Community Week!

This week we learned that we are a part of a community!  We learned about a lot of different community helpers that we might want to be when we grow up!  The children thoroughly enjoyed dressing up as these helpers! 

 

 Doctors, nurses, and veterinarians giving pets and our assistant teacher check-ups!

 Busy farmers planting and harvesting fresh produce!

 Being community helpers was a lot of fun!

We learned about how mail carriers deliver letters and packages.  We also learned what goes on the outside of the envelope when we want to mail a letter.  It was fun to write our own letters and delivery them to someone special--just like a mail carrier!

 

The highlight of our week...our field trip to the police station and the post office!  It turned out to be a very hot week, but these kids were troopers and did great on our walking field trip!

Sergeant Foster taught us all about the police department and all the important things that happen there!

We were so proud of all the children--they were very quiet during our visit to the police station so the people working there could continue their important work of helping people in our community.

We had the opportunity to see the jail cells!  That was very interesting and somewhat exciting with a "magic" toilet! (No worries, parents--none of the kids wanted to be locked up in the cells!)

The kids were fascinated when we got to see inside the police vehicle!  We saw the computers and other tools the officers use as well as the "cage" in the back seat for those who have to ride in the police car!

Cover your ears!  The lights and sirens were an exciting part of our field trip!

We were very quiet as we went into the dispatch room where the 911 calls are answered.  It was really neat to see all the screens and computers in use to monitor our community and keep it safe!

 

Thank you to all the moms who joined us on our field trip this week!  It was wonderful to have you come with us and help us all along the way!

This little group spotted a police officer in action after we left the police station!

A big thank you to the post office for letting us see behind the scene of their job!  It was pretty cool to see what goes in to getting the mail sorted and where it needs to go!

We learned the letter "M" this week!  

 While each of our classes works on the letter of the week, on Fridays our Pre-K classes focus solely on the letter of the week.  This week we did some "M&M" math as well as gluing letter M's on a big M.

We also enjoyed acting out the story of "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!"

We had a great week!  Next week we'll be starting a new monthly theme of "Fall"!  Hopefully the weather will cooperate with our theme! : )

Friends!

We had such a wonderful week learning about Friends!  We learned that friends share, are kind, and play nicely with each other!  The children had so much fun playing together at centers and outside with their school friends all week!

 

 

 Building blocks together with friends!  Blocks is always a great way to practice key social skills needed to be a good friend like sharing, teamwork, and using words to tell someone how you feel.

 After we learned that sometimes our friends are very different than us, but that 2 things that are different often go together, we played a fun matching game!  Each child picked two things that go together, like socks and shoes or a mixing bowl and spoon.  A wonderful book we read about friends this week was "Being Friends," by Karen Beaumont.

 We had a great time making friends out of Play-doh!  This was a great way for the kids to develop fine motor skills as well as use creativity to decide how they wanted to form their friends out of Play-doh.

 Friends like to do fun things together!  We chose a friend and then made a boat together.  The kids loved "rowing" back and forth as we sang "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."

 

 

 Then, we got to make our own row boats for some friends to ride in! 

 

Counting friends!  

One-to-one correspondence is a counting skill most preschoolers are working on.  As we sorted this group of friends, we practiced our counting. 

We learned the letter "A" this week!  The Pre-K classes each got a turn to practice writing the letter on the white board.

 Apples and animal crackers were a perfect "A" snack!

 Our project for the letter "A" was making an apple.  The children got strips of colored paper that they tore into pieces and then glued on the apple!  We did this after looking at real apples and doing some hands-on apple math!

It was magical to see our tree turn into an apple tree full of beautiful, colorful apples!

We love to read stories at our preschool!  Reading to children is a wonderful teaching tool as well as a great opportunity to instill the love of good books in these children's hearts!  Be sure to make time to read with your preschooler each day!

Next week we will be learning about our community!  Our first field trip of the school year is coming up!

Family Week!

This was one fabulous week!  We learned about families!  We learned that every family is different- some people live with mom and dad, some live with just one parent, some have one child in the family, some have lots of children... 

 The kids really enjoyed bringing their family pictures to show to the class!  They felt so special as they told us who was in their family and how much they love their family and how their family loves them! Thanks to all the parents who sent family pictures!  If you didn't get a chance to send a picture, you may send it next week if you'd like!

 

The kids loved playing and learning together in the family center!  

This group decided their families were going camping! 

After talking about helping in our families, the Pre-K classes practiced their artistic skills as they drew their family, their house, and how they help their family.  We have some great artists as well as some wonderful helpers!

Animals have families too!  

 

 This was a very engaging math activity!  First, we put the little bears into families according to number- they practiced recognizing the numbers and one-to-one correspondence as they counted the bears to match the number. 

 Afterwards, they had fun making their own bear families!  We sorted the bears into buckets according to color when we were all through.  There was some great learning going on!

 Family finger puppets were a hit! 

We're always happy when Mother Goose flies in for a visit!   The kids always enjoy her rhymes, stories, and songs!  She comes once a month to all our classes!  We sure love Mother Goose!

Our Pre-K classes learned about another family...the old woman who lived in the shoe!  Nursery rhymes are a perfect way to encourage memorization and confidence as they retell the rhyme!

If you can't tell, "X" was the letter of the week!

A picture from this week is perfect for introducing our theme for next week...Friends!  It is magical to see how preschoolers make friends so quickly!  I love how they play so nicely together, share toys and books, and are so concerned for one another!  We're looking forward to another wonderful week!