Recycle White Elephant Sale

Or something to that effect... This is another idea Ike's fantastic teacher had this year. They had a week focused on recycle, reduce and reuse. As a way to introduce the idea and personally apply the principle, each student was given the assignment to choose one small, inexpensive toythat is old and boring to them. Then they were to bring them to school inside a paper lunch bag. The teacher then assigned a price and displayed the toys. Each child had a chance to choose one of the toys and "pay" for it using their money manipulatives. This gave the students an opportunity to practice money skills, subtraction, and addition, as well as realizing their old toys may be reused and are still good toys!

I love this activity! I just wanted to remember it too:)

My Mystery Object

Ike came home from school with this project. I loved it and want to remember to do it for preschool. F.O.R.E.V.E.R. It was THAT good:) Ike's class was working on visualization and descriptive writing. Abstract thought is obviously something still developing, but I think there is lots of value in this assignment even at the preschool age.
1. Each child must pick one object from home to place in their paper lunch sack.
2. Each student must brainstorm some descriptive words to help the group visualize it. SOme questions you may anser to help you thinkof clues are: What colors does it have? How does it feel?
3. Descriptive clues are then organized into 3 or 4 clues.
4. These kiddos then practiced reading their clues, but preschoolers could either practice reading or memorizing.

Ike took a small blue flashlight he received for Christmas. Here is what he wrote:

1. My mystery object is blue.
2. It helps you see in emergencies.
3. My brother and I play with it.
4. We have to be careful not to get it in anyone's eyes.

Because we live in Oklahoma, the emergency clue gave it away. I highly doubt kids in Arizona would have equated emergency and flashlight! It was however, great writing practice, cooperation, and abstract thought:)

Winter Study in Phoenix

I know, it's an oxymoron:) How do you truly study winter in Phoenix:) You gotta get a little more creative, that's all! A couple of weeks ago, that was my assigned theme and it was so fun! We made snowglobes out of baby food jars (oops, no pics) with little snowmen erasers hot glued to the inside lid and lots of glitter in the jelly/water:) SO CUTE and even more than that, a HUGE hit with the 4 and 5 year old crowd (and Z)!
We also played in lots of fake snow (styrofoam, weird fake snow stuff from walmart and cotton balls) in the texture table with fake snowflakes thrown in and clothespins to try and manipulate with them.
I made snowshoes out of cardboard to go with the "snow cabin" and let the kids pretend to be inuits or something. They did a great job imagining this week. I think the imagination part is my favorite anyway:) They decorated their snow cabin and "bundled up" in all our winter gear while they pranced around in fake snowshoes and pretended to be hunting seals:) Too cute! I guess our snow gear comes in handy every once in awhile, right?!
We also did a science project the kids loved. I found the premise of the idea online, but can't remember where my flip flops are, let alone that website:) Anyway, the kids were able to choose 3 locations to put their ice cube (in identical containers). They chose 1. bookshelf, 2. oven, 3. outside the front door. Then they had to make a hypothesis on how it would look in 20 minutes. Third, we checked our results. We talked about WHY they chose their hypotheses and their reasoning and then reconciled with what really happened. Their little brains did some hard work and they were so happy with the results! Who knew ice and tupperware could be so amazing!?

All in all, it was a great week. I so love teaching preschool. I love doing journaling time with them and listening to their logic. I love watching them play and cohort and reconfigure and work together. Lucky, lucky me!

Thank You Dr. Seuss!

You have to admit, the post holiday, end of February "blehs" did set in for a little bit... I know I'm skipping ahead, but we have just loved doing Dr. Seuss theme at preschool a few weeks ago, so I thought I would anyway! It truly gave me a new spark to start off March:) First of all, there is SO MUCH to do surrounding Dr. Seuss books. I could've gone on for weeks and weeks! I just chose a few more "common" books, and then Ike and I did even more on the other days without preschool kids (I told you, we LOVED it)! I actually found lots of great ideas on www.seussville.com, and a variety of momma bloggers like myself (ok, way better than me...) and then of course, gave things my own little twist:) Apparently, I was really terrible at taking pictures b/c we were soo busy having fun, but at least you get the idea... Anyway here are some highlights from Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish, Green Eggs and Ham, and The Foot Book...

1. The Foot Book... We did a study of our own feet. We charted our foot size compared to our friends. We measured them, made a book about them, traced them for the book, added embellishments (on the book, not our real feet), described them, looked at other animals' feetsies, danced with paint (outside), squished and sqaushed and had a grand ol' time! So fun:)

2. Green Eggs and Ham... Just happened to coincide with right before St Patrick's Day, so we made green eggs and ham of course, for snack and graphed whether we liked it or not. Among other things, we also did some rhyming games with little cards the kids colored and cut out and then we played the game! This was a fun fun day. It was neat to teach the kids about rhyming and help them come up with their own rhyming schemes.

Oobleck... what else?

3. Cat in the Hat... We had such a fun time with this one! We played a game (after reading the book) where we went around the room and each child did a "homemade trick" (balancing while holding their tongue, etc.) and then the rest of us tried it. We also charted how many blocks we could balance in one hand as another trick. We made cat in the hat hats. They turned out so cute! Usually I don't do activities that are just cute, and I guess this one took a lot of concentration for cutting, patterning (red, white, etc.) but, when it comes down to it, it was just plain cute too! We had so much fun journaling this day too... the prompt I came up with was, "If the Cat in the Hat came to my house, I would..." The responses were hysterical:)

4. One Fish Two Fish- Again, we were able to spin this into a lot of rhyming and language gaming. I love taking a wonderfully written, fun, and engaging children's book and turning it into learning without them even knowing! THAT was today (and the past two weeks)! One game in particular we played with this one was to clap every time we heard a rhyme as we read the book. We also made our own stuffed red and blue fish... Made out of tissue paper, plastic page protectors and staples. My kiddos LOVE any chance to use the stapler (and it is a great way to build fine motor muscles, if carefully supervised!) So, we stapled away, and this is what we came up with! We also got to eat lots of yummy fish treats this day... swedish fish, fish sandwiches (just ike and zach), goldfish crackers, ocean water, and fish eggs (grapes).

See... I told you Dr. Seuss at preschool was going to be fun...

Best Playdough Ever, really... Ever!

Ok, I realize this is not a great photo, but BELIEVE ME... I have tried and tried playdough recipes... This one has the consistency of the store bought playdough (minus the smell...) I made this one red with red glitter (and raspberry koolaid for good smell) for Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day.

2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. salt
1 pk Unsweetened koolaid, any flavor
4 tsp. cream of tartar
2 c. water
2 T. corn oil
Mix all the ingredients together in a large saucepan. Cook and stir over low heat until the mixture thickens an dthe bottom is just starting to crust up, about 15 minutes. The dough will be very stiff and hard at this point.
Turn the dough out onto a large cookie sheet and let it cool. When cool, knead until smooth. Store in a covered container.
Let the fun begin!

This free scrapbook design personalized with Smilebox

Christmastime!

I realize I'm *a little* behind in posting about preschool... Preschool is taking away some valuable blogging minutes;) But, I wouldn't have it any other way! It really has been a great experience for Isaac and I this year. One of my favorite things about teaching private preschool in my home is my ability to study and teach the things that are important to me and the kids. I LOVE being able to incorporate the gospel into school and being able to structure my curriculum to what they are interested in. I love that my kiddo has no distinction between religion and life. Does that make sense? To him, for now (fingers are crossed), they are one and the same. I love that.
     Anyway, Christmastime was no exception. Santa plays a small role in our family's Christmas celebration. I LOVE the spirit of giving, love, charity, hope, etc. that Santa brings, but I pride myself in not bringing in a huge amount of commercialization. We rarely talk about "what Santa will bring," though we do sing of Rudolph, Up on the Housetop, etc. I LOVE tradition:)
    This year at preschool, we started the very first week of December by talking about Samuel the Lamanite. He was a prophet who preached to the people the coming of the baby Jesus 5 years before his birth. We focused on the significance of the Star (Samuel and other prophets prophesied this would be the sign of Jesus' birth). It was so fun to give kids a whole new dimension of thinking about stars at Christmastime!
     We also studied Christmas tradition in other countries. We celebrated St Nick's day (Germany) and talked about the meaning of the Christmas tree, the origin of gingerbread houses, giving, celebrating, etc. We set up Santa's toy shop and painted our own ceramic banks, wrapped "gifts" (blocks) and loaded them into the "sleigh" to deliver for the children (among other things...) We also had some fun with texture table these weeks playing with ice, "snow," and cinnamon spiced playdough. What a fun week!
      Week 3 of Christmas, we talked more particularly about the actual events of the Savior's birth. We reenacted the story countless times (dramatic play!), played go fish with nativity cards, looked for the missing piece to the nativity set, made our own nativity scenes out of fun foam (as a shape activity). We had a great time celebrating Jesus' birth with our own birthday party. We each made a "gift" for Him by decorating a gift and writing on it what we were going to do this year that he would like (show kindness to my brother, remember to say my prayers, pick up my toys without being asked:) The kids thought of their gifts all by themselves! It was neat to really literally tie it all together by reading our gifts aloud while we ate birthday cupcakes under our crepe paper decorations!
       The first week of January we wrapped up our discussion of Christmastime by celebrating 3 Kings Day (Jan 6th) and talking about the Wisemen, their faith, how the stars led them to the Baby Jesus, and the Latin American traditions associated with this day. We had a celebration for 3 Kings Day and studied this culture as well. I think the kids really enjoyed learning how other children around the world celebrate Christmas:) We made some really awesome crowns this week out of painted paper plates, played phonics games with globos (balls- a common celebration toy during 3 K day) and ate traditional panetone. Fun! 

Gift Exchange- the kids had $2 to thoughtfully find a gift for their friend

Santa's workshop- painting banks

Mary, Baby Jesus, and the Myrrh Wiseman (Ike INSISTED)

      Unfortunately, I didn't take a lot of time to take pictures during all of this month... It was a wonderful experience that kept me grounded to the real reasons for the Christmas season. We had some fun times and learned a few new things along the way too!

Healthy Me, Healthy You!

Along with the fall comes back to school and sharing. Lots and lots of sharing. Ok, most sharing is a good thing. It shows complex reasoning, higher thinking, creativity, etc. Unfortunately, it also means we all get sick:) Lucky for us, we haven't been too hard hit so far. I wanted to nip that idea of sharing germs in the bud by doing a week of Healthy Me, Healthy You. I think we may have a follow up week on nutrition after halloween because it was a HUGE hit! We had a GREAT dramatic play area this week with doctors and poor little cabbage patch patients (they ended up covered in bandages and oxygen tubes, gauze, etc. We were able to make doctor nametags, stethescopes, lots of germ demonstrations and experiments among other things. I think it made a real, lasting impression too! Ike keeps singing "5 Little Germs!" instead of 5 Little Ducks now:)

Ok, I know you're dying for the words...
5 Little Germs were busy at play
on a child's hand one day
They were playing side by side
Then the child washed and one germ died! (Each time you sing this line, the child takes a bar of soap and pretends to wash really well). ** I have great germ clipart that goes with this for feltboard

One demonstration was putting blue soap/paint mixture on one of the kids' hands and letting him touch several different objects in our classroom, thus showing how we spread our germs if we don't wash.

We also made doctor bags and painted at the art center with different doctor supplies like gauze, cotton balls, q tips, sponges, etc.

The other day, we paired up and I squirted blue paint/soap on one partner's hand. The other partner had to take a baby wipe and try to wipe it all off their partner's hand. This demonstrated how well we have to scrub tops, bottoms and in between. It was a great week!

writing prescriptions

Wouldn't you trust them to take out your appendix?

Artwork called "Tissue Tina"

Colors of the Rainbow

Well, did I mention how busy I have felt lately? Thus 1 month has transpired in the blink of an eye! Week 3 of Preschool was spent learning and experimenting with color. We learned many ways to mix colors and get different results. Our favorite books this week were: Little Blue and Little Yellow (followed by mixing yellow and blue jello globs in a baggie- a very neat experience)! and Harold and the Purple Crayon. Our imaginations were running wild! The color pyramid we made this week with our handprints was such a concrete demonstration for the kids on color. I LOVED it!

rainbow jello- I made all the colors the night before and the kids added them in order by the scoopful the next day



Yumm!

Rainbow cheerio necklaces

Little Blue and Little Yellow in a baggie

All About Me and My family

In case you didn't know, I have taken on the great challenge (and reward) of starting my own home preschool for Ike and 5 of his little friends (and Z of course)! We started at the beginning of Sept and are going T/Th mornings from 9-11:30. Ike is so proud and happy to be going to preschool and (I think) to have his mommy doing it:) I will address the comment that seriously so blessed put this week... I'm not turning "all polygafrump"- a funny post if you haven't seen it- although, I am a little more pressed for time. It doesn't seem that 5 hours a week could add up to that much extra work, but if you know me at all, you know I'm a perfectionist by nature, and an overachiever, type A as well... put it together and you have late nights sitting on the carpet laminating, cutting, and preparing in every way possible! The result is what I'll put here... fun preschool days and sleepless preparing nights:) And, I love every minute of it!
     So, week one and two were All About Me and My Family (the kids' not me- though that would be funny to do a week theme on ME- I can see it now:) I digress... some of my favorite things from this week were:


Journals- we have started Journals we will write an entry in every school day. I just use composition notebooks but I am LOVING the thought provoking entries and answers already! For example:
"Today I read a book about a pet boa constrictor. If I could have any pet, it would be... a small dog that doesn't jump!"- Ike


We did measurements: height/weight and a writing sample of their names as well.

We also played lots and lots of getting to know you games these two weeks b/c the kids for the most part, did not know each other... Some of our favorites: Who's missing? The kids closed their eyes (no peeking- yeah right) and I tapped one person on the head. That person got to go into the other room. When the kids opened their eyes, they had to figure out who was missing- Very good at helping them be aware of each other!
Pass the Ball- we passed a beach ball back and forth, but before you could pass it, you had to say the person's name who you were passing it to- the kids LOVED it, but it was challenging at first:)
Commonalities- "stand up if you have blonde hair" "hand on head if red shoes" etc... pretty fun to find commonalities among the kiddos.

Guess Who? Parents answered a short questionnaire about their child's likes/dislikes, families, etc. And then I described that person while holding their baby picture for the whole class to guess who was who. Again, a big hit!

Class Memory- I made memory cards with the kids' pictures I had taken and we played memory with pictures of the kids in our class- We are still playing this one 2 weeks later! The kids love it!



We are also "cooking" everyday. This is one of my favorite things and a way to incorporate science each day, as well as give the kids a Healthier snack than oreos or you know...

Anyway, this week, we made trail mix out of a variety of things... cheerios, popcorn, raisins, etc. Oh, and the secret ingredient: yogurt colored craisins.

Also, we made mini bagel faces with strawberry cream cheese, licorice mouths, and raisin eyes- pretty cute and a big hit.

For the first day/week of school, I had the kiddos bring their favorite book from home. This was a great way to learn a little about them and to find out what they might be interested in. It also gave them a little familiarity at school. We took turns reading these at storytime the first week.

I could go on, but this is a pretty good idea of the first two weeks:)

Reflection Paintings- I covered cereal box cardboard squares with aluminum foil (so they could see their reflections) and let them paint them with a cornsyrup/food coloring paint I made. There were 4 colors and they made AWESOME paintings. Again, this is hanging on our fridge.



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Paper Boys and Girls with custom shirts and pants/skirts made with different scrapbooking paper and textured paper... complete with little mary janes, belts, hair yarn, etc. super cute- I added a magnet to the back of Ikes- I think he has the fashion sense of my dad in high school... plaid pants, striped shirt:)

 





Class Quilt- Took a picture of each child and had them glue that pic to a 6x6 piece of cardstock. They then decorated their "quilt block" and I fastened them all together. This hangs in our classroom everyday... A visual that they indeed belong here, together:)







All in all, it was a really fun week!