Trains

 We had such a fun day learning all about trains.  Preschool A played with trains, acted like conductors and practiced reading their train game.  They also learned all about the cylinder shape.  Preschool B also played with trains and read about them.  In addition, we observed caterpillars and wrote all about them in our journals.  We tried to write the numerals 1-20 today also.

Trains

What a fabulous review day we had!  We dressed up as train engineers and played with the wooden train sets.  We read oodles of books about trains, their history and the different types of trains.  We practiced the all of the letters we've already learned with our St. Patrick's Day train printable.  I'm so impressed with these kiddos that are picking up their alphabet and utilizing it to begin reading.  Keep up the great work at home!

We also made a cute train craft that involved cutting and coloring.  I'm bummed I didn't snap a picture of a finished train.  We continued working on writing our names with a focus on specific troublesome letters.  Math was so much fun as we started learning about coins.  Today we focused on the penny.  We sang songs about the penny and its characteristics.  Preschoolers really love learning about money!

Trains - Monday Preschool

On Monday we got to talk about trains in preschool.  We had so much fun playing with the train tracks while everyone arrived. 

 We also had two boxes set up as train cars that we were coloring with markers.

 Everyone got a conductor hat (to keep) and a bandanna to wear for the day. Don't they look great?

 We've been working really hard at the basics of blending letters together to make sounds.  We've been playing the same game each day with different word families.

 This week is a review week so we practiced the letters that we've already learned.

Some of the preschool kids are ready for a slightly more challenging text so we started introducing Bob Books.

 Train art.  We used a picture of a train, colored it and cut it out.  Then we used parts of paper towel tubes to make them stand up and look like they had wheels.  They were fun to play with after we were done making them.

 We've started learning about coins.  On Monday we talked about pennies.  They are copper colored and worth 1 cent.

 The weather was still beautiful so we started preschool B in the backyard.  We had blankets and pillows and a couple of boxes of just right books for everyone to snuggle in and practice their reading.  (Oh, we had also set up the circus tent in case the wind was too chilly.)

We had book boxes out that they could choose from for reading.  It is helpful to let them start picking out what to read and practice identifying "just right" books that aren't too hard or too easy.

 Back inside we're continuing to work on counting to 100 by 1's and 10's.

 We started a book today about an Easter Egg Hunt.  We each drew and wrote about what we like about Spring/Easter time.

 "I like to find the Easter eggs."

 "I like to color the big eggs."

 "I like to find the Easter Egg."

 In our quest to count to 100 by 10's we've been playing with unifix cubes and images that represent sticks of ten. The goal of these cards is to organize them from smallest to largest.

What a great day of learning!

Polar Express Day

Don't you just love this adorable Santa snack that we had today in preschool?  Thanks Miss K for making them for us!

 As we continued to work on the letter F we got out the flour and had some fun!

 We practiced our other letters as well.

 Today we started talking about the number 5.  Our 5 books were decorated with the do-a-dot markers since we already had them out from doing our Polar Express Pack do-a-dot train.

 Then we made these fun trains.  I had already prepared a number of cardboard boxes with construction paper and then clear contact over the top (for durability).  Crayons work great on contact paper.  Everyone decorated their own  (some even wrote their names or "Polar Express" by asking what letter to draw next, others asked for me to write their names).

 Then we RAN!  and ran, and ran, and ran - or shall I say chugged around the house.

 We continued working on our numbers by placing the correct number of bells on a numeral and then shaking our silver bells that many times.

 We also had a quick practice of our program that will be tomorrow night for the parents.

 Happy Holidays everyone!