Preschool Ponderings

Oh My!

2008-01-08T18:03:00.000-08:00

Today was one of the worst days that I have had at work in a long time. I had seven boys, and by circle time I was ready to cry. I had to send one boy out of the classroom twice. As a whole, the class didn't listen, but this kid took the cake. Tantrums, crying, stubbornness were just a few of the fun things that I got to experience.

It was like that the entire day, definitely one of those days where I needed some retail therapy afterwards, which I enjoyed, courtesy of some gift cards. Hopefully the rest of the week will not be as crazy as today.

Sock Hop

2007-12-11T16:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, one of the parents in my class dropped off her child with no shoes. She said that she forgot to put them on. Okay, I thought she'd go home to get them and bring them to the class. Wrong! So I had a child with no shoes in my class.

Since yesterday was a day we have gym, I didn't think it would be an issue. That is, until the fire alarms went off. I got everyone's jackets on (did I mention it was in the low forties and drizzly?) and we all trooped outside and walked to our designated area.

We came inside and guess who had wet, dirty socks? She didn't have any spare clothes, of course, I called up front to see if they could find any. Luckily, someone found some in the dryer and that's what she wore for the rest of the day.

A Comedy of Errors

2007-11-08T18:40:00.000-08:00

Today was a horrid day in my class. I was expecting nine kids, six were there, but that was six too many. One of the kids, I knew about thirty seconds after he walked in the door that we were going to have a rough day. Sometimes I'm wrong on that assessment, but today I wasn't.

He was in time out within minutes. For the remainder of the day, he continued to display obnoxious behavior. The kicker came when he got that look in his eye, and sure enough, he'd had a messy accident. While I was getting him corralled into the bathroom to get him cleaned up, a parent came in. My other kids were painting with chocolate pudding and being preschoolers.

She waited for her daughter to finish, which was fine, but I was stuck in the bathroom trying to get this kid cleaned up. In the process of removing his soiled clothes, he managed to get the stool, which is the one the kids step on to reach the sink, completely dirty, and got the toilet seat as well as the floor dirty. One of the kids came in and stepped right in it.

At this point, I just had to laugh. The kids were being noisy, they were wound up all day. Two of the boys butted heads all day, lots of refereeing involved there on my part. It all added up to the mess that today was, and I decided I could either laugh or cry, so I chose to laugh. I'm sure the mom waiting thought I was nuts, but oh well. Par for the course on a day like day. At least tomorrow is Friday!

Project Pictures

2007-11-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Patch!

Corn Cob Painting!

Milk Cap Spider!

Pumpkin Guts!

2007-10-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

Thursday I bought a couple of pumpkins, one of which I wanted to take to school on Friday. David cut the top open, and it went to work with me yesterday! The kids were all very excited when they saw the pumpkin sitting on the counter, and were constantly asking when we were going to play with pumpkin insides.

When it was time, I spread out a plastic tarp on one of the tables, then placed the pumpkin in the middle. I gave each kid a paper towel to put their seeds on. I pulled the top off, then stuck a spoon in the hole and gave each kid some seeds. I then told them to have at it! They were welcome to stick their hands in and grab stuff out of there if they so chose.

I got some great pictures of the kids playing with the pumpkin goo. A few of them tried a seed, but only one really liked it. The joy on their faces was contagious, I do believe they would still be playing with pumpkin goo if I hadn't said it was almost time for parents to come.

One kid spilled his paper towel full of stuff on the floor, but since it was on tile, that cleaned up easily. Once the kids were finished playing, I put the pumpkin away and after a quick wipe on the tarp, folded it and put it away. Very little cleanup, which is always nice!

Backwards Day

2007-09-28T16:11:00.000-07:00

Today's theme day was Backwards Day. Everyone in my class came to school with their shirt on backwards! In the spirit of things, I even switched my shirt around. We got some weird looks, but oh well, the kids loved it! We also celebrated Backwards Day by walking in the hall, you guessed it, backwards! It was actually really nice, because the kids couldn't speed down the hall like they sometimes want to.

We did some neat projects this week. My favorite was apple painting. I sliced an apple in half, stuck a plastic fork in each half to serve as a handle, then let the kids take turns dipping it in paint and stamping it on the paper. The texture of the apple made really neat patterns on paper! Pictures will follow!

We also glued candy corn to a letter C template. I set them out to dry overnight on Monday and hung them up Tuesday morning. While they looked very nice, it only took a couple of minutes before the candy corn starting falling off. Not just a few, mind you, but about a third of the candy! Oh well, I took them all down and sent them home with the kids.

Another fun project that turned out better than I had expected was something called a bio-poem. I made a sheet with a list of questions to ask each child, then after their interview, they drew a self-portrait. I then glued the paper to a sheet of construction paper that was their favorite color. The final effect was really neat!

Lastly, to celebrate friendship, today we made friendship art. That entailed each child drawing on a piece of paper with another classmate. Sounds easy, right? Well, I tied one of their hands to their classmate's hand, so that one child was drawing with their right hand, one with their left. It looked really interesting! Since we had an uneven number in the class today, I tied my own hand to one of my students' hands, and we worked together. I was the person with the left hand free, that made it interesting. All in all, a good week.

Project Picture!

2007-09-26T16:05:00.000-07:00

Here are the donuts that we made a couple of weeks ago to reinforce the concept of circles. We used brown paint on brown paper and I brought in real sprinkles to put on top. We've received lots of compliments!

Hairy Harry

2007-09-21T15:55:00.000-07:00

During our circle time, one of the many things that we do is discuss the weather. We have a weather song that we sing, then I appoint someone as the meteorologist (yes, I use that word with them) for the day. Their job is to go to the window and look at the weather. They then report to the class what the weather is, then we turn the weather wheel to the correct picture.

After that, we have a guy made out of brown felt that I pull out for the next part. Since everything must have a name, it was decided that his name is Harry. He's attached to a square of white plastic, and we have a bag of plastic clothes, each with a piece of Velcro on the back.

After getting the weather report from the day's meteorologist, I appoint someone for each of Harry's articles of clothing. One person chooses which shirt Harry should wear. There are several shirts, jackets, and a rain coat to choose from. Someone else chooses the shorts or pants. Another person chooses the shoes and someone finishes him off by selecting a hat (if needed) and his sunglasses. When Harry has his sunglasses on, he looks like the poster for Teen Wolf, hence the name.

Because we have a different person selecting each item, Harry looks pretty funny sometimes. Last Friday, which was incidentally Dress Silly day, poor Harry was wearing a green tank top, purple shorts with yellow rain boots. Oh well, he fit the theme! The kids enjoy dressing Harry each day, and are learning something about making clothing choices based on the weather!

Argh!

2007-09-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not trying to talk like a pirate, but I am very frustrated from today. One particular little boy decided not to listen to anything I said today. He was purposely doing the opposite of whatever I asked him to do. If I asked him to not throw something, he did. If I asked him to clean up, he kept playing.

At one point I'd had enough and was escorting him to the time out chair. He would not sit down. Usually he'll whine about it, but he'll almost always sit. After umpteen times of bringing him back to the chair, I was ready to scream! He also kicked me and punched me in the mouth. (Luckily he doesn't hit that hard.) Finally, a teacher stopped by to give me a bathroom break, I asked her to send someone from up front to my room.

Luckily the person I wanted to come, did. She tried the same things I did, but maybe having another person say it was the ticket. Or the fact that there were now two of us telling him to sit in the chair. He did eventually sit.

After that incident, he was a little better, but not much. However, when I sent him to time out again, he did sit in the chair. He really wants to be a "good boy" as he puts it, but he has absolutely no impulse control. Oh well, we'll just call it an off day for him. I'm sure tomorrow will be better!

Donuts, Disco and Dinosaurs!

2007-09-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

Our shape of the month is a circle, and I was looking for fun ideas to reinforce that shape. I saw the idea to make donuts, and added my own twist! I took a sheet of brown construction paper, traced two concentric circles to make the donut shape. I then had the kids paint the "donut" with brown paint, then we sprinkled candy sprinkles over it. The finished project looked good enough to eat, and I received lots of compliments from parents and other teachers! Pictures will follow as soon as I stop forgetting to take my camera to work.

Other projects this week included the USA maps that we did last year. These turned out great as well. We had sensory fun on Wednesday, which entailed a large container of stuff (oatmeal in one, cornmeal in the other) on each table, as well as measuring cups and spoons for them to play with. They loved this!

During our gym time, we're supposed to have a structured activity. This isn't too difficult to come up with, most of the time. On Wednesday, we played Red Light, Green Light. I threw in a couple of other lights, just to throw them off. One of them was Yellow Light, which meant for them to walk. Their favorite signal was Strobe Light, where everyone had to freeze where they were and disco!

Today we ran races, where I picked an animal that they had to imitate. For example, they'd have to hop like a kangaroo, crawl like a snake, or walk on all fours like an elephant. Today I added the dinosaur component. We walked like a brontosaurus, ran like a T-Rex and flew like a Pterodactyl. For our other game, we played a variation of Duck, Duck, Goose, which I called Triceratops, Triceratops, T-Rex!

Bulletin Board

2007-09-07T19:35:00.001-07:00

Here is my Beatle Bugs bulletin board! (Say that really fast three times.) I think it turned out really cute. I do have a couple more pictures to add to the board, then it'll be complete!

It's been a good couple of weeks. We're getting into the groove of our new routine, and so far it's been running rather smoothly. I love my room and am glad for it every day! I love the quiet! At least, as quiet as it can be with at least six preschoolers in there!

Today's theme day was to wear yellow, which is our color of the month. We worked on a song about the color yellow, and this week we did some coloring activities related to yellow. Today was also the last day for one of my kids, we had a mini-party with cupcakes! The kids looked so cute with frosting all over their faces, I made sure to take lots of pictures!

Next week I'm gaining another kid, possibly two, so we'll see what the week brings. I've got some exciting stuff planned!

First Week!

2007-09-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

The kids and I survived the first week of the new school year. A couple of new boys were introduced into my classroom, and so far it has gone very well. I have a new girl starting this week in my class, I'm glad to be getting another girl!

The first couple of days throughout the school were very chaotic. Parents trying to figure out where their kids were supposed to go, kids confused about their new teacher or classroom, etc. It was better by the end of the week, and I know it will be even better soon.

I love my new classroom! It's so much cozier and quieter than my last one. Our new schedule is working out well. I worked really hard on the bulletin board for this month, which consists of a record (yes, an LP)for each child with their name on it, printed from Print Shop. I then took a picture of each child, made it black and white, laminated it, and put it above their record. I've gotten several compliments on how cute it is!

I also printed out schoolhouses with their name on it, to mark each child's cubby and chair. I'll change these up every month or so to coordinate with the monthly theme or holiday. I put up a monthly calendar, featuring Roxie as the picture on top for August! Have I mentioned how much I love my new Print Shop software?

I'm excited about the new school year, and how the size of my class is a little bigger. It does present its own challenges at times, but I'm very happy! It's going to be a great year!

Getting Ready!

2007-08-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

Thursday night was Meet the Teacher night. I sat in my new room and talked to parents about the coming school year. We went over daily schedule, circle time, assessments, rules, newsletter as well as simply getting to know each other. I also brought a bowl of chocolates and put on some Mozart to create some ambience. Although I didn't have that many parents come, I certainly enjoyed the time spent with the parents who did!

Friday was a teacher inservice day. I moved things from my old room into my new one. The teacher who was in my new room was also moving her things out. I worked really hard, and I feel that the room looks really good! I've got my bulletin board all set up, as well as having all of the equipment where I want it.

One of the things that took the longest was adjusting the height on the tables. I grabbed an allen wrench and had the hardest time loosening some of the screws. I asked three other people to help, finally someone showed me a different way of going at it, which helped immensely. I was able to get the other ones loosened without too much yelling and screaming.

I also received a new calendar for my classroom! I bought one, however, I still have the receipt, so it'll be going back. The one that was given to me by administration was much nicer! I got it all set up, and I am excited about using it during circle time tomorrow!

Today I have been working on making labels for things. Each child now has a schoolhouse label for both their cubby and their chair. I also made a record-shaped label with their name on it to put on the "Meet the Beatle Bugs" bulletin board. Now I just need to take each child's picture, make it black and white and put it on the board. I think it'll turn out really cute!

I think I am ready for this new school year, and am very excited about it!

Cool Changes!

2007-08-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

The other classrooms in the school all have insect-related names, or other animal names. One of the administrators and I decided that my class should do likewise. After some brainstorming, we came up with the Beatle Bugs! I picked the spelling so I can do Beatles related bulletin boards and decorations. Is it sad that I already have the first three months' bulletin boards planned out?

I also found out today that I am getting a real classroom! While I enjoyed having the space of the gym, I did not enjoy the noise, plus it gave the kids that much room to run around. I'm looking forward to having walls to put bulletin boards on, as well as storage space, something I don't have much of in my current classroom.

Thursday is Meet the Teacher night. I've gotten my September newsletter ready, as well as a list of the class rules, updated yearly calendar, circle time routine, and next week's lesson plan.

Friday is a teacher inservice. I'll be moving my stuff to the new room! There's already furniture in there, it's just the toys and supplies I'll be moving, as well as redecorating. I'm very excited!

Under the Sea

2007-06-29T15:59:00.000-07:00

This month, we're had a beach/ocean theme for our curriculum. We've done several items for this theme, including counting seashells, matching similar beach object worksheets, as well as alphabet worksheets that are beach themed. Three activities, however, definitely stand out in my mind.

The first one was making a sand castle. I took an assortment of toilet paper and paper towel rolls, and had the kids paint them with glue. I had poured some sand onto a large plate, then we rolled the tubes in the sand. After letting the tubes dry, the idea was to put the tubes together to make a sand castle. The kids were really excited about it, and although it didn't turn out exactly as planned, they had fun with it.

The second activity was entitled ocean pictures. I had printed off several pictures of ocean animals for the kids to color. They each selected a couple of pictures, then colored the animal. Once they were finished coloring, I mixed blue food coloring with water, which they used to paint on the paper. After they finished painting, I had them sprinkle salt onto the picture to give it a neat effect!

The third activity was my personal favorite. I had read about this one online, but gave it my own spin. I took several 20 oz Coke bottles, took the labels off and washed them. After they dried, I poured brown craft sand in the bottle. The kids each selected some shells they wanted in their bottle, then we added those. I took blue and green food coloring and mixed it with water. When it was the color that they wanted, I added it to the sand and shells. The result: a bottled ocean! They absolutely loved these and wanted to play with them for the rest of the day. I also noticed when I came in two days later that three other classrooms had done the same project after seeing my class!

I Love a Parade

2007-06-22T18:48:00.000-07:00

Today, we made musical instruments. Toilet paper tubes combined with tissue paper and rubber bands became kazoos. Paper towel rolls decorated by the kids became horns, and pie pans made for some nice cymbals! I turned on Stars & Stripes Forever and we had a grand parade! After we finished the song, we'd all switch instruments and play the song again and again until everyone got a chance to play each instrument. I don't know who has more fun, the kids or me!

Splash Day

2007-06-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

Today was Splash Day for my class! Everyone (except me) came dressed in their bathing suits, and with a packed lunch. While the kids were arriving and beginning their routine, I was attempting to make water balloons. While it turned out fine in the end, I did manage to get water all over myself, the sink, counter and floor. Oh well, that's why I have a mop!

After our morning activities, we all trooped outside for a picnic lunch! We enjoyed eating outside, then I set up the wading pool. The hose had a hole in it, so I had to angle it at a weird angle to fill up the pool. I also had fun squirting the kids with it. I think they enjoyed being squirted than they did the actual pool. Oh well!

We then decided it was time for the water balloon fight! We each selected a balloon, took aim at our chosen victim, and threw............then nothing happened. The balloon had to be thrown just right for it to pop. We tried sitting, stomping and jumping on the balloons to make them pop, to little avail. I did find, however, that using my rings to pop them was a good solution. Although they didn't work quite as planned, nonetheless, we had a marvelous time!

The piece de resistance was after we all dried off and went inside. I had bought frozen fruit pops for the occasion, which were thoroughly enjoyed by the kids and I! They really enjoyed seeing how their tongues changed color the more they worked on their popsicle. It was a fun ending to a great day, however, I'm glad not to be doing that again any time soon!

A Good Impression

2007-01-25T16:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I had a mom come and visit my classroom, along with her son. She asked if he could stay in the room for a bit. He got to experience snack, story time and computer time. He got along well with the other kids and was well behaved. His mom came back as we were working on our morning project. He was sad to leave, and had to be coaxed.

Today, they came back. Apparently his mother had tried to visit another preschool and he threw a fit. He wanted to come visit Ms. Desiree! He started singing a song we did that day and refused to visit the other school. He got to do calendar time and snack time again. I haven't heard back from them, but I did get some nice comments about it from my boss. Apparently I made a good impression on the kid. That really made my day that he wanted to come see me so much!

Winter Activities

2007-01-22T16:18:00.000-08:00

Today we did something really neat! I mixed together shaving cream and glue, then let the kids play with it. After it was well played with, I gave them a sheet of blue construction paper, then they "painted" the mixture onto the paper. When it dried, it looked like clouds! I really liked the end result. The kids loved it! Since we talk about the weather every day, I wanted to take that discussion further by making clouds.

We also played Winter Bingo. I found the game online, and it generated different cards to print. The kids really enjoyed playing it. We also took turns being the caller, which they also liked. It was a fun game and I will definitely play it more in the future!

Games, Games, Games!

2007-01-17T10:24:00.000-08:00

I have recently acquired some games for my classroom. Friday, while I was at Walgreens, I found a LeapFrog game that involved matching up words and pictures. It has three different levels for different ages, it also worked on rhyming and phonetics. The kids really enjoyed working with it yesterday, and I think they'll enjoy the other levels of it as well!

Yesterday afternoon, I ventured over to Target in search of some board and also computer games. I found CandyLand and Memory. I know I really loved those games as a kid and look forward to introducing them to my students. I also found some computer games on sale. One is a Pooh game that includes all sorts of learning activities. The other game is a Blue's Clues game that also has lots of learning activities.

Unfortunately, we had a snow day today, so I will have to wait to try them out until tomorrow!

New Activities!

2007-01-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

I found out today that my class is going to start receiving time in the computer lab every day. We went there during our scheduled time, and each of the kids was working on a different game. It was neat to see their reactions to their successes (and frustrations) with their games! I'd really like to try and find some more computer games for them to play.

This month is Learn Spanish month, so each day I have been working with the kids on saying words in Spanish. For the most part, I've stuck to counting, colors, and months of the year. They're doing really well at picking up these words! I am excited about teaching them more Spanish words (as well as learning them myself!)

I also tried some neat projects that have gotten several compliments from other teachers. I took a coffee creamer can, cut a sheet of paper to fit it, then dumped some marbles in the can. Finally, I put some paint in the can, then put the lid on. I held the lid, and each kid got a chance to hold and shake the can. When we pulled the paper out, it had a neat design! Unfortunately, after the first one, there was paint on the inside of the can, which stuck to the back of the next paper. Oh well, I dried it on a paper towel, then decided to mount it on construction paper. Then it hid the paint on the back, plus it looked really cool! Hooray!

Back in the Saddle Again

2007-01-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

After two weeks off, today was my first day back at the preschool. I was told by several people that I was missed during my time away. It was great to see the kids again, and fun to hear about their holidays! I had decided to have them do a snowman craft today, and I let them cut out their own circles for the snowmen! I supervised, and showed them where they needed to cut, but I was very impressed with how well they did! They are definitely getting better at their fine-motor coordination. Now if I could just get them to color in the lines......

Our afternoon project was a Diwali lamp. This was in celebration of how they celebrate New Year's in India. I love the idea of integrating different cultures into our projects! They colored the lamps, I cut them out, then helped them use a glue stick to glue it to a sheet of construction paper. These turned out really cute!

All in all, it was a great day and I'm glad to be back. I'm also exhausted, although I know I'll get back in the groove soon!

Christmas Craziness!

2006-12-22T19:50:00.000-08:00

Today was my last day of work for 2006, thanks to our London trip! I wore a festive shirt in celebration of Christmas. I only had one student today, as my other families were already out of town. I decided to take him to another classroom where they were having a Christmas party!

We had a great time. He fit right in with the other kids, and had a great time making Christmas crafts to take home. The other teachers in there liked having another set of hands to help with the madness that is a Christmas party! At one point, one of the teachers had me running around outside with the kids, to help them get out some of their energy!

As they were getting ready for their naps, I took my student back to our classroom, along with some candy that was given to us. We had been working on some Christmas songs, so we went around the school and serenaded the other classrooms. They enjoyed the singing, and fun was had by all!

Marathon Day

2006-12-14T19:31:00.000-08:00

Today was a long day at work! I was asked a few weeks ago to start coming in at seven to help in the mornings. I still get off at the same time, but the two extra hours a day looks really nice when I receive my paychecks! The other teacher and I have lotsa fun in the mornings. We call it our morning show, and we really do enjoy it!

Then I went across the hall to Heather's classroom to help in there until my kids came. My class went quite well today. I brought in a small tree for us to decorate in class. We made ornaments yesterday, I threaded some floss through the hole, and ta-da, a great ornament! We also have a Star of David that goes on the top, also made by a student. Tomorrow we are making pinecone ornaments. I think the tree will be quite pretty!

Our activities today included gluing marshmallows on an igloo coloring page. They really liked that, and also enjoyed sampling a few of the marshmallows! We also did a next project with a plastic golf ball. I put a sheet of paper in a shoebox, put a smidge of paint on the paper, then we put the ball in the box. We tilted the box several different ways and watched the cool designs that it made!

After cleaning up my room as usual, I left at my normal time to go teach a piano lesson. I had been asked a couple of days ago if I was able to stay late today, or if I could come back later. After my lesson, I drove back up to work to assist with closing. This won't be a regular occurence, but I don't mind helping out when I can.

I was first sent to one of the two year-old rooms. I was immediately greeted by all the kids who all had very important things to tell me, all at the same time. They then all wanted me to read them various books. I was familiar with most of the kids and enjoyed the time in there.

I then went to the 0-6 month old room. I enjoyed playing with the babies and talking with the other teacher in there! My last stop was the gym. I had kids from 18 months to five years old. Granted, there were only about six kids in there. I stayed with them until their parents came. I enjoyed it, but now I am pooped!

Bob the Kindness Tree

2006-12-06T19:49:00.000-08:00

One of our themes this month is giving & kindness. I read on some website, an idea to promote kind behavior in preschoolers. I got a large sheet of brown butcher paper, then drew an outline of a tree on it. I had told the kids what I was making, and they were all excited about it!

They watched me draw the tree, then I cut it out and we had a big to-do of me taping the tree on the door leading to the bathroom. This is the best location, as parents can see the tree when they walk in the door! Every time I catch a kid being kind, such as sharing a toy or helping someone, I write their name on a leaf, and we put it on the tree! So far, it has done well at helping the kids remember to be kind to our friends! They even will go so far as to apologize to and hug the tree if they aren't being kind. I have no idea where they came up with that idea, I certainly didn't tell them to do that! They also get very upset if I say that their behavior is making the tree sad. Apparently it is very bad to make the tree sad.

Since everything has to have a name, we decided to name the tree Bob. Bob the Kindness Tree. I even made up a song for it that goes to the tune of "Deep & Wide." It goes like this:

Bob the Tree
Bob the Tree
It's Bob the Kindness Tree!

Bob the Tree
Bob the Tree
Let's Put Some Leaves on Bob the Tree!

I admit, it's not the best song in the world, but the kids seem to like it! They will start singing it at random! Hooray for Bob the Kindness Tree!