Our first week at preschool was a success! The kids did a great job exploring the school room, and the reading room. They were VERY busy the first day, going from on e activity to the next quickly, because of all the excitement and new things. We had a lot of time spent on classroom rules, like treating toys with respect, cleaning up when we are finished with an activity, and following teacher directions. They all did really well. There was a lot of playing our first day… and I take LOTS of pictures. So enjoy. ABC fishing; after they catch a letter they say it's name.
Jake and The Neverland Pirate toys are an instant favorite. The kids asked that I bring them out on Thursday and Friday as well. Jared was singing about the pirates. I don't know if it was a song from the show, but he was into it!
The super heroes, villains and rescue bots were another favorite. Go figure. Warren and Christian named EVERY super hero and rescue bot and told me all about what they did to help the team. They were SO excited.
Dress-up was fun for everyone too! We have lots of costumes and accessories in the classroom.
Some toys that I brought out I thought might be boring, but I wanted to get a gage on what this group is interested in. I was surprised that they played nicely with most of the things I brought out. No one balked at anything.
The potato head people that they were creating were wonderful. This is one of those sneaky toys that makes their fine motor skills improve without the kids knowing that they are actually WORKING not playing. Love it.
Playing doctor was a favorite game this week too. Sofia was always the patient, and sometimes others would be too. She got very into the being sick thing, even her facial expressions had me asking her if she was still pretending (she was!).
Trying out the race track made this room as noisy as it could be. They were running after each car and thundering back. Everyone loved it.
The kids did a few puzzles, but not many. The floor puzzle that they worked on took them a long time, but they got it done! Jackson kept encouraging the others, "We can do this guys!" I love that!
Building block towers isn't a thoughtless activity, it increases dexterity and helps with focus and attention span. Woohoo!
Our quiet reading room also has baby dolls and some other quiet-ish activities in it. It's a nice place to have when some noisier activity begins in the schoolroom.
The reading room is also good when the tables are in use for small groups. They were excited about coloring. Lullaby goes anywhere there are markers, she loves creating.
We usually use our magnet board during circle time, but it's fun for creating magnet block creations too.
Table time is usually an art activity, but the kids tried out Play-doh one of the days just for fun.
The actual table time activity was making the first letter in their names with the dot markers. It was easy for some and challenging for others. We will be using their names a LOT in preschool so this will be an ongoing activity.
The preschoolers practicing writing their names the "school way". Capital letter first, followed by lower case. It's HARD to do, but they all gave it a try! Good job!
More writing practice.
Table time on Friday was decorating their letters (the first letter in each of their names). They loved it.
So so silly. They were cracking me up.
Singing "Days of the Week" together and pointing along as we go.
In our morning circle we sing lots of songs and use this magnet board for the props.
Snack time is a lot quieter than I thought it would be. They must have been hungry!
I snuck in a little math, to see where they were at. It was a simple counting activity. One-to-one correspondence is where the kids point to each item individually as they count, instead of rushing through those memorized strings of numbers regardless of the number of items shown. That's what we are working toward. Plus this helps with number identification, which is also an area we will be working on. They liked this activity.
Our outdoor play time was soggy and wet. We spent a lot of time blowing bubbles, coloring with chalk, and jumping on the trampoline.
Then, Abby found a toad. A really BIG one. Then another and another. She has become the resident toad catcher and the kids will go to her to ask for help finding one. These poor toads should probably move out.
At the end of the day we move down to the living room for some books and/or yoga depending on if I need to wake them up or calm them down. Even though yoga is calming, it makes them get up and move and we needed that at the end of the day on Friday. They were cheating for the picture and leaning on the wall, but you get the idea.
