No Preschool For the Next 2 Weeks!

My Hubby and I are going on a 2 week road trip for his dental school interviews, so I will not be doing preschool or updating the blog for the next 2 weeks.

Safety-Stranger Danger

Looking ahead to Halloween, we will be learning about Safety. Today we will talk about Stranger Danger. It is very important for children to understand who strangers are, especially the nice-looking ones. They may look nice, but we don't know them.

Two books: Lost
Never Talk to Strangers
There are many things to teach children about strangers, here are some important ones..
1. Who is a Stranger?
I cut some pictures out of magazines of random people, all looking like normal people. I will talk to them about who a stranger is, show each picture and ask them if they are a stranger. More than likely they will say, "No". Try to explain to them that even though they look nice, they are still strangers. You can add pictures of people they know so they can better understand.

2. 'Good Strangers'
We will also talk about who to find if you are lost. It is important for the children to know what to do if they get separated from their parents. Teach them to look for a 'good stranger,' a grandma, a mother with children or a police officer. These grown-ups are typically the safest for them to find.

3. Kidnapping
Another important lesson is what to do if someone tries to take them. We teach that if someone grabs them and starts pulling them away, they are to yell, "HE/SHE ISN'T MY DADDY/MOMMY," as loud as they can. Teach them to kick and scream and yell and if they get away to run as fast as they can to someone/somewhere familiar, or to a 'good stranger.'

4. Adults Don't Need Help From Kids
Teach them that if adults need help, they will ask another adult. Tell them to never go up to a car they don't know. Never take anything from anyone or pet an animal they are not familiar with.

5. Personal Information
Make sure they know their first and last name. It'll be difficult for younger kids to remember their parent's names, but keep trying. Their phone number and address are important as well.

Good luck and be sure to keep it simple and not frighten them!

Seasons and Weather-Spring/Summer

We will be using this song the whole week, only substituting what the weather is...
Rain (leaves, snow) is falling all around (wiggle fingers like rain)
On the housetops, On the ground (touch fingers to make roof of house, point to ground)
Rain (leaves, snow) is falling on my nose, (touch nose)
On my head and hands and toes! (touch head, hands, toes)

Introduce new song to sing every day...What's the Weather?
What's the weather, what's the weather, what's the weather like today?
Is it raining, is it snowing, is it windy or is there sun?

Book: Splish, Splash, Spring by Jan Carr (and if time and boys are interested, The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle)
After the book, we will count raindrops. We will work on one-to-one correspondence (touching each raindrop and saying one number and counting in order). We will try going up to 10.
Then we will learn a new word, evaporation. I have a pix I got off the internet that shows the evaporation process and will explain it. More than likely they won't remember much, but later on when they hear the word again, something will click in their brain and they will understand it better.
For a gross motor activity, we will do a puddle hop. I made 'puddles' with numbers on them. I will tell the boys which number to jump to.

Fine Motor: They will make an umbrella. I will have the bottom part cut, but have them cut the top, sloping part. This will give them a new experience in cutting.

For our art activity we will make a sun mask out of a paper plate. Cut the circle part out, then cut triangles out from it. Staple/glue the triangles onto the outside of the circle. The boys will color with yellow, orange and red crayons (been awhile since we've used them).

For our snack we will make a smoothie. We will make a lot so we can make them into popsicles.

Learning Through Literature

Splish, Splash, Spring
by: Jan Carr

For children who are just learning the seasons, this book is a winner. To learn about the basics that herald the arrival of spring, from sudden rain showers, to flowers blooming, to baby birds hatching, this book fits the bill. The illustrations are colorful and are an integral part of the story. We follow three children on a spring morning as they dig worms for baby birds and watch crocuses bloom. The children manage not to get into trouble when they fly their kite, and they race home before another thunderstorm breaks, stopping along the way to pick some posies.

Transportation-Air and Sea

Book: My First Big Book of Things That Go
It shows all kinds of methods of moving around.
We will discuss transportation in the air and the sea. We will then sort some pictures to the specific category; land, sea, and air.
Math/Fine Motor: Number matching on control panel of an airplane. I will make the paper look similar to a control panel, number circle stickers and place them 1-5 in order. The kids will have their own # stickers and will place them next to the correct match. (For the older kids, they can try to place the stickers in order themselves and go up to 10).

Cognitive: Boat Bingo

Activity 1: Airplane-Have the kids fold a thin paper back and forth (this will prop the plane up so it sticks up off the paper). Have the kids glue cotton balls onto a blue construction paper. Then glue one end of the folded paper to the plane and the other to the paper. (Folding the paper helps with their fine motor skills).

Activity 2: Hot Air Balloon: have a cutout on cardstock of the balloon part. First, see if the kids can hole punch two holes on the bottom of the balloon. Then let the kids tear pieces of crepe paper and set them on the balloon. Next, spray the crepe paper with a water bottle filled with water. Pull off the crepe paper, it will leave some color! Next, attach a small plastic/paper cup to the balloon (this is the basket).

Transportation-Land

WOW! What a week it has been! We are finally back home and semi-settled.
Now on to preschool!

Song: Down by the Station
Down by the station, early in the morning
See the little puffer bellies all in a row.
See the station master, ring the little handle.
Chug, Chug, Choo Choo, off we go!
(I have a train whistle I like to blow at the end)
*Also, if you'd like, I walk around the classroom (staying close at first) then at the end of the song you can call out..."All aboard (child's name)" and they can attach themselves to the 'train' (you). You would continue this until the last child is called.

Book: The Very Bumpy Bus Ride (a childhood favorite). Please see Learning Through Literature post to learn more about this book.
Cognitive Activity: We will play a license plate matching game. All I did was write down numbers and letters on a 3x5 card (two cards each). I did 3 letter/number ones for my kids because they are younger, but older kids can do tougher ones.
Gross Motor: Red Light, Green Light
Science: Ramp Racing: Have two blocks the same size. Set one up so it is at a steep slant and set the other one up so it is lower. Ask the kids which one will make the car go faster?
Fine Motor: Stop Sign cut-out. For my kids, I've cut out half of the sign already, they will then follow the lines and finish cutting it out. For older kids, they can practice doing it all.

Art Activity: Painting with cars! Have them drive their cars in paint then drive them on the paper. Then they can glue paper cars on and stop signs.

Snack: Bus Twinkies! See Fun Food Friday at the end of this week for more details! (Normally I would do healthy snacks, but every now and then I might sneak in something just for fun!)

Learning Through Literature

The Very Bumpy Bus Ride
By: Michaela Muntean

This is one of my childhood favorites! I've read it to my boys and they absolutely love it also. It's more fun if they are sitting on your lap and you bounce them up and down as you read, "And bumpin an bouncin down Bumble Street!'

Such a fun, silly, repetitive and rhythmic book that all kids all ages will enjoy!

Preschool Postponed!

My family and I will be away this week and will not be able to do preschool. I thought about combining transportation to one day but it's too much fun to only do it in one day. So next week we will do transportation!

Food-Healthy vs. Unhealthy

The book we will be reading is called, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

We will then discuss which food is healthy and which ones are not. We will sort food with healthy and non-healthy categories. We have pictures we will be using but plastic food would work great as well!

The kids will take turns finding food that have been hidden around the classroom. Once they find one they will say if it is healthy or unhealthy then they will toss it in the correct basket (tossing helps with their eye-hand coordination).

For snack today we will be making our own pretzels! We will use Rhodes bread dough. Each child will get a thawed ball of dough, they will be able to roll it and shape it any way. Then we will bake it and after it's baked they can spread butter on the tops and enjoy it! (To better keep track of who's pretzel is who's, place tin foil on the cookie sheet and write each child's names on it with a permanent marker then place their pretzel next to their names).

For art today we will be painting a fish. We will use karo syrup, sugar and food coloring mixed together. These combined will give the fish a shiny, scaley texture!

Learning Through Literature

Amazon.com Review
"In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf." So begins Eric Carle's modern classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. More than 12 million copies of this book have been sold in its original, full-sized edition, and the beloved tale of science and gluttony has been translated into 20 languages... following the ravenous caterpillar's path as he eats his way through one apple (and the pages of the book itself) on Monday, two pears on Tuesday, three plums on Wednesday, and so on, through cherry pie and sausage--until he is really fat and has a stomachache. And no doubt you know what happens next! Kids love butterfly metamorphosis stories, and this popular favorite teaches counting and the days of the week, too. --Karin Snelson

This is such a fun book. It includes subjects from science to days of the week. I usually use it during our food curriculum and talk about why the caterpillar had such a tummy ache after he ate so much unhealthy food. And then the next day he eats some greens and feels better, so we discuss about the healthy food we should eat and why.

Food-All Kinds

First we will sing a song to get their attention: 5 Little Hot Dogs in a Frying Pan

5 Little hot dogs (hold up 5 fingers)

frying in a pan (rub hands together)

1 got hot (hold up 1 finger)

and it went BAM! ( clap your hands together)

(continue down through 1)

No little hot dogs frying in a pan (make an O with your hand)

the pan got hot (rub your hands together)

and it went BAM! (clap your hands)

The book we will read is, Bread and Jam for Francis by Russell Hoban (Please see Learning Through Literature for more information on this book)

We will then discuss trying new food and how yummy different food can be!

Activity: Sort Food Groups-discuss different kinds of food (we have a bunch of plastic food we will be using but pictures work just as well)

I am so excited to do a science project, today's is called 'Raisin Rising' (Put clear carbonated water in a clear jar. Place 4-5 raisins in the jar. Watch how the air bubbles make raisins rise and fall!)

Gross Motor: The kids will do an action to a fruit, meat, veggie, etc. “Jump to a fruit”

Table Time: For our fine motor activity we will be making carrots. I have cut out the top and main parts of a carrot (the orange part and the green 'leafy' part) and glued them together. However with the green part I did not make it 'leafy'. I drew a line toward the bottom for the kids to practice cutting and stopping at a specific spot. (Please see picture)

For our fun art activity I've mixed shaving cream, glue and food coloring together. On a piece of paper I have glued on a brown triangle for the ice cream cone. The kids will then finger paint with the shaving cream mixture and make the ice cream. They will then be able to sprinkle on some sprinkles (you can use real or confetti).

Learning Through Literature

Bread and Jam for Francis
by Russell Hoban

Frances, one of children's best-loved characters for over 30 years, now springs to life even more in Bread and Jam for Frances, beautifully re-illustrated in sparkling full color by Lillian Hoban. In this memorable story, Frances decides that bread and jam are all she wants to eat, and her understanding parents grant her wish at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even snack time. Can there ever be too much bread and jam?

This is a really good book if your child is a picky eater! It leads into a great discussion of how we should always try new food because we never know what we will like. Plus eating the same things is just boring!

Our Rainbows!

Inspiration tends to come to me out of blue, I love it! I know I said I was just going to let the boys put the Fruit Loops anywhere on the rainbows due to their attention span (which does still help them with their Fine Motor skills by using the pincer grip). However, I knew they could do more. So I glued one color to each row. They then had to place that same color in the row. They still needed help focusing and fully understanding it but they got. The best part was the end when I let them eat it (except for the ones with glue!)

Such concentration!

If You Didn't Know...

The Google Bar to the right is to search for things on my blog. You can type in any word and it will pull up the posts that have that word in it! Hope this helps you find what you're looking for! And always feel free to email me or leave a comment if you can't find it!

Fun Materials

This is the rainbow we are using for today. I was going to color it in and have them match but being two, they don't have that much patience!

And below are the pieces to the body we put together!

Taking Care of Our Bodies & Assessments

Today we will be finishing up assessments so again, the lesson will be just a review!

Book: Even More Parts (See Learning Through Literature)

We will talk about the best ways to keep our bodies healthy. I have some clues about each body and they will guess which part it is and the best way to take care of it.

We'll do some exercises together and briefly talk about healthy food. (We will focus more on this next Thursday)

I needed something that would interest the children while I worked one-on-one through the assessments so for art we will be using frosting and fruit loops and 'gluing' them on to a card stock rainbow. Each row is a different color and they need to match the fruit loops to the right color!

Learning Through Literature

Even More Parts
by: Tedd Arnold

Chip Block, the hero of Parts, is back, and still worried about falling apart based on the things he hears. This time he's made a list of all the strange, crazy things he's heard people say: "I lost my head." "My nose is running." "I sang my heart out. . . ." It's scary stuff, but he has a plan for making sure he doesn't accidentally leave any of his parts behind. A hilarious sequel to the wildly popular Parts and More Parts.

Learning Through Literature

Parts
By: Tedd Arnold

Panic strikes a pop-eyed boy, the main character in Parts, when he discovers a few stray hairs in his comb. Could baldness be far behind? To compound the alarm, he digs a piece of fuzz out of his belly button. (His stuffing must be coming out!) A loose tooth adds to the frenzy. And some yucky stuff drips from his nose, which -- when viewed under a magnifying glass -- looks strangely like the encyclopedia illustration of his brain! Could it be?

This is such a fun to read! It's a small insight to what the world may look like in a child's eyes!

Physical Bodies & Assessments

This week we are focusing on the Assessments! I like tot est them in the beginning of the school year so I know what they need to work on, then in January to see how they've improved and what to continue to work on and last at the end of the school year to see how well we did and what I need to improve on as a teacher. I assess the 'whole child' which means; social, personal data, gross motor, fine motor, math, cognitive, etc.
So for these next two lessons on the body, will be mostly for review!

Song: Beanbag Body Song. Even if you don't have the song, you can easily do this. Just tell the children where to put the beanbag and then balance it!

Book: Parts by: Tedd Arnold (See Learning Through Literature post)

We will review the parts of our body and the put a body together!

For our gross motor activity I have a bunch of pictures of kids doing different poses, we will copy them.

For art we will be decorating a cutout of a body with various material! (From last Thursday's lesson).

Our Progress So Far!

This is definitely a learning process for me! I'm used to teaching 3 and 4 year olds, the boys I have will turn 3 in November. They can do a lot yet do not care to do it for long. For example, yesterday we talked about ourselves being unique and were going to decorate bodies but didn't get that far. The multi-cultural books were great and they understood how to use a glue stick (put the glue on the back of the picture) but lost interest when it came to the What I Like books and we never made it to the bodies! But, I am very flexible and figured we are learning bodies next week and everything is prepared so we'll just do it then!
I am enjoying teaching and learning through it all! I am so glad many check this blog periodically. I know some are doing a Joyschool of their own and are using some of the ideas I post which is great! If you would like me to post the lesson plans the day before, I am willing to do so, just let me know! Also, if you'd like me to go more in depth on any activity or song, I can do that as well. I have most items on my computer already and can post them easily!
Thank you for following and happy teaching!

I am Unique/Cultures

On Thursday we are learning more about each other and how great it is to be unique. We are also talking a little bit on the different cultures around us!

The first book we will read is titled: Tacky the Penguin (please see learning through literature post to learn more about this book). We will then have each child come up and I will describe them and we will compare and contrast each other and learn that it is good to like the same things but it is also good to like different things.

We will then read The Colors of Us and learn more about other cultures. The kids will then make their own Multi-cultural Book by cutting and gluing various pictures of people out of magazines. They may also dictate what they see if they desire (be sure to write it down next to the picture, it's fun for the parents to know what they were thinking).

At Table Time they will be making another book, this time it's a My favorites Book. They will draw pictures of their favorite toy, food, color, etc. They will also get to decorate cut-out bodies with a variety of craft supplies.

Learning Through Literature

Tacky The Penguin
By: Helen Lester

Tacky's perfect friends find him annoying until his odd behavior saves the day.

Kids learn lessons through books, and I've noticed that they particularly enjoy books about animals. In this great book we learn that we don't have to 'follow the crowd', we don't have to look or act a certain way...we can be
who we want to be!

All About Me!

*Please remember that this is not the complete list of activities we have planned. If you'd like a full lesson plan, please feel free to leave a comment and your email address and I will be happy to send you a copy!*

Today was our first day and the kids were so excited! We had so much fun and can't wait until Thursday!

This week we are learning about each other and how fun it is to be different. We are learning a new word: UNIQUE
Tuesday we will be introducing ourselves...

We will sing Willaby Wallaby Woo (one of my favorites)
"Willaby Wallaby Woo, and Elephant sat on You!
Willaby Wallaby Wee, an Elephant sat on me!
Willaby Wallaby Wiam, an Elephant sat on Lliam!"
You continue this with all of the kids. It's fun to have the kids listen and guess who the elephant will sit on next. I like to have a stuffed elephant and touch their heads with it as I sing.

For a transition we will work on shapes. Before naming them they should be able to match the same shapes together!

We will read the book Chrysanthemum then have each child come up and say their name and 1 thing about themselves. Then we will play a game I made called Photo Concentration (each child's picture will be on a juice lid and they will have to find the matches!)

*On a side note, juice lids are magnetic and can be used to make many different games!*

Then on to Table Time where we will practice tracing straight lines (this helps the children gain control over their hands and prepares them for writing).
We will also be putting stickers on our names (this helps with Hand Strength and improves their Fine Motor skills). We will also have fun making our place mats for the year!

Learning Through Literature

Chrysanthemum
by: Kevin Henkes

Chrysanthemum loves her name, but when she goes to school, the other children giggle. "'Her name is so long,' said Jo. 'It scarcely fits on her name tag,' said Rita, pointing."

Poor Chrysanthemum; even though her father says her name is "precious and priceless and fascinating and winsome," how will she persuade the other children in her class? Perhaps Mrs. Twinkle can come to the rescue!

I LOVE this book, it explains in a great way that ALL names are special and important. That is doesn't matter how long or short, or how easy or hard a name is...it is yours and you are unique! And that is what we are focusing on this week...being unique and different!

What to Expect

Come September I will be teaching preschool to my 3 year old son, a 3 year old boy whom I babysit and any neighbor children who may participate! I am so excited to be teaching again and to learn and grow throughout this experience.
Each week I will post the topics we are learning about. I teach with a Theme-based Curriculum each week (not letter of the week). Which means, I choose a subject to focus on, i.e. Community Helpers or Families. During each lesson we work on our basic math and literature skills along with every day life skills.

I will have a weekly post, Learning Through Literature, about which books we will be focusing on and why I have chosen them.

Come October I will bring in Fun Food Fridays. These posts will consist of food preparation for the children to be a big part of. Each will tie into the subject of the week. So be prepared to get messy!

I focus on teaching the Whole Child, so if there is anything you want more information about or weekly posts on, please feel free to ask and I will do my best to provide the information you are looking for.

Stay tuned...School starts September 8th!