Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
The mayors of the Speech Garden Preschool Community are extremely tired! And opening FOUR new stores and organizing a town production in ONE week.....nearly exhausting! We are so excited to show you all our efforts tomorrow! We practiced the play, and practiced working the stores, and practiced our songs today! It was a crazy, busy day trying to get ready for families tomorrow.
We read Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood. It's a story about a little mouse who decides to share presents and decorations with bear even though he is afraid of bears. We talked about sharing and being a good friend. At the end of the story, it turns out that bear isn't mean at all. He even gives mouse a big present. We took turns guessing what might be inside because the book doesn't tell us. The children loved talking about the book. They were able to find several things from our play in the book.
We had been telling the children all day that after lunch we would open the presents from their friends. Everyone showed great patience (and restraint) because the presents sat on a table in classroom unbothered all day! I had prepared for such chaos and mayhem during this present time! You will be very pleased to know that those fears were completely off target. It was actually fairly organized. We opened presents one at a time, with friends giving their presents to each other, while other friends waited for a turn. No tears or tantrums! Special thanks to all of you who gave presents who made loud noises!!! Those are always fun to send to someone else's house!
The teachers gave all the kids presents too. Each child was able to find their name from all the presents. Inside they found a workbook and a pop-up book.
Tomorrow is such a big day! We have so many special things planned! I hope that you all will be able to join us! First stop, Speech Garden Community......next stop, BROADWAY.....well, maybe!!
We read Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood. It's a story about a little mouse who decides to share presents and decorations with bear even though he is afraid of bears. We talked about sharing and being a good friend. At the end of the story, it turns out that bear isn't mean at all. He even gives mouse a big present. We took turns guessing what might be inside because the book doesn't tell us. The children loved talking about the book. They were able to find several things from our play in the book.
We had been telling the children all day that after lunch we would open the presents from their friends. Everyone showed great patience (and restraint) because the presents sat on a table in classroom unbothered all day! I had prepared for such chaos and mayhem during this present time! You will be very pleased to know that those fears were completely off target. It was actually fairly organized. We opened presents one at a time, with friends giving their presents to each other, while other friends waited for a turn. No tears or tantrums! Special thanks to all of you who gave presents who made loud noises!!! Those are always fun to send to someone else's house!
The teachers gave all the kids presents too. Each child was able to find their name from all the presents. Inside they found a workbook and a pop-up book.
Tomorrow is such a big day! We have so many special things planned! I hope that you all will be able to join us! First stop, Speech Garden Community......next stop, BROADWAY.....well, maybe!!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The big news of the day was that we assigned parts for the Holiday Show and there were NO tears or angry faces!! I couldn't believe it! I was prepared for complete meltdowns!!
We practiced the play and our songs several times this morning and, although I don't know what you will see on Thursday, the kids all participated and know their parts! We even learned how to bow and curtsy while people clap for us at the end of the show. Hint: make sure there is a lot of clapping at the end of the show so we can demonstrate our bowing and curtsy-ing!
We finished up our projects for the community store today. I can't wait for you all to see the wonderful things that we have to sale. We have been talking about how the parents will come and buy our things. The children are so excited to work in the stores while you shop and buy. The TK kiddos wrote the names of our stores on big signs and our class decorated each sign with matching pictures.
Ms. Michelle came today and led an action packed session. We started with some Finger Fun. The kids used different size tweezers to pick up pom poms. She had a variety of shapes and animals that had suction cups on the back. They placed one pom pom on each suction cup to decorate their animal. It was a fun way to practice one to one correspondence while strengthening our muscles. You could tell by all the serious faces that the kids were really concentrating. She had tunnels set up all over. One long tunnel for crawling through, and one shorter, stiffer tunnel for rolling around. Ms. Michelle had colored frogs for tossing into matching colored hats. It was fun to watch two kids work together and take turns to match all the frogs!
We did find time to read a story today after we completed our crafty projects. We read Bear Stays Awake for Christmas by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman. It's a story about a group of animal friends who won't let Bear sleep through Christmas. They find and decorate a tree, hang stockings, sing songs, and wrap presents. The whole time Bear is yawning and getting more sleepy. His friends finally fall asleep while Bear works to make their presents. When the friends wake up to open the presents, Bear finally falls asleep. The kids all had lots of questions about why Bear would sleep through Christmas. They just couldn't comprehend.
The kids are all so excited about the gift exchange tomorrow! It's going to be a fun day!
We practiced the play and our songs several times this morning and, although I don't know what you will see on Thursday, the kids all participated and know their parts! We even learned how to bow and curtsy while people clap for us at the end of the show. Hint: make sure there is a lot of clapping at the end of the show so we can demonstrate our bowing and curtsy-ing!
We finished up our projects for the community store today. I can't wait for you all to see the wonderful things that we have to sale. We have been talking about how the parents will come and buy our things. The children are so excited to work in the stores while you shop and buy. The TK kiddos wrote the names of our stores on big signs and our class decorated each sign with matching pictures.
Ms. Michelle came today and led an action packed session. We started with some Finger Fun. The kids used different size tweezers to pick up pom poms. She had a variety of shapes and animals that had suction cups on the back. They placed one pom pom on each suction cup to decorate their animal. It was a fun way to practice one to one correspondence while strengthening our muscles. You could tell by all the serious faces that the kids were really concentrating. She had tunnels set up all over. One long tunnel for crawling through, and one shorter, stiffer tunnel for rolling around. Ms. Michelle had colored frogs for tossing into matching colored hats. It was fun to watch two kids work together and take turns to match all the frogs!
We did find time to read a story today after we completed our crafty projects. We read Bear Stays Awake for Christmas by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman. It's a story about a group of animal friends who won't let Bear sleep through Christmas. They find and decorate a tree, hang stockings, sing songs, and wrap presents. The whole time Bear is yawning and getting more sleepy. His friends finally fall asleep while Bear works to make their presents. When the friends wake up to open the presents, Bear finally falls asleep. The kids all had lots of questions about why Bear would sleep through Christmas. They just couldn't comprehend.
The kids are all so excited about the gift exchange tomorrow! It's going to be a fun day!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
The Singing Bears Out and About
What a wonderful day! We had so much fun on the Out and About today....and the weather cooperated! I'm not sure who enjoyed themselves more; the kids, the parents, or the teachers!
Lots of smiles on the way there.....lots of yawns on the way back!
We started the day with a walk to the train station. The kids were all such good listeners and waited so patiently for the train to arrive. They were so excited when we actually boarded the crowded train that they didn't even mind having to stand up. As long as they could see out the windows, their smiles never faded!
After we got off the train, we begun a full-fledged holiday experience of uptown! We rode elevators.....yes plural! Each time, we all rode together....it's a good thing the children are tiny or we couldn't have all fit. We rode escalators.....again plural! We used public bathrooms! We saw huge Christmas trees and life size gingerbread houses! We even walked through the very swanky Ritz Carlton hotel! And that was all BEFORE we even made it to the Singing Bears!!
The children had a quick snack of Chex and apples while they waited on the next show! For the first few songs, they sat on the benches and watched in awe. Then they needed to get a closer look! They took turns and shared space up at the front with some other small children there to see the show. The Bears show is LONG.....too long for small children. And the choice of songs that the Bears sing, doesn't include all the kid-friendly favorites that you might expect. Santa Baby? Really?? We made about 30 minutes and then the kids were clearly ready to go. So.....we quietly lined up on the rope and started making our way to the train station!
The ride home was just as exciting, expect the kids all got to sit in seats this time! Because the children were tired.....which translate to moving slower.....Ms. Cortney and Ms. Tiffany almost got closed up in the train doors as we herded everyone out at our final stop! Yawns and whining peppered the walk back to school. The kids were exhausted and hungry! They definitely had a full day of Out and About!
Thank you so much for all the parents who helped out on our trip today. It makes the trip so much more special when Mommies and Daddies come too. Special thanks to Susannah's Dad who led us around uptown like our own personal tour guide!
Lots of smiles on the way there.....lots of yawns on the way back!
We started the day with a walk to the train station. The kids were all such good listeners and waited so patiently for the train to arrive. They were so excited when we actually boarded the crowded train that they didn't even mind having to stand up. As long as they could see out the windows, their smiles never faded!
After we got off the train, we begun a full-fledged holiday experience of uptown! We rode elevators.....yes plural! Each time, we all rode together....it's a good thing the children are tiny or we couldn't have all fit. We rode escalators.....again plural! We used public bathrooms! We saw huge Christmas trees and life size gingerbread houses! We even walked through the very swanky Ritz Carlton hotel! And that was all BEFORE we even made it to the Singing Bears!!
The children had a quick snack of Chex and apples while they waited on the next show! For the first few songs, they sat on the benches and watched in awe. Then they needed to get a closer look! They took turns and shared space up at the front with some other small children there to see the show. The Bears show is LONG.....too long for small children. And the choice of songs that the Bears sing, doesn't include all the kid-friendly favorites that you might expect. Santa Baby? Really?? We made about 30 minutes and then the kids were clearly ready to go. So.....we quietly lined up on the rope and started making our way to the train station!
The ride home was just as exciting, expect the kids all got to sit in seats this time! Because the children were tired.....which translate to moving slower.....Ms. Cortney and Ms. Tiffany almost got closed up in the train doors as we herded everyone out at our final stop! Yawns and whining peppered the walk back to school. The kids were exhausted and hungry! They definitely had a full day of Out and About!
Thank you so much for all the parents who helped out on our trip today. It makes the trip so much more special when Mommies and Daddies come too. Special thanks to Susannah's Dad who led us around uptown like our own personal tour guide!
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Another busy day today.....and being so crafty sure uses a lot of energy! AND MESSY!! Wow! We all washed our hands more times than usual! It's a good thing the bathroom is close!
We made some more special projects for the Community Sale. We worked on stocking the art store and the book store. You will have to wait and see what wonderful things we have made to sell. The children quickly lay claim to the items they make, so you should all plan on purchasing something from every store! It's hard enough to convince them to leave their project here instead of taking them home each day!
Ms. Angela had her last session of the year today. Can you believe it? Next time we see her it will be 2012! She did a review of all the previous activities and set up centers for each one. There was a crawling center (through the tunnel), a jumping center (over the hurdles), a throwing center, a spinning center, and a kicking center. The ribbon wands were such a hit when Ms. Angela introduced them the first time, she had a special center set up for them that we had to practically force the kids to rotate through! They had a blast! Ms. Angela even asked for additional time with kids.....which we gladly accepted due to the rainy weather outside! Before we left, we presented Ms. Angela with a Christmas wreath door hanger made from our tiny little hands. We wished her a Merry Christmas and headed back to our room for more projects!
Today we also read a social story about riding the train. We will head out tomorrow for our first adventure on the Lynx. The kids are so excited about seeing the Singing Bears, and we are all excited about seeing their faces while they watch the show!
We made some more special projects for the Community Sale. We worked on stocking the art store and the book store. You will have to wait and see what wonderful things we have made to sell. The children quickly lay claim to the items they make, so you should all plan on purchasing something from every store! It's hard enough to convince them to leave their project here instead of taking them home each day!
Ms. Angela had her last session of the year today. Can you believe it? Next time we see her it will be 2012! She did a review of all the previous activities and set up centers for each one. There was a crawling center (through the tunnel), a jumping center (over the hurdles), a throwing center, a spinning center, and a kicking center. The ribbon wands were such a hit when Ms. Angela introduced them the first time, she had a special center set up for them that we had to practically force the kids to rotate through! They had a blast! Ms. Angela even asked for additional time with kids.....which we gladly accepted due to the rainy weather outside! Before we left, we presented Ms. Angela with a Christmas wreath door hanger made from our tiny little hands. We wished her a Merry Christmas and headed back to our room for more projects!
Today we also read a social story about riding the train. We will head out tomorrow for our first adventure on the Lynx. The kids are so excited about seeing the Singing Bears, and we are all excited about seeing their faces while they watch the show!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
We had so much to do today, we almost worked right through lunch! There were crafts to make for the community sale next week, a play to practice, Christmas songs to sing, and a TOP SECRET, super surprise present for our families to make! It was a really busy day that flew by, especially considering Ms. Michelle didn't come.
We started learning the parts to Brown Reindeer, Brown Reindeer for our show next week. The children have already begun to ask for the part they want to play. Everyone will have a part, and we will probably have to draw names to prevent any unnecessary drama!
The two songs we are going to perform at the show are Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. We want to record a 'before' practice and an 'after' practice version so you can really see the progress. You can help us out by singing these songs in the car or the bath at night. From what we saw today, there are no future American Idols in our group!!
I can't tell you much about our TOP SECRET project today. We told the children not to tell either, but they were so excited, I'm not sure they can keep quiet. I will tell you that it involved measuring and mixing and baking, but that's your only hint! You will have to wait until next week to see the finished project!
We started learning the parts to Brown Reindeer, Brown Reindeer for our show next week. The children have already begun to ask for the part they want to play. Everyone will have a part, and we will probably have to draw names to prevent any unnecessary drama!
The two songs we are going to perform at the show are Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. We want to record a 'before' practice and an 'after' practice version so you can really see the progress. You can help us out by singing these songs in the car or the bath at night. From what we saw today, there are no future American Idols in our group!!
I can't tell you much about our TOP SECRET project today. We told the children not to tell either, but they were so excited, I'm not sure they can keep quiet. I will tell you that it involved measuring and mixing and baking, but that's your only hint! You will have to wait until next week to see the finished project!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Today was a most appropriate day for a talk about the police because ALL the children needed a special reminder how important it is to follow the rules and listen to your teacher! We even tried to send some of them away with Officer Wade.....to no avail.....so we just sent them home with you for the weekend.....sorry!!
Our book today was A Visit to the Police Station by Patricia Murphy. It helped us learn about what policemen do and the station where they work. We talked about some new vocabulary words and made a scavenger hunt list of things to look for when our special visitor came.
For art, we made police badges. Everyone colored a badge and we mounted it on aluminum foil to help make it shiny. We also took everyone's fingerprints. The book told us how police use fingerprints to help find the bad guys, so we did ours so we could see what they look like.
We used special license plates with our names on them. We used them as we pretended to drive around the room and find the letters of our names. The kids are getting better at identifying and naming the letters of their names. The more ways we practice it, the easier it gets for them!
We ended the day with a visit from Officer Wade. He had on his police uniform and brought his police car for us to see. After a review of our scavenger hunt list, the children took over the police to see what they could find. When I say "took over".....that is exactly what I mean! They were in the front seat.... in the back seat.....in the drivers seat.....turning on the windshield wipers.....turning on the lights......it was OUT OF CONTROL!! Then Officer Wade let the children "try on" the handcuffs. It was probably an effort to contain some of them who were definitely overstimulated!! We got some really cute pictures! He did leave the children with an important message.....Stay safe and be nice to your teachers!! Maybe he should have come earlier in the day!!!
Our book today was A Visit to the Police Station by Patricia Murphy. It helped us learn about what policemen do and the station where they work. We talked about some new vocabulary words and made a scavenger hunt list of things to look for when our special visitor came.
For art, we made police badges. Everyone colored a badge and we mounted it on aluminum foil to help make it shiny. We also took everyone's fingerprints. The book told us how police use fingerprints to help find the bad guys, so we did ours so we could see what they look like.
We used special license plates with our names on them. We used them as we pretended to drive around the room and find the letters of our names. The kids are getting better at identifying and naming the letters of their names. The more ways we practice it, the easier it gets for them!
We ended the day with a visit from Officer Wade. He had on his police uniform and brought his police car for us to see. After a review of our scavenger hunt list, the children took over the police to see what they could find. When I say "took over".....that is exactly what I mean! They were in the front seat.... in the back seat.....in the drivers seat.....turning on the windshield wipers.....turning on the lights......it was OUT OF CONTROL!! Then Officer Wade let the children "try on" the handcuffs. It was probably an effort to contain some of them who were definitely overstimulated!! We got some really cute pictures! He did leave the children with an important message.....Stay safe and be nice to your teachers!! Maybe he should have come earlier in the day!!!
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