Preschool Theme: Opposites



Great idea: I got this idea from Krista and I love it. I picked up these lasagna tins from the Dollar Tree so the kids could glue, glitter, and paint in them. I always put a table cloth on but this makes clean up even easier.



Circle Time. The kids shared the opposite pairs they brought with the other kids. We read a story about opposites.

Art Time. Opposite books.






Go here to download the pictures of opposite pairs. I copied each picture and pasted them in Word (4 to a page). Their pages look awesome. The kids use a swimming pool amount of glue per object so we'll have to let them dry for a while and finish them next week.







The kids added some texture to three of the pages for fun...cotton balls to the SOFT kitty, sand on glue to the turtle's HARD shell, and leaves we collected to the dog OUTSIDE.





Academic Time. To celebrate letter R we looked at Youtube clips of a roller coaster, rabbits, river rafting, and runners racing. We did a page out of this Preschool Workbook. I got them at the Dollar Tree. Apollo finished it in two days and loved it so I bought it for all my kids. They have great academic workbooks and flashcards for many ages.

Snack and a Story.

Big Marshmallow. Little Marshmallow.


Mushy applesauce. Crunchy crackers.


Sweet fruit snacks. Salty chips.

Black and White cookies.
We read Red Stop! Green Go! By Dr. Suess

Music Time. We did the bug dance. We hop forward and backward-step left and right so we talked about the opposites. I put on Black Eyed Peas (again...they love it) and we danced high...low...crazy...peacefully...fast...slowly...loudly...quietly...big...small.





Games. We played Red Light, Green Light. We played charades where I told the kids to do something like sleep and after the kids guessed what the child was doing, we all did the opposite.




Physical Fitness. Our first attempt jumping rope.





Random Thoughts about the kids:

Grant: He called me mommiebobby or something today; when I asked if he wanted applesauce he said no, just the marshmallows and chips-funny-normal kid; everyone loved his crocodile-it was the hit of the party; I love how he always comes running in to preschool...he even gets me more excited for preschool with his great attitude!

Jonathan: Good eater, very polite, he picked flowers for me today when we went outside to play so I put them under my headband; he picked flowers for his mom last time but I forgot to tell her; he loves to play with trains; I could tell he was done making his little book and said he felt sick but as soon as we started music time all of the sudden he had energy and was as happy as could be:); I asked Apollo what his favorite part of preschool was and he said playing trains with Jonathan (just before preschool started) he said "I asked him to play with me and he played with me."

Nicole: The lasagna tins are awesome for Nicole to keep her creativity contained-she doesn't color with one pen but a handful at a time and every inch of what ever she does is covered; she loved doing a puzzle with Halley today; she's such a GREAT helper and is the first one to clean up

Halley: I loved the opposite pair Halley brought- diaper and undies-she was very proud to show them to the group; she worked hard at jumping the rope and had fun; she saw Jonathan picking flowers for me so Halley did too-very sweet;;

Donny: Feel better buddy.

Apollo: He has a very long attention span and had fun putting his book together. He was very detailed and did an amazing job tracing his letters; he was frustrated jumping the rope-we'll have to work at it; he was goofier than normal today-probably just getting more comfortable and having fun with the kids;

Preschool Theme: Sports

This day was filled with fun events that are easy to put together and a lot of the items can be found around your house. Great afternoon activity for your kiddos.



Self-Selected Time.






Circle Time. When I was young, I put together a babysitting kit. I pulled it out the other day and have been doing different activities with the kids. I read "The Yellow Mitten" today to them as they took turns holding up animals.



The kids took turns showing off the sports outfits they wore and told about sports they played that week.


Art Time. We painted with racquetballs today. I printed off this coloring page for the kids to paint (click on image to print it off).



Academic Time. We cut out our own Olympic medal and the kids did a maze. I made slashes so the kids could trace letter Q.






We read the tiny books together reading about number 5 and 11. We are on a roll...the kids can find the right pages now with a little help.




Snack and a Story. In lieu of our sports theme, I passed out water bottles, granola "energy" bars, and Sport Jelly Beans.




Music Time. I played the bean bag song and the kids followed only this time with a big ball. They loved it.




We pretended to play different sports (volleyball, basketball, swimming, running, water skiing, and dancing) to the Black Eyed Peas.



We played "hockey" by swatting at the balloons with the wands I made for them earlier.



Quiet Reading. Most amazing thing! I announced Quiet Reading Time to the kids and asked them to pick out some books while I used the bathroom and got my book to read with them. I come back out and all...all of the kids are quietly reading their books!! We always do this call back thing where we talk about what we do for quiet reading and then we pretend to zip our lips and throw away the key (all with sound effects). I told them how amazing they were and went to do our key thing and Apollo told me they had already done it. He said he had already set the time (I always set the timer for 10 minutes). Who needs a teacher? I should just hand over my lesson plan!


Science Experiments.

1. Get as many different types of sports balls as possible and pass them around your class and talk about each one.



2. I split the class in two groups. I called out a sport and they pointed to the right picture. I printed off different people (I found some kid ones) playing sports-cut them out, and taped them up.


3. I handed all the kids some shoes, and we played with the laces on the shoes.


Games.

Basketball toss. Have your children toss a basketball into a small trash can or basket (we used the little trampoline as our target).



Hammer Throw. Take a tube sock and put a small ball (tennis ball, racquetball, etc) have your children sling it above their head and let it go. See who can sling the ball the farthest.



Discus. Have your children throw paper plates as a discus.



Javelin. Throw straws and see who can throw them the farthest.



Obstacle Course. Set up an obstacle course with paper feet. Today they hopped on one foot to the Trick-a-ma-stick (from the Dr. Suess game I Can Do That), walked around it holding a ball up high, hopped on two feet, and then did a little trick on the trampoline.




Relay Races.

Her are my random thoughts for the day:

Grant: He looked like the coolest guy coming in with his mitt, helmet, and baseball outfit; always so happy; looooved the granola bars; he and Apollo like to tease and wrestle; after Apollo told a story, Grant had a story about a big monster named...Grant and he had different voices-it was hilarious-I wish I could have gotten it on video; as we talked about the sports we played this week, he said he played with his dad last year (it's funny how they use time), he called the obstacle course Popsicle course and said "Let's Rock and Roll"; he always says the cutest things

Jonathan: We missed you today. Feel better soon.

Nicole: She loved the little soccer ball she brought today; She is such a pretty girl with a pretty smile-she looked darling in her little soccer outfit today; I always thing of how Carleton said she does everything with gusto-everything she paints is taken to the extreme-she puts her heart into everything she does; she had a lot of fun doing sports and had a great attitude

Halley: She was so cute in her tutu and danced around the whole time she was wearing it; she was funny when we painted our sport papers with a racquetball-she painted the ball and the paint container but wasn't to interested in painting the paper; she has such a fun time in class and gets very involved in every activity-a joy to have as a student

Donny: Even though Donny really struggled to cut his medal, he wanted to do it by himself and cut out the whole thing!; he is a little athlete-he threw the farthest both times on our hammer throw; he was so funny when the kids were telling about the sports they had played that week and he told a random story about running around and Apollo; after Grant and Apollo's story, Donny told a story about how he ran around and saw a wolf but his dad told him they weren't real

Apollo: I told the kids I had a story, but first Apollo had a story about his dad and a helicopter; he was saying funny things this week and said "my preschool kids will think it's funny" (I always call my preschool students my kids); I'm going to use these ideas from this lesson many times over because Apollo had so much fun

Preschool Theme: Winter.

Such a fun day. The kids are becoming such good friends and they are progressing in preschool too. We did a lot of call backs today (great attention getters) and the kids did awesome. When I say ham...you say burger. Ham...burger they all yelled. We did it with hot dogs. When I say go. When I say what? Go! they yell. When I say that word, meet me at the table. They're growing up and it just makes preschool more and more fun.

When I was younger, I loved to babysit. I had the whole babysitting kit. I made fun activities for the kids. No wonder I'm having so much fun with preschool. I asked for some preschool items for Christmas and tried them out in class today. Christmas Presents. I have to share some of my favorite gifts for Christmas...love them!! Heidi (my sister) planned out a whole lesson for me on the letter S. Including a salsa recipe the kids can make, the 5 senses, and scarecrows with each kids name on the bag. How thoughtful is that? Even if you're not a preschool teacher, what a great gift-to put together a rainy day activity kit for kids. Cds. Carleton bought me movement cds. I love them because we can just follow the music and it tells us what to do (eg. walk like an elephant, put the bean bag on your head). He bought me a circle time cd too. I think these are great for any mom wanting to have fun with their kids. One cd is called Action Songs for Preschoolers and the other is called Circle time Activities - Theme-Based and Transition Activities both by Georgiana Stewart. Heidi (my mother-in-law) gave me a fun preschool book. I'm excited to explore it.


Self-Selected Time. The kids were so excited to be together again today and had fun playing together. I picked up a Mexican Wrestling mask in Albuquerque at an outdoor market for Grant because I he loves to dress up in Apollo's so much.

The girls liked playing with the fake fruit you can cut while the boys like the train set Carleton put up.






Circle Time. The kids shared kind deeds they had done one at a time.


Art Time. We made graham cracker houses and decorated them. I think some of the kids were more interested in eating the frosting and candies than building a house:)




Academic Time. Today we celebrated letter P. I printed off this worksheet for the kids (click on the image to print one off for yourself):


Each child made squiggles with glue bottles and covered it with glitter to make a winter scene after tracing the letters. We have gone over numbers 1-10 and now, instead of celebrating a number a week, I do math time with the kids. I made a poster for the kids called How many mittens tall are you? We guessed how many mittens tall everyone would be. The kids counted out loud as we recorded our findings on a graph.




Snack and a Story. I really like these carrot packs. The kids liked them too. We also ate some of the leftover graham crackers.




Music Time. We had a lot of fun trying out my new movement cd. We passed a beanbag around as the music told us to stop, go faster, and go slower. There was a cute song that told the kids to step, run, and then told the kids to dance. This was my favorite time of preschool today. I love to see the kids bopping around having so much fun. They're stretching in this pic.




Science Experiment. We made snow today. I drew a snowman on colored paper today and let the kids color it. The "snow" paint is 1 cup salt, 3/4 cup water, and 1/2 cup flour. After mixing it together, we painted our snow scenes over the snowman. When it dries, it looks very cool-like real snow. What a great activity for kids this time of year-or even cute for on winter cards. I showed the kids some fun YouTube scenes (we don't get snow here in sunny CA) of trains going through snow, a family snowball fight, and someone jumping into a pile of snow.





Games. We played the Dr. Suess game "I Can Do That." They drew cards and had to complete funny challenges. A perfect game for this age of kids. We looked online before buying it and all the reviews were great.





Physical Fitness. All of us took apart a newspaper, crumpled it up, and taped them together. We had a great "snowball" fight outside and at the end, they made baskets in the garbage bag. We really had a blast. I couldn't throw the "snowballs" away quite yet, it will be fun to use again at least once more during another music time.




Here are some thoughts and observations from today:

Grant: I gave him the Mexican wrestling mask. He went back to it later to put it on and told me thank you for getting it for him. He is very sweet to his friends. He likes to wrestle with Jonathan and Apollo. Apollo had a big smile on his face as Grant was wrestling him today. All the other kids jumped in too and were laughing and tumbling around. Nicole had just shared with us how she had made a homeless lady a sandwich as a good deed and Grant was next and told us about the kind of sandwich he likes.

Jonathan: So sweet. He told me today "you have pretty hair." At the end of preschool, I let the kids take a turn doing a trick on the trampoline. Jonathan got on with all his confidence and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen...Jonathan" and gave a little speech; when he saw Grant today out the window he said, "There's my buddy, Grant"; he is very sweet.

Nicole: We went outside today and Nicole had everyone hold hands. She grabbed a couple hands then all the other kids wanted to join in. She told me today "I like you"-made me feel great!; She and Halley always have fun during music time. We had the pom poms out and Nicole and Halley were swishing them in each others' eyes and having so much fun. She loves the "I Can Do That Game" and did a great job. She always has a smile on her face.

Halley: She loooved the wooden fake fruit that was out today but was very concerned when the lemon was missing-she's very organized; her graham cracker house was amazing! she has an eye for beauty and is very creative; I laughed to myself as we were all sharing nice things we did for others. Jackie had left me a little note about how Halley had shared some food with her cousin because she didn't bring a snack. I reminded Halley about the story so she could tell about he kind deed but (I'm laughing right now remembering) her cousin had drank out of her (Halley's) water and Halley was not happy about that; Jonathan had messed up her hair, she said, "Jonathan pulled my pretty hair. My mom did it this morning"; she's so funny because she comes to preschool seemingly so shy but don't let that fool you-she is full of spunk and fun. She told me today, "I'm going to marry Donny". I asked her to wait at least twenty years:)

Donny: He needed some help in the bathroom. He told me "I like going to your bathroom. It looks nice"; the kids were eating bear cracker cookies and he said "those cookies are spicy"; I asked the kids what they got for Christmas and Donny replied "Everything. I got lots of presents"-lucky kid to get everything for Christmas.

Apollo: When we had to cancel preschool last week he was bummed. When he started feeling better he said "I feel better, now the preschool kids can come over"; he had a lot of fun making the house today; he makes preschool so fun because he loves everything we do; I always tell the kids we're going to do a new activity or shout "New Activity" when we move on. The other day at home he said, "Can we do an activity" instead of can we play a game, or just play what ever.