Today we ran out of time! We did not have time to make our own islands so we will have to do that on Friday as part of our Lei Day!
We did some good practice on writing 'leis' (which are really just ovals, zeros or letter O). It is so important that kids learn to write letters the right way. Start at the top. Circles first, go in counter-clockwise direction.
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT: Please have your child practice writing circles, zeros (review with them what zero means) and letter O's (start at the top, say the sound!)
** please help them hold the pencil/crayon the right way. Pinch between thumb and pointer with middle and ring tucked under pencil like a pillow.
ISLAND HOP
We had a great time playing island hop with a letter review. Some of the kids would do a great job with the same game with sight words.
Write one word on each piece of paper, then lay them around the world. Put on some island jams and walk around the paper islands. Don't fall in the water. When the music stops, mom pulls a word (same words as the islands) out of the cup and you see if you are on that island. You can alter the game by having the child take out the island word (or letter) that was pulled from the cup. It makes island hopping a lot harder with less islands to hop to!
Sight words to review: See, I, Up, It, Me
Letters to review: Hh, Mm, Tt, Aa, Oo, Vv, Rr, Ff, Ee
PANGEA "PUDDING"
We learned today that the whole earth used to be an island named Pangea. I gave each child a cup of yogurt with a piece of crunchy granola on top. They cracked it with a spoon and watched the pieces separate. . .just like our continents. We looked at different maps of the world and observed how the pieces do look like they should fit together like a puzzle. We talked about what is really down, deep down, under the ground and how that makes the land, or continents, float around. Who knew the earth started out as an island. . .
Next time: Lei Day!
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Island Fever
This Friday is Lei Day!
Lei Day is usually May 1 in Hawaii, but our kids don't know that! We are talking about parts of the earth, how the earth looked in the beginning (one big island) and Islands! For lei day each child should come to school with a lei that they helped make. It can be made of straws and paper, noodles, fruit loops, flowers (real or fake) or anything. Be creative! It is fun to look up "elementary school lei day hawaii" on youtube and watch some of the things the kids do in Hawaii.
Please send your child with a lei (that they helped with) and have them ready for a fun hukilau, hawaiian style songs, dances, games and stories.
Today, we will be making our own islands. Have you every read Marie-Louise Gay's book On My Island? It is a fun book about a gril and her imaginary world. We get to make our own today. We will also do a science demonstration about plate tectonics! We won't call it taht, but we will see how the continents moved.
After school today, ask your child:
How do you play 'island hop'?
What is an island?
What are the blue parts on a map?
What letters are in MAP?
What is a hukilau?
What kind of things do you hear if you listen on an island?
Hope you had a great weekend! I had a fun family hike (complete with my dad making a daring rescue of a stranger), a BBQ and way way waaaaaay too much food! My kind of holiday!
See you today!
Other books we are reading this week:
Island Boy
When I Am Quiet on Maui
The Little Island
Island of the Blue Dolphins (just kidding. I love that book. . .if only we had the time. . .)
Monday, August 26, 2013
A New Year
The first day is always exciting, hard, scary, fun, silly and every other emotion you can think of. I think this was the easiest first day of school yet! The kids were great and I felt great and everything was. . .great!
We found out about the jobs we do at preschool and made name clips to put on the job chart. We ate a yummy snack. . .the beans were a huge success. . .and played, painted, sang and read.
Today we read the book "The Dot"by Peter H. Reynolds. In this book a little girl, Vashti, doesn't like art class because she thinks she can't draw. Thanks to the creativity and patience of her teacher she learns that even the smallest effort can lead you to find a hidden talent and love.
We talked about how trying new things is hard, especially when we don't feel like we are good at them. We talked about why Vashti felt mad at the beginning and why she felt happy and wanted to help someone at the end of the book. We noted that all of her dots were circles and we learned the Spanish word for circle "circulo". Then, we painted our own dots. . .and, of course, signed them. Sharing paints at the table, practicing making circles the right way (always counterclockwise), literacy, art and more all from one book. Thanks, Mr. Reynold!
Netflix has an animated (from pics from the book) version of this book. The words in the movie are the exact text from the book. It is darling. If you have Netflix and want a little review of what we did today, check it out. It is part of a Scholastic One of a Kind Critters collection. It is only a few minutes long.
I am curious to hear what your kids thought of the first day! Leave a comment if you have time.
Love, Miss Meg
We found out about the jobs we do at preschool and made name clips to put on the job chart. We ate a yummy snack. . .the beans were a huge success. . .and played, painted, sang and read.
Today we read the book "The Dot"by Peter H. Reynolds. In this book a little girl, Vashti, doesn't like art class because she thinks she can't draw. Thanks to the creativity and patience of her teacher she learns that even the smallest effort can lead you to find a hidden talent and love.
We talked about how trying new things is hard, especially when we don't feel like we are good at them. We talked about why Vashti felt mad at the beginning and why she felt happy and wanted to help someone at the end of the book. We noted that all of her dots were circles and we learned the Spanish word for circle "circulo". Then, we painted our own dots. . .and, of course, signed them. Sharing paints at the table, practicing making circles the right way (always counterclockwise), literacy, art and more all from one book. Thanks, Mr. Reynold!
Netflix has an animated (from pics from the book) version of this book. The words in the movie are the exact text from the book. It is darling. If you have Netflix and want a little review of what we did today, check it out. It is part of a Scholastic One of a Kind Critters collection. It is only a few minutes long.
I am curious to hear what your kids thought of the first day! Leave a comment if you have time.
Love, Miss Meg
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
November News
Today in preschool we started our big body project. Technically, we started in November with our x-ray hands, but we traced the body today.
We reviewed our sight words:
I
a
can
me
my
see
And our letters. We are getting quite good at out letters and loved singing "Little h, Little h fly through my window, find molasses candy. . ." it was fun to plug in the letters instead of birds! The kids love that song. It may, or may not be because I let them have a molasses candy when we sing it (one chocolate chip). Sugar is usually contraband at our preschool, so, a whole chocolate chip? WATCH ME SING!!!
We also started our 'Thankful Trees' today. I introduced gratitude by reading my favorite Thanksgiving book Thankful Together by Holly Davis. It is a darling, rhyming book that teaches thankfulness for daily things and giving thanks to God for those things.
I drew a tree trunk and branches on a piece of fall-colored cardstock and had the kids put thumb prints (thankful thumbs. . .t and h make a special sound. .. never too early to introduce it!) and then I wrote something they are thankful for on the print. Each day we will do two or three and fill up our thankful trees. I love hearing the sweet things that these kids come up with that they are thankful for.
A few from today:
hot dogs
oatmeal
mommy
Jesus
cats
my garden
daddy
friends
All on their own!
We reviewed our sight words:
I
a
can
me
my
see
And our letters. We are getting quite good at out letters and loved singing "Little h, Little h fly through my window, find molasses candy. . ." it was fun to plug in the letters instead of birds! The kids love that song. It may, or may not be because I let them have a molasses candy when we sing it (one chocolate chip). Sugar is usually contraband at our preschool, so, a whole chocolate chip? WATCH ME SING!!!
We also started our 'Thankful Trees' today. I introduced gratitude by reading my favorite Thanksgiving book Thankful Together by Holly Davis. It is a darling, rhyming book that teaches thankfulness for daily things and giving thanks to God for those things.
I drew a tree trunk and branches on a piece of fall-colored cardstock and had the kids put thumb prints (thankful thumbs. . .t and h make a special sound. .. never too early to introduce it!) and then I wrote something they are thankful for on the print. Each day we will do two or three and fill up our thankful trees. I love hearing the sweet things that these kids come up with that they are thankful for.
A few from today:
hot dogs
oatmeal
mommy
Jesus
cats
my garden
daddy
friends
All on their own!
Friday, February 3, 2012
A look to the past. . .
< Here are some pictures I had on my camera. As you know, I am HORRIBLE about taking pictures at preschool. I forget. Even when I put the camera in my pocket so I won't forget. I still forget.
Cooking up a storm in South America! Now aren't those the sweetest chefs you have ever seen? We used our math and measuring skills to whip up some authentic Brazilian cheese bread. Did you know that stuff is naturally gluten-free! I was so happy! I didn't have to adapt a recipe! Woot! Lily was excited, too, to learn that in Brazil they eat a bread that gluten-free. Everyone does!
The kids loved mixing, pouring and measuring, and even though I let them do it all themselves (and I didn't have time to test it out before school) the breads turned out delicious and my kitchen wasn't nearly as messy as I thought it would be.
I had the kids scoop the batter into mini muffin tins to make mini breads. They were so cute, and puffy and yummy!
Okay check out this awesome snack a parent brought in during January. Not the blurriness, that is all me, but the PENGUINS! those are cream cheese stuffed olives, people. Leave it to Rachel to bring an artistic, healthy snack that also goes with our Antarctica theme. They were good, too!
These two pictures are old. I love that this post is so random. Even that last sentence! But, I wanted to post them, since I rarely remember to take a picture. . . I can't waste a single one!
This was during our South America unit. . .uh. . .in November! Each child brought a fruit that comes from the rain forest. I cut them up and we made portraits of ourselves using the fruit. I showed them paintings by Giuseppe Arcimboldo and we tried to name all the fruits and veggies he used in his work. Then, we talked about shapes, lines and colors (a review from our art lessons) and had them draw the self-portrait they had made. They were so dang cute! Of course, then we ate! Yum. For writing time, we wrote the names of the fruits we had brought to school and for a little math, we talked about fractions as we cut up the fruit, and played a little fruit basket game where we had to take a fruit (how many are left), or put one back (how many now) and sometimes 2 or 3 people would take one out at a time. It was a great day. . .I think because it was all food related. Food makes things great.
Here is an example of Arcimboldo's work. Why it is so huge, I don't know. My talents do not include technical support.
The kids loved mixing, pouring and measuring, and even though I let them do it all themselves (and I didn't have time to test it out before school) the breads turned out delicious and my kitchen wasn't nearly as messy as I thought it would be.
I had the kids scoop the batter into mini muffin tins to make mini breads. They were so cute, and puffy and yummy!
Okay check out this awesome snack a parent brought in during January. Not the blurriness, that is all me, but the PENGUINS! those are cream cheese stuffed olives, people. Leave it to Rachel to bring an artistic, healthy snack that also goes with our Antarctica theme. They were good, too!
These two pictures are old. I love that this post is so random. Even that last sentence! But, I wanted to post them, since I rarely remember to take a picture. . . I can't waste a single one!
This was during our South America unit. . .uh. . .in November! Each child brought a fruit that comes from the rain forest. I cut them up and we made portraits of ourselves using the fruit. I showed them paintings by Giuseppe Arcimboldo and we tried to name all the fruits and veggies he used in his work. Then, we talked about shapes, lines and colors (a review from our art lessons) and had them draw the self-portrait they had made. They were so dang cute! Of course, then we ate! Yum. For writing time, we wrote the names of the fruits we had brought to school and for a little math, we talked about fractions as we cut up the fruit, and played a little fruit basket game where we had to take a fruit (how many are left), or put one back (how many now) and sometimes 2 or 3 people would take one out at a time. It was a great day. . .I think because it was all food related. Food makes things great.
Here is an example of Arcimboldo's work. Why it is so huge, I don't know. My talents do not include technical support.
Christmas in Europe
Grab your passports! We ended our study of Europe with a tour of European Christmas traditions. First stop. . .France!
We left our shoes for Pierre Noel.
We read a story about a little French girl you may have heard of. . .Madeline?
We sang a French carol we had been practicing: The Friendly Beasts.
We learned a few words and phrases in French.
How can you visit Paris without pastries? I have been trying for 8 months now to find a gluten-free crepe recipe that 1. doesn't taste like sawdust and 2. will roll up like a crepe. I am happy to say that I finally did it. Just it time for our party and a perfect justification to break my own no-sugar-at-school rule I perfected my GF crepes and let my little Parisians shmear them with Nutella and bananas. Bon Appetite!
Next we went to Germany. We read a story about a Christmas Mouse, learned that the Teddy Bear originated in Germany and searched for the pickle the elves left on the tree. Cambell was overjoyed that she was the pickle finder and opened a giant present: Christmas bears for everyone!
Back on the train to Denmark. The kids took turns being Saint Lucia. This woven crown is one of my favorite thrift store finds of late. Penny was our lucky nut-in-the-pudding finder (more sugar. . .I KNOW! IT WAS CHRISTMAS IN EUROPE! WHAT COULD I DO?) We had bacon in Denmark, too. It was the closest thing to a traditional Danish Christmas food that didn't sound really gross. My husband served a church mission in Denmark and said that bacon was fairly authentic. I took that as validation. Really, though, boiled cabbage? I couldn't do it.
Then we dressed up and sang and danced around the tree. This was pretty much hilarious. Look at those beards I found! They cracked me up!
While in Denmark we looked at some beautiful work by Carl Bloch. What a perfect artist to study during Christmas time. We all loved how he painted light and how parts even looked like they were glowing.
We made our own Carl Block inspired pictures of the Nativity by using crayon resist for the light parts. I had them use poster crayons for the star and any light parts so that it would really glow underneath the dark water color that we brushed on top.
Our last stop was in England. We ate fish and chips and made crackers to give our siblings. We sang Christmas carols and read a Christmas story.
The kids loved traveling to each country and getting their passport stamped. They loved tasting the different foods and taking a little prize from each place we visited. My only regret is that I didn't hire a photographer. I get so busy I forget to take pictures. . .also my pictures are, well, look at them! Someone help me!
We left our shoes for Pierre Noel.
We read a story about a little French girl you may have heard of. . .Madeline?
We sang a French carol we had been practicing: The Friendly Beasts.
We learned a few words and phrases in French.
How can you visit Paris without pastries? I have been trying for 8 months now to find a gluten-free crepe recipe that 1. doesn't taste like sawdust and 2. will roll up like a crepe. I am happy to say that I finally did it. Just it time for our party and a perfect justification to break my own no-sugar-at-school rule I perfected my GF crepes and let my little Parisians shmear them with Nutella and bananas. Bon Appetite!
Next we went to Germany. We read a story about a Christmas Mouse, learned that the Teddy Bear originated in Germany and searched for the pickle the elves left on the tree. Cambell was overjoyed that she was the pickle finder and opened a giant present: Christmas bears for everyone!
Back on the train to Denmark. The kids took turns being Saint Lucia. This woven crown is one of my favorite thrift store finds of late. Penny was our lucky nut-in-the-pudding finder (more sugar. . .I KNOW! IT WAS CHRISTMAS IN EUROPE! WHAT COULD I DO?) We had bacon in Denmark, too. It was the closest thing to a traditional Danish Christmas food that didn't sound really gross. My husband served a church mission in Denmark and said that bacon was fairly authentic. I took that as validation. Really, though, boiled cabbage? I couldn't do it.
Then we dressed up and sang and danced around the tree. This was pretty much hilarious. Look at those beards I found! They cracked me up!
While in Denmark we looked at some beautiful work by Carl Bloch. What a perfect artist to study during Christmas time. We all loved how he painted light and how parts even looked like they were glowing.
We made our own Carl Block inspired pictures of the Nativity by using crayon resist for the light parts. I had them use poster crayons for the star and any light parts so that it would really glow underneath the dark water color that we brushed on top.
Our last stop was in England. We ate fish and chips and made crackers to give our siblings. We sang Christmas carols and read a Christmas story.
The kids loved traveling to each country and getting their passport stamped. They loved tasting the different foods and taking a little prize from each place we visited. My only regret is that I didn't hire a photographer. I get so busy I forget to take pictures. . .also my pictures are, well, look at them! Someone help me!
Thanksgiving. . .never too late to be Thankful!
Okay, I am the worst blogger, ever. I am going to say it is because I spend all my time planning and executing amazing lesson plans. Yep, I am going with that.
We are getting ready to board the Mayflower. We knew we couldn't take much so we had to think about what is really important to us. What are we the most Thankful for? Answers ranged from pillows, to dolls (some that they didn't own yet but hoped to have. . .hey, Christmas was already on their minds. . .) to watermelons to their Dadddy's.
I made little suitcases for the kids out of file folders and braided fabric for the handles. They were very cute!
We had to follow a map to the new land, once we got on the boat. Our maps had words on them. They kids each had their own map (we are all at different reading levels so this worked well to customize) and had to search the right word to match from the 'sea'. When they completed their map, they were in America!
A couple of the better readers had to match synonyms.
Mmmm. . .our feast! Each pilgrim brought something that would be at the FIRST Thanksgiving feast. What great parents I have to research and prepare with their little pilgrims. We had grapes (they foraged for fruit), Pumpkin and pistachio pudding (pudding is the only documented desert we know for sure they ate on that first Thanksgiving), roasted root veggies (YUM!!!!), Corn pancakes (gluten-free, of course). The kids loved it. They were so polite and tried everything. What good little pilgrims.
School for pilgrim children was much harder than it is today. They didn't have pens and crayons and markers like we do. They didn't even have all the books we do! They had the bible and that was about it. They had to learn from the things they had so they learned from the bible.
We found out what it was like in school for these children by copying a verse from the bible. But, no pens or crayons! We used feathers we found in the chicken coop and pots of mud, ash and water for our ink. Everyone agreed that crayons were a lot easier!
We had a great Pilgrim-themed Thanksgiving party. The kids were adorable and loved the variation from our usual schedule.
A lot of the ideas for this party came from a beautifully photographed blog that I LOVE: thenatureofgrace.blogspot.com
I think if I could photograph like that. . .I would blog more. In my head, the memories look like that.
We are getting ready to board the Mayflower. We knew we couldn't take much so we had to think about what is really important to us. What are we the most Thankful for? Answers ranged from pillows, to dolls (some that they didn't own yet but hoped to have. . .hey, Christmas was already on their minds. . .) to watermelons to their Dadddy's.
I made little suitcases for the kids out of file folders and braided fabric for the handles. They were very cute!
We had to follow a map to the new land, once we got on the boat. Our maps had words on them. They kids each had their own map (we are all at different reading levels so this worked well to customize) and had to search the right word to match from the 'sea'. When they completed their map, they were in America!
A couple of the better readers had to match synonyms.
Mmmm. . .our feast! Each pilgrim brought something that would be at the FIRST Thanksgiving feast. What great parents I have to research and prepare with their little pilgrims. We had grapes (they foraged for fruit), Pumpkin and pistachio pudding (pudding is the only documented desert we know for sure they ate on that first Thanksgiving), roasted root veggies (YUM!!!!), Corn pancakes (gluten-free, of course). The kids loved it. They were so polite and tried everything. What good little pilgrims.
We found out what it was like in school for these children by copying a verse from the bible. But, no pens or crayons! We used feathers we found in the chicken coop and pots of mud, ash and water for our ink. Everyone agreed that crayons were a lot easier!
We had a great Pilgrim-themed Thanksgiving party. The kids were adorable and loved the variation from our usual schedule.
A lot of the ideas for this party came from a beautifully photographed blog that I LOVE: thenatureofgrace.blogspot.com
I think if I could photograph like that. . .I would blog more. In my head, the memories look like that.
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