Nn is for Newspaper



This activity made me giggle a little, because the kids looked at me with such concern - "We're writing on the newspaper?!"  So cute!

 

I dashed Nn on a piece of newspaper for each child to trace with a marker.  Then I asked them to choose a different color marker, and find and circle some additional Nn's.

 

This was a great activity, because there were so many words and letters to look at on each sheet of newspaper.  We live in such a print-rich world, so anytime your child is exposed to letters, numbers and words, they get the benefit of becoming more familiar with their alphabet and numbers.

 

The children also showed me the sign for Nn, sounded out /n/, and gave me an Nn word.  During Circle, we practices skywriting upper and lowercase Nn.

 

Want more Nn ideas?  Check these out!

DLTK

Preschool Express

Our Crafts ~n~ Things

No Time for Flashcards

 

 

 

Evergreen Trees & Cardinals

On Friday, we learned all about evergreen trees and our state bird, the cardinal.  Have you seen any flying about or perched on a pine tree?  I haven't yet, but I'm always on the lookout!

 

We looked at pictures from:

 

and read:

 

In art, we made a snow-covered evergreen tree by dabbing white paint with a cotton ball.  Then we glued on two cardinals - a red one (male) and a brown one (female).  We talked a lot about which color the boys and girls are.  Some kiddos were so cute, and called the red ones the daddy birds and the brown ones the mommy birds.  Adorable!  These will be clipped in the hallway for you to see.

 

Our fine motor activity was the colorful snowflake drop.  We used a little tiny ladle (it is seriously the cutest thing ever!) to scoop up sparkly poms and place them on the holes of a small tray.  There were 12 in all, and the kids did a great job - especially since they weren't supposed to use their free hand for assistance!

 

In math, the kids played our tree number match game.  Numbers 1-10 are traced on an evergreen cutout, and the kids used plastic numbers to match them.  Then the hard part - pointing and counting them in order!  They did a super job.  :)

 

After snack, we played in the block room for a bit.  The children love the gingerbread tub so much that we decided to leave it for January.  (We played with it all through December as well.)  It's simply flour, salt, nutmeg and allspice.  Come in and take a whiff - it smells sooooo good!  Our tub also includes:

- gingerbread friends

- pine cones

- plastic trucks

- scoops/spoons

- empty spice shakers

- cups



 

We also completed our letter Nn literacy activity, which I will cover in the next post.  It was a fun, busy, productive day!



Exploring Snow

Thank goodness we explored snow last week, because after our unseasonably warm weather, it's almost all gone!  The kiddos had lots of fun playing with the snow inside.  We read:

 

 

In writing, the kids played Winter Roll 'n Write (from PreKinders).  This was something out of the ordinary and brand new for us, but I think we'll definitely do it again!  The kids had dice with a different lowercase letter on each side.  They rolled the dice and wrote the letter that was facing up. You can see on the grid below that there is space for 16 letters, but I only asked the children to fill 8 boxes. As they get more experience with this activity, we will increase the number of boxes to fill.

 

In science/math, we played a snowflake matching game (also from PreKinders).  We had two different boards, each with 9 snowflakes.  The kids had to look very carefully, because some snowflakes looked very similar to others.  This was a challenging game for them, but still fun!

 

And the very BEST part of the day was playing with real snow...inside!  We had two individual tubs set up with shovels, assorted bottle tops, tongs and cups.  The children came to the center, put on a pair of mismatched mittens (because that's how we roll in our class!), and happily played in the snow!  We saw lots of shoveling, scooping, pouring and building.  Yep, we had snow-covered tables, and had to all but mop the floor at the end, but it was worth it for the kiddos to have such a great experience.  I love the magic that such a simple activity can bring!



Happy {Pre-K} New Year!

The new year has officially begun in our pre-k class!

 

The children came back to school today with smiles, giggles, lots of stories, and more enthusiasm than I think I've ever seen!  We talked about their favorite Christmas gifts, and the fun things they did with their families while on break.  Sounds like these kiddos had an ahhh-mazing vacation!

 

Rather than try to explain "resolutions", we decided to talk about things we'd like to do in the new year.  We had lots of fun, cool and silly answers!  The one pictured here is one I'd like to try out as well - going to a nice, sunny, sandy, warm beach!

 

 

The kids dictated their answers to me, then sprinkled their choice of glitter on 2013.  Some chose one color of glitter, while others mixed it up a bit.  Check them out in our hallway!

 

Since this was our first day back after a two-and-a-half week break, I decided to go easy on the lesson plans.  We covered literacy, social studies, and art with our 2013 activity above.

 

For math, we counted back from 10 to 1, then shouted "Happy New Year!"  The children really loved this part of the day!  We will do more counting backwards, as well as counting by 5s and 10s.

 

Also, keep in mind that when I post a blog about our activities of the day, it's really just the highlights of what we accomplished.  There are many other things that go on in our classroom each day, such as:

 

• calendar and Letter of the Week,
• social, interactive and imaginitive play with peers and teachers,
• using fine motor muscles for coloring, writing and playdough,
• painting beautiful masterpieces at the easel, and
• singing and dancing!

 

Oh yes, we have lots of fun in our class!  But at the same time, while your children are playing, laughing, and chit-chatting, they are also {shhh!} secretly learning!  They are becoming scientists, writers, thinkers, artists, musicians, decision-makers and problem-solvers.  Pretty amazing, right?!



Mm is for Marshmallows

Our marshmallows were in cute little Christmas shapes, just in time for the holidays and our letter Mm study.

 

I gave the kids a cupful of pink and green marshmallows, which they used to line Mm.  They also traced Mm with their finger, said the /m/ sound, and gave me a word that begins with Mm.  They did a great job!  And of course, the kiddos got to have a few tasty marshmallows after completing their activity!

 

 

For extra practice at home or on the go, have your kiddo:

 

~point out pictures in books or magazines that begin with the /m/ sound

~form Mm using cooked spaghetti noodles or play dough

~march around the room to your kid's favorite tunes

~munch on healthy foods like mango or melon

 

Whatever you decide to do, have a marvelous time with your munchkin!



Ll is for Licorice

When we studied the letter Ll, the children completed their activity with red licorice, and then got to sample a piece.  Yummy!

 

 

Unfortunately, I didn't think quickly enough to snap a picture of our Ll activity, so I'll just attempt to describe it as best I can. 

 

I gave the kids a sheet of paper with Ll written in bold, black marker.  They traced both uppercase and lowercase with their fingers, and made the /l/ sound.  I also asked them to show me the sign for Ll, which is one of the easier ones to form for little fingers.  Then they placed licorice pieces on the Ll and taped them down.  As a special treat, they each got a little taste of licorice!

 

We also talked about other words beginning with the /l/ sound:

love, lion, lip, leg, laugh, and many others.

 

Ll is very easy to practice writing, because only straight lines are used.  Have your kiddo write a few Ll's for you, and maybe even form an L with their whole body!  Have fun! 



Kk is for Key

Happy New Year!

 

I hope you're all having a safe, fun and relaxing winter break.  My family and I have been busy, busy, busy!  It has been amazing and wonderful, but I think we're all ready to get back into our normal daily routines.

 

I'm going to try to get our Letter of the Week posts caught up during these last few days of break.  Then once we're back in school, I promise I will do my best to update more regularly!  (A New Year's resolution, perhaps?  Nah, let's not call it that, since most resolutions dissolve within a few weeks!  We'll just call it a goal.)

 

Here we go with the letter Kk:

 

 

Kk is for Key

 

The children used a key (yes, a real car key) to practice writing Kk in the sand.  For newbies, learning this letter sound confuses them with the hard /c/ sound.  (English is a confusing language.)  In time, they will learn the difference, and it's mostly just memorizing which letter (c or k) belongs in which word (car or key).  This will come when they begin spelling lessons in first grade.

 

For now, we will just continue to reinforce that Kk begins words like key, kite and kiwi.  Another good way to reinforce this is by playing computer games or just pointing out Kk words in books, magazine, on signs, or anywhere you see words!

 

Check out these fun, FREE preschool learning games:

 

Kaboose Funschool

Fisher-Price

Starfall