Letter A Day and Making Applesauce

Daily Question: Today is A Day! Which begins with Aa, ant or bear?
We have had so much fun today learning about the Letter Aa and making our very own snack.
Instead of playing with toys today, we washed our hands, put on our aprons, and began making APPLESAUCE!


We took turns peeling a variety of different apples. (Using different apples makes yummier applesauce). We all saw a surprise--when we cut the apples in half we found stars inside! We also talked about apple pips (seeds) and sang the Johnny Appleseed song.


Then we sliced the apples and put them in a pot with a small amount of water in the bottom.
Miss Julie put the pot on the back burner and we went to read stories about the Letter A and apples while the apples cooked.











Finger painting was a lot of fun. This activity also taught us about simple mazes and problem solving as we tried to figure out how to get the ants to the top of the ant hill to bring the apple back to the alligator.

We read stories about "A" and apples and went on an A Adventure finding all the things that begin with the letter A around us: apple, airplane, alligator (toy), etc.

Other Aa Books:
*Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins (Math book counting apples backwards from 10-0)
Johnny Appleseed; A Poem by Reeve Lindbergh, Paintings by Kathy Jakobsen

Apples and Ants, Day 2

Daily Question: Do you like apples?
This past week we have had a lot of fun learning the Letter Aa and about the number zero "O"
We read a story about an alligator, named "A" who was angry because some ants stole his adorable apple. The children and I put up our fists with A and shouted "Aaa--bring me back my apple!" ("a" as in the soft a sound in ant and apple).

We played with Tiny Tumble Town Blocks, toy cars, and dress ups,

Books we read:

Threading Zero is My Hero! cereal necklaces with Applejacks and Honeynut Cherrios. (Making cereal necklaces also helps your child to focus on small motor skills and learn Patterning. We had fun with simple Math by counting up and subtracting Applejacks until we got to the number ZERO!)

Outside, we had fun going on an "A" Adventure, flying on an airplane to Alaska and then to Arizona over aardvarks, ants, and anteaters, avoiding other airplanes and animals."

Our Environmental Print wall is filling up. What is Environmental Print? Environmental Print is words on packaging and advertising that often become the first words a child learns to read. He/she may see an advertisement on tv that has Bill Cosby saying "J-E-L-L-O!" And then he knows "Jell-o says 'jello'." So far, the children have had fun reading: Pops, Star Wars, Mike and Ike ("Hey! That rhymes!" one student commented), etc."


As parents, our children are continually looking to us to teach them. Make a game out of learning and point out things like numbers, colors, shapes, at the grocery store while you are shopping. It might just distract your little ones enough to forget to whine for a treat!
* Special thanks to Nathan for the snacks: apples, pretzels, and fruit snacks-yum!

All About Me

Today we had fun sitting in a circle getting to know each other by introducing a special surprise we had bought with us. (Thanks parents for helping your children remember their backpacks and special thing to share). After reading Something Special together we talked about how special each person was and how unique each one of us is. I brought out a large treasure Chest and told them I had something special to show them inside. I called up each child one by one and showed them inside: a large mirror with a star around it. As the child looked in, he/she saw themselves as a star!


Songs: I'm a V.I.P. in My Family by Janeen Brady...

I'm a V.I.P. in my family,

I'm a V.I.P. you see!

I'm a V.I.P. in my family

And that's a pretty good thing to be!

A Very Important Person,

A Very Important Person,

A Very Important Person

That's ME!

We enjoyed time outside and making star necklaces today.

More Books about Me!:
You Are Very Special by Su Box, Ill. by Susie Poole

Wheels on The Bus

Daily Question: Have you ever ridden on a bus?
Today we had fun exploring the theme Wheels on The Bus.
Our Entry Activities included puzzles and putting together a huge school bus floor puzzle with the help of our new friends at preschool.
We read the book Wheels on the Bus and then sang the song several times.


We sorted our chairs into a bus structure and all sat down on the bus and took turns being the driver on the bus and singing the song--sometimes making up our own words or actions to the song.

Snack time was round Ritz crackers and cheese sticks. The children liked to compare the circle crackers to wheels.

What Are Germs?

What are germs? How do I get sick? What can I do to not get sick? How do you wash hands correctly? These were some of the questions we learned about today in Preschool.
Our Entry Activity included play dough, linking blocks, cars and traffic rug, and kitchen and play food.




We enjoyed listening to and singing The Green Grass Grew All Around. (The children laughed att the end of this cumulative song because they speak of a tiny germ that jumps on a flea.)

Nathan proudly shows me his "Dragon."

It's a picnic!

Before snack time we read about what a germ is. We learned that germs are all around us. Germs are so tiny that we cannot see them without a special machine called a microscope. There are different types of germs. Some are called viruses and some bacteria and they could make us sick. They come in many different shapes.

We learned about proper hand washing and then went to the bathroom to practice scrubbing our hands and singing the alphabet or a Happy Birthday song while we clean under our nails, "inside, outside, and in between" our fingers, rinse and then dry our hands on a clean towel.

Our snack included things that looked like germs or a "bug" (sickness):


After playing outside, we came in and practiced washing our hands. Then we applied lotion to our chapped hands. In circle time we played a ball game and I made a dramatic show of sneezing (tiny purple glitter) all over our ball and then passing it on to the children. Then we shook hands and repeated a get-to-know-you game from the first days of school. When we looked down at our hands, we were able to "see germs" (glitter) and how they had spread from my hands to their hands. Some children choose to wash their hands and others wanted to keep their sparkling hands for our art activity.


For our follow-up art activity, we used glue sticks to trace our hands and then turned our hands over and "caught some germs" (micro-glitter). In our mini discussion group, we talked about how frequent hand washing before meals/snacks and after playing outside or being at school will keep us from catching germs and getting sick. We also spoke briefly about coughing and sneezing into our elbow, hands, or a tissue and then washing our hands to keep others from catching the same "bug." Also, we need enough sleep and to eat nutritious foods to keep us healthy.


Some of the books we read and talked about today:


**Special thanks to Olivia for providing recent snacks and Nathan for the Clorox wipes that will help us keep clan and kill germs.
Another book about when a child needs to take medication to kill a "bug" is Buz by Richard Egielski.

Dragonfly and Chrysalis

My children and I found this dragonfly carapace while walking home from school.
I knew the children would love looking at the intricate wings in preschool.
This picture does not capture the iridescent color of the wings or the beautiful blue green body.

Our Classroom Chrysalis.

The day after school began, one of my daughter found a brightly colored caterpillar and brought it home. We made a little area for it and it made a cocoon. Hopefully it will hatch for us in the spring!

Olivia holds a dragonfly body.
I love this age because it is one of discovery and joy!

First Day of Preschool!

Welcome to Preschool!
We had a great day. We learned to write our name to the sign in question.
We read The Night Before Preschool and talked about how we may feel nervous when we do something new. We read How do Dinosaurs Go To School by Jane Yolen and discussed Class Rules.

We also talked about The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. In the story Mama Raccoon kisses the palm of her son who is nervous ton go to school. When her son gets scared or misses his mother, he puts his palm to his cheek and can feel her love envelope him.


For snack time we ate sliced apples and a sugar cookie with a Kissing Hand theme.



Outside, we had fun all together on the airplane Teeter Totter imagining that we were flying over Dinosaur Land on our way to Hawaii. It was pretty stop and go there for a little while as the plane flew low over a group of T-Rex and we had to lift our feet so they wouldn't be swiped at.



We had fun singing a Welcome Song and getting to know each other.
Parents, remember to bring the change of clothes that can stay in our class room. Please feed your students a good breakfast before school. Please have your child go to the bathroom, bring a backpack each day, and get ready to have some fun learning in preschool!
* We are excited to welcome Olivia's cousin, Kru Gray, to our M/W and Tu/Th classes in October.

Beginning Preschool Books:
First Day, Hooray by Nancy Poydar
Preschool to the Rescue! by Judy Sierra, Ill. by Will Hillenbrant