When do things happen at school?

Yikes!  The last two weeks have flown by and the weekends have been great, but jam-packed!  So, I'm going to do my best to catch you all up on what we've been doing the last few weeks.  We've been talking about clocks, why we have a schedule, and why we have routines.  To go along with this topic, we sang "Hickory, Dickory, Dock" and made a clock with a mouse on it.  The kids had to cut out the circles for the mouse and then assemble the clock and mouse.  It was a tricky project, but they really enjoyed making them!  

Of course, these had to go on our bulletin board!

A few weeks ago we started doing journals with the afternoon class on Thursdays.  Each cutie has a journal with their name on the front and they can draw or write whatever they would like in it.  They seem to enjoy journal day!

We've been reading The Gingerbread Man and starting to discuss how to be a friend.  During Center Time, we encouraged the cuties to draw a scene from the story or draw how they would have caught the Gingerbread Man.  

 We're really getting into our arrival routine.  We discuss who is at school that day and then hold hands and sing our hello song.  During the song we say hello to each person in the circle.  

After we talked about what a schedule is, we read Peany Butter Fudge.  In the story, Mom leaves a schedule for Nana to follow while she's gone.  Well, Nana doesn't follow the schedule, but they have lots of fun and end the day making peanut butter fudge!  

We also read Kevin and His Dad.  In this story, Kevin and his dad clean the house first and then go have fun.  After we read the story we talked about why we have to work before we play. 

The biggest hit of the week was when we played a rhyming game that the kids LOVED!! We started with my name, so I said, "Listen for your name, listen for your name, listen for the word that sounds like Jeth, Seth, Teth.  Who is it?  It's Beth!" Then we tried it with each cutie's name.  Like I said, they LOVED this game, they kept suggesting more names for us to try!  You should try it with your kids!  And, as an added bonus, it will be stuck in your head all day...guess what's running through my head right now.  :)

Handwriting Without Tears uses Mat Man to help teach the kids how to draw a person, so we introduced the Mat Man song and pieces that go with it.  The next time we make Mat Man, the kids will each have a turn to add a body part.  It's also a great way to work on identifying body parts!

We finished the week by guessing what was in the Feely Box.  Each sweetie had a turn to feel what was in the box and make a guess.  After everyone had a turn, I showed them what it was.

Their homework last week was to decorate a gingerbread person.  On Thursday each cutie told us about their person and who helped them decorate it.  We have some great artists!  

 We ended the week celebrating this cutie's birthday!  

A few weeks ago in my More with Learning Names post, I showed you the kids making their dot-art names.  Here's what they look like in the classroom.  

Okay, I think I'm all caught up...for the moment.  :)

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you're enjoying the beautiful fall weather!

~Beth

More with Learning Names

This week we discussed what rules are and why we need to have them.  We also worked on each child recognizing their own name and the letters in their name.  During Center Time we used the Dot Art Markers to spell out each child's name.  

They did a great job and I can't wait to put them up in the classroom!

During Read-Aloud, each cutie had an envelope with their name on it and inside were squares with the letters of their name.  They used the model of their name on the envelope to spell out their name with the tiles.  

In our Opening Group Meeting we started our attendance chart.  Each sweetie's card with their name and picture on it starts on the left side with the picture of a house and if they're at school they move it over to the side with the picture of our school.  Then we discuss who is not at school that day.  

On Wednesday we made Black Bean Corn Salsa!  

During Snack Time we tasted it!  Some loved it, some hated it, and some thought it was just okay.  :)

The morning group practiced matching colors on Thursday during Table Time.  

Last week was also our Community Unity Spirit Week.  We had pajama day, favorite super hero/western wear day, and favorite sports team day.  We collected non-perishables for our Community Services League, too.  

 It was a busy week!  

Thanks for stopping by!

~Beth

Getting into the school routine!

Our question for the week was, "What should we do if we get sad or scared at school?"  We read The Kissing Hand and Wemberly Worried and talked about what helped each character feel better about school.  We discussed what makes us sad, scared, and happy and what we can do at school if we're sad or scared.  After reading The Kissing Hand, we made our own Chester raccoon.  The afternoon class cut out their large heart and then glued everything together, while the morning class just had to assemble theirs.

It's so nice to have artwork up in the classroom again!  

We also started jobs this week.  This cutie was very excited to be the calendar helper!

During our Read-Aloud time, each sweetie was able to act out Little Miss Muffet.  We also worked on taking turns and names during this activity.  After each child had their turn, they were able to pick a friend to go next by saying that person's name and asking them, "Would you like a turn?"  

They loved this activity and several of them even acted it out on their own during play time. 

During the closing Read-Aloud, we used musical instruments.  Both classes LOVED this activity!

Ms. Lindsey, our social worker, started play group with our class this week.  Each Wednesday she comes in and we work on following directions, taking turns, and working together.  Here we used a drop of lotion to stick a cotton ball to our noses.  Then, we all had to blow the cotton ball off our noses.  This can be a tricky activity!  

We also taught the morning class about book time expectations.  During transition times, they can go look at a book quietly until the whole class is ready to move on to the next activity. 

These two sweeties had so much fun seeing how high they could stack the pegs during play time.  They worked together to keep the tower in one piece and were so proud of the results!

We ended the week by celebrating this cutie's birthday!  

I hope you've had a great Labor Day weekend!  I've enjoyed having an extra day to relax and re-energize!  

Thanks for stopping by!

~Beth