Ask Me About......

Hi everyone!  We have been very busy in the preschool!  We continue to practice hearing sounds in our environment, determining what sound we heard first, last or in the middle.  You can practice this at home too!  You can make sounds and ask which sound was first, which sound was last.  You can practice asking your child which picture is first or last or in the middle.  This is all going to help with their understanding of sounds in words, so have fun!  We have also begun to read!! This week we will be reading our next reader.  We are learning the sight word "A".  When the reader comes home, please have your child read it to you, they are all so excited!

In math we have been practicing same/different.  We have been engaging in many activities to understand this concept.  One of our activities had the children picking an object from a bag and matching it to the object that I held.  They were then asked if our objects were the same or different.  They all did really well with this part, it became a bit more tricky when I began to ask them why the objects were the same or different.  Here they really had to think and try to explain it to me.  This is something you can carry on at home.  Ask your child if something is the same or different, but be sure to extend their thinking with questions like, "Why do you think they are the same."  "Are you sure?" "Tell me something that is different about the objects.  Is there anything the same?"  Keep them thinking, you will be amazed at their answers!

Lastly, we talked about fire safety.  We read books and watched some videos and made some wonderful fire trucks.  I am working on having the fire department visit the classroom, but they have been very busy, so I will keep trying!  The children and I talked about fire drills at school and how it is important to have a fire drill at home too.  We also talked about having a meeting spot at home like we do at school.  You can ask them if they know where our class meeting spot is (we meet at #2).

I hope everyone had a great long weekend!  

   

Here is a look at our fall sensory table!  We are loving it!

Ask me how a pumpkin grows!

Last week we read Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington and learned how pumpkins grow!

First, you start with a seed,

The seed grows into a big vine.  The vine grows flowers and the flowers grow pumpkins.  We got to see the small, green pumpkins on the vine with the flowers!  (Thank you Mrs. Hyde for the vine!)

Lastly, the little green pumpkin turns into a great big, orange pumpkin!

Fall Puzzle Trees

We have been talking a lot about fall and the changes that we see all around us.  Here is one of our art projects.  We cut out the trunk and branches of our tree and then we had to glue on puzzle pieces for the leaves.  The children were very creative with their trees!

Sticky Table

I found this idea on line and loved it!  The table is covered with contact paper, sticky side up, and the children are free to create trees of all four seasons!  What a new and fun tactile activity!

Apples, Apples, Apples

 This month we spent time investigating apples!  We sorted apples by color, graphed the apple we liked the best (after tasting!), painted with apples, read about Johnny Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) and painted a large apple shape using a golf ball!  We even played with moon dough that smelled like apples!

What did you hear?

Last week we listened and identified different sounds.  We all had turns listening to the sounds of musical instruments, animals and sounds around the house.  After hearing the sound, we chose the picture that matched on the SmartBoard, and placed it in a sentence: "I heard the tambourine."  Everyone really enjoyed this activity!  As we practice hearing sounds in the environment we will gradually move to hearing sounds in words.  We are beginning our journey to learning how to read! 

Thank You!

Many thanks to everyone for coming in and sharing your hopes and dreams for you children this school year!  I enjoyed meeting with you and look forward to working together to ensure all of those hopes and dreams come true!