CONGRATS preschool graduates!!
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Here is the link to the Graduation Slideshow!!!
www.wevideo.com/view/1140702799
www.wevideo.com/view/1140702799
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We started implementing STEM tubs this year. STEM stands for Science, technology, engineering, and math. The purpose of the STEM tubs is for the students to completely learn on their own. It builds problem-solving skills and students have to collaborate with other students. I love to sit back and watch them create, play, converse, and learn. 
We busted out the trikes and bikes this last week of school. *Did you know that peddling a bicycle and potty training go hand-in-hand. If a child cannot peddle a bike, they most likely aren't ready to be potty trained.
Our 3/4 year old class is ready for their 2nd year. Most of them can recognize their own name!! The next step is writing it!!  A BIG Thank You to our guest reader, Mrs. Kleinschmidt! You brought so much JOY to our classroom!!  The Saline County University Extension Office was kind enough to supply us with incubators and eggs. The kids could not wait for the chicks to hatch. They loved seeing them peck their way through the eggs.
 We charted, Are You Scared of Bugs? Then we talked about why or why not. I heard MANY bug stories.  The morning class charted the same thing only using the SMART Board. 
Even our center time revolved around bugs and insects. This involved sorting and fine motor skills. Using tweezers requires lots of finger muscles. These girls did great!
  The 4 year olds counted as high as they could, then made fingerprint bugs. I love how these turned out.  We sorted bugs on the Smart Board. We had a great class discussion.  
 
The 3 year old class charted their favorite bug. This is a new chart style. The students had to first tell the class their favorite bug and then find a "matching bug". Notice none of them are the same. It required several skills. We have been working extra hard on answering questions in the sentence form, "My favorite bug is _______."  The 4 year old class charted their favorite bug on the Smart Board!  We finished the week with a BUG HUNT!! The kiddos had SO much fun! We explored, dug holes, and got a little dirty.  
  MY FAVORITE WEEK is here...FARM week!!! I just had to post a few pictures of the farm and our family on the farm. There's nothing better than raising kids on the farm. 
 Enough about me...we started our week brainstorming what we already knew about the farm. I love finding "real" pictures and showing them on the Smart Board.  3 Year Olds graphing their favorite farm animal.  4 year olds graphing their favorite farm animal on the Smart Board!   Our blocks are way more fun with farm animals. You could hear the animal noises all the way down the hallway.
We practiced color identification with the chick. I think we said the word yellow 50 times today. Then we cut our chicks out. Lots of fine motor practice!
 Am I A Farm Animal sorting activity. We did this as a class and talked about why or why not the animal would be on a farm.  Do I Belong on a Farm Smart Board Activity!!    The afternoon class sang, "Old MacDonald" then chose their favorite farm animal to put on their very own farm.      These farm stories were completely student done. They were able to arrange their farm with whatever they wanted. Then they even wrote their own stories. Very creative.   Our Spring Sing-A-Long was so much fun. The kiddos loved having their families watch them perform. Check out our video at the bottom.  
We made flowers for our family dinner. The 3 year old class made shape flowers. Completely student made. The 4 year old class made fine motor flowers and even wrote their name.   We had to make these cute butterflies. How to Make: *Color coffee filters with markers *Spray with a water bottle (the colors will bleed) *Let dry *Create your butterfly by tying a pipe cleaner around center 
 We made our own "Name Flowers" next. The almost Kindergartners are getting really good at their names.
We colored, cute, glued, and ordered flowers by size. These skills have come a long way!
Our Field Trip to Springwater was one of our favorites! The students were able to tour all the greenhouses, learn all about flowers, and they even got a little dirty planting flowers.  
    We busted out the chains this week. The 3 year old class really enjoyed them!
"A Rainbow of My Own," is a cute book. It's short and sweet and kept the kids interested the whole time.
Both classes charted their favorite color of the rainbow.  We did LOTS of fine motor practice this week. Then we asked lots of WH questions.    The 3 year olds got to do a little finger painting. Each child counted out gold coins and glued them on their paper.  We went on a name hunt in the morning class. Every student had their name written on each color of paper. This was a fun listening and following direction game. Most of the students can recognize their name by now. For those that couldn't, this was great practice.
 Rainbow write with our names was fun. I did this during small group/center time. As the student colored the letter, I was questioning them. "What letter is that?" "What sound does that letter make?" "Who else's name starts with a ___?" (These WH questions are important especially when they go to Kindergarten.  Our science experiment that was a bit of a fail... What you need: 5 clear cups 1 bag of Skittles warm water Dropper Tablespoon Steps: 1. put a few Tablespoons of warm water in each cup. 2. place __ Skittles in each cup (in order of the rainbow) 2 red, 4, orange, 6 yellow, 8 green, 10 purple 3. let them dissolve 4. with an eye dropper transfer the colors to another clear cup, starting with purple. ***If this works correctly all the colors will stay separate and look like a rainbow. The reason why this happens is because the more dense liquid goes to the bottom. The liquid with more sugar=more dense. ***
The students helped count out the Skittles. We used words like more, less, most, few.  
RAINBOW HUNT time. This was a scavenger hunt that the students LOVED. There were 9 clues to find the rainbow with treasure.
 St. Patrick's Day
We did a little bit of St. Patrick's Day learning. These are 2 Smart Board learning activities. As always, anytime I use the Smart Board the students LOVE it!!
Both of these activities were number practice. Above-they were dragging and dropping the correct number of coins in the pot of gold. Below-they were matching the number to the correct quantity.  I conquered a fear this past Friday....PUBLIC SPEAKING. I've been told by my coworkers for years to SHARE my knowledge of technology. So I listened and did. It was a bit terrifying, but I'm so glad I did it. There were so many other teachers with questions and they loved my ideas. I have made some great connections through my presentation. I can only hope that my next presentation isn't as scary.  |
Mrs. HemmeI'm a Jesus loving, Pinterest stealing, Farmer's Wife of 3 rowdy kids...who teaches PRESCHOOL! Archives
May 2018
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