Cutting with Scissors

It has been such a pleasure watching the kids in the class form new friendships. I think by now most kids know everyone's name. I keep hearing phrases like, "He's my friend," and "We can be friends."  It makes a preschool teacher proud. 

We did a project together last week that both helps us recognize the seasons, and share a bit of ourselves. At small groups, the kids traced their hands on two different fall-colored sheets of paper. Then, they cut out their hand shape and we tacked them up on our class tree. Right now, they are all on the tree, but as fall moves on, some of our classroom leaves will also "fall" to the ground. As the seasons change, so will the hand print leaves on the tree. 

This activity really focused on the fine motor skills of tracing and cutting. Many kids were able to cut their hands with just a little help from a teacher. Some kids chose child-sized Fiskar scissors, and others chose "squissors," scissors that bounce back open after you close them. Cutting around fingers is not easy, considering all of the paper turning that is required. We showed kids how to cut with their thumb up and how to hold the paper with one hand and turn as they opened and closed the scissors with the other. 

We will have many more opportunities to use and practice with scissors. This will help develop the kids' hand-eye coordination and fine motor muscles in their hands.

Preschool Musical

This clip may just get me ready to plan "Opera Day!" It is a lot of fun.

Opening Week

We had a great first week of preschool. The kids have been learning each others names and the names of the teachers. Everyone is getting to know the classroom rules and routines. We are getting a chance to explore with all the classroom materials and areas.
We missed Grandma Freda this week. She wasn't feeling well. We hope she will be back this week and we have to thank Rita Winegar for coming in to help. 
Here area few photos to give you some idea of how the kids have been getting used to their new preschool.

A bunch of kids discovered new sand and toys in the sandbox on the playground. They were taking turns, sharing and having a lot of fun.

The kids are taking responsibility for helping dry off the slides and bars so we can use all of the outside equipment to work on our gross motor skills of balance, running, jumping, and swinging.

The doll house is a small pretend play area in the room in which kids can work on social skills. They can plan the design of the house, make up scenarios for the dolls, and practice taking on different roles. 

These kids are putting together puzzles of different children from around the world. This helps them get to see kids of all kinds and recognize things that are the same about all kids and things that are different.


 

In the block area, kids are working on visual spatial skills when they are planning and putting together structures. They also work on persistence, matching, and math skills such as recognizing shapes and counting.

Playing in the sand allows kids to work on their scooping, pouring, and dumping coordination. They get to work with many different materials in the sensory table. As the year goes on, the materials in the sensory tables will change to provide more challenges.








The paint easel is an area in which the kids can show their creative expression. As the year goes on, their paintings will change and grow in detail, representation and use of color and more materials.

Starting Again

Another school year is getting underway. I have had a great time driving around Fairfield and meeting this year's preschoolers and their families at their homes. My new GPS sure has been getting a workout. As I start my 4th year in Fairfield, I am still surprised when I learn new roads and nooks and crannies in this town. It is a pleasure to drive around, see the farms and look at the scenery.

The purpose of the initial home visit is to let kids who will be in the class get to know their new teacher (me) in their most familiar environment. Most preschools believe this is the best way to get to know a new adult, but few actually have the time to accomplish this goal. I appreciate all of the parents' cooperation in making the home visit part of the preschool introduction work--though I know scheduling it in your busy lives can sometimes be difficult. The other advantage of this visit is that I get a sense of each child as an individual. I already know a few things that are main interests, and I have learned many of the kids' talents even before they have been in the classroom. This means I will be able to have meaningful conversations with them from the get-go. It helps with building a good relationship with all of the kids.  

We are getting the classroom all ready for the open house on Thursday morning.  That will be a nice opportunity for all of the parents to meet each other. The kids will have a chance to explore the classroom and meet new friends with familiar adults. We will have a couple of activities for the kids to do and maybe sing a few songs with the guitar. There will be a list to collect parents' emails and some more paperwork for families to complete. I am looking forward to teaching all of the kids this year.

Night under the stars

Hey everyone, I thought I would let you know about a special event that Vermont Public Radio is airing tonight. This is one of those nights you should let your kids stay up LATE!


At 9:00 pm, bring a battery powered radio outside and tune into 107.9. Mark Breen, from the Eye in the Sky forecast and Night Sky, will be guiding you as you look up at the stars. Tonight, tomorrow and Friday are the three peak nights of the Perseid Meteor Showers. People who choose to watch the skies will be treated to a lot of shooting stars (which are not really stars, but meteors). Your kids may not make it to the best viewing hours, which are after midnight, but there will still be plenty to see.

Here is a link to the video "Shooting Star" by They Might Be Giants that is a great way to share what a meteor is with your kids.


Have fun tonight.

Spring Concert

Here is a link to the kids singing in the spring concert last week. I was very proud of them. They have been working on "Goodnight Irene" since March, and "Sandwiches" since April. 
For "Sandwiches," the kids wanted to try each of the sandwiches named in the song. We had a taste test of egg, cheese, peanut butter, jam, ham and cucumber.  Here are the results:

We made this graph using Create-A-Graph online.

Summer ideas

I know I gave you all some summer ideas on the last day of school, but here is another of which I was just made aware.

The Vermont State Parks is sponsoring a summer program for you and your family to participate in outdoor activities. You document your activities with photos and then you get points for each of them. When you accumulate 250 points, you receive a free "Golden Pass" to the state parks, which includes the rest of this summer and next. 

Here is the website with all of the information:

http://www.vtstateparks.com/htm/venturevt.htm

Have fun getting out there this summer!