Wednesday, September 28th...

Today was a fun day! Our Teddy Bears were invited to school today. We had a fun day teaching the Preschool rules to our cute little animals. There's nothing quite like hearing the preschoolers explaining the rules... I get an idea of how I look to them when I see them copying me! We also reviewed the letter sounds we have been learning; a, c, and t.

We read this book...

and this book...


In arts and crafts we decorated a teddy bear puppet! Some of the classes took theirs home and others waited for the paint to dry. (We left it up to the individual teachers to choose their medium - paint, crayons, markers, etc...)

PARENT NOTES: We sent home a note and form to be filled out for school pictures next week. I know my previous post has info. on the schedule that was incorrect. Here is the update: ALL THREE DAY CLASSES WILL HAVE PICTURES ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5TH. Even if you aren't planning on ordering pics, please be aware that their pics will be taken to use in the class photos. THANKS!

School Pictures...

I have the info. to post, but need to put it into photobucket and do some magical tech savvy stuff to it before it can fit on the blog... but, I'm too tired and I already have to write 3 lesson plans tonight. SO here is a link to the info. (Thanks to Em and she didn't even know she just made my life a little easier tonight), just scroll down a bit if you don't feel like reading about how awesome I sort of am (hahaha)... PRESCHOOL PICS INFO LINK

Tuesday, September 27th...

Friday, September 23rd...

Today we spent some more time with our "Ticking Clock" sound (letter T)... only this time we had some fun with turtles!

The children loved singing the "Turtle Song"...

I had a little turtle,
his name was Tiny Tim.

I put him in the bathtub,
to see if he could swim.

He drank up all the water (gulp, gulp).
He ate up all the soap (yum, yum).

Now he's sick in bed,
with bubbles in his throat.

Bubble, Bubble, Bubble,
Bubble, Bubble, Bubble... (etc...) POP!

In Arts and Crafts we practiced our cutting skills and decorated our very own turtle shells.

PARENT NOTE: The kids should have come home today with an invitation for their Teddy Bears to join us at school tomorrow.

Catching up!

FUNNY, I thought I posted this up last night...turns out I posted it twice on the 2 day class blog. Bleh, someday I will learn to keep all this straight. In the meantime, you can check out the posts below to catch up.

OFFICIAL PICTURE DAY INFO... Pictures will be taken at the Winkfotos studio - which just happens to be located in our very own preschool - aren't we lucky!!

Dress your child in fun bright colors, that's what preschool is all about! Em of www.winkfotos.com hasn't sent me the exact price breakdown yet. I have asked for 2 options to be available to you. One should be $20 and the other $12, I think. More coming on that tonight, hopefully.

Here is the SCHEDULE:

Miss Jamie's Morning Class: Tuesday, October 4th
Miss Jamie's Afternoon Class: Tuesday, October 4th

Miss Jodi's Morning Class: Wednesday, October 5th

Miss Tiffany's Afternoon Class: Wednesday, October 5th

Monday, September 26th...

Today we introduced the "Ticking Clock" sound, also known as the letter T. We listened to the quiet ticking of our clock and practiced imitating the sound.




In Arts and Crafts we made our very own ticking clocks to take home.

Miss Jamie has also had a little fun with the kids showing them one of her favorite YouTube videos, here it is...


Wednesday, September 21st...

More of our "Happy Annie" /letter A sound...

We read "Who Took the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?" and found out after an investigation that ANTS took the cookies!

We followed up the theme at Snack Time with "Ants on a log" (celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins). And then in Arts and Crafts we made our very own egg carton ANTS with messy red paint - always a hit with the kids!


Tuesday, September 20th...

Today we introduced the Letter A. This is our "Happy Annie" sound. Happy Annie is a cute little baby who loves being held and responds with an "a" sound (think short vowel sound "a" in your very best baby voice).

We had a fun time learning about apples with this book...
We even cut an apple in half and saw this...
Then we read "Ten Apples Up on Top"...


Singing time is always filled with lots of FUN songs, one in particular that focuses on the vowel sounds is "Apples and Bananas". We introduced this fun song to the kids today.

Monday, September 19th...

More of the "Cracking Egg" sound! Today we read a couple of fun books about CATS.

AND

Two fun favorites here at preschool! P.S. If your kids come home talking about a cat falling in a toilet, this is where they are getting it from! Cookie is a very curious cat and toilets are quite interesting it turns out to both cats and preschoolers. :) Anyhow, it makes for a fun read!

FIXER UPPER...

I haven't given up on this blog... I'm just taking a minute to figure out why everyone is having so many problems getting logged in. I'm hoping to have everything figured out this weekend. Meanwhile, if you have any questions or concerns. Please email me at littlereaderspreschool@gmail.com or text me at (801) 623-1150. Thanks for your patience.... Miss Jamie

Help Please!

SPEAKING OF EGGS... We have a project coming up that requires the use of empty egg cartons. If you have any you could donate, please drop them off at school on Monday or Tuesday of next week! Thanks so much!

Wednesday, September 14th, 2011...

"C" - The CRACKING EGG sound!

Today we introduced the letter C or, as we call it in preschool, the "cracking egg sound".

At circle time in most of the classes (Miss Jamie's afternoon class will be doing this on Monday)the kids were able to watch and listen as the teacher cracked raw eggs for them! We listened and sang along with the Phonics by Spelling CD for the first time today.




In Arts and Crafts, we practiced our watercoloring skills and painted "C's" in a rainbow of colors. The children are trying their very hardest to remember to dip, color,paint, dip, color, paint, etc... This is our method of remembering to wash the brush after each use of color (so we don't mix the paint colors). They are really getting the hang of it!

In Music we sang songs that contained our "cracking egg" sound.

*Old MacDonald Had A Farm (we focused on COW and CAT)
*Little Red Caboose
*Muffin Man (we like to change to Cupcake/Cracker/Cookie Man -or any other yummy food the kids came up with that used the "cracking egg" sound)
*Pease Porridge Hot, Pease Porridge Cold

PARENTS PLEASE NOTE: If you are asking your child about the letter sounds, please remember that we are wanting them to respond with the sound the letter makes, not necessarily the name of the letter. The ideal way to handle this is to SHOW your child the letter and then ask them to tell you what sound the letter makes. Don't avoid naming the letter (I always ask them "What sound does this letter C make? While I am pointing to the letter.). If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!


***Because of copyright restrictions, we are unable to post the pictures that we use for the letter sounds. We use Miss Nada's Phonics by Spelling program. If you are wanting to purchase a set of books and CD's to use at home or on the go we have them available for purchase. It is not required that you do so, but Miss Nada has offered them to parents of Little Readers Preschool students at a discount. These are always available for purchase throughout the year. Pricing is as follows...

Phonics by Spelling 2 book/2 CD set = $21.00 (regular price is $29.95)
Phonics by Spelling 2 book/2 CD set (slightly bent or damaged) = $12.00 (this is a really great deal if you don't mind the slight imperfections)
Phonics by Spelling spiral bound book and DVD = $21.00 (regular price is $38.00)

Tuesday, September 13th 2011...

Today's lesson was about MANNERS. We introduced one of our favorite storybook characters, Mr. Noisy (from the Mr. Men and Little Miss series by Roger Hargreaves)!

After reading "Mr. Noisy" by Roger Hargreaves we talked about "inside voices" and "outside voices". At Snack Time we used our "please" and "thank you's" and practiced our best table manners by waiting for all the other children to be served before we started eating - an amazing feat for a bunch of hungry preschoolers, but they all performed their best! It won't be long before the habit sticks and they won't need any gentle reminders from teacher.

In Arts and Crafts today we watercolored for the first time all by ourselves! The children tried their very hardest not to mix colors and used our chant of Dip, Color, Paint to keep on track. Afterwards, they all dumped out their water cups and put away their paint - they are learning responsibility a little at a time. :)

At music time we sang a silly song that one of our teachers (Miss Jamie) made up, it goes like this...

Please and Thank You, sung to the tune of “Frere Jaque”

Please speak kindly
Please speak kindly
Use nice words
Use nice words
Always say Please and Thank You
‘Else your Mom might spank you.
Be Polite
Be Polite

We were all giggling and laughing by the end of this song!

Monday, September 12th, 2011...

Today we introduced the Pledge of Allegiance into our Circle Time routine...


Our focus was on FEELINGS today. We read the story "Llama Llama Misses Mama" by Anna Dewdney. We talked about how Llama felt when his Mama left him at school for the first time and how he felt throughout class and when his Mama came back to get him (we like to tell the kids when they miss their Moms that "Moms always come back"!).



We used our FACES throughout the day and at singing time to point out our different moods and how we might be feeling. Our FACES came in handy at singing time, we got to listen to and sing along to different kinds of music and figure out how each song made us feel. We especially liked "If your ANGRY and you know it STOMP your feet"!

FACES

In Arts & Crafts we made a FEELINGS BOOK with a picture of ourselves on the cover.

Parent Notes:

* We found one of the kids feelings books left in the classroom at the end of the day, it had no name on it so if your child's didn't make it home today - let us know tomorrow!

* We've had a few parents wonder about book orders, the order will be sent in on September 23rd. If you didn't pick up the book order forms at Back to School Night or misplaced yours - we have plenty! Just ask for one.

* School Pictures will be held NEXT WEEK! Pics will be taken in the studio inside our preschool by Emily Clark of www.winkfotos.com. The details will be posted up soon.

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011...

SECOND DAY

Today we read "How Do Dinosaurs Go to School" by Jane Yolen and introduced each child to their "Name-0-saurus". Each child's name was placed next to a different dinosaur on the wall. We then had each child stand up one at a time and take a turn finding their "Name-o-saurus" on the wall as we chanted "Dinosaur, Dinosaur, ONE, TWO, THREE... who's that dinosaur standing next to me"?. This activity helps each child to not only recognize their written name, but to get to know the names of their classmates. In art we decorated dinosaurs to take home.



The kids are adjusting really well! The first week is always a little tricky, but this year's crop of kids has been exceptional. They are all adjusting to the school, each other, teachers, and the rules really well. We'd like to thank all the parents for helping us out by letting them go quickly and easily right up front, even though we can tell you are a little nervous. It has made the transition practically painless! We will spend next week focusing on getting to know their new surroundings and expectations that we teachers have for them and then we will jump right into our FUN phonics program... Can't wait!

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

FIRST DAY HIGHLIGHTS

On the first day of school we read the story "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn. Each of the children found a handprint made by their parent(s) and placed a "kiss" on it. We talked about our worries of leaving Moms and Dads while we are at school and we talked about the fun we will be having each day at school.

In art we made handprints to take home for our parents to have. The rest of the time was spent getting to know each other and the preschool surroundings better.


PARENT NOTES:

Don't forget to look through the Book Order we sent home with you on Back To School Night. One sure way to get kids excited about reading is to have books in your home and read to your child daily! Scholastic provides a fun and affordable way to get books into your child's hands. Book orders are separated and sent home in the child's backpacks upon arrival. We try not to do this in front of the children, as feelings tend to get hurt when they don't all receive books. To be honest, I've never understood the reason for this (getting on my soapbox here... I was always one of those kids who never got any books - and that was when they only cost a quarter!). Every book order has several books in the $1 and $2 range, cheaper than a kids meal at most restaurants - but worth SO much more when your child asks you to read it over and over again. The new online ordering system is EASY and the shipping costs are covered for you! Go ahead and give it a try...

OUR CLASS ACTIVATION CODE IS: DX48H

It's so simple! Here's how it works:

• SIGN UP at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs. On the parent page, click the "Register" button in the "First Time Here?" section. Register for your own user name and password. When prompted, enter the one-time Class Activation Code shown above. This unique code ensures that your order is sent to me.
  
  
• SELECT the books you'd like to order -- choose from thousands of titles -- many more than in our monthly flyers.
  
  
• SEND your order to me online by the due date and your child's books will be delivered directly to my classroom.

Ordering online is fast, easy, and secure. If you have ANY questions about this, feel free to call me @ (801) 623-1150
*Miss Jamie

WELCOME!

Welcome to our NEW and PRIVATE BLOG just for parents of Little Readers Preschool students. We think this will be a fun and safe way for us to share what goes on here at school. This is a great tool for you, as parents, to use to communicate with your children. As a parent myself, I have found that when asking my kids about their day at school I wasn't getting a lot of feedback.

Example:

[Mom] "What did you learn at school today"?
[Child] "Nothing".
[Mom] "You had to learn something, what did your teacher say"?
[Child] "I can't remember".
[Mom] "You must have talked about something! C'mon, what did you do today"?
[Child] "We played with toys".


Example (after reading the blog):

[Mom] "Did you like the story about the racoon you read in school today"?
[Child] "Yeah! It was really cool how he went to school at night".
[Mom] "I see that you are learning the sound that the letter C makes, can you sound it out for me"?
[Child] " (makes the sound), that's like cracking an egg".
[Mom] "Great job, I am so impressed"!

Make sense?

If you have any concerns or suggestions for this blog, please email us at littlereaderspreschool@gmail.com.