We Are Santa's Elves

We are Santa's elves

Filling Santa's shelves

With a toy

For each girl and boy

Oh we are Santa's elves

We work hard all day,

But our work is play,

Dolls we try out

See if they cry out

We are Santa's elves

We Are Santa's Elves

Last year a parent offered me two bags of unused Build A Bear stuffing. I had no idea what to do with it, but like any good teacher, I took the bags gladly. We brought it out a few weeks ago and have been using it for many crafts. We set up a stuffing station on our back counter and the children stuffed their gingerbread men and gingerbread houses. We also used it for fur on our Nativity sheep. Watching the kiddos sew, stuff, and decorate I couldn't help being reminded of the elf song from Rudolph. Crafts are a big part or our preschool experience. The children are given the opportunity to make decisions for themselves about which craft they want to create. They explore many textures, practice fine motor skills with cutting and mostly use their imagination. Not all classes embrace the fun of crafts, but this class is full of imagination. Our creation station is always full at play time. The children use more colored glue, glitter, and tape than any class in the past - and we couldn't be happier about it. 

 

   

Stone Soup

It seems that this time of year we move from one event to another. I have the best intentions to fill the days with memories for my girls but sometimes I am so busy making memories I forget to enjoy the making part. When I take the time to stop I sometimes notice things I once overlooked. In the hustle and bustle of trying to capture every one's fancy Christmas outfits today I found pictures from our Stone Soup activity before Thanksgiving.

We have just over one more week before our Christmas break. The children have learned so much already this year. Next week we will work on finishing up a few Christmas crafts (that we will lovingly wrap as gifts). Good Luck opening them, we LOVE glue and tape :)

We will also work on finishing up our assessments for our first Progress Reports. We will send our Progress Reports home in January in conjunction with the end of the first semester of school.  Our first Progress Report will serve as a benchmark for the students. We will send reports home again in March and in May. Our goal is to show growth throughout the year. Regardless of how many uppercase letters the children recognize in December we will strive for marked improvement. The Progress Reports are a work in progress. This year Kindergarten transitioned to a new standards based Report Card. The PreK 4 and PreS 3 classes are working to create reports that better mirror the language of the Kindergarten Report Cards. The report we use in December may change a bit through the year, bear with us as we work to make our reporting process more beneficial to families.

We will send out more information regarding Progress Reports in January. 

Making Monsters and Halloween Fun

We have been hard at work in Room 3 this Fall. The children have established a nice routine each day. Our mornings begin with  Cosmic Kids Yoga with Ms. Jamie. The children love her and often speak with a British accent during our morning yoga routines.

               

     

After our Yoga we gather for the Pledge of Allegiance and our morning prayer. Our mini lesson for the day is introduced in our Morning Message on the Smart Board. A new student each week is in charge of leading the Pledge of Allegiance and our daily prayers. Now that the students are comfortable with the predictable way our days unfold they are able to confidently lead these procedures. Class jobs are a great way to foster independence in our little ones. Daily 5 follows our Morning Message. The children are now divided into four small groups that fluctuate depending on the skills addressed. Children rotate between teacher tables and working on their own. Students are able to complete activities on specified apps using our class iPads in one of the 'on your own' groups. The other 'on your own' group requires the students to complete tasks in our tubs. Most activities have been taught explicitly at some point at one of our teacher tables so the children are familiar with the procedures. This is the earliest we have ever given the students this much freedom during Daily 5 time. They are proving to be quite capable of monitoring and guiding their learning. It isn't always quiet or on task, but they are easily redirected and are learning quickly how to work independently.

Click the link for a fun video with a few of our darlings reading Watch us read

Ryan and Eli using stamps to match letters

 

Michaela and Ava spelling words with our Pokey Pins

Emma and Drew practicing handwriting

David and Evelyn writing in their journals

Playtime is an essential part of our day. Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive and emotional strength. Play is important to healthy brain development. Plus it is fun!

Princesses and Super Heroes

                  

 

 Drawing on the board and pumpkin bowling

  

A little puppet show fun

Imitation is the best form of flattery

                 

 

More pumpkin bowling

And Candy Land - a childhood classic

Our afternoon skill time is set up in the same manner as our morning time, but relating to Math skills. The children are working on reading number words and measuring. 

Reading number words and putting eyes on Monsters

                

 

And most importantly: Thank you to our Room Parents for a great Boo Breakfast and all our parents who joined us for the morning.

Fire Safety can be Fun

Last week Steve and I took a mini vacation to Florida. We pulled the girls from school and met my brother in Orlando to spend a few days at Universal. Not to worry, while I was off having fun with family our class had a special treat. Mrs. Faulk's daughter joined our class for the day. The children looked like they had a great time creating their fire truck snack.

Emily and Aileen show their fire trucks

Sorting and counting our ingredients

We had no idea cooking could be this fun

Michaela - always ready with a smile

Drew with his finished product

Building a ladder with pretzels

Almost ready to take a bite

Eli with such attention to detail

Where oh where did September go?

I can not believe we are already in October. Fall is my favorite season of the year and we have many exciting projects in store. Last week we made our own applesauce in the crockpot. We also made apple pizzas. We have been enjoying honey wheat toast and apple butter during snack time too.

 We even made 'caramel apples'.

After we read the book Ten Apples Up On Top we tried to balance apples on our heads. 

Turns out this is REALLY HARD !

We had a few special events last week also. We celebrated DisAbility Awareness Week. The children heard a story "Everybody Plays". We watched a puppet show and had a speaker from First Steps talk with the children about adaptive play therapy. It was a week full of fun events.

Mr. Moore is teaching the children to follow a beat, with DRUMS. Music last week so so much fun.

And of course our favorite Daily 5, Read to Self