Learning Adventures Preschool

Graduation

2009-05-18T20:03:00.000-07:00

This year I planned a small graduation ceremony to honor all my students but mainly Kylie, Toddy and Chase who were graduating from Learning Adventure Preschool! We had the get-together at Heritage Hills community pool. Joanne helped me decorate the pavilion so nice. We grilled hot dogs and everyone brought yummy food to share. The children enjoyed swimming...until the storm came. And it rained and rained and thundered! We thought it would pass and then it just got worse....but the show must go on!!

We did our little program and had a blast.

Here is the whole group.

I didn't get a shot of all 3 graduates together....but these 2 pictures are show them all!

I had many moments on Friday where I was so sad that this year has come to an end! The parents gave me a wonderful scrapbook of the year. This is something I will cherish forever. I look forward to the years ahead but this group will always hold a special place in my heart. These children gave me so much confidence. They were always so excited to come to school and I loved seeing their smiling faces each morning. How lucky I have been!!

Field Day!

2009-05-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

2009-05-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

Chase giving the chicken limbo a try! How low can you go?

2009-05-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

Face painting!!

Everyone gave it a try....the green noses was pretty! Of course the children loved painting our faces as well....I had green hands even!

Savanna's clients-Addy and Camryn

2009-05-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

There were even water balloons! This was the children's favorite!!

Kylie was going after her mom while Savanna and I were having a battle at the end of the driveway!

The boys won this round of tug-of-war.

This Kool-aid stand was a hit with Isabel and Toddy. The enjoyed taking orders and passing out snacks!

Not sure why Trent is making that face! He is cute even when he frowns!

Fox's Pizza!

2009-05-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

2009-05-02T16:21:00.000-07:00

The children LOVED going to Fox's Pizza! They went back into the kitchen, walked into the refridgerator, played with some pizza dough and then got to make their very own personal pan pizza! They could choose from all the toppings....but for some reason they all wanted pepperoni! ha:) It was very hard to get good pictures of them creating their pizzas but here is what I have! It was so much fun and we hope to make this a tradition with Learning Adventures!!

The owners were so impressed with their pizza-making skills that some were offered jobs right on the spot!

x, y, and z!

2009-05-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few pictures of our activities during these last few weeks of school!

The children enjoyed creating these pictures using different sizes and textures of yarn.

We also talked about the sun during our /y/ week. After looking at different pictures of the sun on the internet the children painted their own suns by mixing yellow and red.

During the /x/ week we played the game "X marks the spot". We took turns hiding the red x somewhere in the room. The person hiding it would give direction on where to find the x (around the yellow table, to the left of the trash can, under the chair,etc. ) One book we enjoyed that week was "How I Became a Pirate". In this story the main character helps pirates hide their treasure in his backyard. He drew a map for the pirates so they could find it again. We imagined that we had treasure also in our backyard and the children drew a treasure map complete with the "x" to mark the spot! The children also helped write and illustrate a class book "The Fox Has Six ___?".

2009-05-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

The children had fun creating these zebra headbands and playing a zebra friend game.

To end our study of all our zoo friends the children created a zoo. I pulled out some animal pictures from National Geographic magazines for them to cut out and glue on a large banner. Some even drew water or cages around their animals.

We also created personal pizza's that the children cut into 4ths to make a puzzle. This activity was to prepare us for our fieldtrip to Fox's Pizza!

Water and Wheels!

2009-04-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

This week we studied the sound of Willie Weasel. We focused our activities around wheels and water. I wanted to teach the children a little about the water cycle. First we made clouds and then did an experiment showing how clouds let out the rain. Each child had a tray of water and a dry cotton ball. They dipped their cotton ball in the water until it was full of water. When they lifted it up, it "rained".

We also briefly talked about evaporation....which I just explained as how water disappeared into the clouds. I also heated up a bowl of water in the microwave and let the children feel the heat coming off the water. Then we covered the bowl with plastic wrap and noticed the steam collecting on the wrap and then the beads of water will drip down in the bowl just like rain!

2009-04-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

Here are our clouds, raindrops and water chart.

2009-04-02T09:19:00.001-07:00

Here we made a word web for wheels and cut out pictures from newspaper ads that had wheels.

The children loved sorting the vehicles by the number of wheels.

We also did some water-color painting. Chase and I created secret messages with a white crayon...the water-color paint would make the secret word/picture magically appear! Addy and Kylie are creating masterpieces with their water-color.

We also painted with different size/texture wheels. The designs were really cool!

learning objectives: begins to perform simple investigations; compares objects and identifies similarities and differences; begins to observe changes in weather

Vegetables!

2009-03-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

For our /v/ week we learned all about vegetables! We used the book Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens as the basis of our study for the week. It is a great book about a lazy bear and a hard-working rabbit.

I brought a variety of fresh vegetables that we used for different activities from counting and painting!

After exploring the vegetables, we cut them apart and used them for painting.

The previous week we talked about what is underground and discussed different plant roots. I planted a few pea seeds previously that we dug up to see how the roots were growing. Then the children all picked a vegetable seed to plant in their own pot.

We also created this vegetable mural. Each child was to make a root vegetable and one that grows above ground like the ones Rabbit planted for Bear. We had potatoes, carrots, radishes, and even a head of lettuce! We looked at pictures of the internet of the roots and tops of the vegetable they chos; then I gave them some options on how they could create their vegetable. I am always amazed at their creativity and indivuality! I had a few ideas on how to make the corn roots but what they chose looked way better than my ideas....and I love how it was their own!

learning objectives: observes changes in weather; begins to recognize that living things have similar needs for water, food and ait; begins to perform simple investigations; uses various materials to create artwork;

Spring

2009-03-23T16:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great week learning about Spring....but I could not find all my pictures so I will just explain most of the activities!!

I found a great song/poem that we recited each day. It had 3 verses that talked about how we know it's Spring by what we see, hear and feel. Each day we would focus on a particular verse and take a walk outside to discover what that verse described. Then the children drew a picture of their findings in their Spring Journal . Some of the pictures they drew were flowers, bees and leaves for what they could see; birds and bees for what they could hear; rain and sunshine for what they could feel.

This was followed by another activity-a craft- that went along with the verse of the song. For what we could see the children made flowers using coffee filters and water color paint. For what we could hear the children made birdfeeders out of cereal and pipe cleaners to feed the birds! For what we could feel we made the wind socks...that is what Trent is playing with in the picture above.

Another activity we did for "what we can feel" was to make wind painting using paint and a hairdryer. At first I diluted the paint a little and we discovered that it was too thick to move with the "wind". Together we discovered how thin the paint needed to be for it to move in the wind and how fast it would move.

We also experimented with different objects blowing in the wind. It was such a fun week and I sure wish I had more pictures to show for it!!

Underground

2009-03-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

This week we focused on the sound /u/. The animal that goes with U is the Umbrellabird. This is actually a bird found in Central and South AMerica. We call her "Umber". In our study of this sound we focused on what is underground!

First we learned a song about the wonders found underground such as foxes, mice, ants, worms, rocks, sticks, seeds, etc. This led into a discussion about seeds. We will be planting seeds in the near future.

I purchased a few different seeds for the children to sort.

One fun animal that lives underground are earthworms. For this math game the children had 5 gummy worms that they were to hide under their "ground"-the brown paper. I would pretend to be a bird and try to eat their worms....unless they were hiding underground! Check the next post to see the worm farms the children made!

learning objectives: begins to use words that indicate where things are in space;recognizes and reproduces simple patterns using concrete objects; sorting.

Worm Farms!

2009-03-16T11:00:00.000-07:00

On Monday the children helped me create a class worm farm. We cut a 2 liter bottle in half and then scooped layers of sand and potting soil. Then we added 2 earthworms and covered the bottles with black construction paper.

In our reading about earthworms we learned how beneficial they are to plants, how they hate sunlight and how they mix the soil together as they dig their tunnels. We were going to give them 2 days to mix the soil and dig tunnels!

Isabel would have carried her worm around in her pocket if she could!

On Tuesday we made predictions of what the worms were doing. Then we compared our predictions to what really was happening on the next day when we uncovered the bottle. We weren't able to see many tunnels....maybe we needed more worms in there? The process sure was fun though and this was an activity that everyone enjoyed!!

We also took a couple of nature walks to discover what was under rocks and sticks and dirt. We did find some ants and termites! Then we came in and the children created a picture of different items that are underground. The children also LOVED digging for buried treasure last week.

learning objectives: begins to use words that indicate where things are in space; describes observations; asks questions about objects, events and organisms.

More Seuss...

2009-03-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here we are making patterns and matching colors with red and white!

In the book "Hop on Pop" there were lots of action words. I found this idea for "Exer-dice" on the internet. The colored cube has pictures of different movements (running, walking, crawling, etc). One child would roll the cube and the other the die. The die would tell us how many circles we would complete while doing the movement. This was a huge hit!

"The Foot Book" is full of opposites! Here the children are making their own book with opposites.

This book was requested the most. It was my first Dr. Seuss book that I remember checking out from the school library! After reading, the children drew a picture of what they might see on Mulberry Street.

learning objectives: explores moving in space; enjoys listening to and discussing storybooks; frequently requests the re-reading of books; percieves differences between similar sounding words.

2009-03-05T12:52:00.000-08:00

Dr. Seuss

2009-03-05T11:20:00.000-08:00

This week we focused on the wonderful literature of Dr. Seuss!! We started out the week with the book The Cat in the Hat. The children made their own cats and hats. We talked about the problem the children had in the book(it was a rainy day and they couldn't go out to play) and what they would do on a rainy day.

We tried balancing objects like the Cat did in the book.

The most exciting part of the day was when The Cat came to visit!! The Cat(aka Sue Harris) read Green Eggs and Ham to the children and then they got to eat green eggs(only 3 wanted to even try!)

Timmy Tiger

2009-02-26T16:59:00.000-08:00

Although we were on Timmy Tiger this week, we just focused on the /t/ sound all throughout the week instead of having activities just on that sound or animal.

We started talking about safety last week(what are strangers, 911, safety gear, etc) and will continue this topic for another week. Here the children are making "stop" and "go" signs. I read some situations the children might find themselves in and they held up their sign to indicate what they would do....for example....what if you are at the park and a stranger gives you candy? do you take it?

Kolby and Addy are covering a "t" with tissue paper.

We talked about 911 and what an emergency is. The children practiced writing the numbers at the bottom of their paper. We also read some great books on being safe that allowed for some good discussion on this important topic!

This game is "Road Sign Bingo". Each card has 6 different road signs found around our town. They really liked this one. Isn't that a good lookin' bunch!!

learning objectives: knows not to accept rides or food from strangers; responds appropriately during a fire drill; uses different textures to create artwork

fun with Sammy!

2009-02-26T16:31:00.000-08:00

Here are a few activities we did during our week with Sammy Snake and the /s/ sound!

Each week we have pictures that begin with our featured sound and I have pictures that we stick on the bullentin board with the animal/letter. Kylie is writing out some of the words from the bullentin board. It is neat to see how much the children's confidence has grown in this area!

For an art project the children cut out a spiral shape and then decorated it. After attaching the triangle head it became Sammy Snake! They look really cool hanging from the fan in the preschool room!

One mother sent Skittles for a snack a few months ago. We haven't had an opprotunity to eat them yet but everytime I would take down the snack bin Chase would ask when we were going to eat them! I said we were going to save them for a math activity. He suggested we save them for Sammy Snake's week:) Such a smart boy! The children sorted and graphed their candy...and or course ate some!

learning objectives: produces speech sounds with increasing ease and accuracy; compares numbers of concrete objects; combines, separates, and names "how many" concrete objects

Valentine's Week

2009-02-12T12:18:00.000-08:00

This week our sound was /r/ and Robby Rabbit. We did most of our sound/letter work for morning work and then the rest was spent doing Valentine's Day activities. Of course whenever a book or word had the /r/ sound I deliberately held out that sound for the children to hear;) They are really picking up the sounds-not just initially in a word but in the middle and end!

We couldn't celebrate Valentine's Day without working with the conversation hearts. Monday's group counted out 18 hearts(our number for the week) and then took turns calling out math problems....if I had 5 hearts and then gave you 3, how many would I have left?

We also did regrouping with our math rhyme. Isabel is the youngest student I have on Mondays and she does a variation of our activities that targets a different objective. Here she is working on her cutting and pasting skills...and yes those are important skills as elementary as they sound!

I wanted to teach the children about symmetry this week and how 2 halves make a whole. I introduced this lesson by chance during snack-time. We had all the children present this day(6) and only had 3 rice crispy treats. I could have gotten another snack but thought it would be a great way to introduce the symmetry/half-whole concept. I asked them how we could get 6 pieces from the 3 treats. We cut each one in half so everyone would have a piece. Then our activity after snack was to cut circles in half to make a heart. They each had a diamond and a circle to make their heart.

This is the picture of our heart math from Monday's group that I mentioned earlier. Chase is counting out the math problem with his fingers....so cute! Isabel enjoyed sorting hers and then eating them!

sweet mailboxes....

2009-02-12T09:45:00.000-08:00

I love Valentine's Day crafts. There are so many which makes it hard to narrow them down to 1 week's worth! We started the week decorating our mailboxes to hold our valentine treats on Thursday.

First they painted their boxes and then added the embellishments.

GLITTER! Who doesn't love an art project with glitter! I love to watch the kids faces when they add the glitter and then pour off the excess to reveal their design! They love being able to shake all the colored-wonder on their papers and even have enough coordination to pour off the excess in the plate themselves! They have really progressed this year!

Can't have Valentine's decorations without doiles!

Ready to go home and eat our treats! One child was excited to go home and see what the "Valentine Man" had brought him. At first I didn't know what he was talking about and then I realized it was Cupid! ha!

Queenie Quail week

2009-02-05T11:05:00.000-08:00

This week was all about the sound /q/ and Queenie Quail. We also talked about how Queenie always has her friend Umber (letter u) when she makes words.

Addy is making a Queenie puppet and stamping question marks on her bag. The purple feather is Queenie's topknot which is how the children signal her sound(first finger on forehead curled like her topknot)

Our number for the week is 17. We got out the unifix cubes to count with....then the children started making large block towers which we measured objects(chairs, table, us) with.

Our big project for the week was making a quilt for Queenie and her babies. I brought in a quilt my grandmother made for me when I was a little girl to discuss how they are made. Each child then got a piece of paper to decorate with stickers, markers and glitter. Then we sewed them together to hang on our wall.

I think it turned out pretty good!!

We also did some activities with regrouping, counting and discussing what a "quality friend" would be! Another fun week at preschool!!

learning objectives: attempts to connect the sounds in a word with its letter forms; counts concrete objects to five or higher; recognizes and describes the concept of zero; begins to use tools to imitate measuring

PeeWee Penguin

2009-01-29T18:21:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-29T05:19:00.000-08:00

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!

Where's Ollie?

2009-01-23T19:30:00.000-08:00

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;

2009-01-23T19:12:00.000-08:00

Watch out for the sharks!!

Ollie...continued

2009-01-23T19:10:00.000-08:00

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.

Snow Day!

2009-01-15T10:53:00.000-08:00

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!

Little bit of this....

2009-01-15T10:51:00.000-08:00

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!

Fun with Missy Mouse!

2009-01-15T10:42:00.000-08:00

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!

Holiday Fun

2008-12-17T07:22:00.000-08:00

The month of December was spent doing fun holiday activites. We did talk about /l/ and lizzy lizard a little because the children were talking about our next letter! They love their animal friends! Here are a few pictures of some of our activities!

Making candy cane ornaments with pony beads and pipe cleaners!

Sorting and counting with the number 12.

One of our big projects was making playdough ornaments to hand out at Popular Creek-an assisted living home in town. Here Kylie and Chase helped me measure and mix the ingredients.

They all had a great time painting and decorating the ornaments!

Here Isabel is decorating her Christmas tree.

Chase and Addy are playing a counting game with numbered stockings. The cards have "presents" on them with a cooresponding number. They were to match the card with the stockings. We also played addition games with the cards.

For our service project we gathered items to send to the troops fighting to keep us free. The children also colored a picture for the soldiers to also go in the boxes.

The children practiced singing holiday songs to perform at Popular Creek. They residents were so grateful that the children came and shared some holiday magic with them. Here they are shaking their bells to "Jingle Bells".

The residents love the hugs and ornaments!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

learning objectives: experiments with new language sounds; recognizes initial sounds; identifies 10 or more printed letters; predicts what comes next in a patters; combines, separates, and names "how many" concrete objects; predicts what will happen next based on previous experience; uses a variety of material to create original artwork.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-25T11:53:00.001-08:00

We had some special visitors Monday to share with us how the Thanksgiving tradition got started.

Mrs. Harris told us the story about the pilgrims coming to this country on the Mayflower. She brought along her indian friend "Runs Alot".

The children listened so well!

Today we talked about what Mrs. Harris taught us about the Pilgrims and the children made their own Mayflower ships. We also talked about the indians and wrote our own Indian story using Native American symbols.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

kayo kangaroo week

2008-11-24T07:22:00.001-08:00

Here are some of the activities we did this week!

This book has been requested everyday for storytime. It is about a firemen trying to fix thanksgiving dinner but during the day they are interrupted numerous times by calls to put out fires. The children started acting out the story with the dress-up clothes Mrs. Harris made for the class.

Kylie is the dispatcher who took the calls. She then told the fireman where the fire was and who was hurt. Dr. Trent and nurse Chase are ready to take care of the patients when they arrive.

Officer Addy is transporting the victims with Firemans Todd and Isabel.

Dr. Kylie is writing a presctiption for Pee-Wee Penguin while Nurse Addy keeps him calm. Trent is manning the phones this time. They loved taking turns with each part.

We have a number line on the wall that we add to each week. Here the children were making their own number line.

We did some counting with kittens. The older children worked with number sentences and some wrote their own. The younger students just counted with the kittens.

I have begun to work with the older students on auditory discrimination. Here we were working on beginning and ending sounds. I would call out a word and they would hold up a sign to indicate whether the /k/ sound came at the beginning or the end. Another listening game we started playing this week is called the "Silly Name Game". We took the /k/ sound and put it in front of everyone's name(or different words)....so Todd became Kodd; Isabel became Kisabel; table became kable.

This activity was to help the children "see" what 11 looks like. They would sort the objects, line them up and count. For some children we are working on one-to-one coorespondence with this actitvity. For others it may be the sorting skill or left-to-right counting.

Addy is paiting her turkey. First they painted their hand brown and added orange, red and yellow feathers.

Trent created his kayo kangaroo complete with a pouch for holding words /k/ words.

learning objectives: perceives differences between similiar sounding words; identifies the beginning sounds in words are the same; begins to create and invent words by substituting one sound for another; begins to recreate stories using simple props

jerry jellyfish week

2008-11-13T11:02:00.000-08:00

Here are a few highlights from our week with /j/ and "jerry jellyfish"!

First we created a collage from cold weather clothing.

We did some math activities using jellybeans...

First we sorted the colors to see which color we had the most of. Then we did some number sentences that were in the number 10 math family. This was a little much for them but it doesn't hurt to try!

We also created our own jerry's using the crayon resistant technique. First the children drew on their jellyfish with crayons. Then they brushed water colors over the paper. It gave their creatures a cool look!

Then they added crepe paper tentacles and google eyes.

Isabel giving her "jerry" his tentacles. She loved her jellyfish and didn't want to hang it in the classroom!

Next we created an ocean habitat for our jellyfishes by finger-painting blue paint on a banner.

Addy and Trent really got into this! Thank goodness the paint is washable! I didn't think they would get it on their clothes or I would have put on the painting shirts!

Here is the finished product! I think they turned out so cute!

learning objectives:

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything!

2008-11-10T09:36:00.001-08:00

As part of our Halloween party the children presented the book "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything" by Linda Williams. The children practiced very hard and were excited about showing off for their parents. Chase asked me if he should make a sign for the door. Of course I agreed that it was a fabulous idea! He wrote out the title of the book and then Kylie wrote the names of all the performers.

I did get a video of the performance but unfortunatley it was deleted before I got it transferred to the computer!! I was so sad about that! So you will just have to take my word for it....it was adorable!

inny inchworm

2008-11-10T09:05:00.001-08:00

Here are the highlights of our week with inny inchworm.

The children created an inny puppet and on the outside they either stamped their bags with inny's and/or added pictures with the /i/ sound in them.

One word we focused on this week was insects. We looked at books with insects and discussed what makes an insect. The main characteristics we studied were 3 body parts, 6 legs and 2 antennae. The children looked for insects around their house to bring in for us to study using our magnify glasses. Then we created our own insects using pom-poms and pipe cleaners. Isabel loved everyone's creations and would often say "what a cute little fella!".

Here the children are creating the dirt for their "icky" snack. I gave them some chocolate pudding and a gummi worm. They crushed their orea to make the dirt. It was icky!

Here the children are looking for the 3 body parts, six legs and 2 antennae of the bugs they brought from home.

We also did a sorting activity with pictures of insects and animals.

We also discussed what an inch was. We looked at a ruler and talked about what it was used for. I gave each student some 1 inch squares numbered 1-9. They put them in order and then drew a head on another square to make inny inchworm. We will do other activities dealing with measurement in the future.

Here Addy is sorting her pictures. We also sorted little plastic animals and insects.

We signed up for a leaf exchange this month. We mail out 1-2 leaves(laminated) from our area to everyone on the list and they will mail us a couple of leaves from their area. Here the children and I put together a puzzle of the USA and we pointed to each state as we stamped the envelopes.

I also have this USA map on the wall where we will put a sticker on each state we get a leaf from.

learning objectives: uses different colors, surfaces textures, and shapes to create form and meaning; participates in group activites involving movement; enjoys listening to and responding to books; counts by ones to 10 or higher; gathers information using simple tools; identifies similarities and diffferences amond objects and organisms.

Halloween week

2008-10-31T05:42:00.000-07:00

This week we focused on lots of fun Halloween learning activities!

First we painted a small pumpkin to turn into a scarry bat!

OOhhhhh....they are fierce! It was fun putting these together!

I had Kylie take a picture of the process of making our spiders but then didn't get a pic of the finished product! We read "The Very Busy Spider" by Eric Carle, counted how many legs spiders have and then created our own creepy-crawly. We painted only the 4 fingers on each hand so when we pressed them on the paper it would make 4 legs on each side. THe children added eyes to their spiders and I hung them from the ceiling and doorway! They turned out very cute!

Here the children are completing simple number sentences and counting activities using Halloween stickers as counters.

Here we all are dressed in our costumes at the party. The children acted out "The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything" for the parents. I wanted to post the video but I accidentally deleted it from my camera!! We are going to do it again next week and get another video....which will be better because the children got a little nervous with everyone wathcing!

learning objectives: attempts to write messages as part of playfun activity; understands that writing is used to communicate ideas and information; begins to share and cooperate in group activities; begins to engage in dramatic play with others

Honey Horse

2008-10-24T03:03:00.001-07:00

With the weather changing and the leaves turning colors we have been talking about the season of Fall. The children have been using different items to illustrate a book "Falling Leaves". Each page had a different colored leaf that needed to be brought to life! Here the children are covering their yellow leaf with tissue paper squares.

For the orange leaf Addy is mixing yellow and red together. We used glitter, markers and dead leaves to illustrate the other pages.

Here is their honey horse math rhyme. For some of the students I gave them 2-3 honey horses not cut apart and asked them if they had 2 already... how many more would they need to make 8. Then I would write that number sentence on their paper.

The children are using honeycomb cereal as counters in these activities.

We also discussed habitats this week. Each day we would take a few of our zoo phonic animals and sort them into 2 categories-land habitats or water habitats. Then they made this flip book.

They had fun observing these pumpkins with their magnifying glasses!

Here Addy is tracing a honey horse with honey. Every child learns differently so I try to provide various activities to cover all learning styles.

Our last activity for the week was to decorate a hat with words having honey horse words or pictures of those words. If the children were able they could stamp honey horse words onto their hat. It is fun to watch their face light up when they realize they can sound out a word and it make sense!

They all wanted their picture taken with their hats! It was a fun week!

learning objectives: shows a steady increase in listening and speaking vocabulary; listens to tapes shows an understanding through gestures, actions, and/or language; becomes increasingly sensitive to sounds of spoken words; begins to make some letter sound matches; begins to name "how many" in groups of 3 by not counting; describes properties of objects and characteristics of living things; uses a variety of materials to create original artwork.

2008-10-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

I sent home a note today saying each child would need to bring in a small pumpkin for an activity next week. I also said I would post the pumpkin activity so you could see what we would be doing....but it was not on the magazine's website. I will have the magazine in the classroom if you would like to see the activity.

Thanks!

gordo gorilla week!

2008-10-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our week with gordo!

One objective I am trying to teach the children here is that letters make up words and words make up sentences. We do this in different ways. Chase and Kylie are circling words on this poem about geese.

I gave each student a bag with the letters a-g. They were to put the letters in order. It was fun to listen to them sing the song as they completed this activity.

We couldn't pass up the opprotunity to use gold and green glitter on our g!

Chase is adding the correct labels to the pages in his "Goofy Glenda" story. Each page had a different creature that popped out of the witches black pot. Each creature's name started with /g/ so I stressed the final sound to help them distinguish which word to pick. (i.e. the /n/ in gremlin or /t/ in ghost)

Sometimes I will enunciate the sounds heavily which will probably sound pretty funny. I have heard from some parents that their child will do the same at home and today Kylie demonstrated how to sound out "necklace" for me. It is like we have our own language!! Too funny...but they are learning, right!

The weather has been absolutely beautiful and the leaves are beginning to change. Last year I took some pictures of 3 different trees nearby as their leaves changed colors and then fell off. I made these into cards for the children to see the changes the trees go through. After discussing the changes in the leaves' colors the children made their own trees.

The highlight of the week was our fieldtrip to the grocery store-Piggly Wiggly! They were so wonderful to the children! It was even fun for the adults too!

I didn't get pictures at every stop we made but here are a few. The children could get their face painted. Then we went to the floral dept. where they each got a foam turkey(it doesn't sound cute but it was;)). Then they took us to the meat dept. where the meat manager cut up a chicken for them. The children also got to feel how cold -25 degrees felt like when they went inside the big freezer!

Today when I asked the children what their favorite part of the fieldtrip,most said the cookies! Mr. Tim from the bakery let the children help decorate their own sugar cookie. When we were done they had made up a "goody bag"-from the red reusable shopping bags- for each child with 2 mylar balloons, candy, a ruler, and a group shot with the Pig. It was such a fun time!!

Here is the thank you card we made for them this morning. I want to take this fieldtrip each year!

Francy Fish week!

2008-10-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

This week was all about /f/ and Francy Fish!

I placed objects with the /f/ sound on the table. After identifying each one(and exaggerating the /f/ sound) the children drew pictures in their booklets of /f/ words.

Addy is painting with a feather.

My children helped me color and laminate these fish. On the back I put one of our zoo animals. When the child would catch a fish they would say the sound and signal. Some I had tell me a word with that sound also.

Everyday we read the book "Rainbow Fish" . In the story the rainbow fish refuses to share his shimmering scales with his friends. He soon becomes very lonely and visits the wise octopus for advice. He instructs Rainbow Fish to share his scales with his friends. This made him very happy.

The children made their own Rainbow Fish with scales they could share with their friends. After every fish was assembled the children took turns asking their friends to share a scale with them. In the end they all had a different scale....one from each friend! Their fish turned out beautiful!

And we couldn't have a francy fish week without goldfish crackers! The children sorted their crackers and discovered which color they had the most of.

learning objectives: covers an area with shapes; cooperates with others in a group activity; uses different colors, surface textures, and shapes to create form and meaning

It's Ellie Elephant!

2008-09-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

This week went by very quickly! I can't believe we are already 5 weeks into the school year!

Here are a few pictures from our adventures with Ellie Elephant!
On Mondays (during Circle Time) I introduce the animal/signal/sound we will focus on for that week. While the children are playing in centers I will work individually or with a small group talking about the letter again, the animal, its sound. We will look at how the letter is formed and depending on the ability of the child we may look at some words that have that sound in them or the child may practice identifying the letter. I encourage them to take the paper home and share with their family the sound and signal of our weekly animal. If the sound is an easy one to detect(and again if the child is ready) I will encourage them to look for words at home that have that sound in them. It takes time for a child's ear to be trained to hear certain sounds in words.

Here the children are exploring an egg. We looked at a book about a duck coming from an egg. We talked about what might come out of a chicken egg. Then I gave them each an egg and a magnifying glass. We talked about what the shell looked like. Then they cracked their egg into their tray so they could examine it. Afterwards we made a venn diagram write down their observations.

We used the leftover eggshells(plus the ones you all sent in....THANKS!) to break into small pieces and cover an "e".

Ellie Elephant's signal is her grabbing a peanut with her trunk and putting it in her mouth. So when we signal /e/ our arm is the trunk and we pretend we are bringing a peanut to our mouth while saying /e/. We did some math work using peanuts as counters.

Since we were on the number 5 I introduced 5 pennies = 1 nickel. Here they are looking for different letters and numbers on their coins.

The children created their own "Ellie Elephants" using paper plates. We talked about how to get the color grey by mixing black and white together.

The finished Ellie...complete with a peanut!

learning objectives: begins to demonstrate part of and whole with real objects; enjoys listening to and responding to books; becomes increasingly sensitive to the sounds of spoken words; counts concrete objects to five or higher; shares observations and findings with others through pictures, discussions, or dramatizations

Scholastic Book Orders

2008-09-25T11:53:00.001-07:00

I have set up an account so you can place your Scholastic Book Club order on-line. You may still order them using the paper form and giving me a check. After all orders are placed the books will be shipped to the preschool and I will distribute them when they arrive. Our class gets points for every order that we can use towards free books for the classroom!

Click here to get started.
Our class username is : learningadventures08
password: preschool

I am going to create a link to this post on the side so if you decide to place an order you can locate our username and password from there.

Thanks!

fun with dee-dee deer

2008-09-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

This week I didn't seem to take as many pictures as I normally do! We had a great week filled with lots of learning opprotunities so maybe we were just too busy to stop and smile for the camera!

The children made a drum this week. First they painted the outside and then added dog, dinosaur and dot stickers. They used a dum-dum succor as a drumstick to drum the syllables of words with the /d/ sound.

The children each picked out 4 dinosaurs. Then they were to trade with their friends but had to use descriptive words when asking for a certain dino(i.e. the one with a long neck or 3 horns). I tried to get them to think of other descriptions besides colors. On Thursday we made towers from the unifix cubes that were 4 blocks high(last week they were 3 blocks high). The children were really getting into making patterns with their 4 cubes and also making a pattern from the colored cube that was on top as their cubes were lined up side by side.

To review the animal sounds I laid the large animal cards on the table. I would give a child a stuffed animal and they had to match it with the card and then tell me the sound it made.

Another concept I introduced to the children was time. Specifically what is a day and the days of the week. We started singing a song to learn the days of the week and read some great books about what happens during the day. This is a concept that we will be talking about every week.

Ask your child to sing the song "Today is Monday"....you may have heard them singing part of it already:)

learning objectives: begins to understnad simple number sentences; begins to distinguish between words with similiar sounds; begins to use descriptive words to describe objects; begins to understand the concept of time

Catina Cat week

2008-09-09T10:05:00.000-07:00

This week we learned all about Catina Cat's sound. C is a tricky letter since it has a hard (cat) and soft(circle) sound but we will just focus on the hard sound of each letter. it is so fun to hear them recognize words with the "catina cat" sound at the beginning of a word and especially in the middle or end!

Here the children are practicing their "3" and they drew 3 objects on their paper.

The children created their own calico cats. We looked on-line at different pictures of calico cats to see their black, brown and white coloring. Then I gave the children those 3 colors to create their cats. After the plates dried, the other features were added.

I got out the unifix cubes for the children to make groups of 3. We counted, measured, and compared our blocks to our neighbors. One child was creating a whole row of 3's so we all joined her to make a "wall" of 3's!

Here the children are waiting for their "c" cookies to cool off. They each had some cookie dough that they shaped into a "c".

Each week there is a math rhyme that goes along with the letter and number. I would like for the students to create a mini-book with these rhymes so they can share them with their families. For the students who were ready I cut the rhyme apart and they put it back together.

learning objectives: matches objects that are alike; recognizing shapes; attempts to connect words to use a variety of forms of writing; begins to make size comparisons between objects

Jobs

2008-09-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

Last year the only classroom job we had was a leader for each day. That person was the helper and did various tasks during the day. This year we created enough jobs for each person to have a turn helping! They change jobs every week and take their responsiblity seriously!

Weather Watcher- this child will look outside and determine what the weather is so we can mark it on our graph

Leader- this child will be the first in line and lead us to and from activites outside the classroom.

Table Washer- this child cleans the table before snack and lunch

Caboose- this child is the last in line and makes sure eveyone lines up in front of him/her.

Bell Ringer- during transition times(before snack, clean up time, lunch time, etc) this child will ring a bell and announce what "time" it is.

Snack Helper-this child gets the "snack bucket" off the shelf and passes out the plates and cups to the other children.

Substitute Helper- The subsitute helper does anyone's job that may be absent.

bubba bear week

2008-09-04T09:14:00.000-07:00

We had a fabulous time with bubba bear's sound this week. Each day we review all 26
animals/sounds/signals and the children are really picking them up! It is wonderful when a child can recognize "bubba bear" at the beginning of a word or even in the middle....all on their own!

Here are some activites the children completed this week....

glueing beans on "b"

Each child decorated a paper birthday candle using glitter for our bullentin board. After Nolan's candle was finished he wanted to make a new picture. He looks very serious about his glitter!

The children made binoculars to help them find words with bubba bear's sound. I gave them different shades of blue and some white to mix together for painting their TP rolls.

After they dried the children glued "b" 's on their binoculars.

Last week I had the children trace over the letter "a" using applesauce. This week we used banana pudding to trace over our "b".

We also talked about big and bigger using various sized balls and this cute book "I Am the Biggest Thing in the Ocean".

learning objectives covered this week: understands and follows simple directions; begins to clap along with each syllable in a phrase; begins to recognize words with the same initial sounds; reproduces simple patterns using concrete objects

Meet Bubbles

2008-09-02T17:40:00.000-07:00

This week we are focusing on the sound "b" with Bubba Bear.

This is his brother Bubbles and he will be spending the night with different children. He has his own backpack with his bottle, brush, books, and a blanket. The children are to take care of Bubbles-feed, bathe, read books, brush hair and put to bed. When they bring Bubbles back to school they will tell the class what they did and draw a picture for a class book. The children are excited to have a sleepover with Bubbles and so is he!!

Green vs. Red

2008-08-28T12:57:00.001-07:00

Today we had a taste test to see which apple tastes the best....the red or green. Here are the results!

learning objective: participates in creating and using real and pictorial graphs;begins to compare the numbers of concrete objects using language("same" or "equal" , "one more", " more than", or "less than")

Allie and Applesauce

2008-08-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

Just another way to experience the letter "Aa"!

I gave each child a copy of the Allie Aligator merged letter( the letter and the animal) and 1/4 cup of applesauce. We talked about how the letter looks like a circle and they each traced the letter with me...of course with the applesauce! This was a fun activity even if some do not like getting their fingers messy! I wonder what they will do with banana pudding next week!

learning objective: begins to associate the names of letters with their shapes

Apple Prints

2008-08-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

Apple Prints!

This week we have been studying the letter "Aa" so we decided to make a stamp from an apple.
First we made predictions on what would be inside the apple when we cut it open. We talked about what we found and pointed out the "star" in the middle! After the students stamped their paper they told me what the stamps looked like to them.

learning objective: makes predictions, shares ideas about personal artwork.

Counting

2008-08-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

Along with learning a number each week, we will also study a number. We will start from 1 and go to 26(for each letter of the alphabet). I will provide a variety of ways to explore that number using different manipulatives. This week we are looking at the number 1. Since this is a relatively easy number to grasp I also introduced number sentences for those who were ready for more.

Rainy Day!

2008-08-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

Since the rain kept us from going outside to play we used the rain to help us "paint" pictures. First we drew pictures using markers and then held them outside in the rain for 10 seconds.

The we took a tissue and dried off the excess drops. The rain made the colors run together!

Allie Aligator

2008-08-25T09:44:00.001-07:00

With Zoo Phonics we will be studying a letter each week. During the week we will do many activities to explore the letter, how it is made, what it sounds like, the animal and signal for that letter and other fun learning adventures!

Today the children colored a picture of Allie the Aligator, cut it out and glued it to a paper bag to make a puppet.

Each week we will also have a bullentin board with the letter of the week. The students are to bring in words and/or pictures with that sound in them. The sound can come at the beginning or anywhere in the word. For example, the sound /a/ is in "apple" and "cat".

learning objective: becomes increasingly sensitive to the sounds of spoken words

It's Me!

2008-08-24T13:34:00.000-07:00

In this activity the children created "themselves" using paper plates, glitter, yarn, stickers, buttons and paint! Their little bodies turned out so cute! One even had hair on his chin. When I asked why, he said, "my Daddy has hair all over his head and I want mine to be like my Daddy."

We even added glasses to Addy's. Be sure to look at these when you come to school this week!

Learning Objectives: begins to use scissors; uses a variety of materials to create own artwork

Friends

2008-08-24T13:22:00.001-07:00

This week we discussed "friends". Each day we did a fingerplay titled "5 Little Friends". On Thursday the children helped cut out "friends" from magazines. Then they each counted out 5 cut-outs and 5 cards to glue their friends onto. After the cards dried I put them in a bag along with the fingerplay so they could share it with their families.

5 Little Friends

5 little friends playing on the floor

One got tired and then there were 4.

4 little friends climbing in the tree

One jumped down and then there were 3.

3 little friends skipping to the zoo

One went for lunch and then there were 2.

2 little friends swimming in the sun,

One went home and then there was 1.

1 little friend going for a run

Decided to take a nap and then there were none!

Learning Objectives: arranges sets of concrete objects in one-to-one coorespondence

Tuition Schedule

2008-08-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

Tuition Schedule 2008-2009
Learning Adventures Preschool

August (8 classes)
FT $70.00
PT $37.50

September (17 classes)
FT $140
PT $75.00
School closed on 1st.

October (16 classes)
FT $140
PT $75
School closed 13th and 14th

November (14 classes)
FT $140
PT $75
School closed 26 &27

December (12 classes)
FT $105
PT $60
School closes 22nd

January (14 classes)
FT $140
PT $75
School closed 5th and 19th

February (15 classes)
FT $140
PT $75
School closed 16th

March (18 classes)
FT $140
PT $75

April (13 classes)
FT $105
PT $60
School Closed 6th-13th

May (8 classes)
FT $70
PT $37.50
School ends 14th

Daily Schedule 2008-2009

2008-08-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

It has been a great "First Week" of preschool this year! I have put together a schedule that I believe will work for us.

9:00-9:20 Morning Work- the children will arrive and do "work" at the table while they wait for the others. Some examples of this "work" are playdoh, drawing, puzzles, unifix cubes, etc.

9:20-9:30 Circle Time- the children get an ABC mat and sit around the easel. During this time we see who is here, graph the weather and discuss what learning activities we will do today. We will also have short phonemic awareness lesson from our Zoo Phonics program.

9:30-10:20 Centers- now the children are allowed to play in the various centers that are set up in the classroom. There is housekeeping, blocks and transportation, dress-up, art, science, literacy corner, puzzles and games and a sensory table.

Also during this time I will do an activity with a small group. It will be focused on our theme and/or letter of the week. Sometimes it will be something the children can take home and other times it will be a learning game such as memory or letter bingo.

Chase and Nolan are playing in the Blocks and Transportation center.

Trent and Addy are painting in the Art center.

10:20-10:35 Snack and Storytime- after playing in centers we take a break to use the bathroom, wash our hands and have a snack. While the children are eating I will read stories to them. We read their favorites and I also try to read a couple that go along with our learning objectives for that day. While reading we predict the endings, discuss rhyming words, talk about what happened to the characters, etc. We usually can read 2-4 books.

10:35-11:25 Centers The children go back to playing in the centers. I will generally do another activity with small groups.

11:25-11:45 Circle Time-the children clean up the centers and gather around the easel for another circle time. During this time we will do finger plays and/or sing songs. I will also do a group activity based on science, math, social studies, and that ties into our letter of the week. This will sometimes be followed with a group activity at the table to enforce the concept we just discussed.

11:45-12:15 Lunch- the children line up to use the bathroom and wash their hands. Then they eat lunch.

12:15-12:45 Outside Play- after lunch we clean up and go outside. They can ride scooters and tricycles, play in the sandbox and clubhouse, swing and slide, draw with chalk, etc. They love working their large muscles.

12:45-12:50 Clean up and Dismissal - after cleaning up the outside toys the children will come inside and wait for their parents.

12:50-1:00 Independent Reading time- after cleaning up our outside toys the children come inside and read. This is a quiet time as they wait for their parents to pick them up.

You're Invited!!

2008-07-30T06:08:00.000-07:00

Preschool Open House

August 14th

10am-12pm

Learning Adventures Preschool

1st day

2008-07-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

Our new year will begin on Monday August 18th!

Full-time students will attend Monday-Thursday from 9am-1pm.

Part-time students will attend Monday and Wednesday from 9am-1pm.

Everyone will pack a sack lunch.

I am so excited to get the new year under way!

Hi

2008-07-02T06:13:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I hope you are enjoying a nice summer off just relaxing with your children! I am enjoying my time off but am looking forward to the start of our next preschool year!! (as I know some of your little ones are too!)

I have been reading up on the Zoo Phonics program and am getting really excited. I know the children will have fun with all the animals which will make learning so much fun!

We will start our 2008-09 year August 18th. Open house will be Thursday August 14th. I still have one spot open so if you know anyone who is interested please let me know or send them a link to our blog.

Stay cool and I will see you all on the 14th!
(more info on the open house will come in the mail at the beginning of August)

Water Rocket

2008-06-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

Ever since the children spotted the water rocket in the backyard (around October) they have been wanting to try it out. I had to explain that we needed to wait until the summer because it was too cold. Since they didnt' understand seasons and didn't have a grasp of time yet, I told them when the leaves come back on the trees we will try it out. I thought they might forget but Chase did not! When spring came along and the leaves did start coming back, he kept asking me when we could try it out.

We planned a water day on the last day of school. It was a little cooler than I had hoped but they had a blast!

I also bought some water guns which were a big hit.

There was a leak in the hose....Kylie was trying to get a little taste.

Ladybugs

2008-05-11T19:02:00.000-07:00

We were learning about ladybugs and here the children are painting the bodies of their bugs black. Then they cut out their wings, added the spots and assembled it all together to make their ladybugs.

Over 150 books!

2008-05-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

For the month of April the children read over 150 books in the Book-It program beating their total from last month! In 2 months they read over 250 books in all!

Callaway Gardens

2008-05-06T04:32:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we took a field trip to Callaway gardens. First we watched the Wild Bird Show and saw an owl, hawk and an eagle. Joann, Patrick and Kylie waiting on the others outside the Discovery Center.

Then we spotted the water snake that lives at the little waterfall. We were causing a traffic jam by laying down on the bridge:)

Here we are waiting for the tram to leave! It took us to the Butterfly house.

We loved looking at all the butterflies and then feeding the goldfish.

We missed Todd though. He was home sick!

Ants and butterflies

2008-04-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

Here the children are counting out ants. I placed a number on their trays and they were to count out that many ants....picking them up with the tweezers. Using the tweezers helps to build the muscles in their hands which they need for writing.

Here Kylie is showing off the butterfly she made. They each cut out their butterfly then picked three colors of paint to drop on one side of the cut-out. Then they folded it over to create a symmetrical painting. The body was assembled placing on a big, medium and small oval. Then they added their antennae. Kylie wanted to add the probiscus as well to hers.

They all turned out so unique and cute!!

Life cycle of a butterfly

2008-04-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

We have been studying butterflies and their life cycle. Here the children are making a flip chart with all the stages of the butterfly.

I had them identify each number and then they placed the correct picture under the cooresponding number. We learned a song to help us learn each stage(posted below).

Then I would put 2 words in front of them and ask "which word is caterpillar" or "what sound do you hear at the beginning of butterfly....which word is butterfly" trying to encourage them to listen to the beginning sound to identify words.

Stages of the Butterfly (tune: Up on the Housetop)

First comes the butterfly who lays an egg

Next comes the caterpillar with many legs

See the caterpillar spin and spin

A little cocoon to sleep in

Oh, oh, oh, look and see

Oh, oh, oh what could it be?

Out of the cocoon, my oh my

Out pops a beautiful butterfly.

Ask you child to sing this to you!

They're here!!

2008-04-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to see the butterflies on Friday but so so bummed that they didn't come out on Thursday when everyone was here!! Sophia made up some nectar to put in the bottom of the net for them to drink and on Tuesday we will let them go.

New members of our classroom!

2008-04-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

Since we have been talking about Spring and plants I thought it would be fun to also explore earthworms. I bought a container of worms at the gas station and gave each child a small tray with about 3-4 worms to study with their magnifying glass. The worms were very wiggly and some even escaped from their tray.

Then we went outside and filled up an aquarium with dirt so we could watch the worms in action.

There was lots of loose dirt in the back yard where they are digging up for our addition!

Here the children are working together filling the aquarium!

Save the worm Patrick! Not everyone wanted to hold the worms....they tickled a little:)

We also put some sticks and leaves in the dirt so we can add some bugs to the aquarium later. One stick we put in there had 2 moth cocoons attached to it. That will be fun to see if the moths come out!

2008-04-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

We have been talking about insects this week and discussed some charateristics that make insects....insects! Three main characteristics we focused on were 6 legs, antennae, and 3 body parts. After looking at pictures of different insects, reading books about them, and studying plastic models of some I had the children create their own insect using these 3 characteristics. I love to do these kinds of projects because each child does something different! After constructing their insects they added their own special markings using glitter! They all turned out so cute!!

Update on the caterpillars....

2008-04-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

The caterpillars ate and ate the brown stuff (it is called "nutrient") and grew double in their size. Then they attached themselves upside-down to the paper disk inside the lid.

Then I attached them to the inside of our butterfly cage so we could watch them form their crysallis. I was suprised at how little time it took for them to change! Now we are just watching and waiting for the first butterfly to appear!!

Look what came in the mail!!

2008-04-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

During our reading time today I was reading a book about bugs to the children to find out which insects they wanted to learn about. As we were reading the book the mailman came up the driveway with a small package. It was very exciting(and timely) to open the package and see 5 small caterpillars!! In a few weeks(after they eat and get fatter) they will attach themselves to the paperdisk at the top of the container. Then we will transfer the paperdisk to the butterfly house to watch them form their crysallis and then emerge as butterflies!!

Here are the insects they chose to study! I love the variety!!

Measuring

2008-04-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

I gave the kids different objects to measure with unifix cubes. We haven't done this in a very long time and I was pleasantly suprised at how well they did this activity!

They are all geniuses!

Planting!

2008-04-10T05:17:00.000-07:00

Today we talked more about plants and seeds and what they need to grow. Chase wrote "sunflower" on the board for us.

After painting our pots and allowing them to dry we went outside and filled them with potting soil. Then each child pushed their sunflower seed down in the dirt.

Then they each watered their seed with an eye dropper.

We took the rest of the potting soil and planted some marigolds. I only got this one picture because my hands were covered in dirt! It will be fun to observe the plants growing!

Over 100 books!

2008-04-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

Last month the children participated in the Book-It program sponsored by Pizza Hut. For each book they read we wrote the title on a Maisy character cut-out and placed it around our "Crazy for Maisy" poster. The program goal was to read 60 minutes each week....which I knew we could accomplish easily. We read at least 10-15 minutes at preschool and I knew you all were reading at home as well. I thought it would be fun to see how many books we (as a class and at home) could read for the month of March. We read over 100 books!! The children were so proud of themselves!!

I hope we can exceed this for the month of April!

Spring Flowers!

2008-03-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

This week we have been talking about the season of Spring and how we know it is here. On Wednesday we made these flowers from coffee filters, a spray bottle and a pipe cleaner.

First the flattened out their coffee filter and then added different colors with the markers.

Then they took the spray bottle and sprayed the filter. The colors bled together. After they were dry, we squeezed and twisted in the center to create the base of the flower to which we twisted the pipe cleaner for the stem. It was a fun craft and the children loved using the spray bottle!

It finally came!

2008-03-24T04:40:00.000-07:00

After waiting many months of waiting it finally came! All the goodies I ordered with my grant money arrived! I have slowly added the large items into the classroom with the exception of a large sand/water table. I just don't know where to put it!

We got a nice set of wooden blocks that Chase and Trent are using for a road in this picture:)

We also got 2 low shelves. The blocks do not stack that well so I will get some bins for the odd shaped ones. I love these shelves because they divide up the space, are great for storing manipulatives, and also are just the right height for the children!

Another item we received was this great library book display shelf. This is my favorite item because it got the books out of the 'pool' and up where the children can see the titles. On the back of the shelf is a white board where the children can draw and write.

We also received a nice easel with a double, magnetic white board. I love this because of the storage on the bottom and also because it rolls!

Thank you Bright From the Start!

Fire Safety

2008-03-14T18:17:00.000-07:00

This week we have talked about Fire Safety. Here are some pictures and highlights of our week!First we started by reading some books about firemen and what they do to keep us safe. Here Chase is coloring his fireman hat. Then the children glued their hats on a white circle and then added their eyes, nose and mouth. I had the children tell me one way the Fireman keeps them safe and I wrote it on the back of their firemen.

We also talked about "Stop, Drop, & Roll" and learned a song to help the children remember what to do if their clothes catch on fire. This was a scary concept for some of the children. We also did an experiment with a candle to show what fire needs to burn.

Here the children are showing their fire trucks they made.

Thursday the children were visited by Lt. Knight from the LaGrange Fire Dept. He reviewed a little about fire safety with the children and brought them these cool hats.

Then we stepped outside where there was a real fire truck! The children enjoyed learning all about the different equipment the fire truck has on it that keeps us safe. Some children were very nervous about everything but I think they really enjoyed it!

Here is Kylie taking the truck for a drive:)

And Patrick is ready to roll! Later I asked Patrick what he thought about getting to "drive" the fire truck... he replied "but it didn't move":)

Thanks to the firemen who keep us safe!!

Let's talk about Safety!

2008-03-06T09:48:00.000-08:00

This week we have been discussing Safety-what it means to be safe, what items around our house help us be safe, what is a stranger, etc.

The children colored a "Stop" and "Go" sign. Then I read some scenarios (a stranger at the park asks if you will help him find his dog...what should you do?) and they held up the sign that best answered the scenario.

We also talked about traffic lights and road signs. Here the children are playing with some road signs I bought at Toys-R-Us. We drew a rode and railroad tracks on the driveway with chalk and they had so much fun driving around!

Farm Field Trip

2008-02-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

After discussing the "Farm" we took a field trip to Butts Mill Farm in Pine MOuntain, Ga. It was a little chilly but the children had a blast! If you would like to see the photos send me a note at bowhair@bellsouth.net and I will send you an invite to see my album on Kodakgallery.com. There were too many cute pictures to upload and I tried to add a link to the blog for the album but couldn't.....so send me an email if you would like to see the pics!

Thanks to all the parents for their help with this trip. It was a lot of fun.

Let's learn about the Farm!

2008-02-26T14:36:00.000-08:00

For the past few days we have been centering our learning activities around the Farm.

The pictures just show the activity the children are doing but there are many learning experiences that happen before and during the activity that can't be recorded in a picture.

Here the children are adding "wool" to their lambs. First, we did a counting activity with cotton balls. I had them count out 5 balls from the bag. Then we sang "Mary Had 5 Little Lambs" and the last phrase was "and 2(or any number 1-5) ran away" and the child would take 2 cotton balls away and tell me how many were left. Then we would sing again either taking more away or adding some back. With some children I wrote out the number sentence we were creating as well. Then I gave them their lamb sheet and they traced over the word "lamb" and I asked them how were they going to cover their lamb with only 5 cotton balls. They all knew they needed to pull the cotton apart. Then I applied the glue to their papers and they went to work.

Here we are playing an animal sounds BINGO. Listening is an important skill needed in order to read. They had fun listening to the different farm sounds.

Then one day they put together their own snack mix. Each ingredient they were to take 5 pieces from.

We will conclude our farm theme with a trip to Butts Mill Farm.

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T18:54:00.000-08:00

The children were SOOOOOO excited to pass out their Valentine's to their friends. That is what they asked to do all morning long! It was so sweet to watch them as they passed their special treats out to their special friends. We talked about how to be grateful and they all said "thank-you" each time a treat was placed in their bags. What a fun day!

Valentine's Week

2008-02-15T18:52:00.001-08:00

We had so much fun this week with our activities all centered around Valentine's Day! One of the favorite activites was making Valentine's. They children love using glitter(and so do I)! They are getting very good with using the glue and being careful with the glitter! They also were amazed when we talked about symmetry by cutting out a heart from a paper folded in half. It was fun to see the expression on their faces when they cut out their own heart!

For snack on Valentine's Day we created a heart cake from a circle and square. After assembling the cake the children helped decorate it with icing and sprinkles. Then we all enjoyed it!

Zoo animlas and zippers

2008-02-07T02:11:00.000-08:00

This week we talked about the zoo and animals you would find while visiting a zoo. For this activity the children traced over the word "zoo" and then picked 3 pictures of different zoo animals. They glued their animals on the paper and then drew a "cage" around each one.

Here the children are painting stripes on a zebra. First we dipped a marble in black paint. Then I dropped a marble in their tray. As they tilted their trays back and forth the marble rolled over the zebra to create the stripes.

We also discussed the letter Z. One item we placed on our letter poster was a zipper. Then we created a graph with who had a zipper on their clothes that day.

Nuts

2008-01-28T12:53:00.000-08:00

This week we have continued our study of winter animals. Today we focued on squirrels and what they do to prepare for the cold weather. We read the book "A Busy Little Squirrel" by Nancy Tafuri where a little squirrel is too busy to play with his friends because he is gathering fruits, nuts, and corn for the winter.

Then I pulled out a bag of mixed nuts. We compared the shapes of the different nuts and then predicted what would be on the inside. One child said a train would be inside and another said a doll. Then one said, "we need to crack it to see what is inside!". So we did and everyone tried the various nuts. Then I let them have a hammer(with CLOSE supervision) to try and crack the nuts themselves. We used the broken shells to cover the letter "Nn".

Bear Snores On

2008-01-21T12:48:00.000-08:00

During our study of winter animals we have focused on bears and hibernation. We have also been reading Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson. Each time the story read "and Bear snores on" the children would act as if they were asleep. It is a very fun book to read.

Then we crumpled lunch sacks and folded down the tops to make a "cave". Then the children placed their sleeping bear inside his cave for the winter.

New schedule for 2009-2010 school year

2008-01-18T13:11:00.000-08:00

Learning Adventures Preschool
2009-2010 Preschool Year

Classes will be offered Monday-Thursday from 9:00am-1:00pm. Students will bring a sack lunch each day.

4 day program - I will have 4-5 spots available for this schedule. This schedule is ideal for children entering Kindergarten the following school year although other ages are welcome to come all 4 days. $140/month

2 day program - I will have 2-4 spots for this class(depends on how many full-time students I have enrolled. 2 spots for sure). This is ideal for students who are 3 years old or who have 2 more years before entering Kindergarten. $75/month

(these spots will be filled on a first-come-first-served basis...please ask for more information)

If you are interested in my program please contact me through email or by phone. I would love to talk with you!

Thanks for your interest!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

2008-01-18T13:00:00.000-08:00

We have started constructing our own version of the popular Eric Carle book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You Hear?". Each day the children get an animal to color. We also add another element -- like yarn or colored foam or tissue paper squares(seen here)--to give the picture another layer. When we finish coloring all the animals we will put our book together and the children will take them home.

Contact Information

2008-01-18T05:50:00.000-08:00

Mary Kate Villamor

home: 706-884-3861

email: bowhair@bellsouth.net

The Mitten

2008-01-17T12:59:00.000-08:00

This week we did activities centered around the folktale "The Mitten" using the version written and illustrated by Jan Brett. This story is about a boy named Nikki who loses one of his white mittens out in the snow. Some winter animals find it and crawl inside. To help with the storytelling I made a white felt mitten along with these animal cut-outs that the children are coloring. As I read the story the children put the animals inside the mitten but something happened when the mouse sat on the bear's nose....be sure to ask your child what happened next.

The children each cut-out their own paper mitten that we glued together leaving the bottom open. They also had the same animal cut-outs to color. Now they can tell this story to their families.

Here the children are making AABB patterns using red and blue mittens. They are really getting the hang of patterns!

A treat for the birds

2008-01-16T12:51:00.000-08:00

After reading "Animals in Winter" by Henrietta Bancroft we discussed how animals find food in the winter. Then we made a cranberry/orange garland for the birds.

Our new T-shirts!

2008-01-15T12:44:00.000-08:00

For Christmas the parents suprised me with T-shirts printed with "Learning Adventures Preschool" on them! I am so excited!! We all looked so sharp sporting our new shirts on Tuesday.

Thanks everyone!

Snow in Georgia?

2008-01-11T14:06:00.000-08:00

I borrowed a snowcone machine and so we could make snow! I wish I had a video of the the children's squeals as the machine spit out the snow. It was very exciting. Each child got a bowl of snow and and eyedropper. I added the food coloring to the water today and they enjoyed coloring their snow and watching the colors mix together.

Snowmen

2008-01-10T14:01:00.000-08:00

Today we read "Snowballs" by Lois Elhert and the children created their own snowmen like in the book. First they were to put the "snowballs" in order largest to smallest and then they could glue on the embellishments. It was fun to watch their snowpeople take on a little personality.

Welcome Back!

2008-01-08T18:55:00.000-08:00

It was fun to see everyone today after the long Christmas break. For morning work I had the children draw a picture of what they got for Christmas or something they did over the break. I am going to keep these pictures for their journals. During circle time we discussed winter. It is hard to comprehend this season with our nice warm tempatures!! We also did some observations of ice cubes using magnifying glasses and eye droppers. It was a fun day!

Here are some pictures of our activities:

exploring ice and the properties of water

play doh is always a hit!

the children all painted a picture on the new easel.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-20T16:30:00.000-08:00

I have to be the luckiest teacher on earth because I get to teach these beautiful children! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday! See you next year!

i am kneeling....it looks like I am standing doesn't it! i will be shorter than all these students by the time they are in middle school but for now I am really the tallest! :)

Twas the week before Christmas.....

2007-12-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the crafts we did this week....

Added berries and ribbons to our wreaths....

painted the sticks to frame our ornaments...

decorated our ornaments.....

made candy canes from pony beads and pipe cleaners...

made reindeer food......

Trains.....

2007-12-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

Recently I got out some battery-powered trains and they have quickly become the children's favorite......as you can tell....