"Do As I'm Doing"

     Our first week of school is done. Hooray! It's always the toughest week because everything is so new for our brand new students. Lots of anticipation, unsurety and things to learn but they did great!
     A child's play time is a child's work time. That's why one of our longest portions of the session is called 'worktime'. When I was at the Doctor's office last week, I was reading an article in the Parent's Magazine that really caught my attention. I almost asked the receptionist to copy it for me. It was about play-based preschools and how important they are to a child's development. One study they sited stated that children who attend a play-based preschool before kindergarten compared to children who attend an academic-based preschool have on average higher grades levels throughout elementary school. Now, that's not saying we don't do academics in our class because we do, but in a research-based, natural, child-directed way. That being said, in order for our students to be more familiar with the resources they can use during their 'worktime' in our classroom, we have been doing 'classroom tours' during small group. During this time we show them what's available and different ways they can use it. We will continue it this up coming week with 3 new areas in the classroom: Tool, Manipulative and Book (last week was Tool/Block, Kitchen and the Writing Center).

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Manipulative Area: Shapes, Magnets, Beading,
Mr. Potato Head, Star Builders, Gears and a few other items.

First Week!

We go over our message board everyday during Greeting Time

Welcome to a brand new year! I hope you all enjoyed your summer. For those that are new, this is where I will be posting weekly lesson plans so you can follow along with what your student is learning at school. However, this post you get a lot of extras as well. Here is our daily schedule:

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This is our small group weekly curriculum rotation. Typically your child's group will be based on a rotation letter. Red Group starts with 'A' on Mondays, Yellow Group starts with 'B' on Mondays and the Blue group starts with 'C' on Mondays. There will be a daily "Ask me what I did in Preschool Today" form that will also have a few things written on it to help you find and follow along in what group your child is in as well as what they ate at snack and did during worktime.

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For the curriculum rotations, there will be certain times (like right before holidays, the first few weeks of school, the last week of the year etc.) where the rotations will look a little different.

That being said, being the first week of school, our focus is teaching transitions, basic school rules, social skills and information about resources in the classroom, the second week will look similar as well. Here is our weekly lesson plan for the first week of school:

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We are all so excited for our first week of school! Feel free to call or email me at anytime you have any questions or concerns. Have a great week!

Fall 2014 Open House

I'm going to mail out this information to you today but I thought I would post it as well for quick reference before then.

Willow Springs Elementary Open House 

Hello Preschool Parent! 

Our school is having our open house on

Thursday, August 21^st, 

5:00-6:30 pm 

We will be there and want you to know about it!

Come see the classroom, meet our preschool team and find out more about your student’s class.

Hope to see you then!

Alphabet Hunt

Let's go on an Alphabet Hunt! What you need is a magnifying glass and some books. If you don't have a magnifying glass, you can use a ring from the lid of a mason jar. I recommend one of the following (LMNO Peas for developmentally younger kiddos and Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus for the older Kiddos):

LMNO Peas

Written and Illustrated by Keith Baker

Beach Lane Books, 2010

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

Written and Illustrated by Mo Williams

Hyperion Press, 2003

Decide what letter you want to look for. You can even have a 'match card' where you write down the letter to look for. For older kids it'd be a great way to teach correspondence between lowercase and uppercase letters. Search for the letter on each page. For younger kids it may be a hunt all over the page, for older kids, follow the sentences as if reading. For our kids that are really ready for it, add a simple word to that word card, like 'the'.

Swimmy

Swimmy

Written by Leo Lionni

Dragonfly Books, (Reissued Ed.) 1973

Swimmy is a Caldecott Honor Book about a a fish full of bravery and ingenuity who uses teamwork to help a school of fish overcome their fears in the deep dark ocean. 

Create a 'Gel Aquarium' following the directions from www.teachpreschool.org to make a colorful sensory bag. Use blue and green food coloring for a 'sea water' look. Add fishes to your aquarium. Use a carton (like from milk or juice) to draw on fish and cut them out. If you want to add designs on your fish, use a non-washable marker so it doesn't bleed in the aquarium  
You can also do a Sponge Painting by cutting a sponge into a shape of a fish (or you can probably find them at the dollar store) making designs with all the little fishes.

Mrs. Wishy-Washy

Mrs. Wishy-Washy

Written by Joy Cowley and Illustrated by Elizabeth Ann Fuller.

McGraw-Hill, 1980

"Oh, lovely mud, said the duck", 
"Oh look at you!.. In the tub"
"In went the Duck, wishy-washy, wishy-washy"

A great book for repetitive vocabulary, especially with our younger ones. Fill the sink with warm soapy water (or the bathtub) and re-enact the book with washable toys from around the house. If they're in the bathtub, you can read the book to them from a safe distance as they follow along with the toys. When it's time to do dishes, you can do an extender: "In goes the bowl, wishy-washy, wishy-washy", "In goes the spoon, wishy-washy, wishy-washy".

Crankenstein and Dealing with Emotions

Crankenstein

Written by Samantha Berger and Illustrated by Dan Santat

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2014

Crankenstein just feels cranky! Especially when nothing seems to be going his way. This is one loved by the students in our class. Humorous and relate-able, it catches their attention and brings up a great conversation about dealing with our feelings.

Other books for teaching emotional awareness (and maybe even better at it) include: 
The Way I Feel by Janan Cain
The Way I Feel Books by Albert Whitman
Today I Feel Silly: and other Moods that make my Day by Jaime Lee Curtis
When Sophie Gets Angry, Really Really Angry by Molly Bang
Here's a link to a few more http://www.babble.com/
I went to a conference in Seattle at the Talaris Learning institute on helping on children develop high EQs (Emotional Quotient), which effects them in every other area of development including language and cognitive (academics).  The higher you child's EQ, the higher quality of life they will have.

Although the habits of creating a healthier emotional environment may take some time to create, the steps are simple.

1.  Be Aware of Emotions
Recognize that they are natural, important and learn to read your child's.

2. Connect with Your Child
Try not to dismiss or ignore emotions but use them as a teaching time and a time to talk through them, catching them before the esculate

3. Listen to Your Child
Take your child's emotions seriously, not criticizing them for feeling them, empathize but showing you understand them.

4. Name Emotions
Name them when you feel them, when you recognize how they're feeling and naming all types, whether it's happy, sad, angry etc. Naming emotions soothes a child who is upset.

5. Find Good Solutions
It's okay for a child to be sad or angry but that doesn't mean they should 'get their way or that you can always make the problem go away. Find a solution.

For example, for a younger child:
You're sad. You want the slide but it's time to go. I'll hold you instead (if they like to be held).

For example, for an older child:
I see that you are sad. You want to keep playing but we need to go. It's okay to be upset but we still have to leave. What is something fun we can do when we get home?

Really, you're teaching them, it's okay to feel this way but you still can't get want you want/need. Sometimes it's because they can be sad about something but if you told them 'no', stick with it. Somethings can't be changed. 'Your sad that you left your toy on the plane but we can't get it back'.

For more information, visit: www.parentingcounts.org