Podcasting

Follow the link below and you can hear how our preschool students would prepare a turkey to eat for Thanksgiving. This is our first attempt at developing a monthly podcast to share our learning in preschool this year. 

I will continue to explore the ins and outs of Podbean, the podcast hosting and sharing website that I learned about when I wen to the Vita Learn statewide technology conference in early November. 

It looks like I will be able to embed a podcast player to this blog. That will allow you to link to all of the new podcasts right from here. I just haven't quite figured it out.

If you are familiar with RSS feeds, you can sign up for the preschool monthly podcast at the ffvtpreschool Podbean page.

Have fun listening to these creative ways to prepare Turkey.

How To Prepare A Thanksgiving Turkey by the Fairfield Preschool Students

Holiday Concert songs

Here are two links to You Tube videos of the two songs we will be performing for the holiday concert. You can watch them with your child andnpractice the words over the Thanksgiving.

What I Am

One Was Johnny

The Many Colors of Us

This is another in my series: "I meant to blog about this awhile ago."

Back in September when we we learning about ourselves, friends and families, we read the book The Colors of Us by Karen Katz. The girl in the book is painting pictures of her friends. As she works, she realizes none of them have exactly the same skin colors. One friend is cinnamon, another is chocolate, and still another friend is peachy. 

So, at art the week we read the book, we made big faces by cutting out round shapes from big paper for our head. Before we painted the heads, we had a bunch of skin color shades of paint. The kids chose the color that was closest to their skin shade and we squirted it in a paper cup. 

Next, I painted the color right onto their hand. Then we asked if it was too dark or too light. They then chose other colors to mix with it. Every time we mixed a new color in, we tested on their hands. 

Once the color was right, they used it to paint the skin on their face. We also kept track of each color that went in and made a "math" problem adding the colors together that we needed to get each child. 

Four Winds: Erosion

As part of the Four Winds science program run by parent volunteers, we learned about Agents of Erosion. First, through a puppet show, we learned that wind, rain and running water are things that cause erosion. Then, we each got to try two experiments to notice the way agents of erosion act on rocks and soil. 

 For understanding water erosion, we started with two containers that had rocks and clear water. We shook only one of them as hard as we could for 10 seconds, mimicking how current acts.

When we were done shaking, we could see that the one that we left alone was clear and we could see through it. The one we shook was all mucked up with little tiny pieces of rock and dirt.


In the other experiment, there was a pile of flour in a baking pan that represented a hill of dirt on the ground. With a bottle filled with "rain" we squeezed little drops onto the pile. With each drop, some of the flour was moved and pushed around. The higher we held the bottle, the more dramatic the motion of the dirt.

Jack-O-Lanterns

Still working on catching up on the blog. These are the Jack-o-lanterns we carved together. This was the end of our Monsters theme. Before we made these creatures, we had a couple of days to explore with the open pumpkin. The kids got to play in the guts and seeds. Then, Melanie, out new classroom assistant, took the seeds home and colored them for us to make colorful seed pictures in art. 

In honor of Election Day coming up, I downloaded 8 patterns for pumpkin carving. The kids each got three votes. They used animal counters as their "voters," placing them on the three designs they liked the best. The winners, from left to right, were "Scared Ghost," "Death's Face," and "Cyclops." 

To carve the faces, we placed the the pattern on top of the pumpkin, used a poking tool to make little holes to get the pattern on the pumpkin. The kids then help carve out each piece with a safety carving tool. It was a lot of fun, using our civics for voting, are creativity and fine motor skills for carving.

Counting Jar

Counting Jar is regular activity that we do in preschool to work on 1 to 1 correspondence (counting objects one at a time). The big jar has a a number of things in it. The kids count the things in the jar. Then, they write down the number they counted on a pieces of paper. They always have a number line and rubber stamps to help them figure out what the number looks like. Next, they have a Ziploc bag with their name on it. They find some other items in the classroom and fill their bag with the same number of objects that they counted in the counting jar. When everyone has finished, we use a Closing Meeting time to check our work. The picture above is of Counting Jar check. Each row of objects represents another child's bagful of stuff. We decide if they had the same, more or less than the number that was in the Jar. If they had more, they put away the extras to correct their work. If they had less, they go get some more to add to their row to correct their work. That helps them learn to double check their work. When everyone's work is done and correct, we practice counting ALL of the objects on the floor together. This gives them an opportunity to count to very high numbers together.

Hay Day

Do-A-Dot Art

Everyone had a milk mustache picture taken

The preschoolers had a chance to be involved in the school wide art celebration called Hay Day. It was a blast. I have to thank Kerri Howrigan and Erica Connell for volunteering to help kids get to the right activities with us. We had choices of various art activities such as finger painting, do a dot art, printing with vegetables, and nature drawing. This was a great experience for students to share in a special day with the whole school. The activities were multi-age and many students saw their siblings and older friends. We had a shared snack in the cafeteria. Thanks to all of the families who provided yummy, healthy snack choices. We also drank apple cider that was pressed in a morning workshop by older kids. We had enough time at the end of the day to have music and closing meeting in the classroom. All of the kids recalled one of their favorite moments from Hay Day.

Fudge For Funds 3.0

We are moving forward with another Fudge for Funds fundraiser for preschool this year. Preschool families will be asked to sell Snowflake Chocolates fudge. There are five flavors (Maple, Maple Walnut, Chocolate, Chocolate Walnut, and Peanut Butter).  

The idea is that the money raised will benefit others as well as benefit our preschool program. In the past, we have given 1/3 of the money raised to a  worthy non-profit that benefits children. We got suggestions from families and the kids voted on who would receive the money. This year, given the devastation that Hurricane Irene caused in Vermont, I would like to suggest we donate to either the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund, or we donate to a library that lost their children's books. 

The other part of the funds will be designated a classroom loft (if approved by the administration), or more classroom technology tools (extra Beebots, iPad apps, iPod touch etc).  Any leftover funds will help supplement field trip costs for preschool this year. 

This has been a very successful fundraiser in the past. We have added a digital microscope, bee-bots (to teach programming) and rocket engines to the preschool in the past. 

Forms will go home tomorrow and orders and money will be due back on Friday, October 14. 
 

Spirit Week

On Friday, Student government may and decided that this upcoming week will be Spirit Week at FCS. Preschoolers are welcome to participate in these fun ways to show pride in our school. Here are the daily themes:

 

Tuesday: Celebrity/ Favorite Character Day

 

Thursday: Farmers Day

 

Friday: Class Color Day 

(A student government rep will come to our class 

to have a student pull a color out of a hat to determine 

our class color for spirit week)

Welcome to Our New Classroom

It has been a long time since I blogged, but I have been busy getting the new preschool classroom moved and set up. as well as licensed by the Child Development Division of Vermont. We managed to get that all done and we are open for business in the Fairfield Center School.

Here are a few pictures from our beginning of the year:

 Working together on a big puzzle

 painting at the big easel

 Eating snack a few friends at a time

 This is how we know not to go on the high part of the playground.

 Negotiating the new playground structure. Very fun!

Drawing with markers.

Exploring in the sand.

Launch Day!

Here is a wrap-up video of the rocket launch day last Thursday. I have to admit, it was my favorite day EVER as a preschool teacher.

Preschool Bucket List

As we near the end of the year, we realized there is so much we though about doing that we did not quite get around to doing. So, we created a "Bucket List" of things we definitely want to accomplish before this school year ends. Here are a few things we have managed to check off our list.

HATCHING CHICKENS

 Angie Boardman offered to share her egg-hatching project with the preschool. She is hatching chicks for her home, but generously shared the eggs, incubator and information with us. We have been making predictions about how many will hatch, what color the chickens will be, and if they will hatch on time or not.

We now know, it takes 21 days to hatch and we should expect to hear peeping in our room on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. After they hatch, we'll put them in a "brooder box" and Angie will be taking them to her home after school on Thursday. We have a chart in the classroom that we have been using to count down the days. We also have used this opportunity to learn the names of the days of the week.

AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR THANK YOU

 In order to thank the authors who responded to our request of book donations to the new library. She came in and shared some of the books with the kids.

 

Next, half of the kids "Illustrated" the letters T H A N K and Y O U. The other half of the kids "Authored" an invitation for the authors and illustrators to join us for a Tea at the library on June 18th.

Next we took a picture of all of us with the books and the THANK YOU, which will be the cover of the invitation that we send.

MORE LIFE PROCESSES: TADPOLE TO FROG

Grandma Rita brought in tadpoles (and a few eggs that had not hatched yet) in order for us to watch how they change into frogs. We will feed them and watch them change over the next few weeks.

Hopefully, we will have frogs before preschool is through.

Author Author!

One of our post office focus projects was to write a letter to Vermont authors and illustrators to ask if they would consider donating books to the new Bent-Northrop Memorial Library. The kids collaborated to come up with the words for the letter. (I helped them with the word "considering," but the rest is theirs.) Then, everyone wrote a few of the words on a real piece of notebook paper. I scanned the letter many times and wrote a cover letter to the recipients explaining how the kids worked together on the letter. 

We got some responses this week. How exciting! The real notes from Julia Alvarez and Amy Huntington are posted on the preschool wall, with the letter that the kids and I wrote.

 This one is from Julia Alvarez

This is from Katherine and John Paterson.

 

And this is from illustrator, Amy Huntington. She sent her note on a postcard that she also illustrated.

Another Traveler's Story

This is a video I put together of Flat Brandon's trip with Babci and Grandpa. Enjoy.

Department of Motor Vehicles

I am catching up on some older activities that I have been meaning to post about. In March, as we were learning about various vehicles, we had a day at the DMV. 

The kids needed driver's licenses for the cars we were making for our drive-through bank. I had each student take a number at the end of meeting. I taped numbers to their clothes so they could keep track of them. During play time, I was the DMV lady. I called their numbers. 

They came over to me and I asked them their eye color, birthday, if they were a boy or girl, and their street address (which we had practiced a lot during our post office theme). It was a fun way to find out if they knew these facts and to see how they answered questions. Next, I weighed them and measured their heights. Our scale runs a bit heavy, so I estimated down a couple of pounds for everyone. Then, we took their photo for the license. You may notice, none of them are very flattering--so true to the real DMV, don't you think?

An example of the resulting driver's license. I used my dog so as not to give away any personal information about kids. The last step after I printed out the licenses was to have the kids sign them. They also had to fill out the organ donor card on the back, which was a very fun conversation. They ran the gamut from, "No way," to whole body donors. They had to sign that, also. This gave them two opportunities to practice writing their names on small lines.

Spring Thaw

Today as we played outside, we noticed several large areas of water--mini lakes, actually, on the playground. The kids, of course, gravitated to them. I warned that they might be too deep to splash around in. The kids were not sure about this.  We decided to approach the problem scientifically. I got a yardstick and we measured how deep the puddle was. 

Whoa! almost 10 inches deep! Then, I compared the waterline on the yardstick to kids legs. They agreed after we checked that they would, indeed, get wet almost up to their knees and that even the rain boots most of them were wearing would not protect them from water that deep.

Flat Flatly in Chicago

 I'll be posting several of the Flat Stanley Project adventures here on the website. Our Flat friends have visited states all over the country as well as 4 countries outside the United States. When they return to the preschool with pictures, I have been sharing their adventures with the kids and posting where they went on our map just inside the classroom.

Here is installment number one:

 

The Truth About Snow

   Since we have been starting our preschool day outside on the playground this winter, we get out more days than I ever have in the past during the winter. I am a strong believer in getting outside in all kinds of weather. I have a "dream" that someday I will own enough rain boots and slickers to make going outside in rainy weather easy. I have such fond memories from my own childhood walking to and from school in the rain and playing in the puddles caused by all of the downspouts on houses.
   Back to winter in Vermont. I have noticed how kids (and I was one of them too) like to "sample" snow. As a grownup, I find this disgusting, because I know how dirty snow can be. I have had many conversations with the kids about how gross snow is, but they have not really believed me, considering how pristine and white a fresh layer of snow appears. 
We did a science experiment with snow in order for me to definitively show them that they may want to think twice before chowing down on their next snow cone.
  We got a large, empty, clean jug and filled it 3/4 of the way up with snow from the playground.  We brought the jug inside the classroom. The kids all predicted that it would melt, or change to water. We were surprised that by the end of the preschool day, there was still a lot of snow in the jar. It was slushy, but had not all melted. We decided as to let it sit inside over the weekend and we would check it on Tuesday. 

On Tuesday, this is what we found.

The kids looked in the jar and observed that there was lots of dirt and even some small rocks and pebbles in the water in the jug. They also said the water was not very clean, like drinking water. They all agreed that they did not really like to eat dirt and rocks and now they know that snow has that stuff in it. 
    The other observation that we made was that the snow had filled the jar 3/4 full, but the water that it melted into only took up a little bit of space on the bottom. I asked them what they thought made up the rest of the space in the snow--what else was in the jar? One of them realized the jar had air on top. We talked about how snow is made up of a lot of air and a little bit of water. 
   They gained a lot of knowledge in a very simple experiment of melting snow. I'll have to see if their new learning carries over to the culinary behavior on the snow-covered playground. I hope it does.

Self-Control

This story was on NPR yesterday and it connects to many of strategies we use in the Fairfield Preschool classroom. 

 Connect to the story

The teachers at this preschool in Maryland were trained by people from the Center for Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL). The folks at CSEFEL have been training trainers in Vermont. This summer and October, many teachers and providers, including me, from Franklin Central officially became CSEFEL trainers. You may recognize some of the techniques in this NPR story to what you see in our classroom everyday.

  This poster of solutions is a resource for helping the kids solve their own problems when they come up during play. We learned the words "problem" and "solution" early on in the year. We know when we have a problem we need to find a solution. Now we have a mediator (or problem solver) each day as a job in the classroom. That person helps others solve their problems with a set of solution cards they wear on a lanyard. 

 

These are the five basic rules we have for the classroom. They are stated positively (what the expectation is, rather than what we don't want to see). We review these often and they are posted near the meeting area. This helps kids understand the consistent expectations for everyone.  

This is our schedule, which helps kids know what we have done and what we will be doing. We move a clothespin along to show where we are at in the daily schedule. Our secretary (another job) reads the schedule at meeting and we always ask if we will be having a regular day or a different day, which helps kids stay grounded.

 

These are the four expectations for whole group meetings. We regularly ask the kids to check themselves when we are to the meeting area.

 

When the kids enter the room, they use this visual to know the four steps of coming into preschool each day. The goal is that they will do these on their own, without adult help to build their independence.