Sunday, April 21, 2013

We LOVE the letter "P"

The letter "P" was so much fun in preschool! We were all very happy because the weather turned out to be much nicer than expected that week! So without further ado, here is what your preschooler was up to during letter P week:

We had the best time reading Amy Rosenthal's "Little Pea" and doing many of the activities from teachpreschool.org. Deborah's blog is so inspiring and this day of "Little Pea" activities was a definite hit. I absolutely love children's books that are entertaining for both adult and child and this one is not only that, but it also provided for a wonderful day of learning.

After reading "Little Pea" for circle time. I gave each child a story token, their very own little Pea. R is holding her story token above. As you can see they absolutely LOVED these little guys. It worked out wonderfully when we headed up for free time and everyone began playing in the dry peas. They each had their tokens to play with in the peas and it couldn't have worked out better for a wonderful pretend play opportunity. 
                                                                        Hard at play.
 We played a fun candy game with some jelly beans, because Little Pea hated to eat candy. I turned around to get something and all of a sudden we had no more candy! Look at those guilty little faces :) Hilarious!





We discovered sweet peas for our science moment and everyone loved diving into these. I have to say it was heartbreaking to me to watch them destroyed because peas are my very favorite! I saved a few to munch on and we all tried them before hand for snack. Most everyone liked to eat peas, but not as much as they liked digging into them with their tweezers.


Check out these cute little chickens we caught and put in the chicken coop. 


 We had a little field fun. Nothing like running across the field and singing our preschool songs!
Check out these sweet kiddos with evidence of the first signs of Spring. I don't know about you, but we are sure happy it is here!





Below, Rh is demonstrating the first little blossoms on our red Japanese Maples. So exciting to see how quickly spring abounds around here. 
I didn't take many photos of our Easter/1st Day of Spring Party. As you can see though, we had some happy preschoolers!


A few more of the happy kiddos...
Then again who wouldn't be happy with Easter Bunny Tea parties, an Easter egg matching numbers game, Easter shaped marshmallows, and all of your very best friends? Thanks for letting me work with these wonderful little people!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

At Home Rainbow Activities Link

I am sorry I am running behind on my posts but I wanted to hurry and share an EXCELLENT resource with wonderful printables from Carisa, at 1plus1equals1 to go a long with our rainbow theme last week. I really hope you will take a look and try some of these activities with your preschoolers.



We also started learning "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in preschool. The words are included in the rainbow tot pack from the link mentioned above. Sing along with your preschooler. It is so fun to hear them fill in the words!


Thursday, April 4, 2013

A Few Letter Q Activities

Oh the letter "Q" is just a quality letter :) Here are a few easy letter Q activities to keep your preschooler entertained.

Quarter Rubbings

Glue a quarter to cardstock or a piece of cardboard.  Have your child place a paper over the cardboard and then color over it with a crayon. We discussed heads and tails this week in preschool so talking about those with your preschooler would be a great way to further our learning. To make this activity last a little longer, you could have your preschooler cut out the quarters for some cutting practice. I would love to see how these turn out, so feel free to post a picture to our facebook page!

Quarter Patterns

We briefly identified coins in our discussion of quarters. Have your child make patterns out of quarters and another coin (maybe pennies because of the clear distinction from a quarter). 

20 Questions

It can be hard to travel even short distances with a preschooler, so try playing twenty questions next time you get in the car. It may help if you have an older sibling help to participate in this. When you are driving in the car have your child choose something and then ask yes or no questions to try and figure it out what they are thinking of. Remember to remind them that question starts with the letter q. We may not be quite ready for this concept but it is worth a shot, definitely have them choose the object and you guess though.

Wonderful Link

Below is a great link that has tons of printables that would work well with our discussion of quilts and the letter q.

http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2010/02/prek-letter-q-for-quilt.html

"The Kindness Quilt"
Remind your preschooler to be kind at home this weekend because we discussed the many ways we can be kind in our homes and to our neighbors. This would be a great opportunity to take a treat to the neighbors because Minna in "The Kindness Quilt" delivered carrot soup to her neighbors. A few of our class members weren't quite sure if they had neighbors, so maybe some cookies rather than carrot soup would be a nice way to introduce them :)  Minna, is a rabbit, so carrot soup suited her neighbors!





Q Tip Painting
 We had some fabulous q-tip painting on Tuesday that was a big hit. I am sure your preschooler would love to participate in this activity again at home. It is very easy to set up and should keep them entertained for quite a while!











 Here are some pictures of the process and beginnings of the amazing artwork that came from our talented preschoolers:





Your children our wonderful! HAPPY FRIDAY and good luck with your quality letter q learning!