4 layers of the rain forest

We started our Rain Forest theme which will go through February and March.

We sang a song which the children will sing throughout the unit about "There are 4 Layers of the Rain Forest, 4 Layers." It is a rather catchy tune sung to the same tune as "If you're Happy and You Know It."

The 4 layers are

Forest Floor,

Understory,

Canopy and

Emergent.

The students painted some tag board which will represent these layers as they learn more about each animal or plan that calls the rainforest its home.

We planted seeds in our own homemade terrarium. We will learn a little bit about the water cycle and eagerly watch to see if the seedlings grow.

For snack, we enjoyed a treat to get us in the spirit of planting" a dirt cup with pudding, oreos and gummy worms. We will be making a similar dessert soon using tasty treats to represent the 4 layers of the rain forest.

Our letter of the day was Z. We listened to our e-book and story about the letter Z and we also worked on how to write our numbers 0-9.

Learning the Angles...tough work or fun?!

The preschoolers had so much fun with this activity! There were 7 bins filled with various sensory materials: rice, black beans, white beans, macaroni noodles, sand, mostaccoli noodles, and grains. Every student had to search through the bins to find shapes with their name on them: circle, oval, diamond, trapezoid, octagon, etc. Once found, they needed to glue them on their grid in the correct spot where the shape was labeled. What a fun way to review all the shapes we talked about for this month's geometry theme.

We worked on making AB patterns today with our geometric shapes, students worked on tangrams and geometric pictures as well. We also sang our Spanish shape song "Yo se mis formas" or "I know my shapes." During circle time, we read a cute story about clever mice outwitting a cat in "Mouse Shapes." We ate graham cracker rectangles and/or squares for snack time.

Our letter of the day was Xx. We rhymed ox, box and fox and listened to and watched on the tv from the computer the ABC Twiggles e-book about a fox with a box and an ox with some rocks.

We also had our midway letter sound and identification assessment.

We read our SAM book site words at circle time and pre-kinders got their own set to take home for their letter rings.

enrolling for 2012-2013

http://mytimeandmorepreschool.blogspot.com/
Kristin Kveton kvetonk@gmail.com
Johnson Ranch, San Tan Valley

We will have a class starting the week of August 7, 2012, following the Eduprize (Queen Creek campus) calendar.

Tuesdays class will meet from 8:30-11:30am (6 students maximum)
TUESDAYS CLASS HAS 1 SPOT OPEN.

Wednesday class will meet from 8:30-11:30am (6 students maximum)
WEDNESDAY CLASS IS FULL AT 6 STUDENTS.

Thursday class will be offered for students already enrolled in Tuesday and/or Wednesday class.
THURSDAY CLASS HAS TWO SPOTS OPEN - ONLY if a TUESDAY or WEDNESDAY child wishes to take it.
Thursday class will meet from 8:30-11:30 and have a phonics focus offering more enrichment and reinforcement of the reading skills including letter sounds and letter identification
(8 students maximum)

*I will be accepting students ages 3 & up for the Tuesday sessions.
(Your child needs to be at least 3 years old to be in my program. S/he needs to turn 3 by September 1st.)

*I will be accepting up to 2 students ages 2.5 & up for the Wednesday sessions.
(These younger children need to turn 3 by December 1st for the Wednesday session)
The other 4 children for the Wednesday session must be age 3 by September 1st.

One day option:
If your child is enrolled you may choose a one day option of either Tuesday OR Wednesday

Two day option:
You may chose to enroll your child Tuesday and Thursday.
or
You may choose to enroll your child Wednesday and Thursday.

Three day option:
You may choose to enroll your child Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

$35 registration/material fee yearly per child *paid registration reserves your spot for 2012-2013

Tuition:
$55 per month one day a week class fee
$100 per month two days a week class fee
$125 per month three days a week class fee

Second child discount is $10 off second tuition per month
Third child discount is $15 off third tuition per month

* Tuition is due the first class of the month , see registration paperwork for full details

Our curriculum will include phonics, reading, writing, math, science and Spanish as well as a perceptual motor skills development plan. Children will be given both individual as well as whole group instruction and also participate in learning labs based on the theme or a specific skill. Children will be assessed throughout the program and conferences and feedback related to your child's development will be provided. I will encourage parents to be partners in their child's learning and communicate ways to encourage reinforcing "school" skills at home. All children will be using letter rings to help practice letter names and sounds. Letter rings will also include phonics words and site words for some children when they show signs of readiness. Bob Books, letter of the week books, SAM books or other reader books will also be sent home weekly as part of the reading preparation for kindergarten.

The path to learning leads to new perspectives

We have been reviewing shapes in class. As we do, the children are asked to really explain what qualities makes each shape its shape. I am encouraging them to count sides, talk about straight or curved lines and compare lengths of sides. Hopefully they can better undestand why an oval is not a circle even though they both have only curved lines or why a rectangle is not a square since the rectangle's sides are not all the same length. This last class we examined triangles and diamonds.

The students were challenged by trying to use a length of yarn to manipulate into various shapes.

For our P.E. time, each student was given a long length of yarn and the serious job of making a path with it outside. Then in pure fun fashion each child got a turn to be the leader as the rest of the class ran, skipped or whatever the leader did along the length of each path.

Students are continuing to practice their writing: their names and also labeling their work.

Many students are reading consonant-vowel-consonant words are are on the verge of reading the SAM books I have for pre-kinders which combine phonic words and site words.

WOW! So much has been happening in preschool. For Three Kings Day, January 6th, we made crowns, enjoyed traditional 3 Kings bread with chocolate milk at snack time, listened to my story telling of Princess and the Pea and played "Prince/Princess May I?"

For the story telling, I used my puppets and pillows and the children were absorbed as I told about the princess sleeping on 20 mattresses. As I stacked pillows and hid the pea (a green marble), the students smiled as the puppet put on her princesses crown at the end of the story to live "happily ever after" with her prince. Then I set up 3 pillows and put the marble under 1 of them. Students were excited to try sitting on each one, to guess where the marble was hidden.

To practice their newly declared prince and princess sensitivities, they put on their crowns they made and played "prince/princess may I?" The prince/princess clearly enjoyed their new power of saying "No, you MAY NOT," as other classmates asked, "Princess, may we please take 2 steps forward?" It was a very cute game and the children loved it.

We focusing on building words and word families. One of the pictures shows a student adding a letter to the -at ending to build a word. Each student received a box and inside was a letter to add to our pocket chart to build an -at word.

We are working on size words and order words, such as smallest, biggest or first, second, third, etc.

We are also exploring shapes and geometry for January.

SO much fun!

Happy 2012!

Listed on the top right of the following link, you will see "Spalding Phonograms 1-26 a-z"
a very clear video of the lowercase alphabet letters with all the phonograms:
https://sites.google.com/site/phonokids/

If your child is going to Benjamin Franklin or ALA (American Leadership Academy) this is the reading program they use and knowing these phonograms exactly in this format will be helpful.

If not going to the above schools, these letter/sound skills still build a strong foundation for creating confident readers.

If your child is entering kindergarten next year, I strongly recommend practicing phonics and/or letter rings and/or reading for 15 minutes every day. A short time practiced frequently produces amazing results and really builds little minds and long term memory.

Happy 2012!!! Since some families have new years resolutions, I wanted to encourage you to think about the role of tv in your house.

I also wanted to share my own opinion on tv and videos. I think there are some very worthy ones for the preschool age group. Rather than watching the same favorite "Disney" movie for an hour or longer, consider instead PBS "reading" shows such as Super Why or Word World. Sid the Science Kid is a really great show for scientific concepts and most can easily be tried out at home to reinforce the learning. My children have also seemed to enjoy the LeapFrog videos about letters, words and even basic math concepts.

If you use tv and videos with your children, I encourage you to really evaluate the amount of time they are spending in front of the tv and what they are gaining from the that time.

Ages 3-5 are the perfect ages to add game time to your play time. It practices taking turns, following rules, usually other concepts like reading and counting and yes, the very important skill of sometimes losing. Even if your child wins, you can be a great model at how to lose.

When was the last time you played Candy Land together? Other great games include Hi-Ho Cherry-Oh, Chutes and Ladders, Memory Match, Guess Who and more. There are kid versions that are great of Monopoly, Sorry, Scrabble, Pinochle and more. What are your favorites?

Yay, a few pictures of our fun-fondue activity!

Jamie is crushing some peppermint for our chocolate dipped marshmallow pops.




Making pretzel wreaths by dipping them in chocolate and marshmallow pops too. Yummy!

Fun Friday January 6th

I hope to see your little learner this Friday, January 6th for a fun Friday!

Preschool session resumes Tuesday, January 10th.

Christopher Columbus

• Look for our continent song to soon be added to the my time and more preschool you tube page
  

How many oceans are on earth?

Although the oceans of the earth are all connected and truly one "World Ocean," most often the world is divided into four major "oceans" - the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Arctic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean.

Some consider there to be five oceans - the fifth being an ocean surrounding Antarctica called the Antarctic Ocean or Southern Ocean.

For our song, we only mention the 4 four oceans but please note the children may be introduced to 5 oceans.

In addition, we will sing this Christopher Columbus song today (see link below) as it does a great job introducing some facts about this historical sailor and explorer.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=christopher+columbus+songs+for+preschoolers+you+tube&mid=90DE9653F9E2C0AAE6D690DE9653F9E2C0AAE6D6&view=detail&FORM=VIRE6

Here is some more information about Christopher Columbus:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/famouspeople/standard/columbus/learn/page03.shtml#focus

Since we only meet once a week, we can only do so much during class time. Here is a link for extra activities to do at home if you wish, about Christopher Columbus:

More activities for home:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/c/columbus.shtml

Are we there yet?

K was for kite as the preschoolers traced a diamond shape, cut out their kite and added details like a yarn tail with triangle bows and fluffy cotton ball clouds. We also continued our "preschool city" collage and added some stop lights with red, yellow and green circle added to the tan rectangles and also red octagons as stop signs. Students also added squares with triangle tops for houses. We will continue to add more shapes and details to our preschool city map.

We worked on right and left with a game outdoors. We held hands in a straight line and stepped either right, left, forward or reverse. After practicing that a bit, we gave directions on how to get from one side of the yard to where we could touch the trampoline. We tried 10 steps forward, then 5 more steps forward, then 1 step in reverse, then 5 steps to the left and then - viola we reached the trampoline where we could touch it with an outstretched hand. Try this game at home. Have your child stand in the kitchen and guide him/her to the front door. Then have you stand by the refrigerator and have your child give you directions to the tv. At quiet time/naptime, hide a special treasure and write out the directions from your child's bedroom door to the secret hiding spot. Give him/her the written directions and read it together as s/he discovers the special surprise :)

Learning is a journey and there is so much to explore. We will be continuing this "Explore our World" theme as students get introduced to continents, the oceans, a globe, directions, a compass, Christopher Columbus, The United States and even Arizona and San Tan Valley.

Pictures!!!

Thanks Ivonne for coming to take our class picture, individual picures and a few candids. This preschool age is so much fun. I am so glad you were able to capture a few smiles of the bright, curious and amazing children I get to spend my Tuesdays with for a few precious hours!

Ivonne Ramirez-Carlton has started a new photography venture, Candid Moments Photography. Contact her for a great introductory offer. With the holidays around the corner, now is the perfect time to take advantage of this great offer. To view a small sample of her work and for more details, please visit her website at http://www.facebook.com/l/jAQFHCnURAQGeclgTaknBaz0s7cNP2PJn8hVQsD_WEdESZg/www.candidmomentsaz.com. If you're interested in booking a session please contact her at ivonner1979@msn.com or via her website.

Explore our world

Explore our World is our current theme for preschool. We are learning about how the Earth is round, we are looking at globes (even playing catch with a beach ball globe!), looking at maps, making a pretend map and much more.

Each class time we also go on a treasure hunt complete with a map of the backyard & playground where students find the numbers 1-7 hidden in spots that coordinate with the map. They turn in their numbers for a tresure of the day from the treasure box.

We are singing about the 7 continents and will be also learning another ocean song. We will be introduced to a United States map and Arizona map as well.

For fall fun, we painted pumpkins and finished them with glitter - they turned out so cute! We also read about Spookley the square pumpkin and made our own unusual shaped pumpkins. We did an activity to practice rhyming words and have started to use nursery rhymes and our favorite stories as part of our puppet theater.

Children brought in mystery items (starting with a previous letter of the day)and gave 3 clues for the other children to guess the mystery object for show and tell for October. It has been a busy month!

We also took a class picture! Look for the pictures to be in a finished format soon. Thanks Ivonne for taking them!

Picture Day - this FRIDAY!

Ivonne has agreed to take our preschool pictures. YAY! I am planning to have our class picture and an individual picture of your little learner on our first FUN Friday in October. That is THIS Friday! No cost to you...just send your usual adorable child and a big smile :) We will take pictures in the beginning part of class so their hair/outfit can be "just right" for you.

In the meantime, here are a few past pics from some recent explorations. Students investigated how tall in blocks they were, stacking the blocks independently to an impressive tower as high as they were tall.

Students covered up the letter "r" in masking tape on the carpet with small blocks.

Students wrote the lowercase "r" on the easel.

Students explored the magnetic tell your own story book about transportation.

Some students matched clothes pins with letters on each one to the correct corresponding letter on the letter strip.

Looking ahead for fall

October and November will have many opportunities for history and geography themes. We will introduce the globe, maps including the United States, the American Flag and saying the Pledge of Allegiance, Christopher Columbus and the first Thanksgiving.

Things to look forward to in October include new labels in the classroom (door, table, bathroom, etc) and a race against the clock game to go with the labels. We will also bring out the puppet theater as we get ready to add more core stories every preschooler/kindergartner should know.

Show and tell for October will involve you helping your child make a book/draw a picture of states she/he remembers visiting and what he/she did there (or add some photos). You may also include a list or picture of family or close friends who live in another state. We will add these important adventures and people to a class map and use the homemade books in a book nook. If you have friends in other states, contact them over break and ask them to mail you a postcard from their state to add to our class book.


I also hope to take time from our busy schedules to meet with you to share more about your child's progress and discuss how we can work together to achieve the goals you have set with your child this year.

I remind everyone (especially the pre-kinders) to keep practicing the letter rings. 5-15 minutes a day of attention from you where you can work on the sound(s) each letter makes is an invaluable pre-reading skill. Your little star will be reading phonic words and phonic/site word stories before you know it!

Some parents have been curious which letters of the day are around the corner. I plan to teach the following sequence which will lead us through October and November: b, h, k, d, v, j, e

I remind you to check out my links and favorites on my blog for great websites to reinforce phonic sounds including starfall.com and my you tube page which will have our class abc chant updated as well as short clips of the phonic sounds including the upcoming ones.