Sunday, October 27, 2013
Columbus Day
For Columbus Day in our class we made a scene from the book, My First Biography: Christopher Columbus. I got the idea for this craft from here. The children glued two pieces of blue construction paper to the bottom of the paper to create the "ocean waves" then I painted their hand with brown paint and stamped it onto the paper three times to create the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. Once the paint dried they glued "sails" onto the ships (I used a white foam sheet) and pulled apart cotton balls to make the clouds. Kids had a lot of fun making this!
Monday, October 21, 2013
Wild West Day
Wild West Day in our school is always so much fun! The children and teachers come into school in their 'western' best and we all have a Rootin' Tootin' good time. :)
I used my cricut machine to make the cacti and punched holes on both sides so the children can thread yarn through during class (anything to practice fine motor development I am all about). I let the children put drops of glue on each cactus and then turn them over and place in a tray full of rice. Once they were done they got to play with the remaining rice, which was fun for everyone!
Everyone cowboy/cowgirl needs a trusty horse. The children painted the body and clothespins with watered down brown tempera paint. Once everything dried they added the details. Busy Bee Kids Crafts has the template I used.
To finish up our exciting day the children made boots. I used my Cricut machine to cut out the spurs and painted them with metallic gold paint to make them shine. We hung up our boots on the bulletin board for everyone to see.
We read Cowboy Small and Cowboy Up! to end this special day. We practiced the sound of our trusty horses and the fun things cowboys/girls say. Overall, great day!
These are some crafts my own children made in their classes on this special themed day. My son's class made a cowboy/girl and horse out of triangles, (since triangles are the shape of the month).
My daughter painted with watered down paint to make the sunset and added the silhouettes to create this beautiful western day project.
I used my cricut machine to make the cacti and punched holes on both sides so the children can thread yarn through during class (anything to practice fine motor development I am all about). I let the children put drops of glue on each cactus and then turn them over and place in a tray full of rice. Once they were done they got to play with the remaining rice, which was fun for everyone!
Everyone cowboy/cowgirl needs a trusty horse. The children painted the body and clothespins with watered down brown tempera paint. Once everything dried they added the details. Busy Bee Kids Crafts has the template I used.
To finish up our exciting day the children made boots. I used my Cricut machine to cut out the spurs and painted them with metallic gold paint to make them shine. We hung up our boots on the bulletin board for everyone to see.
We read Cowboy Small and Cowboy Up! to end this special day. We practiced the sound of our trusty horses and the fun things cowboys/girls say. Overall, great day!
These are some crafts my own children made in their classes on this special themed day. My son's class made a cowboy/girl and horse out of triangles, (since triangles are the shape of the month).
Learing about fire safety
In the month of October we cover fire safety in our preschool. As a way to make it fun for the class I bring in fire trucks, firefighters and a fire house from my own children's playroom. New toys in the classroom always get them excited.
It just so happened to be perfect timing to teach them about fire safety since in the beginning of the week the preschool had its routine fire drill. Once we walked back into our classroom after the fire drill I spoke about why we did that and what the fire alarm meant.
Throughout the rest of the week we spoke about what it means if we hear that bell go off in the school or in our homes and they were all giving great answers. We read several books throughout the week surrounding this theme, a few of my favorites are: Sparky, the fire dog, Fire Drill, and Fire Fighter. The children also get to dress up like fire fighters with costumes and even get to meet a REAL firefighter. Here are some of the fun things they made during the week.
I love this dalmatian fire dog. So cute and easy. I found the template for his hat and ears from Kids Soup.
During the beginning of the week I had the children finger paint with red, orange, and yellow finger paint. Once it dried I cut it into the shape of fire and glued it onto the paper. We spoke all week about some important things they needed to remember in case there was ever a fire- DON'T HIDE, GO OUTSIDE, GET HELP, & CALL 9-1-1.
This was a craft made last year by my little ones :)
It just so happened to be perfect timing to teach them about fire safety since in the beginning of the week the preschool had its routine fire drill. Once we walked back into our classroom after the fire drill I spoke about why we did that and what the fire alarm meant.
Throughout the rest of the week we spoke about what it means if we hear that bell go off in the school or in our homes and they were all giving great answers. We read several books throughout the week surrounding this theme, a few of my favorites are: Sparky, the fire dog, Fire Drill, and Fire Fighter. The children also get to dress up like fire fighters with costumes and even get to meet a REAL firefighter. Here are some of the fun things they made during the week.
I love this dalmatian fire dog. So cute and easy. I found the template for his hat and ears from Kids Soup.
These cute fire fighters were made by my own two children with their teachers. Aren't they cute!!
During the beginning of the week I had the children finger paint with red, orange, and yellow finger paint. Once it dried I cut it into the shape of fire and glued it onto the paper. We spoke all week about some important things they needed to remember in case there was ever a fire- DON'T HIDE, GO OUTSIDE, GET HELP, & CALL 9-1-1.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
All about fall!
I love October for SO many reasons in my classroom! The children get to learn about the change of seasons as we watch the changing of colors from the windows, play and explore the leaves outside and of course celebrate Halloween!
In October we learn about: the colors orange and black, triangles, owls, cats, pumpkins, fire safety and the Fall. We also have themed days in the school that the children get to enjoy in their classrooms. This month was Wild West Day and we had a Rootin' Tootin' good time! :) So as you can imagine there was much to do and not enough time!
Our "Fall" sensory bin. During my last visit to the dollar store I loaded up on felt and plastic leaves pine cones and small plastic pumpkins. To make it extra fun I added my scarecrows from home which the children loved!
My daughter was so excited as I was putting the sensory bin together for work that she couldn't resist having a little fun. I love that my own children get to enjoy it too!
As a way to learn about triangles the children made fall trees using a tracing of their hand and arm as the bottom of the tree and different color construction paper cut into triangles as the leaves. I came across this craft on It's a Preschool Party blog and I loved it! Must check out her blog SO many cute ideas.
The children also used powder tempera paint and water to paint candy corn as we talked about triangles. Love how great they look hanging in the window. Through the convenience of Pinterest I found the template and just cut the triangles out after all had time to dry.
Great book for this lesson plan and one of my personal favorites is We're Going on a Leaf Hunt, by Steve Metzger! Children love all the fun words throughout the book.
For October's bulletin board the children painted small plates using orange paint, glued a brown stem on top and I threaded a green pipe cleaner through two small hole punches and they got to twirl them.
.. and there is till more to come for the month of October! Come back soon!
In October we learn about: the colors orange and black, triangles, owls, cats, pumpkins, fire safety and the Fall. We also have themed days in the school that the children get to enjoy in their classrooms. This month was Wild West Day and we had a Rootin' Tootin' good time! :) So as you can imagine there was much to do and not enough time!
Our "Fall" sensory bin. During my last visit to the dollar store I loaded up on felt and plastic leaves pine cones and small plastic pumpkins. To make it extra fun I added my scarecrows from home which the children loved!
As a way to learn about triangles the children made fall trees using a tracing of their hand and arm as the bottom of the tree and different color construction paper cut into triangles as the leaves. I came across this craft on It's a Preschool Party blog and I loved it! Must check out her blog SO many cute ideas.
Great book for this lesson plan and one of my personal favorites is We're Going on a Leaf Hunt, by Steve Metzger! Children love all the fun words throughout the book.
For October's bulletin board the children painted small plates using orange paint, glued a brown stem on top and I threaded a green pipe cleaner through two small hole punches and they got to twirl them.
.. and there is till more to come for the month of October! Come back soon!
Apples and more!
The new year has finally begun and we already have so much going on inside our classroom! My favorite thing for September is the first day of school hand print craft my little ones take home. I got the original idea from In the land of Kindergarten but since my babies hands are SO SMALL I paint both hands to take up more room on the paper. I use standard white printer paper and cut it in half and then glue it onto construction paper that I also cut in half. Their little hands fit perfectly so I get two crafts out of each piece of paper!
For September in the preschool the concepts we teach are: red, circle, apple, fall and so on, therefore the crafts I do all relate to these topics. Each day we learn something new like the color red. On this day we use red crayons and color in things that should be red, as they color I have them identify the objects. My own two children are in the 3 year old and 4 year old classes in the preschool so you can imagine the wonderful things they are creating each day as well! Here are some things we did this month relating to the concepts they learned!
I LOVE sensory bins, especially for my little ones- so this month I made an apple themed sensory bin. I used apple cinnamon oatmeal, plastic apples, various sized red pom poms, wooden miniature pails (local dollar store) and I two made trees out of toilet paper rolls and green construction paper. Once my class was done with the sensory bin after a few uses I store all the pieces in labeled zip lock bags for next year.
Here are some crafts from my own children that they brought home in September. Their teachers are wonderful and I'm so grateful I get to work and learn from them.
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