Pre-Preschool's Journal: It's Game Time!!!

Hello All!

Today went by fast!  We had a lot to do today, and tons of time to do it!

Our morning art projects were a hit today, using our old dot markers we had to take a break from due to an issue concerning coloring clothing! :)  However, our kiddos have grown much, and barely need a smock for them now!  Only Hailey, Grace and Jane participated in the art project, as it was early in the morning.  After our free art, we created and constructed with blocks, in which cars and “moms and dads” drove and walked through them freely! :)  Right next-door, dramatic play went on…and on…and on!  It was very fun to see our kiddos so engaged in their play with all their friends :)  Across the room was a quiet time for reading and book exploration.

After potty, the class got ready for curriculum, sitting on their bottoms in a circle on the carpet.  Today’s game was “Toss and Tell”.  Mr. Tim and Ms. McKenzie explained the game (only the person with a bean bag may talk).  We began to play, asking each child “What is your favorite toy”, leaving an open-ended answer available, allowing them to choose a toy in class, home or made up!  Here’s what we came up with:

Mason- “A moon with a big door”

Jane- “…”… “I don’t know” :)

Grace- “…”… I don’t know either :)

Hailey- “A balloon!”

Evie- “Drums!”

Kyler- “…”, “Hmmm”

Erin- “My dolly”

Next, everyone got a beanbag at once!  You haven’t heard chatter until you’ve heard this! :)  

For our final game, “Count and Hop”, we used our Tinkerbelle rug to use for counting numbers and standing on :)  We took a few turns counting to ten (sometimes 20), then prepared to go outside!

We put on our swim clothes, strapped on our shoes, applied sunscreen and headed out the door!

Outside was a water-wonder land!  We dominated the pool, with our giggles and playfulness, which seemed to catch on real quick :)  Outside, we also wore some of the water starfish at hats during water play! :) That’s when it went by the fastest! :)

Coming in, changing clothes, we sang the ABC’s, ocean songs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and a special Beaver song Mr. Tim showed them :)

Before lunch and nap, it was reading time on our beds.  We listened to “The Water is Wide” on repeat for some quiet background noise.  We read books about the ABC’s, potty, mommies and daddies going on trips, and so much more!

Have a great Thursday, see you all tomorrow!

DON’T FORGET ABOUT OUR JEAN RD FAMILY BBQ OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL AT 6:30PM!!!

Tim and McKenzie

Pre-Preschool "Feeling Charades" in the pool!

Hi Everyone!

Mr. Tim and Ms. McKenzie set up the classroom with colored blocks, colored connectors, stick people (with markers), colorful bears (big and small that “hopped all over paper”), counting cookies, balls and music in the morning for our early birds!  When children were finished eating their food, they came into a wonderland of fun!

During free time the kiddos traveled back and forth between rooms, exploring certain toys that they found interesting!  :)  Eventually we had to hand them back over, as it was time to clean up to go outside for water play!  The clean-up was fast, but the 10 kids we took potty was a little time-consuming but absolutely joyful because of all the smiles and giggles they were giving off :)

Finally it was outside time!  We have anticipated the swimming pool for a long time now and finally were able to play in it!  We got our clothes on for water play, and marched out to see what all the fun talk was about.  To our surprise, it was awesome! We played in the water for nearly an hour, which lay under the shade to avoid sunburn.  We asked the children if teachers looked happy or sad about being outside with the pool on.  They agreed the teachers looked very happy for their children (and tired)! :)  So, after awhile swimming in the pool, with the whale, dolphin, tree, slide and starfish, which were used for hats :), we turned the water down and let the kiddos air dry a bit.  We still ended up having to change all of their clothes!

After water play, we came in for some fun reading time while beds were being put out.

We hope you enjoyed email, and wish you a happy day!

Tim and McKenzie

Tuesday's Journal/Music Together & Hot Potato Day!

Hi Everyone!

Ms. Kelsey was not feeling well today, so Ms. McKenzie joined us for class today, with the help of our younger friend, Ms. Alex!  

The kiddos had a great time this morning learning with number and letters on the magnetic board, while others used dress up and pretend play in our dramatic play area :)  We had mathematicians and bookworms in one corner, and fairies, dinosaurs and lions in the other!  Eventually all of the kiddos joined forces however to discover and play with our plexi-glass colored blocks!  Oh what fun we had, telling our friends and teachers what color the room was “now”! :)  We also continued to color our stick people with markers!

Then, for our curriculum, we took a step back and learned about a game called “hot potato”.  We discussed how sometimes food is too hot to eat, and how we can cool it off.  We came up with blowing on the potato, and tossing it back and forth with our hands would be some great ways to cool it off.  However, the best ways to cool it off would be to hand it to another friend!  We had lots of fun learning our new game, and may have discovered a new way to instantly cool potatoes!

Before lunch and nap, we sat down for Music Together with Mr. Craig!  We sang songs including “Two little Blackbirds” and “Ten Little Fingers”.  It was our newest classmate Kyler’s first Music Together with our classroom!  He had a lot of fun, and we had a blast showing him what we do as a class, and how to have so much fun!

Have great rest of the day!

Tim and McKenzie

German Week in Kindergarten!

What's happening in Kindergarten?  Well, today was the beginning of German week!  This week we will discover facts about the sights, sounds, food, geography, and history of Germany!  We are very excited!  Did you know that Germany borders nine other countries?  Did you know that Germany has more than 300 different types of bread?  We will be learning these things and more this week!

Today’s focus was on geography and an introduction to Germany!  We started out by talking about Germany’s location.  We found it in Europe next to countries we know like Poland and Switzerland.  We learned that the capital of Germany is Berlin, which is also the largest city!  We read a little autobiography about a girl who lives in Berlin, and she told us many interesting facts about her town and country!  For instance that many students join clubs such as soccer clubs, tennis clubs, swim club, and even stamp-collecting clubs!  These clubs sound like so much fun!

We learned that the flag of Germany is black, red, and yellow.  We made our own flags by coloring the bottom and top of our paper yellow and black with markers and then using a bingo dauber for the red in the middle!  Using different mediums made these look fantastic!

Some of us reviewed our counting from 1-10 in German that we learned during the school year, and for some of us it was brand new!  We reviewed our counting during circle time, and at the end of the day with a special poem! 

We can't wait for tomorrow!

~Ms. Sally Jo

Pre-Preschool's Daily Journal "What's Missing?!"

Hi Everyone!

We apologize for the terrible photo quality in the daily pictures.  On top of the pictures be low quality due to movement of the kiddos, the iPhone is also beat-up and worn out!  Soon, we will be taking our pictures via the nice camera, but may only upload them once a week due to setup time for uploading photos :)  Enjoy…

This morning, we started with our oldest boy, as well as our youngest!  The youngest went straight to our music this morning!  While our oldest sat down to make Popsicle stick men with markers.  Also, throughout the day, every kiddo got a chance to create art their own Popsicle stick man/woman :)  After breakfast with Ms. Gina and Mr. Juan, the children freely came back to their classroom to join in free play, while also taking turns making their popsicle men/women.  We used markers, allowing each child to put their marker caps back on after each use.  How sweet it is to get older (for the little ones:).  After engaging in music, listening to the Triangle collection, dramatic play (using dishes and food freely), reading a new selection of stories in the library, and making popsicle stick people, and having Ms. Kelsey at 9, it was time to clean-up as a class, and sit down to find out our curriculum for the day! 

Today’s curriculum was a cognitive game called “Find the Missing Piece to the Puzzle”.  At the table, Mr. Tim and Ms. Kelsey asked children to think and guess what each puzzle consisted of (there were two puzzles).  The first puzzle had an apple, a bird, a leaf and a sun.  After long viewing and discussion of each piece, the puzzle was turned around, and one piece was taken from the puzzle.  The kiddos worked together to discover which puzzle pieces were missing!  They found out which one had to “come back” every time!  Mr. Tim tried to be tricky and hide two pieces of the puzzle.   However, through the superb teaching and instruction of Ms. Kelsey and Mr. Tim, and excellent teaching at home, the kiddos prevailed and figured out the puzzle mystery!  We repeated the same game with our “Space” puzzle!  We found missing pieces, which included Earth, the Big Dipper, a Comet, Stars, the Moon and Saturn!  It took us a bit to get the Big Dipper and Comet, but we feel that was from uncommon discussion about them :).  After our game, we sat down to put on our shoes for outside!

While outside, we explored mowing the grass, gravity (sliding down boats and small cars on the metal slide), hydrating, sun bathing, and sand play!  Our kiddos are becoming much more involved and interested in one particular activity, as they are sitting and playing longer at one play area for MUCH longer :)  For the second time now, we have practiced our “Yellow Rope Walk” with only five of our kiddos today.   On this walk, we hold onto yellow handles, and go down the side road, where there is no traffic.  The kiddos know to never let go of the yellow handle, or we would have to go back to school right away.  For 15 minutes, we explored the streets!  We climbed up a small hill, said hello to our friends on the other side of the gate, discovered a street drain, heard a dog bark, saw a yellow truck and stumbled upon a large white tent!  It was a lot for fifteen minutes!  We went back to the playground, getting ready for potty and lunch :)

After nap, it may be warm enough for water play! 

A reminder, if you would like to order CHA gear, there is a form in your cubby to fill out!  We have some very nice stuff at our school!  Be sure to represent it!  Also, for every parent purchasing CHA gear, Mr. Tim will wear the terrible colors of puke green and cowardly yellow (AKA Oregon gear) :)  We can come up with something to wear for Ms. Kelsey! :)

Have a great day!

Tim and Kelsey

Daily Memories,

What we did this weekend. daily memories

Erin- Mommy and Daddy hats.

Eli- Hi-yahs, big hi-yahs.

Jane- Read stories with brothers.

Clara- Tyler took a bath and Clara took a bath.

Hailey- Daddy's music.

Kyler- Bird.

Mason- Lucas played, We were fast.

Grace- Daddy had me uppy. Way high.

Evie- Had lots of food. Breakfast and dinner.