Teasing Mr Alligator...

Wednesdays we focus on Music and Movement for the lesson portion of our schedule. And since it's our first long week together, we broke the ice with a finger play with the letter of the week, focusing on...letter A. We learned the very catchy "Teasing Mr Alligator" finger play. After we practiced the chant, the kids made an alligator sack puppet that they were able to pair with the finger play.












[Your little ones are probably chanting variations of something about an alligator snapping monkeys out of trees]. If you haven't heard this before and are wondering what how the whole dialogue goes, here it is:



Five little monkeys swinging in a tree
Teasing Mr Alligator--"Can't catch me! Can't catch!"
Along comes Mr Alligator, quite as can be--
And snapped that monkey right out of the tree!


(Repeat, with four, then three monkeys, etc.)






















During playtime, some of the children really enjoyed building tangrams. It's AMAZING what holds their interests and keeps them occupied for longer chunks of time. I saw of a lot of tactile exploration going on without them realizing it what they were learning.



We listened to some classical music by Mozart and pretended to lead the music with our batons. I had to chuckle because some of them started complaining about their arms hurting from all the waving (all of about a minute). I skipped the part of the story about how some of the classical pieces lasted over 20 minutes each and the conductor didn't get a break....Anywhoo.





We made shaker instruments that were a big hit. The plates were deep and sturdier than most paper plates. To make it a little easier for assembly, I folded the paper plates first, putting a bit of a crease in the plate. I had the kids use bingo daubers to decorate the outside part of the plate. They are like paint, cover a lot of area quickly, but are so much easier to clean up and hardly any mess. When it was dry, I folded the plate in half, using the crease to help give it form. The kids added a small scoop of dried split peas and then I stapled around the edges with colored staples. The depth in the plate means that it's about 1 1/4" deep after it's stapled. That gives a lot of room for those peas to smack the edges and make lots of noise. And what we learned from this cute project: the louder the noise, the happier the kids!!

Our book for the day was "I'll Always Love You." Alex bear learns that Mama Bear will love him no matter what he does wrong. And even though he broke her most favorite honey dish, she still loves him. Just like our Moms and Dads love us, no matter what! It was a great preschool day.

I AM SPECIAL!!

Today was the first day of our weekly ALL ABOUT ME theme. The class was humming with energy and we did lots of different things, but here are some of the highlights. We started our year-long Alphabet Book project and introduced letter A. We put apple stickers on the big A to remind us of the sound that letter A makes. We traced letter A, picked it out of a line-up and colored our apples all sorts of colors. Abby the Alligator made her rounds during circle time.

I got the kids attention by telling them I had a box with something very special and important inside of it. I had each of the children look inside and see the special "something" but they couldn't say what it was until everyone had their turn. What they saw when they looked inside the box was themselves in a mirror. I gave them each a little mirror to remind themselves that they are special and there is NO ONE just like them!

We shared another cute story today that's called I Like MYSELF! by Karen Beaumont. I loved it and the kids seem to enjoy all the different possibilities they could have and still be an awesome "Me"; like purple polka-dot lips and horns from their ears. But the morale of the story was that no matter what, I like ME!

After snack time today, we did a quick project that we will keep and use throughout the year. We made place mats with the kids' pictures on them. They decorated the paper with stickers and I added the "I am Special" at the bottom as a reminder to them that they truly are amazing. I will laminate these at the end of the week for continual use without having them get ruined.

We start our lessons on families next time, so remember to send in a family picture, if you haven't done so already. We are going to be making family trees and talking about our homes.

The Rainbow Fish

One of my all-time favorite children's book is The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. I first heard the story in 1994 and immediately purchased my first copy of it, long before I was even married and had kids of my own. And since 2002, it has been a much appreciated story that I read to the kids in my preschool classes during the beginning of the school year, to remind them that it is always better to share and be kind to others.

After I read the story, we made our own little rainbow fishes. You may have noticed these cute little fishes in the back packs on Friday. It broke the ice for many of the kids and our preschool school experience. The scissors and glue came out! We started by gluing the colorful bits onto the fish with a glue stick.

Everyone did a great job and worked pretty independently for the most part. It is the beginning of the year...and there are a couple of children who were thrilled with the prospect of scissors in hand.

After all the color was on the fish, we added one sparkling scale to our Rainbow fishes to remind us that we can share with everyone and still be happy. [My memory card in the camera wasn't working the morning that we did this project--so I don't have any cute pictures of your little ones just yet, but they will come as we do more and more fun activities in preschool--so stay posted.]

Just a Reminder....

Hi Parents and friends--

We are off to a great start in preschool. We are starting our first full week of classes and we are getting into a groove. On Friday, I sent home a reminder about some unusual needs...caps. I'm in need of any kind of milk caps, bottle caps or pop caps. We are going to have some matching games and the colorful plastic milk caps are the best and are free... So please start saving those caps and sending them in your little one's back pack. [The Costco milk caps are bigger, but I would love those as well.] Don't forget that orange juice and chocolate milk also have the plastic tops. That will just add some different colors to our assortment.

Preschool OPEN HOUSE

Preschool Open House is next week--Wednesday, September 8th--7pm. Come see the classroom, meet the teacher, find your name, and get your homework folder!! First day of class will be THURSDAY, September 9th--9-11:30am. We will also have class on Friday this week to make up for the late start.


Class will be on normal schedule starting 9/14, with either T/TH or T/W/TH classes. Please bring your registration papers if you haven't mailed them to me and a family picture. If you don't have a family picture, I will take one of you at the open house.

Look forwarding to seeing everyone. Call me if you have any questions (922-5157) or email me @ J_eibert@yahoo.com.

Thanks--
Jolinda

2010-2011 School Calendar

I know that it's the middle of summer still, but I'm already looking forward to September and the beginning of our next preschool year! There are 3 options for classes: a Tuesday/Thursday curriculum from 9-11:30am for $55; a 3 Day option of Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday from 9-11:30am for $75; and also a Wednesday only (music/motion focus-day) for $30.

Sunshine Preschool 2010-2011 Calendar Themes

Sept 9 (TH)--First day of class--- Getting to Know You
Sept 10 (F) note date change Manners

Sept 14 (T)---All about Me Letter A
Sept 15 (W)--Families--Music and Motion day
Sept 16 (Th)--Houses (The 3 Little Pigs)

Sept 21 (T)--Five Senses Letter B
Sept 22 (W)--Five Senses--Music and Motion day
Sept 23 (Th)--Introducing Community Helpers Doctors/Nurses

Sept 28 (T)--Stranger Danger--Police Officer visit Letter C
Sept 29 (W)--Little Red Riding Hood--Music and Motion day
Sept 30 (Th)--Field Trip to the Fire Station

Oct 5 (T)--Boats/Exploration Letter D
Oct 6 (W)--Exploration--Music and Motion day
Oct 7 (Th)--Christopher Columbus

Oct 11 (M)--Johnny Appleseed Letter E (note change of day)
Oct 13 (W)--Apples---Music and Motion day
Oct 14 (Th)--Fall/Leaves

Oct 19 (T)--Pumpkins Letter F
Oct 20 (W)--Fall/Pumpkins--Music and Motion day
Oct 21 (Th)--Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Oct 26 (T)--Spiders Letter G
Oct 27 (W)--Halloween--Music and Motion day
Oct 29 (Th)--Halloween Party (Costumes)

Nov 1 (M)--Harvest/Scarecrows Letter H (note change of day)
Nov 2 (T)--Scarecrows--Music and Motion day
Nov 3 (W)--Friendship/Indians

NO SCHOOL THE WEEK OF VETERAN'S DAY

Nov 16 (T)--Pilgrims/Plymouth Rock Letter I
Nov 17 (W)--Gratitude--Music and Motion day
Nov 18 (Th)--Turkeys/Cornucopias

Nov 23 (T)--Thanksgiving Feast/Luncheon
Thanksgiving Break

Nov 30 (T)--Santa's Beard Advent Calendar Letter J
Dec 1 (W)---Christmas Songs--Music and Motion day
Dec 2 (Th)--Field Trip to the Creche Exhibit

Dec 7 (T)--Christmas Trees/Legends Letter K
Dec 8 (W)--Christmas--Music and Motion day
Dec 9 (Th)--Gingerbread Houses

Dec 14 (T)--Memories/Traditions Letter L
Dec 15 (W)--Music and Motion day
Dec 16 (Th)--Christmas Party/Program

Winter Break--12/20-1/2/2011

I will post the rest of the year's schedule when school starts and will hand-out a calendar for each family to hang on the fridge with important information like when is "Show and Tell" and the "Snack Helper" is each day.

The Grand Finale: Graduation

This school year seemed to come to an end all too quickly. We had our preschool graduation on Friday, June 4th. The final pictures were taken for the books we've been building all year long. The toys were put away, the crayons and markers put back in their bins, and the last of the homework finally sent home. And the teacher cried. It's been such a wonderful year. Every year is wonderful, but the most wonderful is the one you are currently in. And so graduation day brings this preschool year down for the books. Hats and diplomas were given and all the faces were smiling and happy. I think they are ready to take on the world. You can see the progress in each of them as you look back through their work and see how much they have grown in the pictures. Children really are the priceless wonders of our lives.

I've enjoyed the few days off so far...but I have already started making lesson plans for next year. I'm itching to start doing what I love and that is being with the kids and introducing them to all the fun things we learn in preschool. I am get a few of these kiddos from the picture back for next year and I'm thrilled. I'm excited to welcome the incoming group as well. I can't wait to do it all over again!!