Let's Get This Year Started!

Well, it has been an interesting two weeks to say the least.  First, I find out that I only have 6 students in my class this year.  SIX!  Then, one doesn't actually bother to show up and one is not potty-trained (a must to be in my class).  Hmmmm . . . . now I am down to 4!  Luckily another student was moved into my class so now I am up to the big number 5.  SERIOUSLY!?!?  I had more than this during the "stomach-bug epidemic of Spring 2005!  I'm still adjusting to the small number and hoping that we will have a few more students join us during the year.  Seriously, it was a great first week.  I didn't have any criers and only a few bathroom issues, so all in all, things are going well.  One of the popular centers in my class is the "Dress-up" box.  To be honest, I'm not sure where half of the things in there came from and frankly, my students don't care.  They just love to rummage through it and pick out their "outfit of the day".  One of my new students absolutely loves to wear an old crochet vest (I think it is from my closet from the 1980's - don't judge!).  She pairs it with a different hat each day and sits down with a book.  I think she is adorable!

We really don't focus on our alphabet of our themes until after Labor Day so let me share with you our first real week of school.  We call it "All About Me" and we talk about the color RED, the number 1 and circles.  Our busy week started with a fun activity to help us learn our names.  I wrote everyone's name on a large piece of black construction paper.

Next, everyone added little pieces of torn (or cut) tissue paper to each of the letters of their name.

I loved watching each child as they carefully picked out "their favorite colors".  I think they all did a great job.

We also talked about the letter "A" by making our very own apple trees!  We all decided to make our apple trees BIG, maybe a bit too big because they didn't fit onto our paper, but we didn't mind.

The "apples" on our trees are actually our fingerprints.  I let the children use their fingers to stamp a piece of paper and then I punched them out with my handy-dandy little circle punch.  It was fun to watch everyone add their "apples" to their trees and talk about how we made them.

Our next "A" activity got a little bit out of hand, but then again, the best things usually do!  I cut out some very large letter "A"s and laid them in an old cardboard box (a tiny piece of double stick tape helps hold it down).

We talked about some very pretty acorns that came from my yard.  (A little hint - put the acorns in a plastic bag and sit them in your freezer for 24 hours.  This will kill any unwanted pest that may be living and eating inside the acorns.  Thanks to my friend Tiffany for that hint.).

 Next, we added the acorns to some RED paint.

Here comes the messy part!  We dumped the acorns into the box with our letter "A" and shook, shook, shook!

The end results were very pretty.  I think I added a little too much paint so most of the "A"s were covered.  But, they all had a very nice texture from the acorns.  COOOOOLLLLLL!

No "All About Me" week would be complete without making our little "ME" dolls.  Everyone had such a fun time dressing up their people.

We used some old material for the girls dresses and some left-over scrapbooking paper for the boys.  If you look closely you will notice the some of the boy's pants looks like blue jeans.  Oh, one more very important thing . . . the hair was cut by the students themselves!  Pretty good job, don't you think???????

A really fun "A" word is alligator.  We made our own alligators out of our handprints!

The children added their own grass at the bottom with some wonderful dot paint and the sun is their palm print.

Our Friday has become a little more hectic because we have added a Spanish class first thing in the morning.  This week we kept things a little calm by doing a little name art project.  We used little foam stick-on letters and wrote our names.  Next, we added our fingerprints (or in some cases, our handprints) to add some colors.

Towards the end of last year I added our "Password of the Day".

(This is a little misleading because right now we keep the same password all week).  The children will tell me our password whenever we leave or enter our room.  I also have been wearing it around my neck.  I made a necklace out of our name badge and now I ask the children what they word is all during the day.  We are keeping our words very simple.  For the next few weeks we will be using a color for our word.  I love to see everyone's faces when I say "congratulations, you just read a word!   THEY GET SO EXCITED!

Next week is "C" week and we will be talking about our pets.  Thanks for visiting and I hope you check with us again soon.

The Letter "A" and All About Me

Wow, I can't believe it is Monday and I am just now posting from last week.  So sorry, but a migraine hit me on Saturday and I am just now starting to move.  Thankfully, I will be back at school tomorrow.

What an amazing week we had!  Monday was Labor Day so we didn't get started on our week until Tuesday.  We made up for our lost day VERY quickly!   Several years ago a made LARGE individual letters.  I glued on pictures of words that start with that letter.  It is so fun to hear the children screaming out the words each week.  Here is our "A" -

 

We are also talking about "Circles", the number "1" and the color "RED" this week.  Here are some of my posters that help us remember.

Again, each of these were laminated and have lasted for several years.  

Since this year's class is mostly boys (EIGHT!), I decided to make some roads for them.  They were an instant hit!  But, who wouldn't love driving your cars around this . . . 

By the end of the week our road looks a little rough, but no one seemed to mind.

Tuesday was a great day to bring out all of those bottle caps I have been saving.  Everyone got to make a wonderful piece of artwork using nothing more than red paint and bottle caps.

We call it "RED CIRCLES".

We took a little time Wednesday to talk about "ME!"  It was fun.  I always loved to tell my children some "special" about myself and then hear what makes them "special".  It seems one child in my class can fly like Superman.  While another child is really, really, really strong.  Good to know!  We also spent the day making little self-portraits.  Bear with me please, while I introduce my class . . . .

 This is Cooper and Will B.

Next we have Will S. on top and Reid in the Alabama football jersey. (I have no idea why this picture is turned this way!)

Next (another wacky picture, sorry) is Lucas and Cooper. 

Here are our girls!  Meet Ellie and Helen.

Last, but not least meet Winston (the Florida Gator fan) and Hunter. (AGAIN, sorry for the picture!)

Our "Fabulous Fun Friday" started out with some wonder "A"corn painting.  A large storm brought down a lot of leaves and acorns last week so we put them to good use.  We poured red paint onto the acorns and dumped them out onto a cut "A".  After a few minutes of rolling the acorns around we discovered that "A" is for AWESOME ACORN FUN!

Friday was also the perfect day to finish up our week of "All About Me".  We made a cute little self-portrait complete with our hand prints.  

"I am wonderfully made".  Psalms 139:4

Last week we begin talking in our science class about chemicals.  You know, how some things just don't like each.  Last week it was oil and water.  That was fun, but this week we really had fun!  As soon as we hit the kitchen we prepared our "Apple Tree" snack.  It was just plain delicious.  Since we talked about how oil and vinegar DON'T mix, we talked today about how icing and food coloring DO MIX!  Our fine motor skills really got a work out as we mixed the icing with green food coloring and spread it onto a half of graham cracker.

 

We added the bottom (another half of a half of graham cracker) and a few "Twizzlers".  Instant apple tree!

Yes, it tasted as good as it looked!

We finished up our day in the kitchen with everyone's favorite science experiment.  I call it "elephant toothpaste" but others just call it vinegar and baking soda with a dash of dish washing soap.  This was extra fun because we found out that some things mix well like the icing and food coloring BUT THEN when you mix other things like the vinegar and baking soda you get . . . . 

  WOW!

Oh, one more thing . . . have you ever seen and peanut butter and jelly and Oreo sandwich?  Look what one super creative parent did . . . .

Everyone in the class wanted to know if it tasted like an Oreo?  We had a great week.  I hope you will come back and visit us soon.  

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!