Happy Monday!

We started off our K/PREK1 session by reading ‘Froggy Goes To The Library’ which we picked up at the library last week. Once we were done reading, we talked about two types of shapes: 2-D and 3-D. First, we identified the 2-D shapes and shared various characteristics such as being ‘flat’. We also described each shape by how many sides they have. Friends quickly noticed that the circle and oval are similar since both shapes have zero sides.

Once we got to the 3-D shapes, we used things around us to identify each. For example, first we talked about the rectangular prism and used a wooden block from the work bench to see what it looks like. When we identified the sphere, I noted that it’s similar to the globe that we have in the basement.

K.4.1: Identify and describe geometric objects: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, diamond, trapezoid, hexagon, octagon, parallelogram, sphere, and cube.

In PREK2, children worked with 2-D shapes. First, they identified the shapes together then Miss Kim picked a shape for them to draw. They found the first letter of their name and drew their given shape.

The rest of our morning involved children extremely involved in various activities ranging from art table to notch blocks to reading in different parts of the environment. Even though we weren’t able to go outside this morning, we heard and saw exciting displays of friendship and kindness. For example:

“Evie, I love playing with you. I want to play with you all day.”

“I want to help you!” (when a soon to be 3 year old saw a teacher sweeping up glitter)

One friend made drawings for a younger peer.

Breakfast– Whole wheat bagel with butter and fresh pears/banana.

Lunch– Whole wheat noodles with marinara sauce and shredded cheese, fresh oranges/banana, and fresh carrots.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with fresh pears.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots.

Have a lovely evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/20

Good Afternoon.

Please enjoy the pictures from our day!

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix and oranges.

Lunch: Whole grain English muffin pizza with marinara and shredded mozzarella cheese, peas and apples.

Snack: Whole milk yogurt and graham crackers.

Wee Sprouts: Mixed veggies.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIulj5wNxKtinZHeNBM5wg?e=yOBq2i

Happy Friday!

We read ‘The Alphabet Tree’ in K/PREK1 which focuses on letters. At the beginning of the book, letters start falling off the tree because the wind became too strong. An ant suggested that if they work together to form words, then the wind wouldn’t be able to knock them down. This strategy worked and towards the end of the book, a caterpillar came along and suggested that the words work together to form sentences! The author, Leo Lionni, did a wonderful job at showing the relationship between letters, words, and sentences. A few of the kindergarteners noticed words that they recognized or used their knowledge of letter sounds to sound out words that they saw.

K.RF.2.4: Identify and name all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

In PREK2, children played the game ‘war’ which focuses on numbers and the terms ‘bigger’ and ‘smaller’. Children were able to identify written numbers as well as explain the relationship between two numbers.

We’ve been working on a multi-step art project this week that focuses on cardboard pieces and materials to turn it from 2-D to 3-D.

“Play is not frivolous. It is not a luxury. It is not something to fit in after completing all the important stuff. Play is the important stuff. Play is a drive, a need, a brain-building must-do.”

-Jeff A. Johnson & Denita Dinger

Breakfast– Brown rice cakes with peanut butter with fresh pears.

Lunch– Ham and melted shredded cheese on whole wheat tortilla, fresh banana/applesauce, and fresh celery/carrots.

PM snack– Pretzels and block cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots/snap peas.

Have a lovely weekend!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/17

Good Afternoon!

Our word list is continuing to grow as K/PREK1 members have been giving me one word a day all week to add to a category. After everyone got the chance to share a word, we added all three categories up so far and through four days, the two syllable group has the most words!

Before we went through our calendar routine, each child got a notecard with various drawings. They counted the items on their card and found the corresponding number on the chalkboard.

K.NS.5: Count up to 20 objects arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle. Count up to 10 objects in a scattered configuration.

K.RF.3.2: Orally segment words into syllables.

PREK2 played three rounds of ‘Four Way Countdown’ which is a math game focused on counting the dice and finding the corresponding number on the game board!

I wanted to share this article as it focuses on play based learning and the many benefits that come along with this way of learning.

“A play-based curriculum offers children opportunities throughout the day to develop the ability to think abstractly by experiencing real objects using their senses (Bredekamp, 1987; Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 1993). Blocks can represent an airplane or a train. High heels can transform a preschooler into a mother or princess. Blocks and high heels are three dimensional, tangible objects. Sufficient practice using concrete objects as symbols is a necessary prerequisite to the use and comprehension of print (Stone, 1995).”

http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=134

Breakfast– Kix and fresh pears.

Lunch– Brown rice with shredded turkey, fresh oranges/pears, and fresh celery/cucumbers.

PM snack– Whole wheat crackers and sunflower seeds.

Wee Sprout– Fresh celery/cucumbers.

Have a fantastic evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/16

Good Afternoon.

Today we expanded our imaginations from the normal climbing in and on the colorful big blocks and we made a train.  Our friend Caroline said, “Let’s all sit in our blocks and go chooo chooo!”

Breakfast: Whole wheat oatmeal pancakes and Puffins cereal with apples.

Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with shredded pork, peas and pears.

Snack: Whole wheat Triscuit crackers and pumpkin seeds.

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers.

Have a fantastic night.

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIulj5s9HJWS8V-WZl245g?e=QFNVzW

Good Afternoon.

Today we had a friend that has begun a new stage in their learning development. This is a very exciting stage not only for us as teachers but for our children as well. They are always excited to tell us what they have drawn and have us write it down on their paper.

This stage of development usually begins around the age of 2 3/4 to 3 years of age. According to zerotothree.org,  “Once your child has begun to purposefully draw images, he/she has mastered  symbolic thinking.” 

Our friend who draw this wonderful picture said it was “ A smiley face!”

Thank you to Miss Tami who bought us some very colorful and fun rice for our sensory bin.

We utilized our hand-eye coordination skills by scooping the rice from one of the small plastic eastern eggs to a cup. We also vrrrromed our cars through the rice mixture. We all had a great time and absolutely loved our sensory experience.

Breakfast: Whole grain oatmeal with honey and banana.

Lunch: Farm fresh scrambled eggs, whole wheat/grain English muffins with butter, corn and apples. 

Snack: Whole grain brown rice cakes with cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Fresh red peppers.

Have a wonderful night!

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIulj5sbrfrUpmuPImdYCg?e=3UeMUy

Good Afternoon!

Enjoy a quick snapshot of our day!

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and fresh cantaloupe.

Lunch– Farm fresh scrambled eggs with whole wheat tortilla, fresh banana/cantaloupe, and fresh carrots/snap peas.

PM snack– Blue corn chips & hummus

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/snap peas.

Have a wonderful night.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/15

Good Afternoon!

After reading one of our library books that we checked out today, we continued to add to our syllable list. Each member of K/PREK1 shared a word with the group, then worked to figure out how many syllables that word has. Children either use the ‘hand under the chin’ method or the ‘clapping’ method. We’re becoming very comfortable with counting syllables, even with tricky/long words.

K.RF.3.2: Orally segment words into syllables.

In PREK2, each child got three cards. They took turns turning over their cards, identifying the number on each card. Once they figured out the number, they matched their card to the correct number of wooden circles. At the end, they added all of their wooden circles together!

We took advantage of our somewhat decent weather and headed to the library this morning. K/PREK1 friends had the entire children’s section of the library to ourselves as we each got to choose up to three books that piqued our interest.

Before we started searching, we talked about how the librarian categorizes books. I pointed out where the first letter of the authors last names were which is how we find books. Children wanted to know where Robert Munsch stories were so we looked for the M group and started our search.

I pointed our that there were two sections that we could look through: fiction and nonfiction. Children quickly shared what each section meant and then they were off!

Once children found their books that they wanted to check out, they sat quickly with their peers looking at their books.

Penny asked what happens to the books when we’re done and I told her that eventually, we’ll have to return them which prompted the question, “So that means we can come back soon?!”

The rest of our morning was full of alphabet soup (prompting recognition of letters), painting at the easel, and tons of individualized art table work.

Breakfast– Corn Flakes with fresh pears.

Lunch– Melted shredded cheese on whole wheat flatbread, fresh cantaloupe, and fresh cucumber/pepper.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with oats and honey granola.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/pepper.

Have a wonderful evening!

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/14

Good Afternoon.

Today we dabbled in a fine motor activity that our friends absolutely love!

We have several different peg board shapes available to us that we can place our pegs into their holes. This activity is not only fine motor its also helps us build on our color recognition as well as help improve our hand-eye coordination skills.

We also had so much fun on the swing. Some of us love to lie down on the swing while others prefer to sit up. Either way, we have a blast!

Breakfast: Whole grain Kix cereal and apples.

Lunch: Hot whole wheat flatbread with shredded  mozzarella cheese, orange peppers and pears.

Snack: Whole wheat cinnamon raisin bagel with butter.

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers.

Have a wonderful night!

Marty

LINK TO PICTURES: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtTCDmdhjIulj5lUgdPpAfgEgVdCIg?e=A2ShTf

Happy Monday!

We read, ‘If Rocks Could Sing’ in K/PREK1 which is a book based on the letters of the alphabet, but in rock form! Each page had a rock formed as a different letter. For instance, the letter ‘C” was for ‘couch potato’! Children used their knowledge of letter sounds and the pictures that they observed to guess at some of the letter pictures.

We used a part of the kindergarteners sign in for the first activity. During sign in, the kindergarteners had to count the number of stickers on each note card and write the number on the back. During group, each K friend got one note card back, so four total. We worked together to place them in order from smallest to biggest.

Before we rolled up our mats to head to the journal table, each child gave me one word. Once they gave me the word, they had to tell me what group it belonged to: 1 syllable, 2 syllables, or 3 syllables. Each day this week, we’ll keep adding to the list by placing new words on the chart!

K.RF.3.2: Orally segment words into syllables.

K.NS.4: Perform one-to-one correspondence tasks.

In PREK2, alphabet was on the menu! Each child pulled out three uppercase letters. Once they pulled them out, they identified which letter they were about to place into the bowl!

Miss Kim had several helpers at the island this morning as two batches of slime were made! Children helped measure different ingredients to make the finished product.

As you can tell by the look on some of our faces, we were a little hesitant at first but quickly warmed up to the different texture that we felt on our hands and in-between our fingers.

Breakfast– Whole wheat cinnamon raisin bagel with butter and banana.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with butter and shredded beef, fresh oranges/banana, and fresh cucumber/carrots.

PM snack–  Whole wheat english muffins with peanut butter and string cheese.

Wee Sprout– Fresh cucumber/snap peas.

Have a wonderful evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/13