Once upon a day in preschool

Blog Moved

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:47:00 +0000

I have had to move my blog . I was running out of space.

Join me

www.siloampreschool.com

Sniff Sniff

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:42:00 +0000

Today was our last day on the five senses. Is one of our benchmarks to know the 5 senses ? No. I just use the themes as vehicles to work on all the other skills we need like listening, social skills and counting. At the end of each of our books this week it had a real picture of what body part we use for that 'sense". Today was nose and below was the picture. Do you know what the kids wanted to know ? " Where are the boogers..." Of course! We do some DEEP thinking around here.

We played an awesome 5 senses bingo game. Playing games with your child at home teaches listening to directions and taking turns.

The girls wanted me to take this picture then they walked around for ten minutes saying " Ok, who wants to marry us ?" Funny stuff.

Mr Randy did a cooking / science activity with the kids .They made GAK. The kids loved it. If you want to make some at home . I will post the recipe on our Bright Beginnings group page on Facebook.

I loved it when Kimber said " Ms Debbie , remember last year you put it in that little Easter basket and let it flow through? " THAT is recollection.. So, we did it again. I couldnt find the little Easter basket so we used to steamer top.

Outside Mr Randy and the boys did sack races. He said they loved it.

And it looks like they did.

Here are a couple videos I took today. This one is Orrin during circle time talking about how he uses his senses at the monster truck race track. I asked the question " What do you like to smell ?" and his reply was " the dirt at the monster truck race." So, I grabbed my camera/ phone and off we went.

Then of course when we made GAK the boys figured out how to make a farting noise ....

Feelings... no wait, I can feel things.

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:34:00 +0000

You never know what is going to show up at small group . Today it was a little chinese boy and a pirate.

I spent some time just sitting in the centers today listening to the children and playing with them. You can learn so much by just listening without judgement.

The kids did a project today with Mrs. Bethany. ( As usual it was a scramble for time.... hurry.. cut, here I'LL DO IT FOR YOU - who learns by ME doing it ? Again... I do not enjoy " projects ."

Which one did the teacher cut out ? In all fairness I do realize when doing projects like this that MANYY of my three year old and some of my fours are not ready to cut on a curved line ,so it is ok to help. What we did was give them the side of the paper to practice cutting on while we made the hand look somewhat like a hand.

Each finger represented a texture we can feel .

William is leading our shadow song - everyone shadows what he is doing.

We wanted to make GAK but didnt get to that today - but we do still have a whole year left to fit it in.

Do you hear what I hear ?

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:04:00 +0000

The kids enjoyed playing with some marionettes I picked up yesterday.

I love looking around the room and seeing what kids have learned. See Andreas sorting skills ?

Emeri playing with the puppets.

The frames are filling up with art !

We had our first fire drill today.

Since we were learning about " hearing " today Kimbers mom brought his deaf dog by to visit. It was really interesting to hear how they take care of him . Kimber has learned some sign language to " talk " to Jasper. Thanks Stacy for sharing !

These little boxes are sound boxes. The children can shake them and match the ones that sound the same. You can see the little dot on the bottom of one of them , that is so they can self check to see if they are right. Problem was- some of my talented children decided just to match using the dots instead of their ears.

We played a game. Each of the children were given a little card with a picture on it. They made the sound that the object / animal on their card makes and the other children use their ears to guess what it is. FUN GAME!

Mrs. Brenda came to teach us some sign language today. Thanks Mrs. Brenda.

Scarlett used the beads in the art center to make a beautiful necklace.

Enjoy the video I took of Mrs. Brenda today .

Our tongue is our taster

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:42:00 +0000

Today the we talking about tasting one of MY favorite things to do ! We talked about how we use our tongue to taste things and we even checked out our tongues in a mirror !

We looked at salt and sugar . By using our eyes we couldnt tell which was which so we used out tongues. Then we made homemade lemonade.

It was SOUR !

We had a lot of fun today !

Do you SEE what I see ?

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:06:00 +0000

Did you know we have a treasure chest ? It is a decorated chest that we let the children get in when they do something special or their behavior is extraordinarily good. Today they ALL got in the chest for the first time. Ask your child why !

Orrin got glasses out of the treasure chest .

I want Ms. Bethany to be good at EVERYTHING we do so today she did small groups.

We have had an exciting day today. We had our first walking field trip. I want to say that this group was BY FAR the BEST " field trippers" we have had in a long time. They obeyed all the rules we talked about before we left. Parents, you would have been so proud of them. We had 14 with us and they walked into the hospital SO QUIET and respectful. ( " There are sick people and babies that need to sleep in there." We saw Kat's new baby sister . Her grandma greeted us in the hallway and was so excited. I actually had chill bumps thinking of the day I will be with my daughter to have a baby - IF, that day ever comes. :) What a joy to help this family celebrate today. Kay was SO excited. If course, when we got home the "baby business " ensued. We had babies being born all over the house. I heard one little girl saying her " mom found her in a trash can." I laughed, she knew it was a joke and who hasnt said that to their little one a time or two when you dont know how else to answer the question. If you want some help or information on how to answer that question for your little one - click HERE.

When we take walking field trips we learn safe ways to cross streets.

Kingston playing a Brown Bear letter tile matching game.

What would we do if we could not see ?

I had to show off Dillion's journal today. Awesome writing buddy !

MUFFIN TIN MONDAY ! And yes, several of them DID eat the brussel sprouts.

Today was a Monday... and it was A GREAT DAY!

FEEL GOOD FRIDAY

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:13:00 +0000

I APOLOGIZE FOR MY BLOGGING SKILLS, (OR LACK THEREOF), BUT I'M GONNA TRY:

Today we had a great Friday! Debbie & Randy are in Mississippi, but Miss Beth and Miss Bethany were here!

We also had a Ashley, Katelyn's mom, join us this morning to play and read books and have fun! Thanks so much for helping us! :)

We learned more about our feelings and the names they have. Ms. Beth told the story of Corduroy, the bear who wanted a home, so he was sad. He lost a button, so he was embarassed, he went to look for his button in the department store and got excited because he thought he was in a palace. He found a button, but it wasn't his, so he got frustrated. And so on... The kids really enjoyed the storytelling pictures that we used and I had many who came to sit at the table and hear it more than once! That's a good sign!

In circle time, we read a book about feelings called "The Way I Feel" that gave us even more names of feelings: jealous, disappointed, bored, excited... The children also taught me the Laurie Berkner (love her!) song they have learned about things we can do to feel better. We reviewed the calm down steps that we use when we are upset and William put them into a song & dance that he performed. It was...interesting. :)

Thanks for the chance to hang out and play with these sweeties! I am hopeful that the preschool I open September 6th will be filled with as much laughter, joy and happy kids like I was surrounded with today. It has been a pleasure! HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND! :)

I will leave you with the randoom pics I snapped throughout the day. :)

I'm scared

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:19:00 +0000

Look at this cool group of kiddos. They dont scare me... much. :)

Have you noticed our lost and found board on the cubbies ? Please check it periodically for your child's treasures.

Today we cooked together again. We made mini chocolate pies from pie crust and hersheys kisses. First of course, we washed our hands . We washed them again if we picked our nose or sneezed. Man... hurdling all those germs takes a huge hunk out of our day. But... being healthy is important.

We pounded the pie crust flat and placed a hersheys kiss in the middle.

And we made yummy deliciousness !

Our circle time today was about being scared. We read a story about being scared and then we talked about what makes us scared. Out of the eight children in my first group ALL of them said something about bedtime or monsters at night.

If you want more information about how to help your child at night not be scared here is some info .

Randy and I will be leaving for Mississippi for his uncles funeral. We will be singing at the graveside services so prayers are appreciated. Beth and Bethany will be in charge while we are gone and I am confident their days will go great.

The ANGRY MONSTER

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:48:00 +0000

We all get bit by it ever once in a while dont we ? The angry monster comes up and bites us on the hiney and we start to yell... and yell ... and cry and kick. No, I didnt explain anger to the children like that . This blog is for YOU... so I put it in terms you can enjoy. Have you ever been bitten on the hiney before and spewed anger before you even realized it ?

Today we talked about anger and read the book " When Sophie Gets Angry, Really Really Angry. " Sophie's little sister took away her toy and her mom let her do it. " It IS her TURN!" ( Just so you know.. that is called Hi-jacking. When a child is playing with something you can encourage them to share but allowing someone else to take something or YOU taking it away is like you driving down the road and someone jumping in your car and saying.. " GET OUT, you have been driving this car long enough. " Have you ever looked at it like that ? Ok, on with the story. Sophie was so angry she ran and ran until she was exhausted. Today, I introduced our method for controlling anger here. MINE..if you watch me on facebook OR just notice my size would be DORITOS. :) Yep. If I get angry just give me some carbs and I will self medicate. For the kids we teach them the calm down steps.

!. Take 2 deep breaths.

2. Count to 5.

3. Say " Calm down, Calm down."

I promise you I still have parents say the kids use this at home from two years ago. Try it ! At home if your child gets angry, remind them of our calm down steps.

We even have a song from Al's Pals that goes with out steps.

Mr. Randy is in charge of science projects. Today he tried the first one. Fail.. or so he thought. I am not sure what he was trying to do. Maybe get the packet he placed inside the water bottle to get pulled down to the bottom ? Anyway, the kids still loved it and there was still a LOT of learning going on. I could hear their questions and their problem solving as they tried to make it work. In my book, that means the science experience was a success.

We tried a new recipe today - Homemade Pizza Cups. If you cant see it below just let me know and I will print it for you. The kids loved it and it was so easy.

Many have asked how the mud kitchen is going . GREAT! !! Each day we are learning more ways to make it more fun but with less clothing clean up at the end.

Last night at 11 pm we got a call that Randy's uncle had passed away. Thankfully we just saw him a couple weeks ago and enjoyed a great conversation. They have requested Randy sing at the funeral so Thursday evening or early Friday morning Randy and I will be leaving for Mississippi . Bethany and Beth will be here working. Beth has two more weeks before her program opens so we are thankful she can still sub in when needed. Things are still a little hectic with all the new routines. If any parents would like to come in from 9-12:30 to volunteer I am sure it would be appreciated. Extra hands are always welcome.

Puddle Jumpers

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:50:00 +0000

Today our lesson plans said " Feelings and Emotions," but several of the kids came in all wound up about the thunderstorm that was happening when they arrived at school. A couple of them were expressing very STRONG emotions about something. I cant help but think that it had something to do with the weather - they were two veterans. When it is storming ( this is the Debbie's opinion version ) it is our job to worry and protect our children. If you are visibly shaken- they will be also. I feel our kids are too young to understand the complications of weather patterns and the consequences of weather so why worry them with it? Sure teach them to be safe - but at 3 and 4 it is our job ( again ) to keep them safe. Just call me Mary Poppins but I dont like to see kids stressed out . SURE! We know what to do incase of an emergency but even that is done with routine and lack of drama. ( ALSO, NOT assuming that this was what was wrong with these kids this morning and you are a drama mama ( HA) Just found this as an opportunity to teach.)

Ok. Moving on...

Today I introduced the kids to Al. Al teachers us that we should be nice to our friends. So far, he only talks to Ms Debbie ( weird huh ?).

The kids LOVE this song by Laurie Berkner. We have the book and she sings the words. We are lucky enough to have Mr Randy and his guitar and we can do it all by ourself. Aveary really loves this song, She asked me this morning if I would do it again before we even started circle time. That made me smile.

But before that we read stories about rain and puddles and then we went outside to explore.

We jumped the puddles. We saw our reflection in the puddle.

We looked to see if we saw anything living in the puddle.

We even JUMPED OVER the puddles !

The boys telling us what they know about puddles. I love watching these videos . I mean, they all walked off at the end. Like seriously Ms Debbie, this is NOT interesting right now, stop quizzing us for the camera and let us be kids.

It was a good day.

Not even a mouse...

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:40:00 +0000

Our first nap time of this year just started and so far so good.... We have had no screamers or runners. As the norm we started the " I gotta go potty one more time" parade. This early in the year you hate to say "no" even if they just went.

This is the way our day started out . Kat is the youngest and has found a way with her sweet voice to wrap each one of us around her little finger.

I spent the day Saturday in a training called TIPS. This is a great parenting tool I will be able to offer you . I have information on a wide range of topics and as the need arises we will use them. I am excited about the possibilities with these four little boxes.

Today we started talking about our feelings and our emotions. What did a " what we know " chart and these guys know a LOT about emotions. One of the biggest things we can do to help children learn how to deal with life is teaching them to recognize their emotions and giving them a name. For instance if a child hits another child we say " Look at your friends face. Does he look happy or sad? ( Wait for answer) How does it make you feel to you made your friend feel sad. When you hit someone they feel this way." Learning to read OTHER peoples feelings also is a learned skill. Dont we all know people that have no filter or no knowledge of others feelings? The book below is about many emotions that this little boy goes through. As we read we made the same face or emotion he was making.

More friends playing dress up.

Everyone likes to feel important - like a star ! Today we decorated a star with each child's picture on it.

We also acted out with figures the nursery rhyme of Little Miss Muffet.

Little Miss Muffet, sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider, who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

It is important that children learn that letters make words that can be read back , like in a book. One way we do that is I dictate a LOT . Today we dictated ten things that make us happy.

Today was our first MUFFIN TIN MONDAY ! Mondays is almost always finger food and served in a muffin tin. Muffin Tin Monday is a great way to serve a new food or even make a themed lunch such as all one color. The kids love it. Today Aveary said " Ms. Debbie, are these trees good?"

And then we all fell asleep - exhausted.

Kat will be a big sister this week ! Randy was holding her and read her a book. She retold the story to him. His heart melted and he asked me to video. I thought her mom might like a video of her baby... before the new baby comes home. Both are obviously very lucky kiddos to have a mommy that finds reading important.

Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:09:00 +0000

We made it to the end of our first week. I could tell many of the kids were really getting worn out near then end. There is very little " sitting and relaxing" while the kids are here. These kids go 100 MPH for the most part. Hopefully the weekend will give them time to rest and recoup for next week. On Monday we may have a few that have forgotten how much fun we have and struggle with drop off again.

Today we went on an inside scavenger hunt. I gave each of the children a picture of something in the room and they set off to find it. This type of activity engages many skills including recall and problem solving.

Bet you never say a dinosaur play with blocks. This ones name is Scarlett.

By painting with little brushes we learn how to hold a pencil.

The nesting dolls were one of the favorites today.

Emeri enjoyed playing with the playdoh that one of the moms made. Thank you !

We read " The Kissing Hand " today. The last page of the book has Chester Raccoon doing the sign language for " I love you." Kimber was excited to show us on his picture he brought from home that his mom was doing that too.

Did you notice different tables today? I HATED the new tables . Thankfully I had " sold" them to friends that were willing to let me have them back. Today felt much better. I was able to put more materials out. I now have 4 24 inch high tables for sale. I will bite the shipping on them if anyone is interested in buying one for 90.00 each. It is a good buy, I got them on sale.

I hope everyone got the note I sent out today. I know sometimes we do have to be flexible but i promise you the things we are asking you to do, will make it easier and better for everyone in the end if we all hang in there together.

Bring on week 2 - Im ready.

Who are your friends ?

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:14:00 +0000

Today, day 2, was a much better day. I felt more accomplished and focused. I think the kdis felt more comfortable.

Our first goal is to learn our friends names. We played name games all day. The first one was a matching game with our pictures. All of the pictures were face up on the table and each child playing with me ( three at a time) chose a matching set of pictures and tried to tell me that friends name. The veterans were smart and chose all the " oldies first.

Today was also our first cooking experience. Ms Jodie helped the kids make neopolitan bars. It seeems like it was fairly easy for them to do. And it was very very yummy.

Source: picky-palate.com via Debbie on Pinterest

This is an activity we did with our names. Remember I told you I dont neccessarily TEACH the letters as in workbook type stuff but this poster below is one way I highlight letters. Remember in the upstairs playroom there is an HUGE A in a gold frame on the wall? So they already see it every day. Today as we did names all the A's are in red, the rest are in blue. I simply pointed it out. We also counted the number of A's. It was 16 - the exact number of friends we have at school.

During circle time today we also sang some songs, read a book about school, danced and played a game. The game was Hickety Pickety Bumble Bee. Hickety Pickety Bumble Bee, wont you say your name for me ? I threw a bean bag to each child and they stood up and said their name and their favorite food.

We did journals today. Basically... free art. An opportunity for each child to slow down and write or draw ( whatever they want ).

Today was our first birthday celebration. William turned 5. Tradition is the birthday child gets to chose a treat and receives a book for their birthday. William chose chocolate chip cookies. William loves to draw robots and I had a new book that was about a little boy that loves to draw monsters. NORMALLY.. we dont even talk about monsters but the book wasnt scary so we read it. What was scary was afterwards when Mr Randy showed the white of his eyes. REALLY ? Grr.... He is in trouble. Two of the little girls cried. SHAME ON YOUR MR RANDY! He recovered well and made them laugh .

Cat , our youngest but most expressive...told a story after Mr Randy about a monster and her grandma. We all just LOVE listening to this little girl talk. So precious.

We didnt get to go on the hunt today.. maybe tomorrow.

First Day Frenzy

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:08:00 +0000

Today was our first day back. I think no matter how much you plan and how many hours your put into making everything perfect -- it never will be. I mean... everyones' idea of a perfect day is different , right ? Some days perfect is everyone got home and no one was bleeding. Some days, it is a child that has a hard time making friends breaking a barrier and bonding with a another child. Somedays it is a DING moment as a teacher when you realize something new about yourself. Today was a perfect day too. We made it. We made it .....

I have been SO excited about starting back to school. You will hear me say this 1000 times this year , but I LOVE MY JOB! I have been working on all the little details and planning our day. I get up at 5 am to walk and go to the gym. Yesterday I did and I was SO pumped about getting into routine. This morning at SEVEN AM Randy says " OH MY DEBBIE - IT's 7 !" Overslept on the first day of school, really ? Agh......... Anyway, thankfully, I had put the awesome peach french toast casserole together last night to pop in the oven this morning. ( Awesome as in.... only two children ate it. Hmm... tomorrow we will try something more simple. ) We made sure everything was ready and opened the door on time. As we met the kids outside today, we didnt have one crier. There was one that thought about it, but decided against it. ( Thank you little guy! ) Tomorrow might be different. WHY? You ask.. today should have been the hard one ? The first day they are excited about new friends and new stuff ! Tomorrow, we are old news and they realize, " hey wait.... you mean we will do this EVERYDAY?" So, please remember to keep your goodbyes quick and I promise to hug , hold and console anyone that has a hard time

( Oh yeah! KUDOS on the moms that met at Cafe on Broadway for breakfast this morning. KLEENEX AND COFFEE is what we called it ! Was kleenex needed ? If you took pictures, please text them to me and I will get them on the blog tomorrow. )

Today was spent talking a lot about " what we do " and yes... " what we don't do." All in all, I think it was a good day. I mean, some of these kiddos have never been anywhere like our type of setting so we cant expect them to come in and just KNOW what to d0. We did have two extra hands helping us today ( Beth and Jodie) and I honestly don't know what we would have done without them.

We did initial art today. Kids are really big on knowing the first letter of their name. Many times it is the first letter they can pick out. This year I have 5 K's and 4 M's. This should be interesting.

We played outside twice. Tomorrow we may have to rearrange our time out a little . After lunch was pretty hot today. The kids did love the new stuff out there though.

I think it is important to make a room pretty for the children as well as functional and a learning environment. These shelves hold pictures from home. Parents, if you havent brought in yours , please do so. I have frames here if you need them.

Also, isn't our tree BEAUTIFUL! Julie , Scarlett's mommy painted the tree for us and today we put our fingerprints on it. I was in a awe . Look how much detail is on there - the heart in the middle ... wow. I want to do one each year and save as a keep sake . I already had some moms ask would Julie do more and I approached her about it. She is going to come up with a price. So, if you think you might want one for a family tree or a present for grandma etc.... I'll let you know soon how much it will cost you !

It made my day to see the kids make friends !

I can't wait to do it again tomorrow ! ( I will be uploading TONS of pictures on Facebook.. so what for them and tag yourself if you would like. )

Open House

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:54:00 +0000

What a great Open House we had. I hope that everyone left as pumped about our new year as I was. It was wonderful to meet the new sweet kids and families and to see the " oldies" again after the summer. It is amazing how much growing a child does in the summer from three to four years old. Each day ( starting tomorrow - our first day! ) I will blog about our daily adventures. Please check here daily around 2 pm to see what we have been up to. This blog is a great way to connect with your child and talk about what they have learned. Here is the normal conversation without background knowledge. " What did you do today? " Child's response " Play." With this blog your can say " I saw that you cooked something today, what was it? Was it good? What did you do to help make it? I saw you had something new in the block center today, what was it ? Did you go for a walk today? Did you have a special visitor today?" Using this blog you can help me by building on what I am doing at school.

Here are a few pictures from last night.

This old fire truck is getting old. I actually thought earlier in the day about taking it out but then Katelyn and Emeri jumped in and rushed to a fire. When they got there Emeri grabbed the hose and put out the fire and Katelyn got a gas can ( I was worried at first... ) and made sure they truck was filled up with gas. I'll be keeping the fire truck. :)

Creating wonder for kids is not all that hard. How do you like the flags?

The art center is under the loft. We added the patio lights to it. Hopefully it wont be a QA problem. They dont get too hot. LOTS of learning and creating goes on in this little space.

I moved the dress up area downstairs this year. Did you notice the old phone on the wall? It has a cord and a receiver.

This is Ty, Orrins little brother ( future student ) playing with the cars. I love the way they put them around the stump in a circle. Learning... right under our noses.

I can tell all our parents are going to have a close bond this year and that excites me. As a matter of fact, many of the mommies are having a " coffee and kleenex" party at Cafe on Broadway tomorrow morning.

My helpers last night.. thanks girls!

Kids spaces deserve special touches too !

Future Picasso area.

I dont " teach" a letter a week but I can highlight one, right ?

Everyone needs to be alone ever once in a while.

We dont do a daily calendar time but we do count down to special events.

Bringing home.. to our home. Each child is bringing a picture framed for our room.

Comfy reading area. I still need to clean the couch- that is on today's list.

I love my new science area.

Writing center . I do not "teach" handwriting but I give them lots of writing experiences.

Music... did someone say.. MUSIC?

Art work area --- empty frames ready to be filled.

Mirror in the kids bathroom - they deserve pretty too !

3 d art display area

Randy made a plexiglass outdoor painting easel.

The MUD KITCHEN. This will be new this year and I will admit I am a little nervous but excited too. I made mud pies when I was little .. therefore, so will they.

As we get into the year I will try to highlight each area and what we learn in those areas.

Everyone get excited tomorrow is our first day !

LEARNING IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT SO LETS START PLAYING !

Just catching up !

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 15:40:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Sun, 22 May 2011 21:12:00 +0000

Our End of the Year DVD ~

Last Day

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:49:00 +0000

The last day and we get to add one more visiting animal to our list of pets brought in by the kids. Kimber and his mommy found this turtle on the road and brought it in the share with us. We did end up sitting him outside . He became a little stinky. :)

Today is a bitter sweet day. We have spent a year getting to know these little guys and teaching them while we play and today is our last day. Some of them will move on to kindergarten while others will return next year.

Dear Parents,

I give you back your child, the same child you confidently entrusted to my care last fall.

I give him back pounds heavier, inches taller, months wiser, more responsible,

and more mature then he was then.

Although he would have attained his growth in spite of me, it has been my pleasure

and privilege to watch his personality unfold day by day and marvel at this

splendid miracle of development.

I give him back reluctantly, for having spent nine months together in the narrow

confines of a crowded classroom, we have grown close, have become a part of each other,

and we shall always retain a little of each other.

Ten years from now if we met on the street, your child and I, a light will shine to our eyes,

a smile to our lips, and we shall feel the bond of understanding once more,

this bond we feel today.

We have lived, loved, laughed, played, studied, learned, and enriched our

lives together this year.

I wish it could go on indefinitely, but give him back I must.

Take care of him, for he is precious.

Remember that I shall always be interested in your child and his destiny,

wherever he goes, whatever he does, whoever he becomes.

His joys and sorrows I’ll be happy to share.

I shall always be his friend.

~Author Unknown~

I look forward to seeing what each child will do in the future. If there comes a time you have to " take away" something - make sure it isnt your child's faith in adults, their confidence or their spirit. No matter what we give kids, these are some of the most important there are.

I will not be blogging every day this summer but I will periodicially as I clean, purge and remodel our playrooms over the summer. I have never had this much time at home at one time. Randy and I are not traveling as much doing concerts this summer so I have a summer bucket list a mile long.

Thanks ... for letting us love your child.

This is why I do it !

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Thu, 19 May 2011 18:10:00 +0000

Caught Kayla revisiting a book we read earlier in the week. This video is why I do what I do. This is how I know it is working.

Kindergarten readiness indicators ( Off the Arkansas DHS Website)

In this one activity Kayla is showing proficiency in numbers :

1, 3, 4, 11 and 18. And besides that - she is just stinking cute " reading " a book !

Kindergarten Readiness Indicator Checklist

Speaks in complete sentences.
Follows directions with at least two steps.
Understands words such as "top" and "bottom" and "big" and "little".
Makes simple predictions and comments about a story being read.
Matches two pictures that are alike.
Looks at groups of objects and says which are the same shape, color or size.
Tells things that together, for example a spoon and fork are for eating and a fish and a boat go in the water.
Repeats a pattern you start; for example, step, step, jump-step, step, jump.
Puts 3 pictures in order; for example 1. Planting flower seeds 2. Flowers growing. 3. Picking flowers.
Says or sings familiar songs and nursery rhymes.
Retells a simple story such as The Three Little Pigs after listening to it while looking at the pictures in the book.
Works puzzles.
Recognizes and names at least 5 colors.
Recognizes his or her own first name in print.
Recognizes letters in his or her own first name.
Begins to write some of the letters in his or her own first name.
Recognizes words or signs he or she sees often; for example, McDonald's, Wal-Mart, the name of the local grocery store where the family shops, or stop signs and exit signs.
Holds and looks at books correctly; for example holds the book right side up and turns the pages one at a time from front to back.
Recognizes rhyming words such as cat and hat.
Recognizes and names at least 10 letters of the alphabet.
Matches a letter with the beginning sound of a word; for example matches the letter "b" with a picture of a banana.
Expresses ideas through pictures he or she draws; for example a child draws a picture of 3 family members and says who each one is.
Counts at least 5 objects such as 3 bananas and 5 forks.
Sees the written numeral "3" and understands this means 3 objects such as 3 bears.
Adds and subtracts familiar objects such as cookies.
Puts written numerals in order from 1 to 5; 1,2,3,4,5.
Recognizes and names 3 shapes: circle, square and triangle.
Counts from 1 to 10 in correct order.
Uses the words "more" and "less" correctly.
Tells if he or she is a boy or girl.
Tells first and last name.
Tells first and last name of parent(s).
Tells how old he or she is.
Takes care of own needs such as toileting, washing hands and dressing.
Adjust to new situations without parents being there.
Uses pencils, crayons and markers for drawing and writing and cuts with scissors.
Draws a line, circle, X and +.
Runs, jumps, hops, throws, catches, and bounces a ball.

Reflecting

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Wed, 18 May 2011 17:26:00 +0000

Watching the kids bargain and listening to the words they use makes me confident they can go to kindergarten and communicate their needs.

Guess who's mommy just had a baby ?

Baby Mataya came in the classroom to visit this morning. ( Man, it looks like a train wreck behind them. Somebody is slacking on the cleaning this week. )

We have two days of school left after today. It seems like this year has flown by. Today at lunch the kids and I were talking about our year. I asked them what things they liked the best. Overwhelmingly the kids answered " the science night." That was a fun night. They also gave me answers like " when Randy built the ramps" , " the leprechaun hunt" and " The day Randy wore the gorilla suit" One child said 'watching movies." REALLY?!!! I replied " How many movies have we watched this whole year?" Audrey said " ONE!" I was flattered with that answer and she isnt too far off. We have watched one WHOLE movie ( The Polar Express we did as an all day activity as a special event.) and maybe parts of movies three other days. Out of 178 days and MUCH of it with days we had to be inside all day - I'll take that number and run with it. There are so many options to fill a child's day besides TV. I challenge you this summer to set a limit on TV watching at home for your child. If you want some tip on how to do this you can click HERE. There is even a printable chart for you to keep up with it.

Also , as I looked back at our records we have visited over 24 different places in our community this year without once getting on a bus or spending a dime on field trip fees. We have had a blast learning about all the things in our little world of Siloam. Why talk about a fire station when you can visit one ?

We have had five large parent involvement events such as the mother / daughter tea or the dad and me pumpkin decorating and hayride.

We have had six visitors in our classroom to show us things. Rosanna's mom taught us how to make homemade tortillas and even let us make our own. The lady from the dentist office talked about taking care of our teeth and the policeman was fun too !

We have had two new baby sisters born this year that we have celebrated at the hospital and in our classroom. We also had a baby brother born !

We have had cats, rabbits, dogs, gerbils , caterpillars ( waiting on her wings to break open the chrysalis now !) and snakes visit out classroom to teach us how to love , care and be responsible for animals.

We have cooked and cooked and cooked some more. I am not talking a mini Rachel Ray show where I cook and the kids watch and then eat a little of it. The kids here measure, mix, and pour ! We have made green eggs and ham, purple cows, buses from twinkies, trail mix and so much more. Cooking teaches so many things and is one of our favorite activities.

We didnt send home very many craft projects ( that's not what we do). But lots of free art went home since we paint and color and create whenever we want to and with what we want to. We didnt learn a lot of little songs that have cute lyrics that are a little too long for us to remember , but we worked ( played ) to Classical music, boogied to blues and danced to everything from country music to rag time.

And yes, most of our older kids know their alphabet letters and sounds. They know their numbers ( not just COUNTING to 100 but being able to hand me 10 - 20 objects ). They know lots of positional words and their vocabularies have grown immensely. They have all that handwashing business down to almost perfect . They work out their own peer conflicts and make choices about their day. They are able to sit at circle time and small groups and interact and add to the groups discussion.

These things are all IMPORTANT.. but what means the most to me is:

We made memories.

We taught in a way that four and five year olds learn.

We enjoyed the age we are at now.. without pushing . They grow up too fast anyway.

We learned to be part of a group.

We learned self discipline and self control.

We loved.

I have had quite a year. There have been times I felt discouraged . There was even a time I was told by one " I am disappointed with your program." For a while, I let that get me down. Then I remember -I am not doing this for the parents. I am doing this for the kids and while I am not perfect I strive to be. I work late and dream and plan all the time for what I want to do next. If you can honestly reflect on our year and be disappointed , it makes me wonder what is expected.

When I reflect, I feel wonderful about our life and the kids we have spent the year with. I am blessed and honestly, I think they are too.

Farmers Market

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Tue, 17 May 2011 17:31:00 +0000

This morning I loved walking in the quiet room and the boys are there writing on the chalk table without any prompting. YAY! BOYS!

A few of the toys on the morning tables.

For small groups today we did sticker stories. I put all our stickers out on the table and explain to the kids that we are going to use the stickers to tell a story. I started out with one myself. The kids loved going through the stickers. Not only is this a great literacy activity but also fine motor as they try to get those stickers off the backer sheets. This was a lot of fun. Some of the kids stories were really great !

What was also exciting was they way I saw them use them later in the day. The girls here set up another reading area and "read their stories to each other. "

I had to brag. I found this one the floor. I first posted it on FB and I didnt know who's it was. After we all got together as a group , I asked the kids. Geneviette said she did . I asked her how she knew how to spell spring and she said " well, I found a piece of paper with the word spring on it and I copied it. " NEVER.. under estimate the power of a child centered classroom that refuses to use worksheets or flashcards to teach. These kids can and do excell !

We also went to the Farmers Market today to see how some farmers sell their " goods." We met a bee farmer and he showed us a bee house and how they harvest the bees. We got to taste a spoon full of honey. We saw flowers and vegetables and even got to taste some cookies. For lunch we had a salad made from the greens we bought there.

Going back home....

A good day.

Kindergarten Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Mon, 16 May 2011 17:39:00 +0000

Today was the day that we go to tour the kindergarten where the older kids will go in the fall. I have six that will be moving up.

First thing this morning we were greeted by Emeri's pet !

Mr. D met us outside, he is the counselor.

We went in the library !

The computer room !

We peeked into Mrs. Fox's room.

We met the music teacher.

The gym is awesome. It has a climbing wall.

We met the art teacher !

We sat in Mrs. Freking's room . They were acting out a story that we know called " The Little Old Lady Who Wasnt Afraid of Anything. "

In Mrs. Freking's room the kids sat on balls. I plan to email her and ask her opinion of how she feels this works.

Mrs. Braun met us in the lunchroom .

After getting back home we stayed outside to practice our program for Friday night. We had to take a break to watch the tree limb truck come by and pick up some large limbs. I love this picture of all my little farm hands peering over the fence. While I was gone Beth ( Cohens mom ) and Mary ( Williams mom ) played outside. The kids said they had fun playing with the parachute. Thanks girls !

To little cow pokes....

This is a good example of how I teach letters.

P is for Pig

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Fri, 13 May 2011 21:29:00 +0000

Randy and I were out in a worksampling training all day. Worksampling is an online assessment tool. But.. I do know what your kiddos did today!

Today the kids were read " If you give a pig a pancake" while they ate pancakes marked with a P on the top in red. The also got to chose a topping - pineapple, peanut butter, pecans , pears, peaches or powdered sugar. Do you see a trend here ? PPPPPPPPP!!!!!!! They also got cook whip but ... well, that was just for looks and taste.

During small group the kids made pigs from playdoh and graphed which topping they liked the best for their pancakes.

Circle time was a reading of " The Three Pigs " and acting out the story. This activity is good. It demands story recall and sequencing.

Another one of our friends became a big sister yesterday. Again, since the hospital was so close Devin and Jodie walked the kids over to help Malia celebrate. I think one of the moms came along to help ! Devin said " the walk went well. Malia was so sweet and proud to show off her new baby. It was so cute. "

Life in a small town is good. Really good.

After nap I think they might have watched a little of Charlotte's Web.

I am thankful for workers that make me feel totally confident that everything will be ok when I need to be away.

Sounds on the Farm

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Wed, 11 May 2011 17:39:00 +0000

Our schedule got a little topsy turvy today. We were inside for breakfast and then went outside. The weather report said we would get storms all day but THANKFULLY it has been beautiful. We played for a while and then we talked about our program. This years theme is " Down on Grandpas Farm." So, in addition to all the new fun farm activities we are doing we are learning songs for our program. We pretended sitting with our parents watching ourselves on the BIG SCREEN . Each year we make a DVD of our kids so everyone can catch a glimpse of the fun we have during the year. It is so easy to forget all the special visitors, field trips, cooking activities, science projects and special events we have . This year it IS a little LONG.... so we will eat while we view to save time ! :) I tried to narrow it down but had so many good pictures of these precious guys that I couldnt get it down any smaller. At the end of the program each child will receive a DVD to take home and watch. I have heard that kids from the past watch it over and over. After the DVD the kids will take the stage for a short program of nursery rhymes and song and dance. THESE KIDS THIS YEAR LOVE LOVE LOVE TO DANCE! I always have mixed emotions about " programs." For the most part they are not usually age appropriate. But , the parents love to see the little ones on stage. I guess I have taken the stand that as long as the child isnt stressed and it is fun for them - we will do it. You have to remember that we ( Randy and I ) are performers so we sing and dance a lot all the time. It isnt like we are doing flash cards and worksheets all year and then decide to put on a show.

Another fun thing we did today was play the game " Sounds on the Farm." I took a video of the boys playing and noticed some really interesting things.

I had letter tiles out for them to use as BINGO markers. I have never used them for this purpose before but decided this could be one more way to get those letters in front of them. Some of the boys were really ... really stressing out. If the animal sound was a cow- they wanted to cover it with a C. They would miss covering up that spot as they searched the table for a C. Also, to take it a step farther, if you notice some of the boys that were wanting to match the letter sounds placed the tiles with the letter down. The boys that were just playing the game as told had the letter side up. I found his interesting. Do you think it bothered the " letter s0und boys" to SEE the letters that didnt match the animal ? I was intrigued. Some days the kids are so smart they just make me go hmmm...

Purple Cows

noreply@blogger.com (Ms Debbie) — Tue, 10 May 2011 17:43:00 +0000

Today we made purple cows !!