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New Blog

So, life has changed a lot over these last few weeks and I am trying to continue to help engage my Preschool students without seeing them day in and day out.  I sure do miss them and look forward to seeing them again! In the meantime, I decided I would get this blog up and running since it has been on my To-Do List but my time was limited (until now).

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Pumpkin Theme

 Every October we learn about pumpkins. Mini pumpkins are brought into the Science Center for every child and we investigate them with magnifying lenses and our senses. We also cut the top off of a large pumpkin and scoop the seeds out to investigate as well.  I allow every child who is interested, a turn scooping seeds out. I never require the students to help if they are not interested.  In the Literacy Center, we use mini pumpkin erasers to trace around letters. Pumpkin stickers can also be used.  We take a field trip to a local pumpkin patch where every child is allowed to pick a pumpkin to take home.  In the Fine Motor/Sensory Center, we make pumpkin pie with orange playdough and rolling pins.  We also count and make patterns in the Math Center with pumpkin erasers or manipulatives. In the Pumpkin STEAM box, I include mini pumpkins, leaves, acorns, magnifying lenses and orange slices of pool noodles that the children can play and e...

Friends

Social-Emotional Skills are such a large part of the Preschool curriculum. Most of our activities are group based and we spend a lot of time and instruction learning about how to be a good friend and how to treat the people around us. In February, I send home a handful of cutout hearts with each child. I ask parents to document each time they catch their child doing something kind and send it back to school. We then read them aloud to the class and hang them on our wall. The goal is to cover the entire wall with hearts. We also focus on one character trait each week. We discuss the trait and give examples of that trait and then watch for students exhibiting that character trait throughout the week. Some books that I use to reinforce our lessons are: *"Stick and Stone" *"A Sick Day for Amos McGee" *"How Do Dinosaurs Play with Their Friends?" *"Llama Llama and the Bully Goat" *"Rainbow Fish" *"Should I Share my Ice Cream?" ...

Apple Theme

 Another theme we cover in the fall is Apples. In our Math Center, we make Apple Stew using apple erasers, bowls, ladles, and recipe cards.  We also use apple manipulatives to count and sort.  In the Science Center,  I place apple slices, apple seeds, whole apples and magnifying lenses. The students are able to investigate the apples.  We practice gluing by placing just a dot of glue inside each dot on an apple. This strengthens their hands and we use glitter glue in red, yellow and green to make it more interesting.  At the Writing Center  I have the students draw apples and add details. Words related to apples can be posted in the Writing Center for children who are ready and interested in copying words onto their paper. Apple shaped papers can also be placed at the Writing Center to make it more engaging. In the Fine Motor/Sensory Center,  children try stacking apples and counting to see how high they can go. Some books abo...