08.16.07

Beginning of School - August 2007

Posted in Mommy Nature's Home Preschool at 11:10 am by Administrator

 

 

Wow!  I can’t believe that we’re already starting a new year!  For curriculum purposes, our year will begin next Monday.  That way, our other three friends will be able to participate in the introductory activities as well.  Until then, we will be getting reuinited with our friends - including our new friend, Karsen - reviewing class rules/behavior guidelines (I never have much of a problem with this since I have such a great group of kids!), and learning new classroom routines.Some of our new routines include:

Morning Meeting Journal - Depending on the ability level/age of your child, his/her journal will include coloring pages, free write/draw pages, calendar, patterning, counting activities, etc.  Many of these activities will directly correlate to our Morning Meeting activities (calendar, letter of the week, etc.).

Spot Who’s Here Today - Each day when your child arrives, he/she will move his/her “name spot” onto the ladybug on the entry door.  This will offer us numerous opportunities for counting and graphing discussions.

Job Jungle - Each child will have a weekly job which will change each Monday.  Whether it is counting out plates at lunchtime, helping with the calendar or feeding the guinea pig, your child will be gaining valuable skills as well as creating a stronger sense of belonging in our classroom family. 

Check-out Literacy Bags - I first heard about this from Tracy, then began hearing about them in a few online teacher groups that I’m a member of.  These are themed bags that the children will be able to check out for “homeplay”.  They will include a book and a variety of activities to go along with the story (like activity sheets, games, music CDs, toys, etc.).  I’ve got several now that are nearly ready and plan to have a good variety by the end of September.  Each bag will include a folder with a parent journal to share with me favorite activities from the bag, tips from you for extras to include, and questions you have.  This should be a fun activity to extend our learning.

Vilonia Safari Passport - I’ve adapted an activity that Tina uses and adjusted it to the pre-K level.  Each child will be issued a passport and will be responsible for obtaining “visas” from various businesses in Vilonia.  This will provide real-life opportunities to discuss community workers/helpers with your child as his/her understanding of our community moves from the abstract to a more tangible level of comprehension.  This is an activity that is meant to last all year, to be completed at your leisure and be a learning activity for the whole family.

Parent Check-out - I have set aside an area on top of my bookshelf to store books and CDs that I have found useful and hope to share with you.  The collection includes curriculum music CDs, parenting books, and fun activity books to do with your children.  You are welcome to borrow any of these things. 

I would love to start a Toy Trade, if anyone would be interested.  For this, each person brings a toy to trade, say once a month, for another toy.  The following month you trade back and the owner can decide whether to put it back in the toy trade for the current month or to take that toy home and trade a different toy.  Obviously, we would not trade favorite toys, as that would simply upset the children!  But most children enjoy their toys even more when they are not played with for a while and then brought back out.  We could make this a fun evening - potluck, etc.  Anyone want to “play”?

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