"Letter "V" Valentines

This week we worked on the letter "V" because it was the week of Valentine's Day and it was more appropriate to use a letter that would go along with that theme.  The children were to cut the pictures out on the dotted lines, then paste them on the V.  I also gave them some valentine stickers, after I showed them the one that I made as an example.

I had them lay on the floor and two of them made the letter V

They always like to make the letters, so this time I beat them to the punch, so to speak, and I got to ask them to do this

Then we worked on our small motor skills by spooning, one by one, the heart shaped stones from one dish to another.

 

They were to color and then count the valentines on this paper

 Janaye made some for herself.

Then, of course, the highlight of any day was "Show and Tell"  Hyrum had a super hero mask and cape

 The hit of the day was Lily's computer.  Everyone had to have it for a few minutes!

 And Sam has been learning how to bounce a ball, so he showed all of us how it is done.  Of course, the others had to try their luck at it, too.

 

Then the last thing of the day, we always like to hear stories or have songs, or finger plays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 There was an old woman who swallowed a spider, is always a favorite.  Then we read a  Valentines book

 And our letter book Vam the vampire and the many "v" words, including violets, vase and vest

 On Thursday we had some activities, including this dice rolling game.  I encourage the use of dice, because it is a standard  forming of the dots to indicate a number.  for instance, a five is two dots in the first line, then one dot, then the third line is two more dots=five.  Or, in this grouping, the first line is a dot and to the right on the second line is another dot-two.  This way they will automatically associate the number with the grouping.

I wrote an upper case and lower case letter on the bottom of each kiss.  Each child had a turn.  He or she was to look at the letter and if they could tell me the letter, the kiss was theirs.  Each one was able to get at least two of the kisses and were happy about that, AND they are learning to recognize their letters.

 

 We patterned these conversation hearts on these pages.  The hearts were placed in a bowl in the center of the table.  Each child did very well, once they saw that if they placed them first on the colored pattern and then moved them over to the black and white hearts.

 And a few just happened to slip into their mouths

We showed the children how to say I love you, in sign language

 and then they each tried it.  For some, it was very easy, but others had a little trouble

 Then we finished our Valentine bags and each child that had brought something for their friends, was able to put them into the bags.

 This is Hyrum with the valentine he made for his mother.

 And then, of course, more books

 The Day it Rained Hearts

We always encourage the children to open any Valentines, prizes, etc when they get home.  I have found that sometimes there is some disappointments and it is better those comments are not made before the "crowd". Well, another good day in preschool. 

Letter "N" newts, nest, numbers

The morning almost always starts with putting puzzles together and that is what happened this morning.  They are really getting good .  Our letter being "N" this week I wanted to see if they could pick out all of them on the bird nest.

 Sammy found them

 Lily found them

 And Janaye found them

Then I put the bird nest into the middle of the table and we discussed the materials that this bird used to make the nest.  I then gave each a little baggie and we went walking down the street to see if we could find some things to add to our nests.  There is a big pine tree across the street and lots of the pine needles on the ground and in the gutter.  We picked up some of the fallen leaves from the Mulberry tree and a few other things were also put into their bags.

I gave each one of the children a nest and they were "feathering" the nests with the materials that they collected.  Here, Hyrum is cutting the pine needles to fit into his nest (a little paste was placed inside too, to attach them

Sam shows how it is done

Janaye finishes her nest including making little eggs from playdough

 And this is the type of "feathering" that they added to their nests

 Periodically I take out the box with various characters, shapes, etc.  Included in these are many of the disney characters and it is fun to listen to them talk about movies, music, etc along with naming the items.
For instance you see two bears-Bother Bear; Prince Charming, Eeyore, characters from Lion King, zoo animals, fabric and shapes.  We made the letter sounds and names and this is valuable in many ways.

This activity is about Nan and shows the things she does-Nan lifts, Nan cuts, Nan digs.  They were to cut out the strips   I read the strips to them and they were to locate the correct picture.  The cutting still needs improvement, but they were able to tell what Nan was doing.

 Show and tell is a big thing for these kids.  Joey shows and tells about his letter S and how it glows when you shine a light on it

 Lily brought her Minnie Mouse

We read this book

 And this book helps us to love everyone and treat them kind so they know that they are lovable

Friends are forever and when one of the kids doesn't come to prek we miss them. 
What a day!!  I hope the nests, eggs and birds made it home safely. . . . .

Letter "N", Noah, numbers

I usually do not give a printed picture to the kids to color, but the past couple of weeks we have been talking about rainbows in connections with the Noah story in the Bible.  So this picture covers the rainbow, the ark and Noah along with the animals

 It is amazing the colors they use

  Sammy is getting his animals and rainbow colored nicely

then we had to get our items for our show and tell.  Here Hyrum is showing us his new "birthday scooter" that folds up and lays flat for easy carrying.  It is a great scooter.

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 Sammy shows us the Dalmation puppy that he got for Christmas.

 And Joey shows us his little red wagon, which also carries the puppy!!

Each of the children were given a card with two circles on it.  Each circle had a number of dots on them.  They were to count the dots and place the right amount of markers on each card.  Then they were to go to the wall and take the correct numbers from the caterpiller and place them next to their card.  Her Joey has 1 dot and three dots and the right numbers

 Hyrum has a card with four dots and the purple number 4 card

 Sam has six dots and five dots and the correct cards   and the round numbers were placed in order behind the caterpiller head  which is on our south wall.  They placed them all correctly and then we jumped over on the wall to recite our vowels--I think they know them very well now.  And then on to guessing which letter of the alphabet I held up for them.  It is going great!!

Then we took those same markers (pink hearts and blue stones)

 We used the same stones with MINE cards.  They rolled a dice and if that number was on the card, they put a marker to cover the number.  The first to fill their card was the winner--but we fill everyone's cards so that they can all win by telling the numbers on their cards.

Hyrum used the pink glass hearts

 Lily did too

 Joeys card is full and he waits and watches as the otheres fill their cards

 Then there was story time and this classic on Noises from the Golden Book  and now we know some of the city sounds and the sounds that are heard on the farm.

And this Scholastic book  Mr. Noisy at the Dude Ranch

And we ended the day to see who could ring the number called out by a classmate or a teacher.  As you can see, they love this game and all did very well at circling their numbers.

 We all had a good day and used new things--heart shaped stones and blue clear stones--a new dice game
and coloring pages.  It is great watching them grow and learn.  PreK is great!!