Lemonade Stand

Sometimes preschool days are perfect! The sun is shining, the kids are all happy, and the craft MGT sent is too cute to stand (see what I did there). 

 

 Today the mood of the class was so wonderful. After we assembled these lemonade stands and cut out our money, I literally sat back and enjoyed watching them play. I didn't give them any instructions other than "it's your free time. You can choose any activity you'd like to play with." Everyone wanted to play lemonade stand and that is what they did. 

 They were all so cute running back and forth to each other's stands paying for pretend cups of lemonade and exchanging money.

I noticed today how close these kids have gotten to each other. I noticed that some are attached more to one friend than another but that they all get along so well. 

 I noticed today that this class is very aware of what is going on around them. They are happy together, silly together, quiet together, sad together. 

I also noticed today how cluttered my class room is. Time for some spring cleaning i guess. Days like today are my favorite kind of preschool days. I could do this forever!

The "an" family

A quick 4 day getaway to Mexico was just what I needed to gear up for the next few months. The fun and sun did my heart good. In case you're wondering… Mr. Lloyd travels a TON for his job. Like he's been out of town every other week since Christmas. We kind of miss him. It's hard on the ol marriage and my sanity to have him gone so much. So, to reward myself for kicking butt while he's gone, I sometimes tag along on his trips if he happens to be going somewhere cool. Like Can Cun. It was a blast and I had yes idea how much I would like it. I'm more of a tag along to europe kind of girl. But tropical is now on my i want to go again list. 

And now back to the real reason I blog… This week we learned about the "an" family. I really love the I Can Read books we get every month. Each month I love how the books grow with the children. They build on what they have already learned and teach something new. 

Going along with the prompts in my teacher guide, I taught them a bunch of "an" words and we explored this new idea by rolling a cAN around as we thought of new words. Since I'm still assessing skill levels for each child, the assess prompt was helpful for me to know what to look for. 

We read through the book a few times. The last read through, I let them pop out of their seats whenever they heard an "an" word. Just for fun. 

Once I was sure they had a pretty good grasp on this new word family, I sent them to their desks and instructed them to read through each page and identify all of the "an" words by circling them. This was a bit of a challenge for a few but I'm happy to report that every one was able to find words to circle. I think they get it! 

I sent the books home with the homework to cut out the words and make their own story. 

 I don't save work for them here at school. I don't have space and unfortunately, I'm not that organized. But, I hope that parents keep some of these books and journals that we use each month. I still have a lot of preschool papers, and books, and crafts that my four kids did when they were my students. I treasure them! I look at them and wonder how they were ever so small and marvel at how much they have learned. And then I'm sad because they are growing up.
So parents, keep these little journals and books! I know that our homes get over run with papers from school but you'll be happy one day that you have a record of what their first handwriting looked liked or that the people they drew all had belly buttons or that they were obsessed with the color orange. I know you don't think  you'll forget these details, but you do. Ah shoot, I'm getting all emotional again. Sorry. This was meant to be a purely educational post. I better sign off before I start crying.

Until next time…

Valentines Day

Here is why Mother Goose Time is great! A valentines day party in a package all ready go just for me! In years past I spent so much time and money on class parties. With everything prepared for me, I got to use my time writing thoughtful valentines to each student and enjoying the process instead of freaking out. This was great for my soul. 

Our Valentines day went very well! The excitement was in the air and we had a hard time waiting until the end of the day to pass our valentines. We enjoyed learning about valentines day. I read them a few stories, we made these adorable valentine hats, and we played a few games. I threw in a few extra minutes of free time because they love it so much. 

One of the cute activities MGT had tucked in the party bag… 

and finally the main event… 

I have to say that while all of this was going on I got kind of emotional. It is kind of amazing to me that I get to be part of their lives and get to experience so many of their firsts! Most of them had never been given a valentine from a friend and they were so happy and sweet about everything. I loved it so much. I love them so much!

Happy LOVE Day!

Cow Parts and Fishing

Iv'e been paying extra attention this week to the behaviors and attitudes of my students. As a teacher I want the kids to enjoy school, be engaged and excited, and of course I want to see them grow in all areas. I don't do formal parent meetings and I don't record student improvements but I do keep a mental note. I know where each student is developmentally. I can tell any parent at any time what their child could improve on, what areas they have mastered, and generally how far they have come. I also know what students need a bit "extra" to their daily activities and which ones need more of my help. 

But this week I decided to use the prompts at the end of our activities in my lesson book to assess each child's skill level and to determine if this is a benefit to me and worth my time to record. 

 For this particular activity we learned about the parts of a cow. Each student was given a sheet with cow body parts and encouraged to cut out the heart and stomaches and create a cow with the paper plate, glove, and shapes. 

The assessment question was… "did the child demonstrate an understanding that cows have more stomachs than humans? Did I hear them use names for body parts such as stomach, heart, eyes?" I also assessed how they were doing with their fine motor skills and how they were able to play with their cow puppet. 

I recorded what I saw based on the developmental continuum in the back of my teacher guide. I have to say that all of my students are exactly where they need to be benchmark wise. 

I'm not sure how beneficial it is to me and the class for me to take the time to assess each activity we do and record each child's growth. Like I said, I can tell you exactly where each child is developmentally any day of the week. However, I do find that assessing and recording where they are  once a month, or every other month would be beneficial. While I can tell you where they are now, sometimes I forget how far they have come! It's always rewarding for everyone to know that things are improving and learning and mastering skills is happening. 

 Some other areas that I assessed this week was gross motor, number concepts, and self direction. One of our activities was really fun! We made fishing poles out of pipe cleaners and wet fishing in a hamper.

After our first few times of pushing each other around in the boat I realized it was a struggle for each of them. So we doubled up and had one person pull the boat and one person push.   

 Once the boat got to the fish, the kids had to catch the amount of fish from the number card they drew. 

It was a great activity to have fun and practice counting. I noticed that everyone did exactly what they were instructed to do. They were able to add the same amount of fish as the number on the card. 

I did noticed this week that as a group everyone seems a bit wiggly and silly. I'm having a harder time to keep the group focused for learning time and doing activities like writing, listening, and picking up after themselves. And I don't know what's gotten into them when it's time to pack up and go home. It's like the first day of school and no one seems to know what the heck to do. It's kind of driving me nuts! I'm sure the anticipation of valentines day has something to do with it. While I love my work,  I'm looking forward to the long weekend coming up because I get to go to Mexico with Mr. Lloyd! 

Once I get back, I am really looking forward to doing an assessment on me and what areas I can improve on. I'm sure there are plenty!

Food and Fitness

We are going to have a great time learning and playing this month with a new Mother Goose Time theme, Food and Fitness! So far this week we have already learned about the food groups. We are learning where our food comes from and having some while figuring it all out! 

Also this month, I will be assessing each child to see where they are in their pre-K development. February is usually the month where I start to see where some of the holes are and being to challenge the students to push past their comfort zones to grow beyond what is easy for them. This can be anything from scholastics development, physical, creative, to social development. The Mother Goose Time curriculum offers many diverse experiences to observe the children. 

As I set up planned activities, I like to observe how their fine motor skill are coming along. This little one sometimes flips her had around while cutting. I see her struggling and can tell she gets frustrated at why her scissors aren't working like she wants them to. I will remind her to reposition her hand  like she is shaking hands with someone. Once she corrects her hand it's smooth sailing! 

There are no problems in the imagination department with these three. I called for time to be up like 5 times but the cutting and sandwich building just kept going and going.

As a group I am working with them all on using their time wisely. Some kids really hurry fast through everything. Their journals, crafts, snacks, games. They just want to be done and move on to something else. I feel like they miss out on enjoying the process just to be done with it.  Some kids take a very very long time to do these things. They want every detail perfect or they can't decide on what color to use so they might sit and think about it for a long time. They miss out on some extra activities because we have moved on to a new activity.  I LOVE all the diverse personalities and natures in children. I never want to change who they are but guide them to using their time wisely. 

It is a challenge for me to allow each child to be an individual and work at the pace that is right for them while still keeping the class work moving forward. I try to have extra activities available for the fast finishers so that they are never just sitting and waiting.

My goals for this month is not to only assess each student but to assess and set some goals for myself as well. I sometimes get in a rut with my routine. While I am going to be stretching them out of their comfort zones to become better prepared for kindergarten, I will be pushing myself to become a better teacher.