one of our songs where the children sing about all of the continents.  Don't forget: The Pre-K program will be on Tuesday, May 21st at 9:30am in our classroom.   Bring your cameras!

We will finish our globes next week with blue and green paint.

This was a wonderful sensory experience for our children!  It was super gooey and sticky! They loved it!   

Abbie and Layna are working together on a math center.  Teamwork is key!  They are learning a very important skill called subitizing at this math center.

Caden is fine-tuning his handwriting skills.  He is ready for Kindergarten!

Jake and Alex are counting the beads.  How many can they get to the top?

A few reminders for next week: 

Monday- We will eat in the lunchroom with the "big kids".  

Tuesday- Sensory activities

Thursday- Fun Day! Please bring a change of clothes.  The children might get wet!   

See you on Monday! 

Love, Mrs. Weathers 

SCIENCE in Pre-K!

This week in Pre-K we have focused on the scientific process.    

First, we began by letting the students ask questions about insects.  This gave us good information on what the children already knew and helped me plan my lesson.  

Second, we spent some time activating schema.   Some children had many experiences with insects and shared them with the class, while others did not have much to fall back on.   We took a couple days to build schema before we moved on.   We researched insects online and sang songs to help us learn big vocabulary words such as: abdomen and thorax.  I have included a short video of the children singing the "Insect Body" song.   

Third, we allowed the children to construct a "hypothesis".    It was quite interesting to hear the children saying such a BIG word!   Next, we gave the children science journals and told them to draw a picture of what they thought the abdomen might look like.   Then, each child took a turn looking into the microscope and making observations.  Some of the things the children said when looking in the microscope were: "Wow!", "That is so cool!", "So amazing!", "I never imagined it would look like that!".    I encouraged them to try and compare to something that they had seen before.  Some children thought it resembled water droplets.  After viewing the abdomen, the children then drew what they "saw" in their science journal.   They compared their results with their hypothesis and shared their finding with the class. 

We continued the process above with the thorax, wing and antenna.

Please continue to build upon the things that we are doing in our classroom.  Maybe a trip to the public library to check out some books on insects, or a night out in the backyard catching some fireflies?   These children are full of curiosity! 

Until next time, 
Mrs. Weathers

Sharing science journals

Comparing our hypothesis with our observations

April 1

Look at Abbie go!   She is doing a fantastic job of creating a bar graph using her Froot Loops!   She is recording her data on her sheet like a big girl!   This activity was a combination of all kinds of skills we have been working on during the last 6 weeks. 

We had a guest speaker!   We love to have first graders come and read to us. 

March 18-21, 2013

What a fantastic week we had in Pre-K!   Below are some highlights from our week: 

-The students made bunnies after watching Peter Rabbit.  They used the rabbits to help re-tell the story.   They loved getting up in front of the class and re-telling the details from the short video.  If your little ones ask to watch this again, you can find the video on YouTube under "Golden Book- Peter Rabbit".  It is about 12 minutes long.   

 

-We had an Easter Egg hunt on Wednesday!  Parents, if you have any extra plastic eggs at home, we would love to have them in our classroom.   I have a list of literacy and math centers that use plastic eggs. 

-In math, we are working on ABAB patterns and AABAAB patterns.  

-Our story of the week focused on shapes in our environment.   Let your little ones find shapes while you are driving down the road..they are everywhere! 

-On Thursday, we took a trip to the Library.  We had SO much fun.   Our Pre-K class showed off their amazing skills.   The librarian pulled me aside and told me how impressed she was with our class...again!  Yes, I am beaming.   I love my little sweeties and I am so very proud of them!   The students listened to three stories and made a craft.   

I hope you all have a wonderful Spring Break.    After break, I have lots in store for our Pre-K class.   We will be doing a Challenge Based Learning Project.  I am excited to try this and I am confident that our young students will benefit from this project just as much as older students.   Our class has already been brainstorming.   After much discussion, I have seen that our students have a strong desire to learn about money and how it is used in everyday life.  

 More details to come on our CBL project.  

Love, Mrs. Weathers

Click on Read More to see more pictures. 

EASTER EGG HUNT!

Week of March 11

Enjoy!!  

  See you next week!
  Don't forget we have a field trip to the library on Thursday!  
  Mrs. Weathers

The Hungry Caterpillar.. And more!

One of my all time favorites is Eric Carle's, The Hungry Caterpillar.   It is one of those books that you never get tired of reading aloud.   This week, not only did we read the book, but we also studied the parts of an insect.  My students love to sing, so we learned the parts of an insect to the tune of a Dr. Jean song.    They had to sing some pretty big words like: thorax and abdomen.    I wish I would have recorded the class learning how to say abdomen.   We took it real slow: AB- DO- MEN.   But, it came out many times like AD-oh-Man.    We also learned about how the caterpillar builds a cocoon.  One of our students went home and told mom that they went to CANCUN!    Cocoon/Cancun...the same thing, right?    There is never a dull moment in our room! 

You will also see a picture of our students doing a writing activity.  We dipped Q-tips in paint and used them to trace the letters.  This was a big hit.  I think we will do this activity again really soon.   

Until next time, 

Mrs. Weathers

Click READ MORE to see our weekly pictures. 

Focus on Literature

This week has been very busy.   There are times when I think we won't be able to fit all of my planned activities into the day, but somehow we make it work!   This week, we added two new centers.   The first center is a laminated sheet of the alphabet.  The students take the sheets, marker, and eraser and practice writing the letters.   They are getting so much better.   I think back to the first week of school and how weak their fine motor skills were, and now they are just writing away!   It's so exciting and rewarding to see the new things they are learning.   It really makes my heart happy.   The other center we added focused on using one to one correspondence.   The student matches the correct amount of beans with the number.  They really loved this center!  Center time is flowing so smoothly these days.   We use a picture chart and I place the child's picture next to the center area I would like for them to work at.   We rotate every 10 minutes.  Center time is 30 minutes each day.    My goal is to get a sensory center up and going.    We do a lot of sensory activities, but I think it is time to add a sensory center for them to work at independently.

We read the book, The Mitten, this week and it was a class favorite.  We practiced our sequencing skills.   There were a lot of animals to remember!   They did a great job.    We also read Dr. Suess books this week in honor of his birthday.   I really loved our Thing 1 and Thing 2 handprint art.   Are they not the cutest?    Dr. Suess has always been a favorite of mine and it was great to be able to share his books with the class.  Many children had never heard the story, "The Cat in the Hat."

I can't wait for Monday!   We have lots of good things planned for next week!
Love,
Mrs. Weathers

Layna is working hard.  She is doing a beautiful job!

Aidan is doing a tear paper craft.   This is a great activity for fine motor skills. 

Shaving cream!   This is a great sensory activity.   We also practice writing our letters on the table.