Book Love: Bernice Gets Carried Away

I shared this book during our birthday theme, and the kids keep asking to read it during center choice time, so it's making it to the Book Love list. :)

I feel like kids and grown-ups alike can relate to this story, because at times we all feel like things aren't going our way and it's easy to get caught up in those emotions. I especially love the illustrations in this book, and how they become brighter along with the main character's mood.

Read-Aloud Tip: Some ideas in this story may not be as obvious to young children right away during the read-aloud. I like to take the time to point out what the characters are feeling and why they might be feeling that way, encouraging them to connect to the text. Sometimes there are clues in the illustrations that help us to understand, and other times we need to think of our own ideas.

Connecting Activities: There are a lot of fun balloon activities you could do alongside this book. We kept things pretty simple this year, but I was thinking it would be cool to explore helium balloons, and why more or less balloons would lift something off the ground for a STEM connection. Maybe if the interest in the book keeps up, we will try it! Anway, we painted with dot markers, played with balloons, and did some loose parts exploring this time around.

 This activity was one of our first for exploring loose parts this year. As I watched the students interact with the materials, I noticed a lot of one-to-one correspondence practice happening as they created the balloons. It's always fun to see what learning experiences the students create for themselves!

Exploring Colors and Numbers

We have continued to be explorers this month is preschool, and I have been taking the opportunity to introduce basic topics that we will expand upon as the year goes by. This gives me the chance to get a better idea of the student's interests, needs, and abilities in those areas so I know where to take things in the future. Last week we spent some time thinking about colors.

We read Bear Sees Colors, and passed around different colored bears as we read the story. Then we looked around the classroom to see if we could find the same colors as Bear.

We explored using colors in art and in the sensory table with a little experiment using baking soda and colored vinegar.

We also explored the different shades of skin colors that people can have.

We read another Bear book called Bear Counts, along with starting our Math Bags routine. So we added a counting element to the colored bear table we had set up. For this simple game you just roll the colored dice and add a bear (or bears) to the grid. I let the students interpret how to add the bears, which gave me a chance to observe some of their number sense and counting skills.

Book Love: Should I Share My Ice Cream?

I just love Elephant and Piggie books, and really anything written by Mo Willems. So I take any chance I can to fit them into our curriculum. This book was perfect to read during birthday week and helped us talk about what sharing looks like in preschool- something we will continue to address all year long... :) 

Connecting Activity: I can't take credit for this activity, and adapted it from something I found here. We tried it passing or sharing our ice cream with balloons, which was extra tricky, but we had a bunch of balloons out since it was birthday week. There were a lot of smiles, and it was also a great activity to get the kids talking to each other. I loved the chance it gave us to practice asking to share with someone in a fun, no-pressure way.

Dramatic Play Connection: I set out our ice cream cones, pom poms, and scoopers in the dramatic play area, and the students became really engaged in making, "selling," and sharing their ice cream. One group even built an "ice cream house," where they made the ice cream and then scooped it out to give it away. :)

Birthday Traditions in Preschool

We celebrated 3 birthdays during our first weeks of preschool this year, 

so it was perfect to jump right into a birthday theme during our second week of school. 

Over the years, I've tried to develop ways to involve my students in little birthday traditions that can help to make celebrating birthdays in class extra special. 

We painted birthday stars that hang in our classroom. Whenever a student has a birthday, we take their star down and turn it into a necklace that they can wear and take home. 

 This leads to some fun conversations through the year about whose birthday is coming up next, how many stars are left, etc.

Each class also painted a birthday cake that we will pull out on birthdays as part of our celebration. 

In the past I've used different birthday cakes that we also use in dramatic play for birthday celebrations, but I thought it would be fun this year to have the students help make the cakes. I LOVE how bright and colorful they turned are, and I poked holes in the top so we can put in pipe cleaner candles.

Book Love: Explorers of the Wild

I'm a lover of all things mountains, and so this book spoke right to my nature-loving heart. It was also a great book to introduce a word that is so meaningful in my preschool classroom: EXPLORE.

Children are natural explorers, paying attention to the smallest details and learning through their senses as they discover the world. I used this book during the first week of school since we are spending a lot of time exploring the materials in the classroom and figuring out what we can do with them.

Read-Aloud Tip: I included some preschool exploring tools with this read-aloud, such as tweezers and magnifying glasses for the students to hold while we read the story. This was a fun way to introduce these tools, and give them a connection between the story and being explorers in our classroom.

Connecting Activity: I set up a table with some loose parts from nature for the students to explore (in addition to using the word explore all around the classroom as they discover other materials and activities :) )

Using open-ended activities like this one is the norm in my classroom, but I especially love the opportunity it gives me to observe them and their play at the beginning of the year. As a teacher, I'm exploring and making discoveries as well!

First Week of Preschool

We had a great first week of preschool! This first month of school is all about getting to know our classroom, our routines, and each other.

Dinosaurs at School

The first book we read was How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? I always change the words a little bit to make the story more meaningful for my students, and it is a fun read for getting us thinking about what it's like to be at school. We passed around these dinosaurs as we read the book together.

During these first few weeks of school, I try to find ways to introduce and spark interest in the materials we will be using around the classroom throughout the year. 

Here are some of the things we explored this week:

Kinetic Sand

Dot Marker Art

Sand and Water Play

One class created a car wash on the first day of school. 

Blocks

Playdough

Loose Parts

We also explored the letters in our name, and what it means to share and take turns at preschool- something we'll be practicing all year long!