A Day of Pre-K!

Ever wonder what a Pre-K day is like? 

Here's how a typical day goes:

First, we come in from carpool. Always check and make sure you bring your smile!

Next, hang up the backpack. Get your folder out and put it in your cubby.

After that, there is a table job to do. This week, we had lots of different builders, lacing beads, puzzles, drawing, and stickers.

 

After a little bit of cleanup, it's time to meet on the rug for circle time. First, yesterday's leader picks a name out of our can to find out who is going to be the new leader for the day. First job: hold the flag for the Pledge of Allegiance and our Salute the Flag song.

Then, we learn with our leader. The leader points to the calendar, checks our letters and shapes, and counts everyone there that day.

We always have a book. A favorite this week was Cupcake, by Cherise Harper. Cupcake did not like being a plain cupcake, and his friend candle helped him try out all kinds of strange toppings like pickles, pancakes, peas, an egg, spaghetti and even a squirrel! In the end though, Cupcake decided it was so much better to just be himself. We took turns coming up to the felt board to add toppings that matched our story as we read.

We finish with our counting with Fred the Frog. Fred keeps track of our school days, so that we will know when we hit the 100th day of school. He has a lot of energy, so we exercise as we count every day. For days 1-10, we are jumping!

After circle time, we break into 3 small groups for centers. Our groups change every day, so we get to play and learn with everyone in our class each week. To start the year, centers are generally more open ended activities, so that we can learn how to use classroom materials and interact happily in our groups. Here are a few of this week's activities:

making our September placemats and calendars:

 cooperative play on the rug kept changing day to day with blocks, potato heads, the kitchen and trucks:

  

  

A favorite center this week was painting on our portfolios. When we brushed the watercolors, our names came out on the paper. We loved seeing the smiles and surprise when letters started appearing!

(It's not your computer making the blurry spots- I retouch names out of photos for privacy. :) )

 

 

Our sensory table has a variety of colored objects, tongs, sorting trays, and tweezers. When we finished a center, we sometimes had a few minutes to check out the hand toys basket (view masters, finger puppets, wind up toys, etc).

 Playdough is always fun!

After center time, we clean up and head out to take a class bathroom break and wash our hands.

Then head back to our tables to look for our placemat at our seat. First, we say the monthly blessing. Then we pour our own water and enjoy our snacks. Sometimes we have a special snack related to our activities. Here we are having some cupcakes with tiny add ons related to our cupcake story. 

 

Snack time is also when we celebrate birthdays. 

Thank you so much for my surprise flowers and cake!!

After we clean up all our mess, and push in our chairs, we have some reading time. 

We LOVE books!

Then we pack up and head out for our favorite: the PLAYGROUND!

Our day is done, and we try to end like we begin- 

with a smile!

Get Acquainted Day!

Last Thursday, we had a short Get Acquainted Day to meet our new friends. We were excited, nervous, curious, and everything else that could be felt on a first day!

We started out by finding our cubby, and seeing where to hang our bags each day. Then we looked on the tables for our first letters, and sat down to color. After coloring, we dressed up those letters with all kinds of sparkles, shapes, and doodads to make them as unique as each one of us!

After finishing up our little letter project, we had fun playing on the rug with the kitchen, cars and little blocks. The teachers were so impressed at how well everyone shared, got along AND worked together to clean up beautifully!

After story time, we had a quick snack and finished up our short day with some magic play dough. It started out as a white ball, but as we poked, squeezed and flattened it out, it became a swirly sparkly new color!

Just A Few More Weeks Until School!

Open House is scheduled for Wednesday, August 23 at 7pm. We'll have our Get Acquainted Day on Thursday from 9 to 10:30, and our first official day of Pre-K fun will be Monday, August 28. 

Ms. Heather and Mrs. Horton are excited to see everyone soon!