Blog

Break before Summer!

Our kids here have just finished with our "regular" school year and are on a short break until June. We are so proud of our preschoolers! We finished the year with the Bugs and Insects Unit. We observed, caught, captured, and released lots of little fellows:). Kids always amaze me with their genuine curiosity. We'll do our Summertime Theme for 6 weeks in June/July. We are beginning with the Bubbles section as it is always a big hit with All our kids. We'll do extension activities as we have some elementary children joining us for the summer, but all activities are easily adapted for children 2-8. We hope all of you have a great rest of your month! If you are looking for Patriotic Activities for Memorial Day or July 4th, there is a section included in the Summertime Unit. Lots of neat ideas to use with young children. Thanks for taking the time to catch up! Darla

End of another school year (Tracy)

From Tracy:
Every August the upcoming school year seems like it is going to be such a long one. Yet, every May it amazes me how fast our year goes. This school year was no exception!! I VIVIDLY recall unpacking the 100+ boxes in my new classroom at my new building last August. Now here we are at the end of May and I'm getting ready to close it down again. Time flies....a little too quickly some times if you ask me. :) Today I am working on filling out paperwork for my students' school records. In each file there is a picture from last year or from the beginning of this school year. My students that have been with me for two years looked like babies in their pictures and here I am getting ready to send them off to kindergarten. How is that possible?!

As each year ends you hope and pray that you were able to give your students the necessary skills to succeed in school and in life. I only have my students for a short period each day, yet I feel responsible for them still. As my students prepare to move on (most of them will) I hope they will remember me and think back to Pre-K as being such a fun time. I hope they know they were loved. And I hope they will grow up to be successful, confident, happy kids.

For my students who will be returning to me again in the fall....I will miss you the next 12 weeks! Stay safe, be good, and have a great summer!!

For my students who are moving on to Kindergarten...best of luck to everything the future hold for you. I wish I could keep you with me for another year, but you are ready to move on. Be good for your next teacher. And always know I love you.

More Easter Fun!!

Here are some activities you can try at home from the Easter Unit available at www.thepreschooltoolbox.com. We value your comments and love to know if your children enjoy playing as much as ours do! Leave us a comment on the webpage and let us know what you like or even the ones you don't:).

Spring Animal/Easter Introduction:

Ask the children what animals they think of when they think of Easter. Chart the animals for the children. Discuss what sounds the animals make and if they
make loud or soft sounds. See if your children can repeat the sounds you make as LOUD or soft sounds.

Five Little Easter Eggs (there is a power point available for download when you buy this unit)

Five little Easter eggs -- I wish there were more!
Mother ate the green one; then, there were four.

Four little Easter eggs, pretty as can be,
Daddy ate the blue one; then, there were three.

Three little Easter eggs ... I haven't got a clue
WHO at the purple one, but that left only two.

Two little Easter eggs -- we're almost done!
Sister ate the pink one, and that left one.

One little Easter egg -- I'd better run!
I ate that one and now there are none.
~Author Unknown

Egg Carton Math

Take an egg carton, cut off the top, and write numbers 1-12 on the bottom of each cup. Write the same numbers on 12 plastic eggs. Children take turns matching the eggs to the correct egg cup. Extensions: dot colors for the children to match in the bottom of the
egg cups or use shapes/letters.

Ordinal Number Sense

Test a child's knowledge of ordinal numbers by lining up five plastic Easter eggs and placing them in a row. Tell the child that the Easter eggs are rolling in a race to the Easter basket you've place across the room. Ask the children to touch the Easter egg that is first and go place it inside the Easter basket. For younger children, say the numbers in order: first, second, third, fourth, and fifth. For older children, do NOT say them in order…mix them up (second, fifth, fourth, third, first etc.). You can quickly see which children have a good understanding of ordinal numbers and which ones need to play with the concept more. Extension: may also ask the children to ROLL the egg to the basket with their hands. You might also place shapes, letters, or numbers the eggs for young children until they can grasp the concept.

Easter Egg Sorting

Collect an assortment of plastic Easter eggs (different sizes, colors, patterns).
Have the children sort the eggs into baskets in the following ways:
sort by colors
sort by size
sort by patterns

Does it Come From an Egg? - (there is a letter to send home if you are using in the classroom with the paid download -Come_From_Egg_Parent_Letter.PDF)

Explain the terms: oviparous (comes from EGGS) and viviparous (does NOT come from EGGS). Read "Animals Born Alive and Well" and "Chickens Aren't the Only Ones!" by Ruth Heller. Brainstorm with the children animals/reptiles etc. that they THINK come from an egg. Make a chart of all the ideas and save for the next day. Assign one or two of the animals to the children for "research" overnight. Does a bear REALLY come from an egg? Let's find out tonight.

March 2011 From Tracy

Hello Everyone! Can you belive it is March already? This school year is flying by! We are all getting excited as Spring Break is literally just around the corner (next week!). Everyone at school has been doing a great job and working hard, but we are all sure ready for a few days off. This month we have been focusing our activities on Dinosaurs. My boys are sure excited for this one. We love digging up bones, making fossils, and singing so many different dinosaur songs. It always amazes me how many students know dinosaur names BEFORE we start the unit. Dino's is surely a popular topic, especially with my boys.

After spring break we will end our month with a short unit on Reptiles. Then it will finally be spring and we will get into spring weather, planting and growing, bugs and insects...all of the fun units!!

Hope everyone else is having a great March!
~Tracy

March - Looking forward to...SPRING

We had a great beginning to our month here. The weather definitely came in like a LAMB...hopefully, it will not go out like a LION:) Our kids all got a taste of playing outside: sidewalk chalk, tag, games, and lots of running!

This month we are doing the Spring Weather Unit. We'll take a short break during the week of St. Patrick's Day to do a mini-unit, and then resume with our regular classwork. We operate a full-day, full-yr. program so we won't have a Spring Break at childcare; but I know that many of you are looking forward to it!:) There are many great activities and themes already posted that would be nice to use during April and May. Take a look at Bugs/Insects and our Easter Unit when you get an opportunity!

Wishing all of you a great March!♪♫♥

Darla

February News from Darla

Hope all of you have had a good February. We have been a busy group here, although the FLU took hold of our group in the past week. I am looking forward to having our FULL group back this week..and HEALTHY! I really can't complain too much because we have been very fortunate this winter.

We did the Valentine's Unit for the first two weeks of February and our kids did a great job. We have several that are "on the verge" of reading...it is going to be an exciting Spring for our preschoolers! We are finishing the month with the Transportation Unit. Last week we took trucks out to dig in the MUD after 15+ inches of snow melted here.

If you have a moment, look us up on Shustir at: The Preschool Toolbox. There are many free ideas, extra pictures of activities, and a blog with areas of interest to parents with children. We appreciate your support! If you have tried the units, please send us a comment and let us know what you liked...and even those you didn't. It helps us write activities that are important to you. Thanks for stopping by and letting us help you find appropriate activities for your kids! Have a great rest of the month! Darla

February 2011 from Tracy

It's been a very busy month in our Pre-K program! February started out with three snow days which threw us off track a little bit and we had to move around a lot of activities. We were going to spend the first week of February focusing mainly on Math concepts, but we had to put many of those on hold for another time. The next two weeks we talked about Love and Friendship (see our Valentine Unit) with the highlight of that theme being our Valentine Party. Each of the students made a friendship bracelet for another child in our class and we made a big deal out of passing those out and thanking the creator. The last two weeks of February will focus on the 5 Senses Theme. That's one of my favorites because it is so hands-on! Our class is definitely starting to get cabin fever and we are anxiously awaiting our chance to go outside and play on the playground again.

January 2011 from Darla

Welcome, 2011! I hope you all have had a great beginning to the New Year! Our childcare home is back into the swing of things after a break for the Holidays. It is always nice to be together again as a group:)

We are doing the Winter Unit (available for free download) over the entire month of January. I've broken the Unit down into a week of snow, snowmen activities; one week of water/ice/water cycle activities; one week of general winter; and a week for activities we didn't get to in the above lesson plans:). One of the wonderful things about being self-employed is that I have lots of flexibility when structuring our days!

Our infants and toddlers here will follow along with our general Winter theme, but we modify all activities to be age appropriate.

We learn a lot through rhythms and music. Our hope is to plant seeds that the children can use and will retain for many years. The water cycle song in the Winter Unit is a great example. They may not quite understand the terms (evaporation, condensation, precipitation), but when those terms do come around in later years, they will remember the SONG and it will take on new meaning.

Tracy and I are working diligently to bring ideas that will be of value to you, your children, and your program. Dinosaurs and the Five Senses will be posted soon! If you have downloaded and used any of the FREE units, we'd love to hear any feeback you might wish to share. Blessings for a great month!

Darla

January 2011 from Tracy

Greetings from Tracy! Happy New Year everyone!! It's hard to believe that the first semester is already done. This school year is going by very quickly and it will be spring break before we know it! Today was our first day back to school after winter break and shockingly I had perfect attendance in both classes! That was a nice way to start out the 2011 year!!

This month in our class we will spend most of the time doing our Winter Unit. Our activities will focus around snow, snowmen, mittens, ice, and general winter weather. Hopefully most of you have downloaded our winter unit and are using that to help plan your lessons and activities!! (I know I did! It was a huge time saver to print the unit and pick and choose which activities we would do each day.)

The final week of January we are planning on doing an "All About Math" week and doing random games and activities that don't necessarily fit into any one particular unit.

Check back soon as Dinosaurs and our 5 Senses Themes will be coming!! Have a great month!! ~Tracy

Darla's December Update:

This month we are working on a Gingerbread Unit and our Christmas Unit. December is a busy time in our childcare home as the children are very excited! It can be challenging to keep them interested in learning activities with all the anticipation of the Christmas Season. Our Gingerbread and Christmas Units will offer various activities to keep all the children actively engaged. Our infants and toddlers here follow a modified version of our preschool themes. When we get a moment in the New Year, we will try to post some activities and suggestions that you might use with younger children. We are now preparing for our Christmas Party which will include a play for our parents toward the end of December. I will post a few pictures soon to let you see our fun! Have a wonderful and blessed Christmas and New Year! I will check back soon!

Tracy's December Update:

This month we are focusing our activities on Transportation and Gingerbread People. The Early Learning classroom gets very excited starting after Halloween and continues until Winter Break!! We are very excited about the upcoming holidays and events. This time of year we are busy working on daily lessons and activities, making gifts for our families, assessing students, filling out progress reports and I’m even in the middle of being evaluated. We are all really looking forward to Winter Break, having a little time to relax and spending time with our families. When we return after the holidays we will be spending almost the entire month of January doing our Winter and Snow Unit. I don’t know about you, but this school year is just flying by! Happy Holidays!!