Go Away Big Green Monster

We had a great time with our Go Away Big Green Monster Day at school today! We had 6 stations that we rotated through all around the school. All of us participated and it was a blast! Even though we had so many transitions and it was such a different routine, we did a great job and had lots of fun!

Our stations:

monster mash obstacle course

parachute and Trick, Trick, Treat (Duck, Duck, Goose)

making a monster face snack

pin the nose on the big green monster

making a monster face on a paper plate

watching the big green monster story and playing a smartboard activity

Check out this retelling of the story on YouTube that I found (sorry about the high pitched voice! But the felt board activity she uses is cute!) 

AM Class

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PM Class

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The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

Miss Erin and I videotaped ourselves reading one of our VERY favorite books: The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. It has been a big hit in our classrooms over the last couple weeks. We love to read the story and make the hand motions to go along with it. We have also enjoyed our SmartBoard activity that goes along with it! Check out the YouTube video by the link on the right sidebar for a higher quality version.

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Miss Jill and some of the other Independence staff helped perform this story on Thursday. We had a blast watching them and participating with them! Our class was the "shirts". When Miss Jill read about the shirts, we held our white shirts up in the air and said "Shake, Shake!". You can enjoy the Independence rendition of the story here:

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On Friday, we watched the performance again in the morning because some of us were absent on Thursday. We enjoyed it just as much the second time! (This time Miss Stephanie is interpreting the story in sign language).

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Pumpkin Fun

In our slideshow this week you will see some creative ways we used the pumpkins we picked at the pumpkin patch. One of our favorite activities has been pounding plastic nails into a pumpkin in the Construction Zone. It is harder to get them out than it is to pound them in!


In addition we have been very silly and creative making Mr. Pumpkin Heads with pumpkins and the Mr. Potato  Head pieces. We have all kinds of fun creations!


The last few photos and videos in the slideshow you will see something new that we have been doing with our SmartBoards! We are practicing our story retelling skills with The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything and Go Away Big Green Monster. We can wear a microphone that is plugged into the computer. Then we move the pieces around the SmartBoard and retell the story. The SmartBoard records the movements and our audio and we can play it back! It was really fun to play with!


We have an update to our blog design. If you notice, at the top of the page there are tabs "home", "stories", and "songs". If you click on the "stories" or "songs" tabs, you will pull up all of our blog posts about stories and all of  our blog posts about songs. We are loving to watch theses stories and songs during our work time and have said that we'd love to watch with our families at home as well!

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Learning Letter Sounds (Alligator Song)

In addition to the ABC Rock (in another post) we also love the Learning Letter Sounds song! We like to call it the Alligator Song.

It is one of the 6 songs we can choose from at circle time. 

You can also click on one of the links on the right to see it on YouTube (better quality). 

Enjoy!

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Pumpkin Carving

After visiting the pumpkin patch this week, we went back to our classroom and carved the top of pumpkin. We carved pumpkins that we found in the pumpkin patch!


We talked about how knives are sharp and only grown ups should touch them.


After that we each stuck our hand inside the pumpkin (or touched the inside) and took a handful of pumpkin goop out! Then we put the pumpkin in the Discovery Zone so we could finish cleaning it out during work time. Some of us really really didn't want to touch the pumpkin goop! That is OK. Some people like or don't like certain textures. Everyone did, however, at least touch the inside of the pumpkin!








AM Class Pumpkin Carving

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PM Class Pumpkin Carving

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Have you carved pumpkins at home? Will you? We'd love to hear what you made. Please leave a comment and tell us about pumpkin carving with your family!

Following Directions with Pumpkins

We have been practicing following directions. We practiced following directions in the morning class with mini pumpkins! You can try this at home. We practiced using body parts. The day we practiced these directions with the deaf and hard of hearing class, we did it using our auditory skills only. No sign! We did a good job listening to the directions and picking out which body part Miss Stephanie said!

Put the pumpkin on your head.

Put the pumpkin on the floor. 

Put the pumpkin on your foot. 

Put the pumpkin on your nose.

Put the pumpkin on your ear. 

Go ahead and try these directions at home!

Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Today (finally!) we took our walking fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch!


We had a blast walking through the pumpkin patch and seeing the pumpkins in all different stages of the pumpkin life cycle. We also loved seeing the one HUGE pumpkin that Miss Stephanie has. After each picking our own little pumpkin (though Miss Stephanie says it is technically a gourd) we got to sit on her old tractor and pretend we were driving it. Then we all started jumping in the leaves! It was so much fun to jump in the leaves and bury each other.


 AM Class
 

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PM Class

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On the way to school today Miss Stephanie saw something really exciting. She saw a deer in her pumpkin patch! She said the baby deer comes by every day, but this was the first day she saw her in the morning. The baby deer was even starting to follow Miss Stephanie to school! We enjoyed looking at the pictures of the deer.

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Ask us:

What did you see at the pumpkin patch?

What did you do at the pumpkin patch?

What was your favorite part of the pumpkin patch?

How does a pumpkin grow?

What color is a pumpkin before it is orange?

What do a pumpkin plant's flowers look like?

ABC Rock

One of Circle Time jobs is mail helper. Our mail helper checks the mailbox to see if we have received any "letters". We talk about the letter of the week and what kinds of words start with that letter. We always amaze Miss Stephanie with what we come up with! Then the mailperson gets to choose which alphabet song we sing. The favorite lately has been ABC Rock! We recorded the AM class singing ABC rock and have been watching it during computer time too!


Here is our rendition of ABC Rock!

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Pumpkin Patch and ABC Rock

Our Construction Zone has transformed into a pumpkin patch!


We have leaves to rake, scarecrows to pose, blocks to build hay wagons, and mini pumpkins to pick! We have been very busy in our pumpkin patch this week.


Unfortunately we didn't make it on our walking fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch this week because of the rain. We are going to try again on Tuesday!


Another exciting piece of news is our morning class ended up on the U-46 parent page because of the Llama Llama Day. Very neat! Click here to check it out. We have enjoyed picking the computer center this week and watching the Llama Llama Red Pajama videos of our class. 


Pictures of the afternoon class enjoying work time, especially the pumpkin patch (Somehow I didn't take any pictures in the morning?!?!)

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One of Circle Time jobs is mail helper. Our mail helper checks the mailbox to see if we have received any "letters". We talk about the letter of the week and what kinds of words start with that letter. We always amaze Miss Stephanie with what we come up with! Then the mailperson gets to choose which alphabet song we sing. The favorite lately has been ABC Rock! We recorded the AM class singing ABC rock and have been watching it during computer time too!


Here is our rendition of ABC Rock!

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Check out this video of the life cycle of a pumpkin. We have been reading several books about how pumpkins grow. Ask your child to tell you about each of the steps: seed, plant, flowers, pumpkin!

Another event this week was a Skype interview with author Tom Angleberger. Mrs. V one of the hearing itinerants set up the event for all of the deaf and hard of hearing students in the district at the library. Miss Stephanie went and it was really neat so see students of all ages from all over the district. And to meet the author on Skype! One of the characters in his books (for middle elementary aged students) is even deaf! Check out the post here!

5 Red Apples

Miss Stephanie keeps promising to post our 5 Red Apples videos and she keeps forgetting! So here they are...finally! 


This is the song we have been singing for the last 4 weeks. 


Words:
5 red apples on a tree.
Look very yummy to me. 
A crow came down to
get some lunch. 
He ate one apple with a 
crunch crunch crunch. 
Crunch, crunch, crunch, 
crunch, crunch, crunch.
He ate one apple with a
crunch, crunch, crunch.


4...3...2....1!



AM

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PM

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Llama Llama Red Pajama Day

Today we had our very special Llama Llama Red Pajama Day! We were very excited about this day because the Llama books are some of Miss Stephanie's very favorite books! Whenever she hears a new one is coming out, she orders it right away so she gets it the day it comes out! 


We love the llama books because they are about things we can relate to, they rhyme and are fun for us to read, and we think the llama is funny!


Our Llama Llama Red Pajama day was sponsored by the Pearson Read for the Record program.

In the AM class, we read our book two times. We were VERY excited about the llama stuffed animal we had to help us read the story. We tried to go on the website to read the book on the computer, but the website was down in the morning. In the AM, Mrs. Chris (our principal) stopped by in her red pajamas to bring us our very own copy of the book!

AM pictures:

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In the PM class, the website was working again. We enjoyed reading the book online and retelling the story ourselves. In the PM we had special guest stars come to read us the book! Dr. Susan Ali, the Coordinator of Literacy and Learning for U-46, came with representatives from Pearson and a reporter and photographer. Our class was chosen to be spotlighted for this special day. "Ms. Susan" read us the book and she also had a special PowerPoint to go along with it. It is the same one you can find on the We Give Books website! At the end, our special visitors gave all of us copies of the book to take home for ourselves! We were so excited! 

PM pictures:

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The website is here:

wegivebooks.org

Click here for the: Link directly to the llama llama red pajama book

Other Llama Books

Llama Llama Misses Mama

Llama Llama Mad at Mama

Llama Llama Holiday Drama

This is the same website that has been featured in our newsletter. It is a great opportunity to share picture books with your child and to expand your library without buying additional books. The website does not "read" the book for you, it is like reading a real picture book! If exploring the books with your child, you can read the books in the typical way. You can also have your child click through the pages and retell the story independently. In addition, when you read a digital book on the website, you can click "donate" at the end and it will donate books to schools in need. If you click on this link, the author will read the story to you!

We had a great day and feel very lucky to have the special visitors come to our class. We are excited to keep reading the books online at home and school.

To read along with the story with your very own llama book, you can watch the video of Miss Stephanie reading and signing here:

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To see the story in ASL (American Sign Language) click on this link, scroll down, and click on the video that looks like this:

To read along with the PM class and Dr. Ali "Ms. Susan", you can watch the video here:

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Other activities:

-You can visit the Llama Llama website and enjoy some fun games and other online activities. 

-Beyond the book activities that came home in backpacks today can be found here.


Description on the U-46 website.


If you click here, you can read the story to you child. For a neat interaction twist, you can click on the photo of the author and she will interact with you about what is happening on the page!
http://connectedreading.com/bk/00100/d973e6bf0f3e2cd405d8db8621b3230c2c20a34b

Making Applesauce on Tuesday

Today in class we made our own snack!

We were so excited to make our snack and then eat it!


We made applesauce. This is how we did it:


1. wash apples and hands
2. pick an apple (1 per person)
3. core apple and cut into tiny pieces
4. add apples to pot
5. add sugar, water, cinnamon
6. cook on stove on high until all mushy (at least 45 minutes for 12 apples)


Recipe
4 apples
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 t Cinnamon
Servings: 4
4 apples = 4 servings


Miss Stephanie promised us that she'd post about this on "our computers" today so we could make applesauce at home. If you make applesauce at home with your family, we'd LOVE to see a picture of it!


Check out our pictures:

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Taste Testing Apples

The most exciting part of our week this week was taste testing apple and voting on our favorite. We tried 3 varieties of apples: red, green, and yellow. We tried one slice of each, talked about our thoughts about the taste, and then voted on our favorite. We each had a post it with our name on it and when it was our turn, we walked up to the graph and had to choose the one that was our most favorite.


When we were done, we counted the number of votes for each color. We talked about more and less and figured out the one with the most votes was the biggest number.


The AM class liked RED best.

The PM class liked YELLOW (or mostly yellow) best.

This weekend talk about apple flavors with your family. Make a chart to show the favorite flavor of apple of most of your family members. If you have a chance, you can even go to the grocery store, get 3 types of apples and do your own taste test at home. Count the votes and talk about less and more. What a great way to tie in activities from school to home!


Our chart (click to view larger):

Check out this youtube video with your child about colors. The first one starts with a red apple!







 Here is a great clip of the "Way Up High in the Apple Tree" Song. This isn't the one we have done in class. But it is a popular favorite!
 






 If you want to learn how to do apple in sign language, check out the video here:




 Please consider leaving a comment this week, letting me know what you enjoy most/get the most use out of on this blog! Or anything else I can include to make it useful as a tool to use with your child.
 -slideshow of pictures
-activities to print out
-videos of songs or stories
-videos of signs
-links with related activities


To comment, click on the comments button at the bottom.
You can comment anonymously, however, please leave your child's initials if you would like so I can respond personally to your comment. If you plan to comment more often (and I would LOVE if you did! What a great way to interact with other parents!) you can set up a free Google account.

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Recent news article regarding getting kids to love reading:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/28/opinion/patterson-kids-reading/index.html

Apple Letters

Apples! Apples! Everywhere!

This week we participated in some fun learning activities with apples. One day we picked apples off the apple tree and matched the uppercase letters with apples we picked from a basket. We talked about the names of the letters and matched the letters by looking at them. 

Kids learn to recognize letters at various speed of development. Developmentally, 3 year olds are expected to know 1-2 letters (usually the letters in their name come first), 4 year olds are expected to know at least 10 letters and 5 year olds (going to Kindergarten) are expected to know at least 32 letters. *There are 54 letters we assess kids on, upper and lower case as well as 2 g's (g/g) and 2 a's (a/a).* In our program we include letters in the environment, letter of the week, and daily activities. We sing 1 of our 4 alphabet songs every day. We do not do worksheets or use flashcards. Most kids learn letters when they are ready. Pointing out letters on signs while you are driving, in the grocery store, or pointing out letters on the cereal box while you eat breakfast are some of the best ways to introduce kids to letters. 


Click on this link to do an online letter jigsaw puzzle with your child:
http://www.first-school.ws/puzzlesonline/alphabet/a_apple.htm


Our letter this week was B! Click on this link to do an online coloring activity of a baker. Our alphabet puppet was a baker. We talked about different things a baker bakes and decided they all sounded yummy!
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/coloring-pages/interactive-alphabet/letter-b/baker.html


Check out our slideshow of playing and then participating in our apple picking!

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Turtles and the Classroom

This week we had a surprise when Miss Sarah's class stopped by with some baby turtles they found on the playground. Almost every year a mommy turtle decides our playground would be a great place to lay her eggs. Miss Sarah's class was outside when they started hatching, so they rescued 9 baby turtles! We got a chance to see them crawling around, but we didn't touch them because Miss Stephanie said turtles can have diseases. 


We have been continuing to learn more about the various centers in our room and now almost all of the centers are open for us to explore during work time. The listening center will be the last center to open next week. We are learning that we can make choices about where to play during work time, but we have to follow the routine of picking a matching necklace for that center. If we want to play in the Construction Zone, we need an orange necklace. If we want to play in the Creation Station, we need a purple necklace. If there aren't any necklaces left for that center, it means we need to choose something else for now. Miss Stephanie often reminds us "Check your necklace" if we are in a different center than the necklace we are wearing. 


We also started play plans this week. Play plans are a way we can write and draw about where we want to play during work time. We did really well for our first time!


Check out our pictures from this week!

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First 2 Weeks of Preschool

I am here! Sorry about the last posting from the first two weeks of school. I had a bit of technical difficulty with my camera, but I am up and running now!


We have spent the last 2 weeks figuring out the classroom, learning about the various centers, and learning the rules of the room. We have also really enjoyed exploring the new SmartBoard in our room. 


Check out the slideshow below! If you have trouble viewing it, you can hit F5 and wait for the page to refresh. If you continue to have difficulty, let me know. Your child will enjoy watching this slideshow with you. It is a great opportunity to discuss your child's school day and a great time to elicit language and conversation from your child.

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We had a fabulous first day of school! We spent our worktime learning how to play in the Construction Zone and the Pretend Palace.

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Back to School and Open House

Welcome Back and Welcome To Independence Center for Early Learning!

I am excited to begin another school year working with you and your family as part of your child's team. As I explained in my letter and most of us talked about at our visit, I use this blog as an opportunity to share with you what happens in our classroom. I will post weekly slideshows so you can see what we are up to. You can also share the address with your family members so they can see what your child is up to in preschool! In addition to the pictures, I will often post videos of songs and stories that relate to our unit. I often also post "homework" that you can do with your child that relates to our classroom theme. This gives you a chance to talk to your child about what he/she is doing in the classroom. This is great for developing language skills and making connections.

In addition to my posts, I also have links on the right side of the page. These are great resources for you. Some are websites for kids and others are resources for parents.

I look forward to sharing your child's preschool experience with you this year!

Below you can check out our first slideshow! I enjoyed seeing many of you at Open House. It was a great opportunity for kids and families to meet one another.

Sometimes the slideshow doesn't appear right away. If that happens, you can hit the F5 button on your keyboard and wait a few minutes. It should appear shortly. If you experience any difficulty, let me know!

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From Caterpillar to Chrysalis

Last week we watched an amazing transformation.

Our caterpillars went from crawling around their cup to hanging from the top as chrysalids (the plural of chrysalis).

We have also spent the week participating in other caterpillar activities such as: putting together life cycle of a caterpillar floor puzzles, looking at caterpillars through magnifying glasses, playing with insect puppets, making caterpillar art projects, reading caterpillar books, and playing with life cycle of a caterpillar plastic toys.

Things we learned about caterpillars this week:

-Caterpillars come out of an egg.

-Moths make a cocoon and butterflies make a chrysalis.

-Caterpillars come in all shapes and sizes.

-Birds and insects like to eat caterpillars.

-When caterpillars are ready to change, they crawl onto a leaf and their skin falls off. Their skin underneath turns into the hard shell.

-Inside the chrysalis an amazing change is happening.

Here are pictures we have of the caterpillars and their transformation so far:

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Check out an animation of The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Here is a retelling of the story in sign language:

Goodbye Pet Store and Hello Caterpillars

Here are some pictures from our week last week. We finished up our Pet Store Unit and started our Very Hungry Caterpillar Unit.

One of our final activities for our Pet Store Unit was to go on a "shopping trip". We each had a list with a specific animal on it. We walked around the school and found different "areas" of the Pet Store (accessories, toys, food, and homes). We had to find the items that went with our pet. We picked those items and then explained what they were for.

We have been really excited to watch the transformation of our caterpillars from caterpillars to chrysalis! Watch for those pictures this weekend!

Here is a video that contains signs for other animals you probably won't find at the pet store!

Here are the pictures from our week:

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Gobble Fingers

Here are 3 very important fingers:

These 3 fingers help kids with very important activities such as writing and other fine motor activities. Kids at this age need to be able to manipulate these fingers before they are able to use them effectively for writing.

Because we know this, we make sure to do a lot of activities in this class that require the use of these 3 fingers.

One of the things we do in class is to sing a snack song that incorporates the use of these 3 fingers by having the kids just use those 3 fingers to open and shut before the regular snack song.

We sing:

Gobble, Gobble

Crunch, Crunch

Gobble, Gobble

Crunch, Crunch

Open, shut them,

Open, shut them,

Give a little clap, clap clap.

Open, shut them,

Open, shut them,

Now it's time for snack, snack, snack.

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One way you can practice at home is to play a game during snack time. We sometimes do this during snack time at school. Play a game so that the whole family can only eat their snack (goldfish, popcorn, little crackers) if they pick it up with those 3 fingers.

In order to prepare for writing skills, this is one of the best ways to practice! Have fun with your "Gobble Fingers"!