January
Dear Families,
Here is a basic layout of the activities, snacks, and themes we will be learning and doing during the month of January.

January 6 – 22: Shapes and Sizes

*Tuesday, Jan. 6/ Wednesday, Jan. 7 – – Letter Ii
Today we’ll be learning about circles and spheres. We will read “Circles, Triangles, and Squares” by Tana Hoban and then play a balloon stomping game! We will be creating circle prints and make English Muffin Pizzas for snack.

*Thursday, Jan. 8 – – Letter Ii
Circles are out today and squares are in! Today we’ll read “There’s a Square” by Mary Serfozo and then stack 3D squares, decorate squares, create treasure boxes, and play four square. For snack we will make cheese and bread squares.

*Tuesday, Jan. 13/ Wednesday, Jan. 14 – – Letter Jj
“Pancakes, Crackers, and Pizza” by Marjorie Eberts will start our day with triangles and rectangles. Then we will be playing ‘pizza match’ – a game of matching pizza slices to the right pizza. During choice time, we will use cookie cutters to cut shapes out of gingerbread playdough, make triangle rubbings, shape collages, and negative space pictures. For recess we will play a game of bigger than/smaller than, dancing around the shapes, or three corners.

*Thursday, Jan. 15 – – Letter Jj
We will learn about ovals and stars today. We will read “Draw me a Star” by Eric Carle and then play the fly swatter game. We will make shapes with shaving cream, learn to draw stars, sort raw and hard-boiled eggs, and during recess we will make box sculptures. For snack we’ll dine on delicious hard-boiled eggs and toast.

January 20 – February 5: Nutrition and Manners
*Tuesday, Jan. 20/ Wednesday, Jan. 21 – - Letter Kk
Today we will read “Boom baby! Boom boom!” by Margaret Mahy, or “No Milk!” by Jennifer Ericsson and we will introduce Rude Rodney. We will talk about coughing and sneezing and the polite way to do it. Then we will talk about the four food groups. In the messy table, we will milk cows, at the cut and color table we will make a food group mural, and in creative arts we will make a layered snack of ginger ale, blueberry syrup, and heavy cream (each has a different density and this keeps them from mixing – it’s pretty yummy too!)

*Thursday, Jan. 22 – – Letter Kk
Today Rude Rodney will have eaten all my chocolates without asking and we’ll discuss why that’s rude. Then we will each have a turn using please and thank-you to ask for a new chocolate. We will talk about fruits and vegetables and which is which, we will squeeze oranges in the messy table, make vegetable people in the cut and color table, and fruit prints in creative art. For music and movement we will play the fruit and vegetable game and, if there’s time, we’ll play ‘go bananas!’

*Tuesday, Jan. 27/ Wednesday, Jan. 28 – - Letter Ll
Today Rude Rodney starts by interrupting. We will read “The Berentstain Bears Forget their Manners” and talk about the touch rule (instead of interrupting, a child lays his hand on yours and you acknowledge him by laying your hand on top of his. When you’ve finished what you’re doing, then you get to his level to talk to him.) Today we’ll play with flour goop, string cereal, work on a mural, and make a pasta and rice rainbow collage. For music and movement we will play popcorn and for snack we’ll eat popcorn!

*Thursday, Jan. 29 – – Letter Ll
Rude Rodney will teach us about sharing today and we’ll read “Bear Learns to Share” by Claude Lebrun, or “My New Sandbox” by Donna Jakob. We will discuss the fourth food group – meats, eggs, and protein. We will make rubber eggs out of vinegar. The children love this because the calcium on the egg is dissolved by the vinegar’s acid and the egg feels like rubber! We will be having a small luncheon today and the children will put together our sandwiches in the messy table, make luncheon hats and placemats, and then we will have our luncheon! If there is time left over, we will play a game of ‘Poor silly kitty.’

December Newsletter

December
Dear Families,
Hello and welcome to a new month! Guess what?! I have a website now… and it’s working!!! For lesson plans and updates, please visit my website at thechildrenscornerpreschool.blogspot.com. I have just added great links for parents!
Also, as most of you know, I will be teaching zoo phonics to the children for kindergarten readiness. I will still focus on a letter a week, but no explicitly. I want the children to be introduced to the entire alphabet quickly so we can make the most of our year. I’ve looked at zoophonics and feel it is the best approach to reading I’ve reviewed so far. The children love the program because they can connect an animal and an action with each letter’s shape and sound. I encourage you to review zoo phonics on their website (zoophonics.com) so that you can support its use at home. I prefer, though, that you do not use the animals they have on the zoophonics website, because we won’t be using them (due to copyright issues). Zoophonics would not let me copyright my materials for parental use, so I am making my own names, animals, and actions for each letter and the children will be given flash cards they may use at home. I’m sending home a basic layout of the activities, snacks, and themes we will be learning and doing during the month of November. Since my Wednesday class only meets once a week, I will be combining Tuesday/Thursday lessons so that my Wednesday children learn what the older children learn - just not as in depth. We won’t have class November 27th. Thanks for all you do and enjoy your Thanksgiving!!
November 4 – 13 – GOTTA BE ME!
*Tuesday, Nov. 4/ Wednesday, Nov. 5 –MY SENSE OF SMELL and TASTE – Cc
Today will be a fun eating day full of lots of things to taste. From dill pickles, to cookies, lemons, salty chips, and more! We’ll talk about different tastes and which ones we like best. We’ll sing Make Myself Some Cookies by Thomas Moore. We’ll be making favorite food pictures, and recipe dictations, the children can explore in the restaurant at dramatic play. For snack we’ll be using a few different senses as we make and watch our very own popcorn pop!
*Thursday, Nov. 6 – MY SENSE OF SIGHT and TOUCH – Cc
We’ll see what it’s like to be blindfolded and discuss what kinds of things we would miss out on. We’ll explore with textured fingerpaints and discuss the different textures of various objects. For snack we’ll have colored Goldfish and sort the different colors!
*Tuesday, Nov. 11/ Wednesday, Nov. 12 –FEELING ME– Dd
We’ll be talking about feelings and what makes us feel the way we do. We’ll make ‘me’ puppets with pictures of each of the children on the puppets. For snack we’ll make pizza faces!
*Thursday, Nov. 13 – CELEBRATING ME!! – Dd
Today we’ll talk about the different things we learned about ourselves and the different things we can all do. We’ll also talk about when our birthdays are and why they are special. We’ll be making special ‘ME’ hats, celebrating birthdays in the dramatic play area, and learning why it’s so great to be ME. For snack today we’ll have bananas and grapes.
November 18-26 – THANKSGIVING
*Tuesday, Nov. 18/ Wednesday, Nov. 19 – MY FAMILY- Ee
We will talk about what makes a family, in the traditional sense of the word and we’ll label family members, then we will talk about other families we have and how we, as a class, are a family too. We’ll role play with puppets, read ‘The Family Book’ by Todd Parr, and make a book about our family. For snack we’ll make heart-shaped love sandwiches.
*Thursday, Nov. 20 – Thanks – Ee
We will talk about Thanksgiving and why it is a holiday. We will talk about other fall harvest holidays around the world and explain that it is a time of thanks. We’ll read, “Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks” by Margaret Sutherland, introduce Rude Rodney, and make thank-you cards. For snack we’ll serve each other cheese and crackers.
*Tuesday, Nov. 25/ Wednesday, Nov. 26 – THE FIRST THANKSGIVING- Ff
We will talk about our own family traditions for Thanksgiving and our plans for Thursday. Then we will discuss the first Thanksgiving and what happened there. We’ll read “Five Silly Turkeys” and make our own silly turkeys, play games the pilgrim children may have played, and have our own Thanksgiving dinner of mashed potato, turkey, and pie!
No School Thursday November 27th. Eat lots of (healthy) food!

Letting Children Choose
Why do we as adults pursue hobbies such as golf, crochet, or gardening? We spend time in such an activity because we find it enjoyable, we have some control over the activity, and we see it as offering some probability of success. We choose what we will crochet or plant; we decide where, when, and with whom we will play golf or tennis.
Children, too, learn best when they have some control over their learning, when activities are meaningful and relevant, and when they can make choices in the materials they will work with and how they will use them.
Children thrive when they have opportunities every day to make choices in their learning. As a teacher, I facilitate children’s choices within a carefully planned environment. I create the environment to allow each child to choose activities that are developmentally appropriate for his or her age. The children choose the peers with whom they will work and play and usually determine how they will use the available materials.
These choices empower children to take control of their own learning. Children use materials and equipment in far more creative and innovative ways than we could ever plan, and they use the materials in ways that meet their own developmental needs.
Research indicates that intrinsic motivation – when we work on a task primarily because we find it satisfying – is the most effective and engaging way to learn. In this preschool I make an effort to provide materials and activities that provide choice and interest for the children. That’s a key reason that you’ll see busy, involved children when you visit the classroom.

Nutrition and manners - Bread and Cereal

Jan. 27 – Breads and Cereals
Greeting Time (9:00 – 9:15)
Morning Circle (AM 9:15-9:30)

1. Song Can
2 Calendar
3 After singing a few songs and doing our morning calendar, Rude Rodney will join us with a blanket and a pillow. It is time for Rodney's morning nap. Miss Tammy will read a book "The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners". As the teacher reads the book Rodney will interrupt and ringing a bell as I try and finish. First he'll ask for a drink of water before his nap, then a hug, the he'll ask for the teacher to fluff his pillow just right. After the story I'll begin a conversation with the kids about interrupting.......What does it mean to interrupt? How did Rodney interrupt? What would have been the polite thing for Rodney to do? Do you ever interrupt mommy and daddy? Who would like to come up and tell Rodney what he should do instead of interrupting? No interrupting Please, Touch Rule - This is an excellent rule for the preschool classroom and an even better rule for home. I do not believe a teacher should make a child wait for a very long time before he is responded to, but there are times when the teacher is busy and the child has to wait. When the teacher is busy the child is asked to lay his hand on the teacher's hand. This lets the teacher know that the child needs to speak to her. The teacher responds by laying her hand on the child's hand. That way, the child has been acknowledged and he knows the teacher will get to him next. When she is finished with her previous conversation she should get down on the child's level and attend to his need. This helps a great deal when on the telephone at home. But remember, it isn't fair to make the child wait too long. That will only set him up for failure.
Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
Breads and Cereals
*Cut and Color Table: STRINGING CEREAL - There will be a variety of cereals at the cut and color table for stringing. There will be pattern cards available for the children to copy the pattern to make for their necklace. We will enjoy talking about what grain the different cereals are made of, tasting them and of course stringing them!!
*Messy Table: FLOUR GOOP - There will be squirt bottles like syrup, liquid dish soap bottles, etc. These bottles will be half way filled with flour and then filled up with water. The children can squirt these bottles to make goopy designs. If they want, they can squirt them onto squares of cardboard where the designs can dry hard and feel really neat! The teacher will guide discussions about how flour comes from wheat and is part of the breads and cereals group.
*Creative Art: BREAD DOUGH FUN - Bread dough will be placed at the creative art table for the children to smoosh, shape, squish, feel, and experience.
*Dramatic Play: RESTAURANT - The dramatic play area will be set up like a restaurant for the children to explore all different food groups, serve each other, order, and of course pretend to eat!!
*Snack: Mrs. Tammy will have pre-made bread for the children to see what the end product is of flour and bread dough.
Recess (AM 10:15-10:25...PM 1:45-1:55)
*Transition: POPCORN MOVEMENT - Popcorn is a foot that fits into the breads and cereal food group. I'll explain that inside every kernel of popcorn is a tiny little space that is filled with moisture. When the kernel heats up, the moisture in the center of the kernel expand and causes the kernel to explode into popcorn. The teacher will invite the children to curl up into a popcorn kernel. I will pick each child up one by one and place them into a "skillet full of oil". Slowly turn up the heat. Not all of the kernels will explode at once so the teacher will walk around the children and touch them each on the head. Tell them to pop when they are touched and then crouch back into a kernel to pop again.
Small Group (AM 10:30-11:00...PM 2:00-2:30)
* Small Group: We'll start small group by reading "The little Red Hen". I will bring a variety of breads and cereals to the circle. This will include bread, pasta, rice, tortillas, and cereal. The children will touch, smell and taste some of the foods. It will be fun to show the children how some of the foods are different when they are cooked. For example, uncooked spaghetti is hard and breaks but spaghetti that has been cooked is soft and bendable. I will show them cooked rice, oats and bread, etc.

Shapes and sizes - Ovals and Stars

Jan. 15 – Ovals and Stars
*Thursday, Jan. 15 – Ovals and Stars
Greeting Time (9:00 – 9:15)
Morning Circle (AM 9:15-9:30)
1. Animals Exercises
2. Song Can
3 Calendar
4 Fly Swatter Game – shapes will be taped on the wall and the children are divided into two teams. Two children are given fly swatters. The first to swat the shape I call out is the winner, then the fly swatters go to the next children in line.
5. We will then move our rope into a triangle and make a human triangle.
6. Book. “Pancakes, Crackers, and Pizza” Marjorie Eberts
7,. Pizza Match. Each child chooses a piece of cardboard pizza from a bag and then adds his pizza slice to the correct pizza by matching the toppings. If a player chooses a slice from a pizza that has not yet been started, he should begin a new pizza. The game is over when all of the pizzas are complete.

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Creative Art: “Draw Me a Star”, by Eric Carle, is our inspiration for creative art today. Eric Carle’s book will help teach us how to draw stars and we all will try. We will decorate our stars with glitter and other materials.
*Messy Table: Making shape cookies! We will roll out cookies and make them into our favorite shapes, and then eat them during snack time!
*Cut and Color Table: Raw or Hard boiled. When an egg is raw, it wobbles when you spin, but a hardboiled egg will spin quickly. I will have hard and soft eggs mixed up in a carton. The children will spin the eggs and sort them into different cartons, depending on if they are hard-boiled or soft.
*Dramatic Play/Manipulatives: We will continue using boxes in the dramatic play area because they are so fun and entertaining!
Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)
*Snack: Bread squares and cheese squares.
Recess (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)
Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)
1. Story “Fuzzy yellow Duckling” Mathew Van Fleet
2. Phonics
3. Music and Movement –
Three Corners – one child is blindfolded and the other children choose a corner to stand in. The blindfolded chil calls out a number (1,2, or 3) Everyone in that corner is out and has to sit down.
Bigger than/Smaller than – a shoe box will be placed in the center of the room. Two children will find something in the classroom that is bigger than the box and something that is smaller than the box. The children will lay the big items by the box and place the small items in the box to test the items for its size.
Dancing around the shapes - There will be a large circle, square, triangle and rectangle. I will put on dancing music and the children will dance around the shapes until I stop the music and yell out a shape and an action I want the children to perform with the shape. (i.e. hop around the triangle/ touch the square/ step on the circle)

Nutrition and Manners - Milk and Dairy

Jan. 20 – Milk and Dairy
*Thursday, Jan. 20 – Milk and Dairy
Greeting Time (9:00 – 9:15)
Morning Circle (AM 9:15-9:30)
1. Song Can
2 Calendar
3 Today I will have a puppet (Rude Rodney) that will come to class in a tissue box. When he comes out of the tissue box and sneezes all over everyone (I will be spraying water too so it seems super gross) we’ll talk about why it’s so rude. Then we’ll sing, “Have you ever seen rude rodney”.

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
Milk and Dairy! Teaching small children good manners is most effective if you begin early. Use these lessons and concepts on a regular basis!!
*Cut and Color Table: FOOD GROUP MURAL - We'll have many food magazines set out, along with scissors and glue. The children can cut out all the pictures they can find of milk products (the teacher will help guide them). Milk products include, milk, butter, cheese, evaporated milk, ice cream, and dried milk products. The teacher will have some pictures pre-cut. There will also be crayons and markers available for added creativity!
*Messy Table: MILKING COWS - The children will get to explore what it might be like to milk cows! There will be a few latex doctor's gloves attatched to the messy table. The teacher will have a poked a few holes in the openings and filled the gloves up with milk. These will be like the "udders" of the cow. The children will have a BLAST pretending to milk cows and see who's bucket can fill up the fastest!
*Creative Art: BUTTERMILK ART - The children will dip chalk into buttermilk which makes the chalk brighter and go on easier. They can explore with their senses as they smell, feel and create with the buttermilk and chalk!
*Dramatic Play: RESTAURANT - The dramatic play area will be set up like a restaurant for the children to explore all different food groups, serve each other, order, and of course pretend to eat!!
*Snack: HOMEMADE ICECREAM - It's so fun to see how things are actually created! We'll get to shake, mix and put all the ingredients together to make this fun cold treat!!
Outside Play (AM 10:15-10:25...PM 1:45-1:55)
*Transition: Have each child tell us a milk/dairy food and also one that is their favorite.
Small Group (AM 10:30-11:00...PM 2:00-2:30)
* Small Group: We'll start by reading the book "No Milk!" This is a cute story of a city boy who has no idea how to milk a cow. He tries to coax the cow into giving milk in a variety of ways until the cow becomes inpatient and gives the boy a hint! After discussing and reading the story we'll talk more about dairy foods, how often we should eat them, and what they are!! Mrs. Tammy will hold up a variety of plastic foods and the children will tell me if they are a milk/dairy food or not!! If there is still time we'll make a science, eating experiment called "Layers of Fun". We'll take clear cups, ginger ale, blueberry syrup, and heavy cream. The teacher will help them pour about 2 inches of ginger ale into the bottoms of their cups, the about 1/2 an inch of blueberry syrup, and finally about 1 inch of heavy cream on top very slowly. We'll observe what happens......the solutions stay separated into different layers. When we are finished looking, we'll stir the drink up and enjoy it!! Yum - blueberry cream!

Shapes and Sizes - Circles

Jan. 6 - Circles
*Tuesday, Jan. 6/ Wednesday, Jan. 7 – Circles
Greeting Time (9:00 – 9:15)
Morning Circle (AM 9:15-9:30)
1. Letter Bingo
2. Song Can
3 Calendar
4 A rope will be arranged in the form of a circle and we will all sit inside the circle. I will ask the children what shape the rope makes.
5. Ahead of time, I’ll have matching circles cut from construction paper. I will have one of the pair hidden throughout the room and I will give the other half to the children (there will be one circle per child) and they will look for the circle that matches theirs,.
6. We will sing the ‘Wheels on the bus” and talk about other things that go around and around besides a bus’ wheels. (i.e. the wheels on my bike/ a train/ a big wheel.) I can help them remember other things that go around and we will sing the song using replacements.
- a ferris wheel goes round and round all day at the fair
- a spinning top goes round and round and flies off of the table
- the dryer drum goes round and round and dries all of my clothes

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Creative Art: Circle Prints. I will have thee different colors of paint and tons of items that, when stamped in paint, will leave the imprint of a circle.
*Messy Table: English muffin pizza. All the ingredients for personal-sized pizzas will be provided in the messy table and each child will have the opportunity to make their own pizza. This is a great way to experience circles!
*Cut and Color Table: Sticky dots! Each child will get white paper cut in a large circle and the chance to stick dots all over them. We will hang their creations on the wall in the shape of a circle!
*Manipulatives: Marbles and magnetics.
Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)
*Snack: English Muffin Pizzas
Recess (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)
Each child gets one round balloon attached to their ankle by a large rubber band. The object of the game is for the children to stomp on their friends balloons and pop them while protecting their own balloons. There will be stickers given to those whose balloons get popped to lesson the trama of a popped balloon.
Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)
1. Story “Circles, Triangles, and Squares” by Tana Hoban
2. Phonics
3. Music and Movement

Nutrition and Manners - Meat, Eggs, and Protein

Jan. 29 – Meat, Eggs, and Protein
Greeting Time (9:00 – 9:15)
Morning Circle (AM 9:15-9:30)

1. Song Can
2 Calendar
3 Rude Rodney will join us in a toy truck and zoom around the circle in and out of children. I'll ask Rodney if I can play with his truck for a while. "NO!" Rodney yells. "It's MINE!" I'll tell the children that Rodney is not very good at sharing. He doesn't have many friends because he never lets them play with his toys. And Rodney never takes turns. He cuts in line at recess and takes toys away from other children. We'll read the story "We Share Everything" by Robert Munsch and discuss why it important to share.

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Cut and Color Table: MEAT, EGGS, AND PROTEIN MURAL - there will be food magazines set out for the children to find meat, eggs, and protein pictures to cut out and paste. The teacher will guide and discuss with the children as they go. They can also cut out pictures of their favorite foods to make a mural of foods they love!
*Messy Table: WHEAT - We will have wheat in the messy table today. Although we are not learning about grains and bread, it's still fun to feel and explore with.
*Creative Art: EGG FRIENDS - The children will decorate their own hard boiled egg friends with googly eyes, permanent marker, yarn, etc. They can try and take extra special care of their newly found friends!
*Dramatic Play: RESTAURANT - The dramatic play area will be set up like a restaurant for the children to explore all different food groups, serve each other, order, and of course pretend to eat!!
*Snack: OMELETT - It's so fun to cook and smell and eat this healthy snack!! Kids love to help!!
Recess (AM 10:15-10:25...PM 1:45-1:55)
*Transition: PASS THE EGG - The children will sit in a circle and two of them will have a hard boiled egg. We'll sing the ABC's and when we stop, the two people that have an egg have to answer the question, "What is your favorite food?" After they answer the class has to decide what food group it's in and then begin again.
Small Group (AM 10:30-11:00...PM 2:00-2:30)
* Small Group: We'll start small group by reading "Eggbert the Slightly Cracked Egg" by Tom Ross. This is the story of an egg who is perfectly happy in the refrigerator until it is discovered that he has a crack. Then, he is cast out. As he discovers the world, he finds that being cracked isn't so bad. We will then do a Rubber Egg science experiment. I will have a couple of eggs in a jar covered with vinegar, they will have sat for 48 hours. Carefully we'll remove the eggs from the jar and the children can touch them carefully. They will feel like rubber. When everyone has had a chance to feel them, I'll poke one with a needle and let them watch as the insides ooze out!! The calcium on the egg is dissolved by the acid in the vinegar. The egg's membrane holds it together. We'll also discuss more about this food group - Most of the foods in this group come from animals. The exception is legumes and tofu. We will not get into a discussion how animals are killed for their meat. The children will most likely be bothered and it is not really necessary. I'll show them some examples of foods that fit into this category....pepporoni, refried beans, eggs, sausages, etc.

Nutrition and Manners - Fruits and Vegetables

Jan. 22 – Fruits and Vegetables
*Thursday, Jan. 22 – Fruits and Vegetables
Greeting Time (9:00 – 9:15)
Morning Circle (AM 9:15-9:30)
1. Song Can
2 Calendar
3 After the song can and calendar, Rude Rodney will join us! Rude Rodney will be wrapped up in a gift box. The teacher will give the gift to one of the children and I'll say, "My husband gave me a delicious box of candy. If you help me open the box, I will share my candy with all of you!" When they finish opening the box they will discover Rodney with chocolate smeared on his face and no chocolates left in the box.
Teacher: "Rodney, why did you eat my chocolates without asking?"
Rodney: "Because I was hungry."
Teacher: "All you had to do was say, "Please." I would have given you some."
Rodney: "I didn't want some, I wanted them all."
Teacher: "That's rude! Do you have something to say now that you have eaten my chocolates?"
Rodney: "They were delicious!"
I'll ask the children to help Rodney figure out the polite thing to say to somebody after they have given us something. (Rodney should say "Sorry" and "thank you"))
I will bring out a box of tootsie rolls and let the children practice saying, "Please and Thank you. "
Next we will play the game "Which is Which". I will have a variety of fruits and vegetables on a tray and two bowls for sorting. Each child will get a chance to choose a fruit or vegetable and then tell the class what it is and if it's a fruit or vegetable then place it in the correct bowl.
Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
Fruits and Vegetables
*Cut and Color Table: VEGETABLE PEOPLE - This activity is so much fun!! Each child will get a meat tray or cardboard with a large circle drawn in the middle. This will be the vegetable person's head. Then, they will be able to use a variety of sliced vegetables and glue. They can use the vegetables to make eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and hair for the person!!
*Messy Table: WASHING FRUITS AND VEGETABLE - There will be water, plastic fruits and vegetables, scrubbies, and serving trays in the messy table today. The children can pretend to wash their vegetables, serve each other and play in the water!!
*Creative Art: FRUIT PRINTS - We'll have fruity paint colors put out on paper plates, and a variety of fruits to print with - banana peels, apple halves, orange halves, etc, and also large newsprint. It's easiest when these fruits are layed out ahead of time to dry a little. The children will be able to dip the fruit into the paint and print them on the newsprint!
*Dramatic Play: RESTAURANT - The dramatic play area will be set up like a restaurant for the children to explore all different food groups, serve each other, order, and of course pretend to eat!!
*Snack: APPLES AND CARROTS - We'll have carrots and apples for snack today to get our serving of fruits and vegetables in of course!! This will help improve self help skills as they serve themselves snack, get their napkins, pour their water and clean up their mess when they are done.
Recess (AM 10:15-10:25...PM 1:45-1:55)
*Transition: We'll read a book for transition called "Eat Your Peas Louise".
Small Group (AM 10:30-11:00...PM 2:00-2:30)
* Small Group: We'll start small group by reading the book "Growing Vegetable Soup". In this book, a father and child plant seeds, water them, watch them grow into vegetables, pick them and finally make a delicious, vegetable soup. The recipe is included in this wonderful book for those with extra time and want to make a warm, nutritious snack. For a game we'll divide the children into two groups. One group is the fruit group and one group is the vegetable group. I'll have picture cards with a variety of fruits and vegetables. Each child will get a card, there may be more then one of each fruit and vegetable. The children will sit in a circle and choose one child to sit in the middle of the circle. The child in the middle calls the name of a fruit and the name of a vegetable. The players holding those picture cards must stand up and trade places. While they are trading places, the child in the middle must try to sit in one of the vacant spots before they are all filled. Whoever is left without a spot is "it".

Shapes and Sizes - Triangles and Rectangles

Jan. 13 – Triangles and Rectangles
*Thursday, Jan. 13 – Triangles and Rectangles
Greeting Time (9:00 – 9:15)
Morning Circle (AM 9:15-9:30)
1. Bingo
2. Song Can
3 Calendar
4 A rope will be arranged in the form of a rectangle and we will all sit inside. I will hold up a square and a rectangle and ask, “What is different about these two shapes” (a rectangle has two sides that are longer than its other two sides and the square has all equal sides). We will make a human rectangle.
5. We will then move our rope into a triangle and make a human triangle.
6. Book. “Pancakes, Crackers, and Pizza” Marjorie Eberts
7,. Pizza Match. Each child chooses a piece of cardboard pizza from a bag and then adds his pizza slice to the correct pizza by matching the toppings. If a player chooses a slice from a pizza that has not yet been started, he should begin a new pizza. The game is over when all of the pizzas are complete.

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Creative Art: Negative space pictures – I will cut a small rectangle from the middle of a large, rectangular piece of paper. The children will be provided with markers, crayons, glue, misc. and they ca turn the rectangle into a work of art.
*Creative Art 2: Shape Collages. The children will use pre-cut shapes to create collages and abstract designs with materials provided.
*Messy Table: Gingerbread play dough or shaving cream – both are wonderful ways for children to build shapes.
*Cut and Color Table: Shape Rubbings. Different shapes will be taped to the table and children are encouraged to put their ‘copy’ paper over the shapes and rub the sides of the crayones to transfer the shapes onto their paper. When the children use a variety of colors, these pictures turn out quite beautiful.
*Dramatic Play/Manipulatives: Boxes are a favorite for children. Give a child a box and they can travel anywhere or be anything!
Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)
*Snack: Bread squares and cheese squares.
Recess (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)
Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)
1. Story “Fuzzy yellow Ducklling” Mathew Van Fleet
2. Phonics
3. Music and Movement –
Three Corners – one child is blindfolded and the other children choose a corner to stand in. The blindfolded chil calls out a number (1,2, or 3) Everyone in that corner is out and has to sit down.
Bigger than/Smaller than – a shoe box will be placed in the center of the room. Two children will find something in the classroom that is bigger than the box and something that is smaller than the box. The children will lay the big items by the box and place the small items in the box to test the items for its size.
Dancing around the shapes - There will be a large circle, square, triangle and rectangle. I will put on dancing music and the children will dance around the shapes until I stop the music and yell out a shape and an action I want the children to perform with the shape. (i.e. hop around the triangle/ touch the square/ step on the circle)

Shapes and Sizes - Square

Jan. 8 - Squares
*Thursday, Jan. 8 - Squares
Greeting Time (9:00 – 9:15)
Morning Circle (AM 9:15-9:30)
1. Song Can
2. Animal Exercises
3 Calendar
4 A rope will be arranged in the form of a square and we will all sit inside. I will ask the children if they notice what shape we are sitting in today. The children will get a paper square and they will touch the square to other objects in the room of the same shape.
5. Human square. To show that a square is made of four equal sides, four children who are close to the same height will lay down on the ground in the shape of a square.
6. Book. “There’s a Square” by Mary Serfozo

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Creative Art: Parents will provide a square box with a lid for their child. The children will transform the boxes into treasure boxes using paint, sequins, beads, jewels, and glue!
*Messy Table: Sandboxes. Four square boxes with sand will be in the messy table. The children can draw shapes with their fingers and then erase their drawings by shaking the box.
*Cut and Color Table: Cutting squares. Squares are the easiest things for little ones to cut because they only need to cut straight lines. Squares will be drawn on construction paper and the children are encouraged to cut them out. Crayons, markers, glue, and confetti will be provided for decoration
*Dramatic Play/Manipulatives: Boxes are a favorite for children. Give a child a box and they can travel anywhere or be anything!
Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)
*Snack: Bread squares and cheese squares.
Recess (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)
Four Square
Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)
1. Story
2. Phonics
3. Music and Movement – three dimensional squares/stacking boxes. Five or six boxes will be put on the carpet and the children will see if they can stack them one inside the other until only one is touching the ground. When they’re finished, we’ll take the boxes apart and line them up and ask questions: “Which is biggest/smallest? Which would fit in the middle?” Then we will turn them all over and stack them on top of each other.

January Newsletter

January
Dear Families,
Here is a basic layout of the activities, snacks, and themes we will be learning and doing during the month of January.

January 6 – 22: Shapes and Sizes

*Tuesday, Jan. 6/ Wednesday, Jan. 7 – – Letter Ii
Today we’ll be learning about circles and spheres. We will read “Circles, Triangles, and Squares” by Tana Hoban and then play a balloon stomping game! We will creating circle prints make English Muffin Pizzas for snack.

*Thursday, Jan. 8 – – Letter Ii
Circles are out today and squares are in! Today we’ll read “There’s a Square” by Mary Serfozo and then stack 3D squares, decorate squares, create treasure boxes, and play four square. For snack we will make cheese and bread squares.

*Tuesday, Jan. 13/ Wednesday, Jan. 14 – – Letter Jj
“Pancakes, Crackers, and Pizza” by Marjorie Eberts will start our day with triangles and rectangles. Then we will be playing ‘pizza match’ – a game of matching pizza slices to the right pizza. During choice time, we will use cookie cutters to cut shapes out of gingerbread playdough, make triangle rubbings, shape collages, and negative space pictures. For recess we will play a game of bigger than/smaller than, dancing around the shapes, or three corners.

*Thursday, Jan. 15 – – Letter Jj
We will learn about ovals and stars today. We will read “Draw me a Star” by Eric Carle and then play the fly swatter game. We will make shapes with shaving cream, learn to draw stars, sort raw and hard-boiled eggs, and during recess we will make box sculptures. For snack we’ll dine on delicious hard-boiled eggs and toast.

January 20 – February 5: Nutrition and Manners
*Tuesday, Jan. 20/ Wednesday, Jan. 21 – - Letter Kk
Today we will read “Boom baby! Boom boom!” by Margaret Mahy, or “No Milk!” by Jennifer Ericsson and we will introduce Rude Rodney. We will talk about coughing and sneezing and the polite way to do it. Then we will talk about the four food groups. In the messy table, we will milk cows, at the cut and color table we will make a food group mural, and in creative arts we will make a layered snack of ginger ale, blueberry syrup, and heavy cream (each has a different density and this keeps them from mixing – it’s pretty yummy too!)

*Thursday, Jan. 22 – – Letter Kk
Today Rude Rodney will have eaten all my chocolates without asking and we’ll discuss why that’s rude. Then we will each have a turn using please and thank-you to ask for a new chocolate. We will talk about fruits and vegetables and which is which, we will squeeze oranges in the messy table, make vegetable people in the cut and color table, and fruit prints in creative art. For music and movement we will play the fruit and vegetable game and, if there’s time, we’ll play ‘go bananas!’

*Tuesday, Jan. 27/ Wednesday, Jan. 28 – - Letter Ll
Today Rude Rodney starts by interrupting. We will read “The Berentstain Bears Forget their Manners” and talk about the touch rule (instead of interrupting, a child lays his hand on yours and you acknowledge him by laying your hand on top of his. When you’ve finished what you’re doing, then you get to his level to talk to him.) Today we’ll play with flour goop, string cereal, work on a mural, and make a pasta and rice rainbow collage. For music and movement we will play popcorn and for snack we’ll eat popcorn!

*Thursday, Jan. 29 – – Letter Ll
Rude Rodney will teach us about sharing today and we’ll read “Bear Learns to Share” by Claude Lebrun, or “My New Sandbox” by Donna Jakob. We will discuss the fourth food group – meats, eggs, and protein. We will make rubber eggs out of vinegar. The children love this because the calcium on the egg is dissolved by the vinegar’s acid and the egg feels like rubber! We will be having a small luncheon today and the children will put together our sandwiches in the messy table, make luncheon hats and placemats, and then we will have our luncheon! If there is time left over, we will play a game of ‘Poor silly kitty.’

Thanksgiving - Family

November 18-26 – THANKSGIVING
*Tuesday, Nov. 18/ Wednesday, Nov. 19 – MY FAMILY- Ee
We will talk about what makes a family, in the traditional sense of the word and we’ll label family members, then we will talk about other families we have and how we, as a class, are a family too. We’ll role play with puppets, read ‘The Family Book’ by Todd Parr, and make a book about our family. For snack we’ll make heart-shaped love sandwiches.
Thanksgiving
*Tuesday, Nov. 18/ Wednesday, Nov. 19 – MY FAMILY- Ee
Greeting Time (9:00 – 9:15)
Morning Circle (AM 9:15-9:30)
1. Song Can.
2. New letters
3 Calendar
4 We will read, “The Family Book,” and talk about our different families. We’ll find out how each of our families are similar and how they are unique. We will talk about how we, as a class are a family too.
Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Creative Art: Broken Hearts – sometimes people hurt our feelings, but when we apologize, it helps mend our broken hearts. Hearts will be provided that are cut in half. Children will (with assistance) punch holes in the hearts and use string to sew them back together.
*Messy Table: Water, along with transportation vehicles and family characters.
*Cut and Color Table: A Family of Puppets. Materials will be provided for the children to make puppets of their own family, including mother, father, brother, sister, grandparents, and so forth. The children can make their family puppets and role play with their creations.
*Dramatic Play: Mom and Dad. Hats, shoes, ties, purses, wallets, and other grownup paraphernalia will be provided and children are encouraged to ‘try Mom and Dad’s shoes on for size!’
*Creative Arts II: The Family Book: We will make a book about our families and then share them with the class during closing circle.
Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)
*Snack: heart-shaped love sandwiches
Outside Play (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)
Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)
1. Story “I loved you before you were born.”
2. Music and Movement – we will learn the sign language for mom, dad, grandma and grandpa using ‘signing time’s’ family song.
3. We will share our family books that we made during choice time.
4. Phonics

All About Me - Celebration

All About Me!
*Thursday, Nov. 13 – CELEBRATING ME!! – Dd
Greeting Time (9:00 – 9:15)
Morning Circle (AM 9:15-9:30)
1. Song Can.
2. New letters
3 Calendar
4 Read “Parts” and “More Parts” and then we’ll talk about different parts of our bodies and why they are important. The teacher will have a doll with several layers and we will peel back each layer, explaining about muscles, bones, etc. We’ll sing “I’m all made of hinges” and “Head, shoulders, knees and toes” during singing time.
Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Creative Art: Thumb Printing: each child will put their thumb print on a piece of paper and then, using magnifying glasses, we will look at each thumb print and note than none of them are the same. The children are encouraged to use their unique thumbs to make a drawing using Tempera paint.
*Messy Table: Surgery Table – Gak will be made out of elmers glue and liquid starch. Blunt needles and thread will be provided and the children can pretend to be surgeons who need to sew up a patient. Doctors masks, coats, and rubber gloves will be added for effect.
*Cut and Color Table: Medicine Dropper Art. There will be coffee filters, food coloring and water, and medicine droppers at the art table. Children can drip colors from their medicine droppers onto the coffee filters to make a beautiful rainbow of color.
*Dramatic Play: Doctor’s Office. Doctor’s lab coats, bandaids, stethoscopes, bandage wraps, rubber gloves, masks, doctor tools, etc.
*Measurement: Measure me! The teacher will take string and measure each child. Children can compare strings with the other students.
Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)
*Snack: During closing circle we will make pancakes and each child will get to choose what unique shape they would like their pancake to be (mickey mouse head, the first letter of their name, animal, etc)
Outside Play (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)
Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)
1. Story “I like Myself”
2. Make special pancakes
3. Music and Movement – march around the room making lots of noise with our musical instruments.
4. Phonics

All About Me - Feelings

All About Me!
*Tuesday, Nov. 11 – Feeling Me - Dd
Greeting Time (9:00 – 9:15)
Morning Circle (AM 9:15-9:30)
1. Song Can.
2. New letters
3 Calendar
4 We’ll sing “If you’re happy and you know it” and then discuss the different feelings we can feel. We’ll also sing “If you’re sad and you know it, angry, sleepy, etc”
5. Each child will get a plate to hold with a smiley face on one side and a frowny face on the other. The teacher will make a series of statements and ask the children to respond by showing the side of the plate that shows how they feel. If they aren’t happy or sad about a statement, they keep the plate on their laps.
Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Creative Art: The children will be able to explore and express their feelings using Tempera paints
*Messy Table: Autumn leaves, dirt, and water bottles
*Cut and Color Table: We will making ‘me’ puppets out of paper bags today using either photographs of the children or googly eyes and other materials to make their very own ‘self’ puppet
*Dramatic Play: Home – the children will try to connect their experiences from home into the classroom by roll playing rolls. From cleaning to cooking, to paying bills, being mom, dad, etc.
Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)
*Snack: Today we’ll make pizza faces! We’ll about different feelings while we make them and how we can give our pizza faces different feelings just by changing how the face looks!
Outside Play (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)
Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)
1. Story
2. Make pizza faces
3. Music and Movement – learn the sign language and actions to the song ‘what are you feeling’ from ‘Signing Time’.
4. Phonics

All About Me - Sight and Touch

All About Me!
*Thursday, Nov. 6 – My Sense of Sight and Touch - Cc
Greeting Time (9:00 – 9:15)
Morning Circle (AM 9:15-9:30)
1. Song Can.
2. New letters
3 Calendar
4 We will read “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” and then talk about things that we see in our classroom. As a class, we will make a small book about the things we see around us.

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Creative Art: We will explore texture as we play with shaving cream, sand, and paint
*Messy Table: Autumn leaves. I will be adding dirt and water bottles to the messy table so children can see the influence of nature on leaves as they help the leaves break down and begin decomposition.
*Cut and Color Table: We will make a book of ‘Preschooler, preschooler, what do you see?”
*Dramatic Play: Restauraunt
Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)
*Snack: We will be using or sense of sight as we sort out our colored goldfish
Outside Play (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)
We will take turns being blindfolded so the children can see just how much we rely on our sense of sight.
Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)
*Story and songs. We will make slime together and talk about the different property it has when we are working with it opposed to when it is laying in our hand.
*phonics

All About Me - Smell and Taste

All About Me!
*Tuesday, Nov.4/Wednesday, Nov. 5 – My Sense of Smell and Taste – Phonics
Greeting Time (9:00 – 9:15)
Morning Circle (AM 9:15-9:30)
1. Song Can.
2. New letters
3 Calendar
4 We will read “You Can’t Taste a Pickle with your Ear” and talk about different tastes. I will have dill pickles, lemons, salty chips, and cookies for the children to taste and smell. We will take a tour of the house and yard, smelling all the different smells. We’ll talk about different tastes and smells and decide which ones we like best.

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Creative Art: We will make pictures out of food!
*Messy Table: The messy table will be filled with autumn leaves so the children can smell some of the wonderful smells of fall and use their sense of touch to explore the properties of leaves
*Cut and Color Table: We will be making ‘real flowers.’ The children will draw a flower and then cut it out, then they can pick from a number of different scented cotton balls and we will rub the cotton ball on the flower. The flowers will smell great!
*Dramatic Play: Restauraunt
Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)
*Snack: We will be using all of our senses as we make and watch our popcorn pop!
Outside Play (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)
Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)
1. Story. We will read “Taste: the five senses”
2. Songs/Puppets/Fingerplays
3. I will have lots of containers with different smells in them (peppermint, garlic, strawberry, lemon, vanilla, etc) and the children will guess the smells
4. Phonics

Halloween Party

*Thursday, Oct. 30 – Halloween Time – Phonics
Greeting Time (9:00 – 9:15)
Morning Circle (AM 9:15-9:30)
1. Song Can. Halloween Songs.
2. New letters
3 Calendar
4 We will read “The Best Halloween Ever” and talk about what made it the best Halloween. We’ll have everyone model their costumes and then we will decorate the room with spider webs!

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Creative Art: We will make a book about Halloween
*Messy Table: Pumpkin innards. We will separate the seeds together and later in the week we will use them for snack!
*Cut and Color Table: We will paint our jack-o-lanterns today.
*Dramatic Play: Costumes
Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)
*Snack: We will make homemade donuts (A Halloween tradition in my family) for snack today
Outside Play (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)
Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)
*Story and songs. We will do some Halloween fingerplays and play a few phonics games.
*We will sing our Halloween songs for our parents when they come to pick us up. Happy Halloween!

Halloween

*Tuesday, October 28/ Wednesday, Oct. 29 – Halloween Time – Phonics
Greeting Time (9:00 – 9:15)
Morning Circle (AM 9:15-9:30)
1. Song Can. Halloween Songs.
2. New letters
3 Calendar
4 We will read “Halloween” and talk about the different traditions of Halloween. I will give each child an opportunity to talk about their past experiences with Halloween.

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Creative Art: We will make pumpkins out of paper plates
*Messy Table: Pumpkin innards. This is a great sensory activity. We will separate the seeds together and later in the week we will use them for snack!
*Cut and Color Table: Using construction paper, we will make our own haunted house and then use cotton balls and tissues to create ghosts and other creatures to live in our haunted house.
*Dramatic Play: Costumes
Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)
*Snack: We’ll make pumpkin muffins as a class and eat them during closing circle
Outside Play (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)
Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)
*Story and songs
*We will be eating our yummy pumpkin muffins during closing circle
* We’ll talk about the day and what we learned about Halloween. If we have time, we will play a few phonics games.

Welcome!

Welcome to The Children's Corner Preschool! We have an exciting year ahead of us!

I just finished adding links to helpful websites (I credit Chelsea Adamson for helping me find them. Thanks Chelsea!) Most of these are great for early literacy ideas and activies. I hope you will be able to use them with your child.

On the right, you will find links to my recent newsletters, lesson plans, and the themes we will be studying this year. If you would like to chat, please email me at tammyjensen1@yahoo.com.

Happy Halloween!!

Oct. 23 Insects All Around Us

*Thursday, Oct. 23 – INSECTS ALL AROUND US – Letter Aa
We will learn about bugs that help and bugs that hurt. We’ll look at types of bugs and where they might live. We will read the story, “I Like Bugs” by Margaret Wise Brown, make our own special bugs, go bug hunting, play bug parachute, and look for worms in our messy table. We will have ants on a log for snack!

Morning Circle (AM 9:00-9:30)
1. The Letter Aa
2. Song Can
3 Calendar
4 We will look at our class pet, Squeaky. Are caterpillars insects? And then we will talk about other kinds of bugs and see what other bugs the children can identify in our story.
4. Read the story, "I like Bugs”

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Creative Art: homemade playdough – we will make special bugs out of our playdough
*Messy Table: dirt with worms. Are worms insects? We’ll find out!
*Cut and Color Table: We’ll make bug glasses
*Dramatic Play: Bug Detectives
Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)
*Snack: We’ll make ants on a log today during closing circle
Outside Play (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)
We’ll go bug hunting outside and play bug parachute
Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)
*Story
*We will be making our yummy ants on a log snack for closing circle today and we’ll talk about the life of an ant.
* We’ll talk about the day and what we learned about butterflies and caterpillars. We’ll practice writing Aa on the chalkboard once more.

Oct. 21-Beautiful Bugs

*Tuesday, Oct. 21/ Wednesday, Oct. 22 – BEAUTIFUL BUGS - Letter Aa
We will introduce our class pet, Squeaky the wooly caterpillar, and explain how he will one day become a butterfly. We’ll read the story, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, create our own butterflies, play with a ‘bug’ parachute, make our own cocoons, and use pretzels to make the letter A!


Morning Circle (AM 9:00-9:30)
1. The Letter A
2. Song Can
3 Calendar
4 We will introduce our class pet, Squeaky the wooly caterpillar, and explain how he will one day become a butterfly
4. Read the story, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Creative Art: watercolor - butterflies
*Messy Table: dirt
*Cut and Color Table: We’ll make butterfly and caterpillar finger puppets
*Dramatic Play: Puppets - Encourage the children to use their finger puppets to show how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.
Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)
*Snack: We’ll be having animal crackers and juice.
Outside Play (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)
We’ll go outside and make a bug parachute.
Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)
*Story
*Music and Movement – We’ll do the actions to itsy bitsy spider and ladybug, ladybug. We’ll all wrap up in our cocoons and burst out of them into beautiful butterflies
* We’ll talk about the day and what we learned about butterflies and caterpillars. We’ll practice writing Aa on the chalkboard once more.
Supplements:
"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" Role Play. After reading the "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" have your children act out the stages of a butterfly.Caterpillar: Crawl on the Ground pretending to eat everythingCocoon: Role up into a tight ball, and then slowly uncoilButterfly: Have them hold their arms out and run around the room
Make Your Own Bug
cotton balls egg cartons google eyes pipe cleaners construction paper glitter, any other material that you want to use. Cut the egg cartons and let the children make their own bug

Coffee Filter Butterflies
Coffee Filters Spray Bottle with water Washable Markers Clothespins
What You Do: Let kids color coffee filters, then spray them with the spray bottle, then twist and clip with clothespin. This will make the butterfly wings, the kids can then color a face and antennas on the clothespin.

Design an Insect What You Need: Pipe Cleaners Popsicle Stick Feathers Football Shakers Google Eyes Construction Paper Glitter
What You Do: After talking about insects, and looking at insect pictures. Give the kids all of the materials and let them design their own insect. You will be amazed what great insects your kids will come up with

Oct. 16 - Friends and School Helpers

Thursday, October 16, 2008 FRIENDS AND SCHOOL HELPERS
Morning Circle (AM 9:00-9:30)
1. Song Can
2 Calendar
3. Letters in our names
4 Who is you're friend? We'll go around the circle and find out who each others friends are. We'll talk about how each person in preschool is a friend too, even Miss Tammy. Friends help each other also, and in school we all need to help each other. If someone gets hurt, we should help them. If someone needs help at a center, we should help them. If someone wants to play with us or share a toy, we should play and share. We should also help by taking care of the classroom and helping clean up our messes. If an accident happens, it's OK, just tell Miss Tammy. If nobody helps in preschool, it wouldn't be a very good school.
4. Read the story, "My Teacher is My Friend"

Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Creative Art: Making Warm Fuzzies
*Messy Table: Scooping beans
*Cut and Color Table: Friendship Bracelets - beading bracelets or necklaces.
*Dramatic Play: School bus
*Alphabet: Making a collage out of our own special letters (the first letter in each child’s name)
Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)
*Snack: Apples and milk
Recess (AM 10:20-10:30..PM 1:50-2:00)
Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)
*Talk about warm fuzzies and cold pricklies more. Encourage the children to give warm fuzzies away.
*Story
*Music and Movement - We'll dance to the song The More We Get Together as a class and then with partners.
* If there is time, we will have a whole bunch of letter tiles laid out in front of us. Each child will get to find the first letter of his/her name. The teacher will help them if they need it. The teacher will also encourage the kids to find more letters in their names!!

Oct. 14 - First Day of School

We’ll be focusing on the first day of school today and what school will be like. We’ll talk about other school experiences the children have had and what we will do at school every day; we will also decide as a class what our class rules should be. We’ll be reading the story, “My First Day of School”, making autumn trees, playing school bus, lacing leaves, and having graham crackers for snack

Tuesday, October 14/ Wednesday, October 15, 2008 FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
Morning Circle (AM 9:00-9:30)
1. Song Can
2. We will introduce each other, talk about the schedule we will follow each day, centers and what we will do at each one. We will write and practice our names
3. Share and Tell
4. We will set up class rules together, as the teacher writes the rules on chart paper and reads it back to the kids as we go. We may end up making one easy-to-remember rule: "You can do anything that doesn't hurt yourself, someone else, or Miss Tammy’s property." It pretty much covers EVERYTHING! Discuss each picture in turn.
5. We'll take a tour of the room, providing names for materials and areas.
6. Read ‘ my first day at preschool’. Play ‘Glad to See You’
7. School Calendar
Learning Centers (AM 9:30-10:15)
*Creative Art: Autumn trees and melted crayons
*Messy Table: beans
*Cut and Color Table: finger paints
*Dramatic Play: Play school bus.
Snack (small groups come at different times to eat during Self-Selected Activities. Unless we are making our snack, then we will eat it during small group.)
*Snack – graham crackers and milk
Closing Circle (AM 10:30-11:00..PM 2:00-2:30)
*Story “If you take a mouse to school”
*Music and Movement – We’ll sing “It’s Autumn Time” and show how a leaf falls from a tree as we move from one end of the room to the other.
* Work on the letters in our names.
To finish whole group, we'll play the name game.....If the teacher calls your name, that child jumps up and says one other person in the room that they know. We'll go into talking about what each of us likes to do and what our favorite things are.

October Newsletter

October 8, 2008
Dear Families,

I’m sending home a basic layout of the activities, snacks, and themes we will be learning and doing during the month of October. We will start learning specific letters on October 21st. Before that, we will be exploring the letters in our names each day.

October 14-16 – Time for School!

*Tuesday, Oct. 14/ Wednesday, Oct. 15 –FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL – Letters in our name
We’ll be focusing on the first day of school today and what school will be like. We’ll talk about other school experiences the children have had and what we will do at school every day; we will also decide as a class what our class rules should be. We’ll be reading the story, “My First Day of School”, making autumn trees, playing school bus, lacing leaves, and making popcorn for snack!

*Thursday, Oct. 16 – FRIENDS AND SCHOOL HELPERS – Letters in our name
We’ll be talking a lot about friends today and how our class is like a family and we are all friends! We’ll also talk about how we all help to keep school clean and running. We’ll read the story, “Will I have a friend?”, make friendship bracelets, finger paint, play with puppets, and we’ll make yummy pancakes for snack!

October 21-23 – Creepy Crawlies

*Tuesday, Oct. 21/ Wednesday, Oct. 22 – BEAUTIFUL BUGS - Letter Aa
We will introduce our class pet, Squeaky the wooly caterpillar, and explain how he will one day become a butterfly. We’ll read the story, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, create our own butterflies, play with a ‘bug’ parachute, make our own cocoons, and use pretzels to make the letter A!

*Thursday, Oct. 23 – INSECTS ALL AROUND US – Letter Aa
We will learn about bugs that help and bugs that hurt. We’ll look at types of bugs and where they might live. We will read the story, “I Like Bugs” by Margaret Wise Brown, make our own special bugs, go bug hunting, play bug parachute, and look for worms in our messy table. We will have bug crackers for snack!

Oct. 27 -29 – Halloween

*Tuesday, Oct. 27 HALLOWEEN TRADITIONS – Letter Bb
We will discuss the origin of Halloween and how it has changed today. Students will tell of their Halloween experiences and upcoming plans for this year. We will be reading “The Best Halloween Ever by Barbara Robinson, painting pumpkins, and making Halloween masks.

*Wednesday, Oct. 28/Thursday, Oct. 29 –HALLOWEEN PARTY – Letter Bb
Today is our Halloween Celebration. Don’t forget to dress up for our Halloween Party! We will read, “Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman”, and other Halloween books. In choice time, we’ll be making ghosts and spider webs; in large group time, we’ll make a class spider web, play fun Halloween games, and sing holiday songs. For our treat we will have homemade bread and make Jack-o-Lantern faces in it.

November Newsletter

November
Dear Families,

I’m sending home a basic layout of the activities, snacks, and themes we will be learning and doing during the month of November. Since my Wednesday class only meets once a week, I will be combining Tuesday/Thursday lessons so that my Wednesday children learn about the same things the older children learn, just not quite as in depth. I wish to remind you, we will not be having class November 27th as we all celebrate Thanksgiving!!

November 4 – 13 – GOTTA BE ME!

*Tuesday, Nov. 4/ Wednesday, Nov. 5 –MY SENSE OF SMELL – Bb
Today we’ll be exploring all different sorts of smells, from food to things around the house. We’ll be making smelly art, playing with scented playdough, make our own scratch and sniff pictures, and more! For snack we’ll be using a few different senses as we make and watch our very own popcorn pop!

*Thursday, Nov. 6 – MY SENSE OF SIGHT – Bb
We’ll be reading “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” and making our own book of “Preschooler, Preschooler, What Do You See?” We’ll see what it’s like to be blindfolded and discuss what kinds of things we would miss out on. We’ll learn some simple hand sign language, make magnified pictures, and more. For snack we’ll have colored Goldfish and sort the different colors!

*Tuesday, Nov. 11/ Wednesday, Nov. 12 –MY SENSE OF TASTE – Cc
Today we will be a fun eating day full of lots of things to taste. From dill pickles, to cookies, lemons, salty chips, and more! We’ll talk about different tastes and which ones we like best. We’ll sing Make Myself Some Cookies by Thomas Moore. We’ll be making favorite food pictures, we’ll make our recipe dictations, the children can explore in the restaurant at dramatic play, and we’ll be making peanut butter play dough for snack today!!

*Thursday, Nov. 13 – CELEBRATING ME!! – Cc
Today we’ll talk about the different things we learned about ourselves and the different things we can all do. We’ll also talk about when our birthdays are and why they are special. We’ll be making special ‘ME’ hats, celebrating birthdays in the dramatic play area, and learning why it’s so great to be ME. For snack today we’ll have bananas and grapes.

November 18-26 – THANKSGIVING

*Tuesday, Nov. 18/ Wednesday, Nov. 19 – MY FAMILY- Letter Dd
We will talk about what makes a family, in the traditional sense of the word and we’ll label family members, then we will talk about other families we have and how we, as a class, are a family too. We’ll role play with puppets, read ‘The Family Book’ by Todd Parr, and make a book about our family. For snack we’ll make heart-shaped love sandwiches.

*Thursday, Nov. 20 – Thanks – Letter Dd
We will talk about Thanksgiving and why it is a holiday. We will talk about other fall harvest holidays around the world and explain that it is a time of thanks. We’ll read, “Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks” by Margaret Sutherland, introduce Rude Rodney, and make thank-you cards. For snack we’ll serve each other cheese and crackers.

*Tuesday, Nov. 25/ Wednesday, Nov. 26 – THE FIRST THANKSGIVING- Letter Ee
We will talk about our own family traditions for Thanksgiving and our plans for Thursday. Then we will discuss the first Thanksgiving and what happened there. We’ll read “Five Silly Turkeys” and make our own silly turkeys, play games the pilgrim children may have played, and have our own Thanksgiving dinner of mashed potato, turkey, and pie!

No School Thursday November 27th. Eat lots of (healthy) food!

Daily Schedule

The Children’s Corner Preschool Schedule
9:00 Greeting Circle
9:15 Morning Circle
9:30 Choice Time
10:15 Clean-Up
10:20 Snack
10:30 Small Group Time
10: 50 Music and Movement
11:00 Dismissal

Themes throughout the Year

These are the themes Miss Tammy will be teaching throughout the year. I try and fit in some type of field trip every once in awhile. These might change a little throughout the year, but for the most part, this will be what your child will be learning about.
October 14 - October 17th Time for School! **We’ll be learning the routines and schedules of our school day and learning about each of our new friends.
October 21st – October 23rd Creepy Crawlies **We’ll be learning about all different sorts of bugs. Starting with caterpillars and butterflies and moving on through ants, worms, flies, grasshoppers and more!**
October 23rd - October 30th: Halloween Time **We'll be learning about the colors, traditions, and things that happen during Halloween. We will possibly have an out-of-class field trip to the pumpkin walk too!**

November 4th - November 13th: Gotta Be Me **Learning all about "ME" - practicing name writing and how each child is alike and different**

November 18th - November 26th: Thanksgiving
NO SCHOOL NOV. 27TH - THANKSGIVING BREAK!!
**We'll have fun learning about turkey's, families and thankfulness, the First Thanksgiving, and we'll end with our very own Thanksgiving Celebration!**

December 2nd - December 18th: It's Christmas Time
NO SCHOOL FROM DEC. 23 TO JAN. 1ST - CHRISTMAS BREAK!! School will start back up on January 6th.
**We'll be celebrating EVERYTHING CHRISTMAS!! From traditions, to Christmas trees, Christmas songs, and anything you can think of, it will be a lot of fun!!**

January 6th - January 22nd: The Shape of Things **Learning about circles, ovals, rectangles, squares, triangles, stars and hearts.**


January 27th - February 5th: Sing a Song of Opposites **Big and little, tall and short, up and down, inside and outside...the list goes on!!**

February 10th - February 12th: Friendship and Valentines **We'll focus on friendship for Valentines day and end with our own Valentines Day Celebration!**

February 17th - February 26th: Nutrition and Manners**Rude Rodney will teach us about being polite and impolite while we study the different food groups.

March 3rd - March 12th: Workers, Tools and Uniforms
VISIT THE FIRE STATION AND POLICE STATION FOR OUR FIELD TRIP
**We'll be learning about the possibilities of careers that we can all be when we grown up**
March 17th - March 26th: Under the Weather **From sunny, to snowy and any weather in between, we'll be learning about it**
*March 31st – April 8th: Spring Time and Easter POSSIBLY BE VISITNG THE ZOO OR A FARM TO SEE ALL THE NEW BABY ANIMALS **We'll learn about the different signs of spring, baby animals and possibly have some little eggs to watch hatch into baby chicks!**
April 14th - April 23rd: The World of Numbers **Learning about the look and value of each number.**

*April 27th to May 7th: (remember no school on April 10th) "A Dinosaur Dynasty" We’ll be learning about dinosaurs, fossils, archaeology, and go on our very own dinosaur dig!

*May 12th - May 14th: "Folktales" From Cinderella and nursery rhymes to legends, we’ll be learning it all!

*May 19th - May 21st: "Under the Sea" We’ll dive with dolphins and swim through coral as we explore everything ocean.

*May 26th - 29th: "Beach Week" Time to explore the creatures and adventures of the beach! Our celebration water day will be the last day of school, Thursday, May 29th