Thank you!

Hello and good-bye.  This will be my last post for this school year.  This year certainly did not end the way I expected or wanted it to.   I have enjoyed each and every child in both classes.  I saw a lot of growth and maturity in all of the children.  They were challenged at times, but grew as they worked hard to be successful.  I also enjoyed working with so many wonderful parents this year.  Thank you for all of your support throughout the year and thank you for sharing your child with me.  I have to say goodbye to a few families that have shared their last child with me.  Thank you for the many years of support.

Now, what should you do with your child until school starts again?  Here's a few guidelines.

Language:  I think the greatest thing that we can give to children in the early ages is language and an increasing vocabulary.  Engage with your children as you go about your daily activities.  Read books to them that are fiction and non-fiction.  Ask them lots of "I wonder..." questions and use new words that they can repeat.  Talk about things that you see and include them in your conversations at the dinner table.

Science:  I had many parents tell me that their children loved the science activities from my blog.  Young children learn best from exploration of things that they can hold in their hands.  They can manipulate and experiment with those things.  Science is also great because it carries over into so many other areas of learning.  They can extend learning by reading and writing/drawing about what they see.  Math can easily be brought into science as you measure and analyse things.  Fine motor skills are used as they touch and explore.

Math:  Keep counting, making sets of things, measuring and making patterns.   These things are all around us.  It just takes a few minutes to point these things out for children.

Letter Learning:  Point out to your child that letters and words are all around us.  Keep working on letter identification and sounds, but make it fun.  See if they can find letters on signs as you are driving.  Have them look for letters in books that you are reading.  Write letters to friends and relatives.

Gross and fine motor:  Keep them moving!  If the weather allows, go outside and move with them.  Play soccer, catch, jump rope.  Do scavenger hunts. If the weather is rainy, find a movement activity inside.   I love the Koo Koo Kangaroo videos (most of them, anyway), the Learning Station, and Jack Hartmann.  Sure, some of them are a little silly, but the kids love them.  Gross motor activity stimulates the brain and helps it function.  That's why we do a movement activities at school at least twice a day.

What about worksheets?  Worksheets aren't bad, if the children enjoy doing them.  However, research shows that children learn more when they are able to hold and manipulate something.  For example, printing the letter L on a line is helping them to learn to print that letter which is great, but also include something like making the letter L in sand, with play dough or in shaving cream.  Counting pictures of buttons and printing the numeral is fine, but if they can count and move real buttons they also learn to make sets, sort, add and subtract.

Have a wonderful summer.  I will be at the preschool throughout the summer on Monday mornings.  If there is anything I can help you with, please reach out to me.
Thank you all!

Spiders

Hello!  I loved seeing everyone last week.  I missed you all and was so glad to see you.  I'm going to do a blog today and one more on Wednesday.  Then it will be time for a summer break.

Today, let's learn about spiders.  Last week, when we learned about worms, I remember telling you that I when I was little, I didn't like worms.  Then I found out how cool they were.  Well, the same is true for spiders.  Spiders can move quickly and I think that's why I was afraid of them, but now that I know how interesting they are, I find myself watching them instead of running away from them.
Story: The book that I want to share with you is called  I'm Trying to Love Spiders by Bethany Barton. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qBfZNLFmxQ   I like how the gentleman reads this book!  It's funny, but helps you learn about spiders.

Movement:  Take a break and dance to the Itsy Bitsy Spider by Jack Hartmann. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yex6Tu059Ok We've done a lot of his videos.  He's so funny.   Did you notice the shirt that he is wearing in this video?

Math/Fine Motor:  How many legs does a spider have?  A spider is a member of the arachnid family.  Arachnids have 8 legs.  Let's draw spiders and see how many different ways we can put on the legs.  Usually, a spider has four legs on each side of it's body.  Draw a circle for the body and put 4 legs on one side and 4 on the other.  Now draw another spider.  This time put 3 legs on one side.  How many do you need to put on the other side to make 8 all together?  Draw another spider.  Put 2 legs on one side.  How many do you need to put on the other side to make 8?  Keep drawing spiders and trying different combinations. 

Snack:  Last week, we celebrated May Birthdays.  Some of you and your classmates will have a birthday over the summer during June, July and August.  They are Brea, Kinsley, and Laurel in the morning class and Vivienne, Henry, Julian, Caroline, Lydia, Elizabeth, and Eleanor in the afternoon.  For Birthday Day, we could have made Spider Snacks!  Perhaps you can make them at home.  You will need crackers that are circle shaped, peanut butter, stick pretzels, and chocolate chips.  Take a cracker and spread peanut butter on it.  Place 8 pretzels around the outside to be the spider's legs.  Then put another cracker on top.  Dip chocolate chips in the peanut butter and stick them to the top to be the eyes.  How many eyes does a spider have?  Our story today told you!  If you don't have these things, use what you have.  I've been surprised at how creative you can be!

Here's few pictures from last week.  If your family took pictures of the Ride Into Summer event last week, I'd love to see them.  We were so busy, we forgot to take a few ourselves! 

Bees

Hello!  On Monday, I told you that everything was growing outside including my grass.   Yesterday, I mowed my yard.  We've got a few dandelions in our yard, and I noticed that there were bees on them.  It got me thinking about bees and how important they are to all of us.  But before we get to learning about bees, let's dance.  This dance is one of my favorites, and we've done it at school before.  It's called Dance Like You've Got Ants in Your Pants.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYWycl8vR5c

Story:  Bees are very important.  They pollinate plants so that fruits and vegetables can grow.  Without the bees to do this important job, we wouldn't have a lot of the food that we eat.  In this fun non-fiction story, a bear finds out how important bees are to him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XFQNGJmLEk  What do you think the bear learned in this story?  It's something that we can learn, too.   How can we take care of bees?  We can plant flowers that attract them.  Grown-ups can be careful not to spray bug spray that could kill bees.

Bee Sting Game (counting, fine motor, taking turns):  I've got a game for you to make and play with a grown-up or sibling.  You will need something to make a game board out of such as paper, poster board or cardboard, crayons or markers, a ruler, a dice, and something to be a bee such as a button, a coin, or you could make a little bee out of paper.  With a grown-up's help, cut a piece of paper 2 inches wide and 22 1/2 inches long.  You may have to tape some paper together as I did.  On the strip of paper/poster board, make a line every 1 1/2 inches.  You should have 15 rectangle boxes when you get done. Your game board should look something like this. 

Find the square in the middle by counting 8 squares and put the bee on that square.  Now you're ready to play.
The object of this game is to get the bee to sting the person you are playing instead of you.  Roll the dice and identify the number on top.  Using that number, count and move the bee away from you and toward your opponent.  Now they get to roll the dice, but this time they will count and move the bee towards you.  Keep taking turns moving the bee back and forth until the bee makes it to one end of the paper.  The person on that end of the paper gets "stung".  Say Buzzzzzzzzzzz

Letter Learning:  The sight word for today is "be".  This is a different word than bee the bug, but it sounds the same.  Make sentences that tell me what you'd like to "be".  I want to be a teacher.  I want to be a helper.

I've very excited about our special Ride Into Summer Day which will be held tomorrow.  I hope to see all of you! 

I will continue to blog next week on Monday and Wednesday.  I will be giving ideas of things to do all summer while we wait for school to start again in the fall.  Here's a few pictures from this week.

Worms!

Hello!  Just as I was going to take a picture, my cat Baby decided that I needed her help.  This happens often.  She loves the computer.

This weekend was a little chilly and rainy, but things are still growing.  Some of my flowers are starting to bloom and my grass needs to be mowed again!  This time of year, we are seeing lots of growth.  Something that we don't see is what is happening below the earth to help make those things grow.  Today, I would like us to explore worms and how they help things grow.

Before we get started, I'd like you to watch this fun video.  You'll have to make up motions to go along with it.  I know you can do that.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-rg7EIt1x4  So what did you think of the ending?  I hope he said, "excuse me."

Story:  The story that I would like you to listen to day is Yucky Worms by Vivian French.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5HZDXkZgf4 When I was young, I thought worms were yucky.  Like the child in this story, I didn't want to touch them.  But as I grew, I found out that worms can be fascinating.  They are fun to watch!

Science:  I would like to encourage you to go outside and find worms.  You may have to do a little delicate digging in your yard.   There are many places on the internet that have suggestions on how to make a worm farm, but this is my favorite.  It teaches all kinds of good stuff about worms and gives directions on a really easy worm farm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSnwQ84ahNQ  The end is kind of funny.   It would be fun to try!

Art:  Do you think you could use a worm to paint?  No, that wouldn't be good for the worm.  How about using a piece of spaghetti and pretending that it is a worm?  Have a grown-up cook a piece of spaghetti.  Put a little paint in trays or dishes and drag the worm through the paint.  Now wiggle the worm across a piece of paper.  You can also do this with yarn or string if you don't have spaghetti.

Snack:  This week we would have been Birthday Day for May birthdays.  Maybe sometime this week you could make the snack that we would have made at school.  It is called Dirt Pudding.  We would have taken chocolate graham crackers and crushed them up into the bottom of a cup.  Then we would put chocolate pudding on top of the crushed crackers.  Finally, we would put a gummy worm into the pudding.  Your grown-ups probably don't have all of these things at your house so you may have to wait for another day to do this activity.  The May birthdays are Nora and Blake in the morning class and Isla in the afternoon.  Happy Birthday!

Letter Learning:  The word that you can print today is "go".  Right now to be safe, we cannot go to very many places.  I can go to the store to get groceries.  Let's pretend that you can go anywhere you would like.   With a grown-ups help, make some sentences of where you would like to go.  I would like to go to school!  

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on Thursday.  If your grown-up has not replied to the email that was sent, ask them to do so.  Here are a few pictures from last week.

Grains

Happy Wednesday!  It was a cold and rainy day yesterday.   While it keeps us inside, the rain is good for everything that is growing outside.  The farmers are busy planting their crops in the fields this time of year.  The farmers around us are growing grains.  Which leads us to the food group we are going to talk about today: the grain group.  This is probably my favorite group!

Before we get started, let's get moving to this Koo Koo Kangaroo song called Bread, Cheese, Bread.  Bread is made from grains, so I thought this would be a good fit.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXwuYXnxW4U

Story:  Do you remember the story of The Little Red Hen?   In this story, The Little Red Hen planted and grew wheat.  When the wheat was grown, she harvested it and took it to the mill to be ground into flour.  She used the flour to bake bread.  I have another story for you to listen to about a man named Walter who is a baker.  He creates something from flour that I like to eat.  The name of the story is Walter the Baker by Eric Carle.  We read some other Eric Carle books in April.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTXAU9JHa1I   Do you like pretzels?  Many people say that pretzels are shaped the way they are to represent a hug.  Cross your arms in front of you and give yourself a hug.  Do you look like a pretzel?

Science/Vocabulary:  What are grains?  Grains are seeds that are grown for us to eat or grind into flour that we can use to make food.  What kinds of grains do you have at your house?  I bet there are grains at your house that you eat almost every day.  Oatmeal is made from oats.  Wheat flour that we use to make bread is made from wheat seeds.  Rice is a seed that we cook and eat.  See how many things you can find at your house that are made from grain.  This morning, I had Cheerios for breakfast.  Cheerios are made from oats.

Literacy:  Do you remember when we figured out how many parts were in a word?  We clapped them out.  They were called syllables.  Have your grown-ups say the words below to you.  They are all grains or things you can make with grains.  Clap your hands to figure out how many syllables are in each word.  You can keep track by printing a number 1, 2, and 3 on a piece of paper.  Put a tally mark by the correct numeral when you figure out how many syllables are in the word.
Wheat, oatmeal, spaghetti, popcorn, rice, cereal, bread, muffin, pasta, crackers.  Maybe you can think of more words to add.

Fine Motor/Science:  I'm sharing 2 play dough recipes with you that we use at preschool often.  (Grown-ups:  play dough is an excellent tool for strengthening hand muscles.  Strong hand muscles make printing letters easier.)
The first uses flour.  You can help your grown-up make this dough, but you'll have to let them do the part of pouring the hot water and mixing it until it cools.   This play dough needs Kool-Aid packets for color and smell, but if you don't have Kool-Aid at home, you can leave that part out.

1 1/4 cups of flour
1/2 cup salt
2 packets of Kool-Aid, any color
1 tsp vegetable oil (not olive oil, that will change the color of the Kool-Aid)
1 cup water
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix the water and oil in a pan and put it on the stove to boil.  Once the water boils, add it to the flour mixture and stir.  Once it cools to the point that you can touch it, kneed it until it is soft and smooth.  Keep it in a plastic bag or you can use it to make things and let them dry.

The next recipe only uses two things; a loaf of bread and glue.  Tear a loaf of bread into little pieces removing the crust as you work.  Put the pieces into a cake pan or large plastic container.  Add a little glue.  Mix it with your hands.  It will get very sticky.  Keeping adding glue a little at a time until it reaches the consistency of dough.  This is a good dough to use to make cutouts or shapes to dry.  It can be painted as well.

Letter Learning:  A word that you can work on today is "like".  Think of all of the food that we learned this week.  What do you like?  Have your grown-up help you write "I like" sentences.

Here's more pictures.   I hope I got them all.  They were coming in fast and furious for a while :) I love them!

Milk!

Hello!  Last week, we starting learning about food and how it gets from the farm to our table.  Today, we are going to learn about dairy foods.  I'm holding one of my favorite dairy foods, cottage cheese.  This will be my lunch today!

Before we do that, let's watch and move to this video called "Good Foods" by Jack Hartmann  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dR22hbln6w

Story:  Dairy foods are foods that are made from milk.  Milk is good for your body.  We get milk from cows.  Here's a fun story about a cow that likes to eat cookies.  It's called The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8QQvGrTNyY  Do you think cows really like to eat cookies?  I'm guessing that you like to eat cookies and maybe you like to dunk them in milk, too. 

Do you know how milk gets from the cow to the grocery story?  Watch this video about a dairy farm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT-oKQTCEr4    There are a lot of dairy farms in Iowa.  Most of the milk that you drink comes from Iowa farms. 

Science/Vocabulary:  The milk that cows make can be made into other things that you like to eat.  See if you can think of things that are made with milk.  You might need to look in your refrigerator for ideas or ask for a grown-up's help.   On a piece of paper, draw a line down the middle.  On one side of the paper, have a grown-up write the word liquid.  On the other side, write solid.  Something that is liquid can be poured or flows easily.  Something that is a solid has a firm shape.  Now write or draw things that are made from milk on each side.  Some of the things may be tricky to determine and some things could fit into both categories.
If you have heavy whipping cream at home, you can watch a liquid turn into a solid.  Pour the cream into a small jar and shake it.  You will have to shake it a lot.  After a while, the fat in the cream will become solid.  It is butter.

At preschool, we have done some fun things with milk.  It might be fun to do them at home with a grown-up's help.
Magic Milk:  For this experiment you will need milk, food coloring and dish soap.   Pour a little milk into a dish (cannot be skim milk).  Drop food coloring onto the milk.  Do not stir the milk.  Put a small amount of dish soap on a Q-tip or eraser of a pencil.  Touch the milk with the Q-tip.  What happens?  Do you remember why the color moves away from the Q-tip?  It is because of the fat that is in the milk.  The soap makes the fat move away and takes the color with it.
Rainbow Toast: For this fun snack, you will need bread, milk, and food coloring.  Mix a small amount of milk together with food coloring.  Make as many colors as you'd like. Use a pastry brush or small brush to put the colored milk on the bread.  Be careful to not get the bread soggy.  Put the bread in the toaster or oven until the milk evaporates.   Now you have toast that looks pretty and is good to eat!

Math:  The May Math Journals are available from prekinders.com until May 15th.   Type Math Journal in the search box.  You can print them or just download them on your computer and read the directions aloud.

Letter Learning:  The sight word for you today is "can".  Print the word on paper and ask your grown-up to help you make sentences using the words "I can".  I know you can do a lot of things!

Remember, you can access the Let's Find Out Magazines at letsfindout.com  Sign in as a student and use the password "redeemer".  I have the paper copies of the magazines.  I am saving them to give to you on our special pick up day.  

Here are some pictures from last week.

Cooper's aunt has chicks!