Thursday, January 29, 2009

PeeWee Penguin

So after many hours of trying to find the pictures of our adventures with Peewee I have decided to just tell you about them!! The are on my computer but not in the usual place! I am sad because they were so cute.... so use your imagination to picture what we did!

We did some more work with the -op word family. The children even wrote a few words on their peewee puppets. I only asked them to write one word but some wanted to write more! Each child progresses at their own level and it is so rewarding as a teacher to watch them really grasp a concept and make it their own!

We also made these adorable penguins from strips of black paper. We talked about the difference between penguins and other birds, named our penguins and made a habitat for them. These were made using shaving cream and glue. That was really cool! We even fed our penguins goldfish cracker during a math game.

We also did an experiment with a large pan of ice. Each child picked an object from the room to see if it would slide(like a penguin does). Then we created a graph to record our findings.

I am hoping the pictures of our adventures with queenie quail next week will transfer!

learning objectives: participates in creating and using simple data charts; dictates words phrases or sentences to an adult recording on paper(storywriting); attempts to connect the sound of words with their letter form; becomes increasingly sensitive to sounds of spoken words; participates in classroom music activities

FAQ

If you have another one that isn't answered here please contact me at 706.884.3861, email bowhair@bellsouth.net, or leave your question in the comment box!

Where are you located?
I operate Learning Adventures Preschool out of my home. I have a large room dedicated solely to the preschool. My home is located in the Waters Edge subdivision which is off Kimbrough Road. This is about 5 miles from Long Cane Elementary and 10 minutes from town down West Point/Vernon Road.

Is this a Pre-K program?
Yes it can be. If your child attends Learning Adventures Preschool when they are 4 then it will be their Pre-K. I provide a high-quality preschool education that will prepare your child for Kindergarten.

Are you licensed?
Yes I am licensed through Bright From the Start - Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning. I am considered a "Family Daycare Home" although I do not offer full-time daycare. A representative from the state agency visits the preschool annually to evaluate my program to make sure I am following the state's guidelines.
I also hold a business license through the Troup County government office.

How many children do you have in your preschool?
Since I am licensed as a family daycare home I am only allowed to have 6 full-time children at once. This really allows me to give each student individual attention to help them develop a love for learning. We all know how much more is expected of Kindergarteners compared to what we experienced....so I really feel that the preschool years are very important to prepare children for the rigors of Kindergarten.

What curriculum do you use?
I use the principles behind the Creative Curriculum paired with the Zoo Phonics program. These 2 programs provide an excellent preschool education!

Do you have any references?
Yes! Please contact me for this information!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Where's Ollie?

This week we learned Ollie Octopus and the sound /o/. We started out by discussing different characteristics of octopi and looked at different octopi from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/. We also talked about how octopi use camoflague to hid from sharks and other ocean animals that might eat them.
I created an ocean scene(using the water they painted for jerry jellyfish) with rocks and kelp in different colors and textures. I asked them to find the octopi and fish I had hidden in the scene. Then the children created their own octopi using the different papers.
After creating their Ollies, they hid them in the "ocean". The children really got into this activity and made more octopi and some fish. In just no time we had an ocean full of creatures all hiding from the sharks!

Chase and Trent are hiding their Ollies in the kelp!

Then the children wanted to make their own sharks that would be looking for the ocean animals. (picture of the sharks on the following post)

This led to the children creating their own ocean scene to take home. They selected the paper that matched their Ollie to create his habitat that would hide him from the sharks.

I love days like this one where the children guide the lessons. They are the best teachers!


learning objectives: uses a variety of materials to create original work; uses different colors, textures, and shapes to create form and meaning; shares ideas about personal artwork;

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Watch out for the sharks!!
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Ollie...continued

Another defense mechanism of the octopus is their ability to squirt ink to cloud the vision of their predator. Kylie and Isabel are re-creating this with an eyedropper and black paint. The jar has a small plastic octopus at the bottom.
Each week there is a number rhyme that goes along with the zoo animal and number. We recite the rhymes everyday and the children will make a rhyme to take home. As the numbers get higher I only have the older children do this activity. Here they are cutting their Ollie's into groups of 5(above picture).
We made a larger Ollie and glued cheerios on the back of the legs for the octopus's suction cups.
learning objectives: shows interest in investigating unfamiliar objects and organisms; identifies similarities and differences among objects and organisms.
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Thursday, January 15, 2009

Snow Day!

This week we discussed /n/ and Nigel Nightowl. Instead of focusing on nightowls we just focused on the sound /n/ in the middle and end of words. It isn't uncommon to hear me stretch out the weekly sound while I am reading a book. This week we read a lot of snow books (empahsis on the /n/ in snow;)).
We all got a good laugh out of "Snowmen at Night". We made a list of the activities the snowmen did from the story. Then we talked about what our snowmen might do at night when we weren't looking. The children created their own snowman on black paper doing its activity. We had one playing football, 2 drinking hot cocoa, one playing games and one sledding!
I got this cute idea for snowmen nose patterns from the Mailbox magazine. The children created their pattern using the large and small end of a carrot. It was really fun!
I picked up this snow powder over the holidays and knew the kids would love it!
Who said we coudln't have snow in Georgia! At least this week it actually was COLD outside!
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Little bit of this....

I am now using Picasa to upload my photos and it will only allow me to upload 4 at a time....so this post is just some of those extra pictures I didn't have a place for! ha!
I created these ABC journals for my full-time students. At least once a week the children will look through magazines for words/pictures with the weekly sound in them. Or they may just find pictures they like and glue them to the page with that sound. They are really training their ears to hear the sounds in the middle and end of words!

For those who were ready we played the "make it say...." game with the -an word family.
Each week a new number is introduced to the children through various activities. Although numbers 1-26 will be introduced, not all children will grasp all the numbers. Our activities are tailored to fit each child's development.
In the picture above Addy is sorting items in the number 13 "junk box". Each week I change out the objects and their amounts. I am in the process of collecting items to make "junk boxes" for all the numbers. There are many different activites that can be done with these junk boxes...simple sorting to regrouping. The child doesn't need to understand/recognize the number in order to learn from this and they love to play with the different objects in the boxes!
I rearranged the room a little over the holidays and also brought out the paint easel. Our walls have been filled with some priceless originals!
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Fun with Missy Mouse!

I hope everyone has had a great 2009 so far! We sure have! I don't know who was more excited to start school...me or the children!
Our first week back we started with /m/ and Missy Mouse.
After reading "If Your Give a Mouse a Cookie" the children brainstormed what Missy would do if we gave her some cheese. They dictated the story to me and then illustrated their page. They all had some cute ideas!
Another fun mouse book is called "Mouse Paint". It is about 3 white mice who get into some primary colored paint and start mixing the colors. The children got to mix their own primary colors to discover what secondary color they would make. It was like magic when the colors would appear!
We also enjoyed reading "The Mitten" by Jan Brett. In this story several animals try to squeeze into Nikki's snow-white mitten. The children love when the bear sneezes at the end!
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