"A" Week

We FINALLY started working on our alphabets this week at school. Two weeks are really a long time for us to have to ssstttrrrreeeettttcccchhhh. But, it was better than then usual 3 or 4 weeks. This week we started studying the letter "A", circles, red and the number 1. To some it seems like a lot to put into 7 short days. We manage by incorporating the color and shape. For some reason the words "ants" and "apple" got everybodies attention, so I ran with it. First we glued ants onto a large "A". I didn't think that would be very much fun, but the children had great fun with the giant ants. We also ate some ants! Actually the were raisins (wheew!) that the students stuck on top of their iced oatmeal cookies. Oh, and the oatmeal cookies were CIRCLES of course.

We also made "Annie the Apple" and "Adam the Apple". I really think this class loves glue! It makes them so happy.

But the most fun day this week was friday. We headed to the kitchen and made apple scented playdough. It looked like plain, old white dough but it smell delicious! Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt (use iodized, not kosher for smoother dough)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon cream of tartar
1 cup water
Red food coloring (I use the Wilton gel colors)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
Stir ingredients together well in pot. Over medium heat cook the dough, stirring constantly until it forms a ball. Turn dough onto a board (or the countertop) and knead until very smooth. Cool. Store in a covered plastic container.

Very simple to make and the children loved it. One parent actually e-mailed me to make sure it WAS playdough. She said it smelled too good and she wanted to bake it! What fun we had!

Of course playdough would not be fun without the snake!

Next week "B" week, my favorite!

Week TWO - Starting Preschool

This week theme was "Starting Preschool". We don't have any of our special classes (Spanish, Music, Computers, etc.) until next week so it can get kinda boring. All the 3 year old teachers got together and decided that this year we would get together at least once a week for a story time or special music. So far, it has been a good experience. The children seem to love the music and I try very hard to make our story one that is exciting and funny.

Our school has two 3 year old classes that come 5 days a week. I'm one of them and this year my sweet friend, Mrs. Christi, has joined me. Mrs. Christi and I decided that each week we would have "Munchie Mondays". It seemed like the perfect day to cook. Of course we will always have our "Fabulous Fun Friday's" where anything can happen. Since we haven't actually been at school for an entire week yet, we have joined our cooking and science experiments together on friday. This week, we made some very yummy icing cookies. Everyone got to pick their favorite color to make for their icing of course.

As you can see, Caleb likes pink!

We also had our first science experiment this week. We took some old crayons that someone had donated to me and we melted them down to make large ones. The classes had so much fun peeling the paper off the crayons and deciding which colors to melt together.

Some got a little frustrated but I loved when others would rush to their side to help. Good lesson today in sharing! Messy but good!

Next week's lesson is "All About Me". Check back for more fun ideas!

2010 School Year!

Our new year has officially begun! YEAH! Since we are a private school, our school year does not begin until Sepember 1st. It has been a great start, so far (she says crossing her fingers AND knocking on wood). I was really worried after "Meet the Teacher Day". I had 2 cries, no make that SCREAMERS and 2 that were latched on to their Moms. All I could think of was "I knew it!" I have had several years of wonderful students and to be honest, I have been wondering when I would get "that class". Turns out it won't be this year!!!! My screamers came in ready to have fun and the other 2 did just as good, as soon as I pried them off their Mom's legs. Seriously though, we are off to a good year.

Our first day was spent seeing all the fun new toys that were in my room. My sweet hubby decided to clean out our downstairs den during the last of August while I was setting up my classroom. He finally decided to let go of some "junk". But, you know how pre-school teachers are, someone else's junk is our treasure. And a treasure it is! Look at the great guitar we had stuck in a corner. Now it is a wonderful source of music in my class.

Other fun finds over the summer included new dress up clothes. It was fun seeing the students dressing up in my family's old cast-offs, especially the old Mardi-Gras beads and caps.

I also write a little note to my parents about making donations to my classroom. I never ask for anything that they need to buy, instead it is things that they would normally recycle. Our class always likes to use real food boxes in our kitchen. This year's parents have been great about sending them.

I just hope the rest of the year goes as smoothly as week 1!

Fun Summer Recycling Ideas

Well, it is only the middle of June and I am missing my class very much. I am busily finding new ideas and looking for things that will make my class more exciting next year. One of the things that dawned on me the other day was our Sunday newspaper. I use the comic section to put on our tables, just to help a little with out painting/gluing messes. It is ssssoooo colorful and happy looking. I always keep the comics and any toy store ads (i.e., ToysRUs or Walmart) during the year but why not start during the summer. This way when school starts in a few months I'll have a big supply. My class loves to "read the newspaper" and look at the toy ads. One of my little boys even took his newspaper to read it, "just like his Dad"!!! ;) I have a couple of older neighbor so I've asked them to save their papers for me too. People love to help out, they just need to be asked.

Another thing I like to keep are the little plastic pudding and fruit cups. My Mom is always buying these since she's by herself now. These small container are perfect for her. It cuts down on her opening big cans and wasting food. She will rinse them out and keep them for me. Since our school buys glue in those HUGE contains, I use the plastic cups to put glue in. We use either paint brushes or Q-tips to spread our glue. Okay, we've been know to use our fingers too. But either way, we are fine-tuning our fine motor skills.

I also collect plastic bottle tops. They come in all different colors now and my class loves to separate and count them. I just dump them in a big box and let my class divide them up anyway they like. Some days it is by color, some days it is by size. You just never know!

Don't forget to save your paper towel rolls. I like them better than toilet paper rolls because well, they are bigger and hey, bigger is better! Paper towel rolls are good not only to make things with but, they are fun to roll over paint. My classes have always loved watching the paint squish around!

Don't forget about your old clothes. My class loves my "dress-up box". It is nothing but old clothes, scarves, hats and belts. I've found a few pairs of girlie pumps too for next year. Thrift stores are great, but if you ask your neighbors and friends, I'll bet you will get a bunch of goodies.

My last "got to save" item is fun boxes. WHAT?? You know really unique shaped boxes. I like to use real food boxes and containers in our kitchen center and during the school year I am always bringing them from home. BUT, sometimes I find really unique shaped boxes. I'll just have to store them until school starts.

My Gift

I've been teaching pre-school for many, many years. I'll be starting my 15th year soon, I think :) ! I have received a lot of gifts from students/parents in those years. Some of course, were sweet and very sentimental, like all the lovely pictures with sweet notes and the donations made to charities in my name. Some were absolutely hysterical, like the time one of my students brought me a refrigerator magnet - straight off her Mom's fridge! Some seemed a little strange to "ordinary people", like the patriotic dishtowel. But I understood it because this particular student LOVED talking about our country. But this year I received by far the sweetest most treasured gift. It was a scrapbook filled with pictures and quotes from my students! Oh my, there are no words in my vocabulary (and I talk a lot!) that are special enough to describe this gift. The creator of this book is a friend, co-worker and parent of one of my students. I often thought that she "got me" and my crazy, unorthodox teaching style. Now I know she truly understands me better than anyone I have ever know. She took the time to send home a questionnaire to each of my students and ask the parents to fill them out with the child's own words. The results are priceless. One of my favorites (and there are many, many) is "what does Mrs. Karen do when she isn't at school?" One of the answers, "she goes to New York." Hmmm, I've never actually been to New York but we did talk about it at school. It always seems that one student "likes my head, it always changes". I finally realized that she was referring to my hair, it does always change!

This gift is special to me in so many ways. Of course it helps me remember my students but it also reminds me of their joy and zest for learning. I will treasure this book for years to come. It is one of my most prized possessions. Oh, before I forget, I wanted to post pictures, but I can't. There are too many sweet faces and I don't want them posted on the internet. But trust me, the book is amazing!

End of the School Year :(

For some strange reason, our school's last day was May 13th :( This is about 2 weeks earlier than the public schools and a week earlier then we usually are out. We also started a week later than usual too and I'm not exactly sure why did that either. Anyway, our last week was devoted to "things we really enjoyed doing this year". We actually voted on our 4 most fun days of school. They were (1) building a snowman (2) the picnic (3) pajama day and (4) Olympic games. Our last week became very interesting to say the least! On Monday, May 10th we once again made a "southern style" snowman, complete with some very strange hair!

Our May Snowman/girl!

He (or she, we weren't really sure) was a big hit. Well, the snowball fight was really the biggest hit and it burned up a lot of extra energy!

On Tuesday we headed outside for a picnic. This time we surprised the students by going to the "big grown-up" playground that they will be using next year. WOW, you have never seen children eat their lunches so fast! Everyone could not wait to get on the playground.

Wednesday was "Pajama Day Part II" and everyone had a fun time. Instead of having popcorn, we all enjoyed popsicles! A very strange thing happened in my classroom on wednesday. It seems one of the students had an idea to build a bonfire in our classroom. Hmmmmmm. . . it remind me of the old M*A*S*H episode where the members of the 4077 built the big bonfire to release some of their built-up frustrations. So a bonfire was built!

Here are a couple of the students "building" the fire!

The end of the year bonfire!

As you can see, everything was added to the bonfire, nothing was off limits!

Thursday, our last day was devoted entirely to fun games. My class really enjoyed our "Olympic Games Day" held during the Winter Olympics so we recreated them with a summer twist. We had all kinds of relay races, a basketball game and then we headed to the soccer field for a game. What a great way to end the year!

"Y" Week

For some reason, our school combines the letters X, Y and Z all together. I don't know that I like it because I love to give each letter a lot of attention. The letter "Y" turned out to be a lot of fun! First, I gave each child a "Y" cut out of poster board. Then I covered the table with all different colors and textures of yarn. The really sweet thing about the yarn is that it came from my grandmother, she passed away many, many years ago. She was a true crafter and I'm sure she loves knowing how I am using it. Anyway, I didn't give my students any directions. Some were kinda freaked out about it but I insisted that they "do whatever they wanted with the yarn". Some wanted to glue it out on the "Y" and others decided to wrap it! Here is my favorite!