Growing in Pre K

This is the fingerprint t-shirt we made for our end of the year celebration.  The fish designs were inspired by Ed Emberley.

Today we added jellyfish to our ocean wall.  We made our jellyfish by placing four pieces of ribbon along the bottom of a rectangle of contact paper.  Next, we sprinkled a few pieces of glitter on the sticky side of the contact paper.  Finally, we folded the contact paper in half and trimmed off the corners.  Lots of adult help needed....but the results were pretty fun.  I let the kids play around with their "jellyfish" for a while before we stapled them to our growing ocean mural.

Also, we are now ready to work on 100 piece puzzles.  I have usually been able to do this from December on...but this is the first time it has really taken with this class.  Anyway, I have a dollar store ocean themed puzzle set up a tray, and everyone works on it when they finish early or during center time.  It is coming along well!  There is so much to be learned about teamwork, cooperation, sharing, etc. while doing a large puzzle with a group of children.

Here's this year's version of the labeled flower.  Last year we used a yellow paper plate for the flower.  The kids cut all around the plate to create the petals. This year (inspired by Pinterest) we made a loop from a strip of construction paper.  The 3-D effect really popped on the bulletin board.

It's May!  The end of the school year is quickly approaching.  I love to end the year with all things ocean.  This year I created some printable calendar pieces (ABC Pattern) using adorable clipart from KPM Doodles.  

You can print them HERE.

Here's this year's ocean wall (so far).

I found the Rainbow Fish pattern at DTLK.  

I found the hermit crab pattern at the Best Kids Book Site.

There are more ocean theme ideas on GrowinginPreK's Ocean Page.

Here are a few Ocean themed books that I love to include in this unit:

I stopped by a friend's classroom on my way out this afternoon.  Desiree teaches three-year-olds.  I just loved these ideas I saw in her room, and I asked if I could share them here.

Today her kids painted patterned caterpillars using their thumprints.  Look at the way she stores small amounts of paint for the project - little disposable condiment cups.

Her students also made these adorable critters:

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And, she was busy attaching this plastic grass to the wall to make a spring mural out of all of the art.

It's plastic grass that Hobby Lobby sold for Easter decorating.  Guess what - it is now 90% off.  I am going to run and get some tomorrow!

Thanks Desiree for letting me share your ideas!

I saw this adorable idea for measuring a dinosaur's footprint on Pinterest.  Original Source

First we estimated how many Unifix cubes long the footprint would be.  Our guesses were pretty wild.  Then we counted to find out.  Next, each child guessed how many Unifix cubes long his/her shoe was and we checked.  This activity kept everyone's attention for the entire time!

We also added some plastic dinosaurs and real rocks to our sensory tub.

I saw this idea HERE (of course via Pinterest).

I probably should have replaced the rice with pebbles, but the kids didn't mind!  I loved the idea that this kept the dinosaur toys in a contained area. 

We also made some "fossils" with Playdoh.

Some fun dinosaur books we enjoyed that incorporated dinosaur facts:

We also used the following books to revisit manners and classroom behavior:

There's still more dinosaur fun ahead in our classroom!

I haven't done a "Dinosaur" theme in several years.  I have found and/or created some new materials to freshen up what I had.

I found that I could create my own bingo cards on Sparklebox.  I chose to make the cards with easy sight words that my class is working on right now.  The possiblilities are endless though:  numbers, color words, student names, etc.  Unfortunately the print seemed to be set up for slightly longer paper.  I probably could have reset something, but was in a hurry, so....I chose the purple dinosaur design.  It didn't really matter that a little of his right side was cut off.  His head is intact :).  I also find it is easier to have all the cards printed in the same design so the kids don't care which one they are handed.

I will be reading If the Dinosaurs Came Back (a favorite since my own kids were four years old!)

and having the kids complete and illustrate pages to a class book innovation.

You can print the page I created here.

I have also printed a great emergent reader that I found on Hubbard's Cupboard.

We are really enjoying Yes Day! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.  In this fun book, there is a special day each year when the answer to every question is yes!.

 Each time we read the book, the kids wish we really had such a day.  This led to us deciding that we should make our own version of the book.  Each child came up with a question and illustrated their question.  We had everything from "Can we eat chocolate Easter eggs for dinner?" to "Can I have a million bucks?"  Our class book is a new favorite in the book center.

My class is enjoying a counting activity that we have been doing when we line up this week.  The children take turns (from first in line to last) holding up ten fingers counting their part of the tens to 100.  (Jack says ten, Mary says twenty, Ann says thirty....)  We have performed our show for other classes waiting in the hall, much to the delight of my class.  We have also raised the bar by having Mrs. Meyer jump into the line so that everyone has to adjust their numbers and we end on 110.  I am hoping to try this with fives soon.  Each child would say five, ten, or fifteen, twenty, etc.

What has been working in your classroom?

Look at these cute magnifying glasses that I picked up in the Easter section at Walmart this week.They were 97 cents each.  Yes, they even magnify

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Happy Spring!

Better late than never...

Just wanted to share pictures of the Valentines we made for parents this year.

And my new favorite Pre-K Valentine's Day read aloud:

A mystery, glitter, and new vocabulary words all wrapped up in one book!

The Valentine Exchange is wrapping up. We had a bigger response to the Pre-K Valentine Exchange than to the original Pre-K Gingerbread Man Exchange! The cards are beautiful.  Here are some pictures:

I will have some more pictures to post tomorrow.  We would love to see yours.  Please email them to me at GrowinginPreK@gmail.com.

Update 2/15/12 

Thanks Mary Robertson for emailing a picture:

I had one of those moments today.  The kids have been making a journal entry each day since we started back in January.  We eat lunch in our classroom, and it works beautifully to have each child work on his/her journal as he/she finishes lunch (before starting free choice centers).  I am able to spend a few minutes with the kids teaching them how to invent their spellings.  I have one child who started late in the year and does not yet know the names or sounds of half of the letters.  I can dictate letter names to him to work on this.  I have other students who are beginning to read and do their writing completely independently.  Most fall in between.  They tell me what they drew and I help them hear the sounds of the words they want to write.

Anyway, our schedule was interrupted by unexpected guests from another class today.  As the kids finished lunch, I gave them another activity to do since the guests would not have journals and frankly I had too many kids to do what we usually do.  My kids were really disappointed.  I discovered that they really love their journal time.  I knew it was really helping them to "get" reading and writing.  I didn't realize how much they enjoy the activity.  Wow.

Here are some samples:

Ms. Coe at Little Miss Kindergarten is having a linky party to thank Most Supportive Bloggers.  I am using this great opportunity to thank two of the best Pre-K bloggers.

Karen at Prekinders is amazing.  She offers so many great ideas and printables for early childhood classrooms.  She helped me personally when I first started this site.  It seems funny now, but at the time I had no idea how to save a document as a pdf file so I could upload it here.  I guess my computer was an antique....  Anyway, she was so helpful about telling me where to download free software to do it and how to use it.  Since then, she has generously linked to my site several times leading to many new visitors for GrowinginPrek.  I really appreciate that.  

Vanessa  at Pre-K Pages is wonderful.  I got to know Vanessa "virtually' this summer when she generously included GrowinginPreK in the Literacy Beginnings Book Study.  Vanessa has been sharing great information and printables for many years.  She took it to the next level when she organized the summer link up so early childhood teachers could share their ideas on emergent literacy from the comfort of their own computers.  

Thank you both for being so supportive!

Eilis 

The Pre-K Gingerbread Man Exchange was a big hit!  Several of the teachers who participated want to do a Pre-K Valentine Exchange.  I love Valentines as much as I love gingerbread men so.... let's do it!  I will make lists of approximately eleven classes.  That means you will mail one paper valentine to each of the other ten classes on your address list.  If you would like to mail out and receive about 20 valentines, you can be included on two lists.  

The rules:

If you wish to participate, you will receive a list of addresses by email around January 25th.  Please mail your Valentines on or before Febuary 1, 2012.  You will mail one Valentine to each class on your list.

Please have your students decorate the front of the  paper Valentines.

Please do not glue any food to the Valentines or mail any candy.  This is strictly a paper, glue, doily, lace, sticker, glitter, fun foam, markers, crayon, etc. type craft.  It is fine to include a photo of your class.  

On the back of the Valentine please name your school, city, and state so it will be easy to plot on a map for those who chose to do so.

I organize the lists on Google docs.  For this reason, I will only respond to emails sent to me at GrowinginPreK@gmail.com.  Please do not use any links on this website to reach me.  Those emails go to my personal email and will not be included in this project.

Please be sure to include ALL of the following information in your email:

Your name

The exact way you want mail to you addressed.  If you are having the Valentines mailed to your school,  this might look like:

Valentine Elementary School

Attn:  Mrs. R's class

333 Street Name

City, State, zip code.

If you choose to have the Valentines mailed to your personal home address, please type (home) so I will know that you have not left out the school name, class name, etc.  

Please state clearly whether you want to be included on one or two address lists (sending and receiving about ten or about 20 Valentines).

Please email this information to me by midnight on January 20, 2012 to be included.

Hugs,

Eilis

Several of these ideas came from my wonderful teaching partner, Catherine.  She credits Barbara for the "My Gift for Jesus" idea.

The Legend of the Candy Cane  ties some Christian symbols to the candy cane.

You can print this mini-book at http://www.christianpreschoolprintables.com/Pages/Christmas/MinibookCandyCane.html

The kids sequenced the words.  I added the real candy canes just before they took them home.  This could also be done with candy cane stickers.

 We also did some beaded candy cane ornaments from a kit.

I printed, laminated, and added magnets to these adorable Nativity pieces from Activity Village.

You can print your own here: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/nativity_printables.htm

Merry Christmas!

Eilis

We are really enjoying the Pre-K Gingerbread Man Exchange.  This photo shows gingerbread men from List 1 and List 2 since I put another Pre-K class from my school on list 2.  The kids are getting a nice introduction to Geography as we plot the gingerbread men by state.

About sixty Pre-K classes participated in the exchange this year.  Many have suggested a Valentine exchange.  I will organize one in January to take place in February 2012.  Please join this site and/or like the Facebook page if you want to be notified when we start the Pre-K Valentine Exchange!

AND

Remembering that Jesus is the reason for the season....

Here is an art project we did this week:

I do a snow/snowman theme in January, but wanted to share this Walmart find right now.  The Snowman dvd  is in the table of $5 dvds near the check out lane at my local Walmart.  It runs about 30 min. long.  If you are not familiar with it, there are very few words, just beautiful calm music and wonderful animation.  It fits into December, because there is a visit to the North Pole towards the end of the story.  I used it for a calm indoor recess this week when the weather kept us in. There is also an easy reader of the story which makes a good follow up to watching the dvd.