Cucumbers in Excel?

What would you do if a mom brings a huge sack of cucumbers from her garden to Excel? Why, make pickles of course! In our morning group today we peeled and sliced the cucmbers, and mixed up a batch of yummy pickles that we served later for lunch!

Nursery Rhyme Week!

This week we are studying Nursery Rhymes in class! This is a great way for these pre-readers to feel success in reading with familiar text.  Today was Humpty Dumpty Day.  We ate hard boiled eggs for snack, did science experiements with eggs, read and sang the Humpty Dumpty Rhyme, and created our own Humpty Dumpty Book.  Each day we will make an art project that will have to do with the nursery rhyme of the day.  At the end of the week we will combine all of the art to make a Nursery Rhyme Book.

Aa is for Ants!

Our classroom has added a few additions! What better way to introduce the letter Aa but with some help from our own classroom ANT FARM! The ants and ant farm arrived just in time for Aa Day, and it was a hit! 

Lucky Duck!

A few classroom management tips turned fun!

Class Helper...Every classroom has a helper but how many classrooms have a Lucky Duck? Every morning in group time we draw a students name to be the "Lucky Duck" in class.  The Lucky Duck helps with morning group, leads our class line, and does any special "teacher" job we need done in class.

Show and Tell...of course, but in our classroom it is called the secret suitcase.  Everyday the secret suitcase will go home with a different child in class.  We send a small duck bag home to put an educational item into. We attach a sheet with instructions to the bag.  The child and parent are to choose an item (usually corresponding with our unit of study) and then write out three clues about the chosen item.  The class will then have the opportunity to guess what is in the secret suitcase. This is a fun and educational way of doing a show and tell.

Letter of the Day...Every day we write our students a letter.  This letter states the day of the week, month, year, and letter we are working on that day.  We also include a silly sentence written with the letter of the day.  It is amazing how many children learn to pick up sight words and simple words with the repetition of this letter. 

Gingerbread Hunt on the First Day of School!

Yes, you read right.  On the first day of school we make a batch of yummy gingerbread dough and have each child roll out and cut their gingerbread man.  After reading the story, we take them to the school kitchen and put them in the oven! After playing outside for a morning recess, we come in to discover the gingerbread men are gone! We search all over the preschool asking the receptionist, director, assistant director, and custodian until we finally find them in our classroom! The children love this activity.  It is a great way to spend the first day of school.  The gingerbread men leave notes and treats along the way for the children.  At the end of the day the children take their gingerbread bags home with all their goodies and tell their moms and dads about the hunt. Our first day was a great success.  Looking forward to a great year!

Meet the Teacher

Today was meet the teacher in our classroom.  We had a great turn out!  We always make a checkoff list for parents to use to navigate around the classroom.  Parents filled out enrollment forms, signed up for parties, and got to ask lots of questions.  The best part of course was meeting the children.  We had a small activity to do at their seat and then they were able to explore the classroom.  Every child let with Ready Confetti and a goody bag full of bubbles and bubblegum because we are "Bubbling with Excitement" to start the new year!

Back to School in Excel

It is that time of year again. Back to School time! We love this time of year. New markers, crayons, and sharpened pencils.  Is there anything better? We always begin the year with our gingerbread hunt! Our five and six year olds love hunting down the gingerbread man and meeting some important people in our preschool at the same time.  Making learning fun is the goal of this classroom.  We know the children are having fun when we are having fun.