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!

Back to School 2016

The weeks surrounding the start of school always feels a little bit like a whirlwind: finishing last minute details, finalizing plans, getting to know new children, and establishing classroom routines. It's exciting and fun, and a little bit exhausting-- and yet it's one of my favorite times of year. Here are a few of the things we did during the first week of school!

Playdough

Part of our welcome routine is a gathering activity at the table that usually involves some sort of fine motor work. I love to start the year with play dough because of it's a calming and relaxing sensory experience. This year I made lavender scented dough for that very purpose, and introduced some gems and smooth stones for loose parts. 

Exploring Play Areas

During the first month of school we are learning a lot about each other and how to work together in our classroom. So learning about and exploring the different play areas and materials that we use is an important part of learning how to be in preschool. This week we explored blocks, the home center, painting, table activities, the sensory table, and our outdoor space. We will continue to learn about using these areas and others in our classroom as the weeks go by.

The kids spent quite some time examining this snail they found outside. 

Dinosaur Play

One book I like to read at the beginning of the year is How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? So I like to include a few dinosaur activities into the week.

Musical Instruments

We also jumped right into exploring my collection of rhythm instruments. I've found that making music together allows even the most shy students to enjoy participating with the group. :) 

First Day of School

Today was our first day back to preschool! The day went very smoothly, and we had a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to a great year with this group of students.

We used the book How Do Dinosaurs Go to School to talk about some of the simple rules and routines in our classroom. When I read it, I adapt the text slightly to apply more directly to my specific classroom and common situations that I find with preschool age students- like grabbing toys or not cleaning up after an activity.

The kids laugh at the silly dinosaurs in the book, and are quick to recognize the ways the dinosaurs are behaving inappropriately. It leads to some great discussions about what the dinosaurs could do differently, and then by the end of the book the dinosaurs have figured out what to do at school. It is a fun way to start talking about how to be a great friend and student- something we will practice all year long!

We also read the well-known Chicka Chicka Boom Boom as part of our overview of the alphabet this month. Every student is at different stages of alphabetic knowledge and reading development, and we will be doing a wide variety of activities to practice with letters, sounds and words throughout the year.

I decided to use the side of this filing cabinet as a magnet board this year, and created an alphabet tree as our first invitation to play. Since it is placed right next to the word wall, we will be finding different ways to work with both letters and words using the board.

I included a dinosaur in the art center today, along with a coconut tree, to remind us about the books we read today.

At the end of the day one student drew a dinosaur as part of her first day of school journal.