Buildings, Valentine’s Day, Grandparents’ Day and The Tooth Fairy , what a wonderful month! Our last topic had this class asking , “What happens inside of buildings?”  We closed our building unit with a tour of the rooms in our preschool building. The class toured classrooms, counted windows and doors, and discussed the features that make up our preschool. We discovered that each of our classrooms has four square windows and every  classroom has a closet that the teachers use for storing supplies. Mrs. Lisa let us in on a little puppet show fun in her class, and we were thrilled to see the exercise equipment in Mrs. Tracy’s room. A special thank you to my coworkers for letting us come in and explore each class. I can’t stress enough how important it is that your child is in an environment where the teachers help each other with studies.

Our Valentine Party was full of fun! We also had a chance to practice a little name recognition as we searched for our friend’s names and placed their valentines in their boxes. A special thank you to Mrs. McWilliams , she was our room mom for February and she furnished each child with a canvas and paints to form a masterpiece.

The Tooth Fairy stopped in for a visit! We were thrilled to learn how to care for our teeth. We learned to brush our teeth twice a day. Every special event is a learning opportunity as we classified and sorted foods that are good or bad for our teeth.  Our music class with Mrs. Tipton had each child hitting the bongo drums. We learned that the larger drum makes a different sound than the smaller drum.

We used our sensory motor skills in the block area as we built bridges. Each child had to reach for, grasp, and move blocks to form narrow and wide bridges. We had to problem solve, guess, and check to see if our cars and trucks would fit onto our bridges. We determined that our large truck would have to have a wide bridge.

One of our activities this week had this class searching the alphabet. We played Same Sound Sort. I placed items in a container that started with the same letter. I called the children up and they had to take the item out of the container and tell me the letter that the item started with. The snowman and the shamrock were big hits with our letter S. This game was fun because the children could not see what item they were pulling out until they had it in their hands.

I was very proud of my students during our Grandparents’ Day celebration. It was wonderful to watch the children sing for their grandparents! I was thrilled to meet everyone and I was very proud of the class. I know every grandparent was thrilled to come into the classroom and see all of our beautiful work, and I know the children were proud of their canvas paintings that went up for auction. Our next unit will have us bouncing for joy, as we learn about balls!

The building unit had this class moving around campus. We took a tour of the buildings around our school and we noticed that shapes are all around us. Our windows are rectangles and squares. Our school doors are rectangles and the bricks that are used to make our cafeteria are rectangles. Each child noticed that our buildings had numbers and letters on them. During this tour your child noticed the various materials used to construct our school.  We noticed that a library is in a building and this class stopped by and enjoyed a great book!

The block center was the place to be and everyone could not wait to construct a masterpiece. As the children build in the block center they are learning to work together to complete a task and respect others ideas. When I give the children a specific activity to do with a friend, such as building a zoo or a house, it helps both children practice cooperation skills. Our preschool day is much more than learning numbers and letters , we also work on building strong social skills.  

The sensory bin was full of action as we made our own snow. The children loved watching the chemical reaction as we mixed our snow powder with water. We had to measure two ounces of water to one small measuring cup to create our wonderful snow! This activity was a great science and math lesson. We learned that we had to mix exactly two ounces of water to have the snow form. We used measuring cups and containers that showed ounces of liquid. If we used two small measuring cups we needed four ounces of water. Math and science are fun!

One of our study questions during the clothing unit was , “What clothes do people wear to work?” This class found out that community helpers wear uniforms , and certain schools require uniforms. We love our St. James uniforms! Several of our parents wear dress clothes to work. We were blessed to have a policeman, salon owner/ stylist, District Executive BSA, nurse practitioner, real estate agent, children’s book marketer, neonatal nurse , and a design consultant visit our class. A special thank you to all of our visitors. The class loved learning about the duties of each special visitor!

As the clothing unit came to a end, I thought of a great celebration to close this unit.

We had a fashion parade! We took a day off from our beautiful school uniforms and we were able to wear any clothing for our special day. The children paraded through all the preschool classrooms and we stopped by the kindergarten class, too! I must say we looked stunning in our cotton, silk, rayon, and polyester clothing! The parade was a blast , but also a learning experience for the children. We practiced following the leader, staying in line, and greeting other teachers and children.

One of our objectives for this unit had each child exploring geometric shapes with straws. We talk about geometric shapes everyday, but this lesson gave your child a hands on experience that will help them remember how shapes are alike and different. Children do not develop their ideas about shapes by sight only, they need to manipulate and compare in a variety of ways.

Math and language go hand in hand in this classroom! One of our lessons this week had my tongue twisted. We learned that tongue twisters are phrases that are hard to say because the words sound the same. The children loved to hear me say , “She sells seashells down by the seashore.” Your child is learning the sound of letter “S” when they listen to me use the letter “S” several times. This lesson helped your child with phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is an important skill in learning to read. Your child is becoming aware of letter sounds as I read and sing. Stay tuned as next week we will be moving on to our building unit.

We wrapped up the end of the year with a special visitor. Everyone was surprised and amazed when  Santa Claus walked into our room! He must have found out that we were learning about clothing. The children were thrilled to see his forest green vest and shiny gold buttons. His bright red suit was trimmed in shimmering gold and fluffy white wool. He was a sight to behold!

As the end of the year came to a close we celebrated the birth of Jesus at our Christmas Party. The children were able to wear their favorite p.j.’s for our party. Wearing our p.j’s was fun and we were able to discuss the different types of fabric and colors in the material. We also learned that we wear different types of clothing for different seasons , changing weather or special occasions.

We discussed that some of our clothes are sewn together with pieces of fabric. I used lacing boards to demonstrate how to sew. This activity gave each child the opportunity to strengthen the small muscles in their hands. Building the small muscles in the children’s hands will aid with pre-writing skills.

Our dramatic play area was full of action. I read one of the books from our unit, The Girl Who Wore Too Much.  The class loved this story and after I read it we acted out the story. This story is a Thailand folktale about a little girl named Aree whose parents give her all the clothes and jewelry she wants. Aree learns of a dance and she tries to wear all her beautiful clothes and jewelry to a the dance. She learned that she can’t wear all her clothes because they are very heavy and she can’t move. Aree learned that she does not need all of her clothes to make her happy. The lesson of this story is to be happy with less.   

We love to have special visitors come into the classroom. One of great things about St. James is the amazing talents of our faculty. Mrs. Sarah teaches a class in our building and she volunteered her time and talents to show the class how to crochet and knit. Not all of our clothing items are sewn. The children were thrilled to watch Mrs. Sarah and learn that some sweaters, scarves, or blankets are made by crocheting or knitting yarn.  We watched Mrs. Sarah as she used one hook for crocheting and two needles for knitting. A special thank you to Mrs. Sarah!

Letters are everywhere and we have been working hard on recognizing and learning to spell our names. I took letters and placed in envelopes and the children  worked on putting the letters in the proper order to spell their name. It is a joy to watch the class as they learn and grow!  We will be moving on to discuss the special uniforms that people wear to work.

We finished our tree unit with a special visitor and a special nature walk into the woods around our campus. Mr. Clint Harris is the Southern Arkansas Project Manager for the Nature Conservancy’s Arkansas office. Mr. Harris showed our children the different types of trees that are native to our area. Our woods are full of pine, oak and cedar trees. The class learned about evergreen trees and deciduous trees. We discussed the wildlife in our area and we learned that the woods are home to several animals. We found a bird’s nest and we noticed that a deer had rubbed a small tree with his antlers. We were thrilled to follow our woodland path as we explored the natural beauty that surrounds our campus. A special thank  you to Mr. Clint Harris and Emily Harris for taking time out of their day to educate our children.

After our tree unit it was time to move on to our clothing unit. The past couple of weeks we discussed what we know about our clothing and the features of our clothing. I used the children’s raincoats to discuss the different types of materials used to make clothes and how different materials can protect us from the weather. We used snaps and zippers to keep our raincoats together. This fun activity was also a great fine motor workout! Everyone had a blast putting on their raincoats and telling each other about the color and features of their raincoats.  

After we looked at our raincoats, I had the children take out their winter jackets and we talked about small, medium, and large sizes. Everyone looked for the size in their jacket. We searched for the letters S, M, or L.  I used my sweater to show the children a large item and we compared my large sweater to their small jackets.

Each investigation has a set of books that I read each day.  One of our books for this study is Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The story of Goldilocks helped us learn about size. It is important for each child to learn to recognize objects by size. Ordering by size also prepares children for more complex math and problem solving.

Our P.E. class this week had us jumping for joy! The children had to jump with feet together and land on a colored circle.  After each child completed their task , they galloped around the orange cones and resumed their place in line. During our next P.E. lesson the children used scooters to strengthen their core muscles. The class had to use their gross motor skills to move forward , backward and spin around. Our P.E. class helps with several skills. The class has to listen to instructions, wait in line for a turn and learn to work as a group.