During Table Time, we caught rolling marbles (an excellent eye-hand coordination and visual tracking activity), used our pincher fingers to pick up pom poms, place straws in small holes in a cheese container, drop pennies in the slot of a squeeze jelly jar, and fill up test tubes with water using a large eye dropper. We also strung letter beads on Mrs. D's Chicka Boom tree. We played a lot of cookie games with matching cookies, counting chocolate chips (pom-pom's) onto a cookie (shown in next collage) and filling up cookie jars with magnetic cookies. We also played a cookie game where we followed a cookie "recipe". There were cookie cards with ingredients on the back. We picked up the cookies to find our ingredients with a suction cup spoon. We had to watch out for the "rotten egg" cards.
Our letter this week was H, so there were several ways to explore making an H with Duplos, pattern blocks, and stamping (not pictured). We also found magnetic letters in a tub filled with packing peanuts. After catching the letters with a magnetic wand, the kids would match the letter onto a letter mat.
Two of our most favorite activities were in the sensory table. Colored water beads wiggled and jiggled as we scooped them up. They were very slippery and bouncy too! We made lots of colored foam in the water table. We re-used hand soap containers filled with water and about 1 tsp. of clear dish soap. Of course we added food coloring to our mixtures. Voila! Many hours of foam fun!
We also played a Preschool Friend Lotto Game where we found the pictures of all our new friends and teachers. This game will be coming home to play with your family in the upcoming weeks.
After reading, the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom story, for project/craft time, we made Chicka trees with our handprints and letters in our name as well as a Chicka snack with pretzle rods, green apple slices, and a black grape "coconut". Most of the kids gobbled up their trees with gusto! We made sculptures with foam blocks, pipe cleaners and beads.
During circle time we learned quite a few new songs. Some songs were just for fun and to help everyone feel more comfortable, and others helped us learn each other's names. The hits were Sticky Bubble Gum, Who Stole the Cookie From the Cookie Jar, and Stand Up. One game they enjoyed was the Backpack song/game. Each kiddo got a turn to wear the special backpack while we all sang a song. At the end of the song, that child got to pick a card out of the backpack. The card told us silly things to do, such as jump up and down, clap our hands, count to 10, etc. We also played a find and seek game with our shoes! Each child and teacher took off one of their shoes and we placed them in the middle of our circle time area. One at a time, each child picked up a shoe and then located it's owner. This was another game to help us learn each other's names. Our kick a ball game started off great as we passed the ball to one another by calling out their names. However, it quickly blew up into a full fledged kick the ball around game (as I knew it would) that brought on LOTS of GIGGLES and LAUGHTER!
Our preschool garden is in full bloom! The PM kids got to visit the garden and helped our class choose one of the pumpkins. We cut it off the vine and will use it during our pumpkin explorations and our Fall Fiesta coming up in a few weeks! The AM class will pick their pumpkin this coming week.
