Friday, September 20, 2013

Farm Room AM Blog

Welcome to the 2's Classroom!  

We've had an amazing week, as has the whole school!  We had a few special visitors, and we also got our pictures taken!  
Our week started off with Flamingos and Feathers, and then progressed to Firefighters and Firetrucks, finally finishing off with Fish.  

Tuesday/Thursday class with Firefighter Brent!
So, just to give an example for how our Tuesday went:

9:00 AM all of our kids arrived and started right into playing with whatever they found most engaging.  We had coloring pages of Firetrucks on the table and many of them colored masterpieces and then put them in their cubby.  (Most of the kids know where to find their cubbies now).

Dress ups!
9:40 AM We started cleanup a little early so we would have time for...
9:50 AM A short circle time (things that start with F; forks, feathers, fish, firefighters, farms) before...
10:00 AM Snack time so that we could be ready for...
10:20 AM Singing time with Ms. Sherry!
10:40 AM A little more play time while we wait for our Firefighter friend, Brent, to come visit.  (And diaper changes, but you don't really want to know about that...)
Listening to Firefighter Robert




11:10 AM A visit from Firefighter Brent (It was Firefighter Robert on Wednesday)!  He showed us his oxygen tank (it beeps LOUD) and his mask and helmet, finally putting all his gear on and letting everybody see and touch it.  Some of the kids were a little too scared to get close,  but they felt better when he took the mask off. :) Firefighters are our friend!
MWF class with fireman helmets that Firefighter Robert gave them
I have loved my first six weeks as a 2-Year-Old Teacher here at TotSpot.  Thank you for sharing your kids with me!

Ms. Marta



Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Ms Gillian's PM 3's



Here we are nearing the end of our first quarter of school, I can hardly believe it!  What a FUN filled first quarter we have had in the forest room :)  We have a classroom full of the sweetest 3 year olds all so keen to learn - I love it :)


Our pet guinea pig Radar has been a huge success with the kiddos again this year.  They always make sure to go over to say hello to him when they arrive in class and often goodbye before they leave for the day, but they love nothing more than feeding him some tasty hay and apples!





One of the highlight of the week is when Ms. Sherri comes in to do music time with us, the children have had the opportunity to play all sorts of fun instruments and often continue singing her fun little songs once she has left the classroom.  Thank you Ms. Sherri we LOVE music time with you.





We have covered all sorts of fun units over the past few weeks but the favorite to date seemed to be the 'my body' week.  The children loved learning all about their bodies while doing fun and often messy activities (messier the better with my 3 year old class :) ) . We heard lots of giggling throughout this week especially when they all had a turn of the body part suit and while doing the skeleton dance!   They were learning about their brain, lungs, heart, bones... While doing this unit we made mat man during our handwriting without tears time which was such a huge hit I am asked at least once a week from one or more of the kids to do it again they LOVE it!






Over all we have had an AMAZING first few weeks of school, I cant wait to see what the rest of the year brings :)  I love my little 3 year olds :)












Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Fireman & Policeman visit TotSpot during Safety Week

We were excited to have a visit from a police officer. We learned all about keeping safe in our car by always being buckled up. Here we are practicing crossing the street. We learned me must always
have a big person with us and we must look both ways to check for cars before we cross.  We learned that police officers work hard to keep us safe. It was fun to see all the stuff that was on his policeman
clothes.
 

  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
We also learned about fire safety from our fire fighter's visit. He put on all his fireman gear so we would know what a fireman looks like and we won't be afraid of them. We even got to touch him after he got all suited up. We weren't too sure about his breathing mask.
 
He sounds kind of like Darth Vader.  We had a great time.
 

Ms. Monica's 3's Classes are having fun in the Forest Room!

In the Forest room we are enjoying our Handwriting without Tears activities. We are learning about the four types of lines that we use to make letters. We learned that there are big and little lines and big and little curves. We enjoy playing games like stacking and sorting as well as doings song to learn what you can do with our lines. We especially like doing Tap. Tap, Tap and Mat Man.

 
 
 
We enjoy our singing time with Ms. Sherri. Singing "If You're Happy and You Know it" is a special treat. Here we are roaring like a Lion. We are wonderful singers.
 
Learning all about our body was super exciting. We learned how our heart, brain, lungs, intestines and bones help our body work. We made life-size bodies and did lots of exercises so we could be healthy.
 
In science we discovered the magic of Magnets. We experimented to figure out what they would and wouldn't pick up. We also learned how to make other magnets jump. The thing that delighted us the most was passing magnets and metal objects from our magnet stick to our friend's magnet stick.  It would make us laugh every time they jumped.
 
One of our favorite mediums is shaving cream. We have driven our cars in "snow", written our first initial, and shaved our "daddy's face" with shaving cream.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Learning through play, song and movement!




Ms. Dessie's students are ready to learn this year!  All classes have shown great skills already.  We have enjoyed singing with Ms. Sherry and moving with Coach John.  Mostly, we have enjoyed getting to know one another and getting familiar with preschool procedures and routines.  We spend a lot of time at the beginning of the year becoming very familiar with our Zoophonic friends.  We are learning the sounds so well that we have already begun to pick out the sounds when we try to spell simple CVC words.  It is so exciting to see the connection students can make so early!  We are also working hard on our Capital letters in handwriting.  We are now getting to the harder letters, like M and N.   Practice makes perfect is true with our handwriting.  But the best thing we are learning is how to be a friend that is a great "bucket filler".  Getting along and learning how to use words to communicate our feelings and wants and knowing when to speak and when to listen are the best life skills we are understanding.  Those skills will always be used throughout life.  It is going to be a great learning year together!