Hooray for Log Cabins and long walks.

We had a fun and busy day today.  We started the morning out by swapping out some of our toys in our classroom. The kids are always excited when I open the closet and start pulling stuff out. Yesterday I put out new puzzles, and they all went around the rooms and worked all of the new ones. Today I put  ladder blocks and lacing spools out in the Math Center, new magnetic letters and lacing cards in the Language Center, and several new stencils in the Art Center.  It's amazing what a few new toys can do for our mood!

I failed to mention that our pet, Mr. Crabby Crab has passed away.  We miss him in our class room, but hopefully we will have a new pet soon.  I do not know why, but I have the hardest time keeping our pets alive.  I am very thankful, that so far Fish #3 is still alive. 

We have been talking about our Presidents this week. The children are picking up on the names of several or our nations leaders. We have talked about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Barack Obama.  We have sorted and counted coins, while we talk about the faces on each coin and we have read books about these great men. I don't expect for all the children to be able to repeat the names of all these presidents, but the exposure to the words and names is good for them. When I choose a theme, I don't do necessarily to teach the children facts about the theme. The theme is always used as a frame work to allow me to tie in as many different areas as possible.  It helps me to keep new and interesting activities planned that keep the children interested. Sometimes the class is very interested in a theme and we may continue it or go back to it until they get bored, and sometimes they have no interest at all. In that case, we move on as quickly as possible. Our Log Cabins are another example of this. We discussed Abraham Lincoln and how he lived in a log cabin. Then we built log cabins out of pretzels. This was great building and thinking practice. The kids worked together in teams to stack the pretzels to look like Log Cabins. Then we glued them together.  It was really fun, and when we got finished we got to taste the leftover pretzels. 

To end our day today, we took a walk around the front and side of the building. We used a buddy system to walk and practiced being safe and watching out for cars. We heard a lot of sirens and talked about what the sirens mean.  We tried to determine if the sirens were police, fire, or ambulance. It was really hard to tell. Waylon thought that they were firetruck sirens because of the sound they made.  It was interesting to listen to them try to tell the difference between the different sirens we heard.  We also saw the horses and some birds.

All and all it was a very pleasant day in our little world.  Hopefully the sun will come out tomorrow so that we can spend some more time outside. 

O Be Careful What You Say and Do!

I had a good reminder today of how much is "caught" instead of  "taught".  I was asking Zoi a question today, and she looked at me as straight faced as possible, and said "Haven't I already answered that, I told you already!" LOL She sounded like a recording of me! AND, if I had to guess, the faces she was making were an imitation of mine as well.  Preschoolers are like sponges, they soak up everything, even things that we don't realize they are absorbing!

Today we made STOP signs.  We were reviewing the letter O, so we talked about OCTAGON (which Charley and Zoi could read all the letters to spell), and we traced the letters S-T-O-P, colored the sign red and then cut out the octagon.  We also talked about where we see a STOP sign and what it means. So be aware, your children will be on the lookout for stop signs and what you are supposed to do when you see one.  They are now Traffic Cops!

We are so thankful for the nice weather. It has been super nice to get to go outside. We all had cabin fever, bad.  The children were in desperate need of some fresh air and space to run! I know winter isn't over yet, but we will enjoy it while we can.

Although the change in the weather is nice, other changes are sometimes difficult. Stability is something that we work to maintain in our classroom. Preschoolers thrive when they know what to expect and what "normal" is. When the things that they know as constant change, they begin to question everything around them. Many of the children in our classroom are in a time of transition at home.  When life happens and things have to change, there are some things you can do to maintain as much stability as possible and to prepare your preschooler for what is coming. Here are a few suggestions:

• Talk to your child. Give them as much information as is appropriate. If they have a vague idea of what is coming, they won't be caught completely off guard. 
• Keep as many routines intact as possible - meals, bedtimes, wake up, school, etc... This will help keep them grounded.  
• Make time for "down time." A little snuggle time goes a long way! 
• Communicate, Communicate, Communicate - If I know things are changing, I can help your child work thru what is going on.   

Valentine's Cards

Today we made Valentine's Cards. I will admit to being overambitious and slightly insane, but I wanted the kids to have something personalized and handmade to share with each other.  So we spent the day coloring hearts, gluing them to cards, and adding stickers and other decorations, then deciding who each card was for. 11 cards per child, for all 12 kids. Needless to say, this project took us all day. But, the kids are all excited for the Valentine's Day Party and are looking forward to the cards that they have made for each other.