Thursday, September 29, 2011

The number 6

First things first… Cannon had Spark this last weekend. I think they had a great time together. (I feel real bad that I didn’t get a picture of Sayla and Spark when she had him last week, but it completely escaped my mind. She will have him again, so I will NOT forget next time). Some of the things they did together was…

  • Spark and Cannon played tag with his sister Ally.
  • They  jumped on the trampoline.
  • They wrestled together.
  • They rode the 4-wheeler.

Sounds like you two had a great time together! Thanks for taking care of him, and making the weekend so fun for him!

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If I had to describe today in one word it would be CRAZY!!! We had a great deal of fun, but man were the kiddos high strung. How do we get things done when they are like that you ask? Well, the most effective way for me to handle this many kids when they are all excited, is to count.

This is how I discipline my class, just so you know, and are aware of my policy.  I will ask 2 times. Then on the 3rd time if they haven’t done what was asked of them, I start to count. 5…4…3…2…1. If I get to 1, then it is into time out for 3 minuets. They get removed from the situation, and a timer is set. If they get out of time out before the timer goes off, another minuet is added to the remaining time. At times when all 9 students are talking, laughing, yelling, playing or whatever is making the noise level high, I do have to raise my voice to be heard over the noise, I will talk loud, but I will never yell at my students. Just thought you might like to know how I handle it when it does get a little crazy, or out of control!

Today we did the number 6! Each student got to draw a name, and take their turn writing the number 6 on the board. This is an important time for me. It gives me the opportunity to really encourage obedience within the class, as well as really give positive feedback to the child writing on the board. Obviously every number is not written correctly every time, but if they do it even part of the way, I really let them know they are doing awesome! It makes them smile, and encourages them to continue to try the best they can. If they are struggling with a certain number, I will help them write it over and over again. Repetition is key. I have been really impressed with the 6’s today…

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After everyone had taken a turn, I had out the worksheet! At this point, I walk around the room. Help each child write a few 6’s on the paper, and if they don’t know how to write their name yet, I help them do that as well.

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Soon, we will be practicing names. I just didn’t feel like they were quite ready for that yet as a class. We need to get some of the basics down before we move on. And, we did just that today! “Trace the lines of the sunshine…”  Being able to trace a shape, and hold a writing utensil correctly is something we work on everyday we are together. IF you want to work with them, here are some great worksheets. Just go here…http://kidslearningstation.com/tracing-lines/.

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For our craft today we made Yellow Suns. Our color of the day was yellow!

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I practiced some scissor skills again today. Some of them are doing awesome! Some still need a little encouragement, but I am seeing improvements daily! That makes me happy.

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Then it was time to glue on the suns rays…

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Look at the finished projects…

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Please know that it isn’t just all busy work. They have a great deal of time to play and interact with each other! Look at these cute pictures.

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They have a lot of fun together!

Evelyn had snack today. She has been anticipating her snack turn for weeks now! She was excited…

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Thanks Evelyn for the Granola Bars, and String Cheese!

I found this fun idea for a Dice Game. I thought this would be the great review game. They roll the dice, count the dots and circle the number on the paper. My younger kiddos didn’t quite get this, but we still had fun counting dots together!

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We then played outside together. It was a fun day!

REMINDER: We don’t have preschool next week for Fall Break! Can’t wait to see you again on Tuesday October 11, 2011.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Number 1-5 Review

Todays post will be pretty short, just due to not having enough hours in the day today for everything that needs to get done!

We sure missed you Cannon! I hope you heal fast, and feel better soon!

Today we did a Review over everything that we have done so far…

Colors: Red, Blue, Orange, Green

Numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5015

Site Words: of, play, it, he, you

For Arts and Crafts today we made “Number Fish Bowls.” 012

I had each kiddo color the bowls, and the little fish. I didn’t let them put them on until later. We did this one on one. I wanted to make sure each of them individually could identify the numbers. I was impressed with everyone, and believe they (for the most part) have the numbers 1-5 down. I will continue to work on the writing skills of these numbers, as they are still learning how to write properly. Some of them are struggling a little bit with how to properly grip a pencil. This is something we are continually working on, and it so important.

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Kaden had snack today! It was such a great snack of crackers and cheese, and raisins. Everyone loved every bite!!!

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We read this book…

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And review some of our songs we have learned so far.  We did practice writing our numbers. For some of our younger kiddos I just asked them to trace the numbers. Smile

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To My Parents: IF your child isn’t holding a writing utensil properly, could you help me in fixing this before it becomes a huge problem? I would greatly appreciate it. The grip is such an important step in writing properly. I work on this every chance I get, but any extra help for you would really encourage them to do it properly!

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The first day of Autumn

Today was a great day. The time just seemed to fly by! It was a busy day filled with lots of fun things. We missed you again Nikkya, and hope to see you next week! Start feeling better soon!!!

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First thing we did was talk about our Life Skills. I ran out of time on Tuesday, so we didn’t get to talk about “Our Full Names.” So, we started with that. Then we talked about “Our Parent’s Names.” It was cute when Little Sayla said “I want my middle name to be Pink Apple.” I tried telling her it was Kay, and she insisted it was “Pink Apple.” She is so cute with the most adorable personality when her timid nature wares off. Then some of the boys insisted that there parents were “Mom & Dad.” I was chuckling inside! They are just so cute. Kaden says “Well my mom calls my dad Blake, but I just call him Dad.”

We review our site words: of, he, play and it. We review all the colors of the rainbow, and lots and lots of shapes, including; Octagon, cube, and cylinder.

When we were doing our calendar stuff, we discussed that tomorrow is The First Day of Autumn. We talked about what happens when Fall comes such as the leaves changing colors and falling off the trees. That is gets a little colder, and pretty soon it will be winter and start to snow. Then they all got excited about some of the fun things we get to do in the winter.

We again practiced writing our #5’s on the board.

“Draw a line across the top, a little line down and a big ole’ bump”

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For today’s craft we incorporated both the number 5, and Fall…

One by one I traced each students 5 fingers…

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That turned into our trees. I had them each color the “5 branches” and then they were able to glue some fall leaves on the trees.

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A work in progress…

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Then it was free play. They always enjoy this time. They are all getting along well, and building some great friendships.

We also watched and learned a few cute songs…

 

After clean up, and right before the end of the day we read “My Five Book” by Jane Belk Moncure. This is from the same series as the others.

Today was a great day! I sure hope you all have a fantastic weekend.