P is for Pets

Since this is P week we made "puppets" with the letter P made from construction paper. The kids got to decorate with crayons and stickers. We followed-up with a listening activity (put the letter P on something purple; put the letter P on your head, etc.).

The kids got to meet our new class pet. His name is Ollie and he is a mouse. He entertained them first thing as they watched him eat, sleep, and wait for him to run on his wheel. They were very kind to Ollie by keeping their voices down and not tapping on his house.

Mrs. Eastman got out some scissors and direct mail postcards and let the kids go to town! Oh how they loved cutting! What a great exercise for their little fingers. This is something you can try at home. Put some old mail in a box and hand them a pair of scissors. Let them work at it while you are making dinner!

The Music Lady visited us today. She started off with a little jazz and finished with a song about grandma's glasses.

Finally, our focus on shapes today was with regard to the rectangle. We actually ran out of time and didn't get to finish. We explained the rectangle has FOUR sides. But, two are short and two are long. We had two different sized popsicle sticks. The kids got to decorate with markers and then make their shape. Mom's, dad's and sitters showed up as we were finishing decorating. Oops. So we packed up our sticks in baggies. Hopefully they showed these to you and you all can work at home creating the shape.

Have a super weekend!

A Pet-Filled Wednesday With The Fours

Being that it is pet week we had some surprises for the kids.

First, we introduced them to the Class Pet ... Ollie. He is a mouse. A fancy mouse to be exact. Boy is he ever cute ... but stinky. They all were so excited to meet him. I think he was happy to see them, too. Mrs. Eastman carried him around and let the kids see his sweet face (she's not a huge mouse/rat fan so this was big time!). We briefly discussed how to care for him and why that is important (food, shelter, etc. ... great social studies lesson).

Also, we surprised the kids by making some people-edible puppy chow at the end of the day. Everyone got to take a little bit home after mixing and tasting. Earlier in the day, we did a matching game of sorts with real, live dog bones. I think a few kids thought maybe they were people treats and not dog treats cuz they asked if they could eat some! Incidentally, the kids did great at matching their dog bones with the card they had (pictures of dog bones arranged in different ways). This is a super math lesson in that the kids must focus on various attributes (color, arrangement, etc.) to create the "set-up" on their own.

The kids got to visit with our Music Lady (Grandma Becky) today. She is quite the acclaimed musician/teacher in our area. She works with many famous Columbus musicians to create music, etc. She teaches at our school as well as some others. Her name is Becky Ogden. You might want to google search her to learn more about our Music Lady. The kids stay very entertained when she comes. Today, she let them play with various instruments (drums, shakers, and xylophones).

Our sight word this week is "he". The kids listened to our "He Song". It's very cute. If you all would like a copy of our sight word songs to sing at home, bring in a blank cd and put your child's name on it and Mrs. Sapp will copy for you. They are fun and the kids only get to hear them several times a week then we move on to the next one.

We made a fun little "pet book" (accordian style). The kids got to color, cut and paste. All did very well. These should have come home with you today.

Our number of the day was three. Our helper got to "work the number machine" and then we all selected that number of wooden cube blocks and made a tower. We do this to help them with number identification as well as one-to-one correspondence. And, speaking of math, you should have also gotten a note from your teachers about spatial relationships (which is what we have been focusing on thus far). Next month we will talk "classification".

Have a nice Thursday off!

Kind Of A Quiet Day

We began our day with French class with Madame Smail. The kids always enjoy her. Ask them about her magic trick!

Our shape focus was a triangle. Thanks Georgia for bringing in triangular-shaped crackers for snack. We also ate some cheese that she brought! We read a book about triangles and we made fish from the shape. The kiddos are still learning how to glue objects onto a page. They are beginning to understand that the glue goes on the BACK of the paper. LOL.

Our letter today was P and we made some panda bears using construction paper and glue. The pieces were already cut out, the kids just had to arrange them on the page. These will go in your binder and you will see all our letter crafts at the end of the year.

We were able to go outside for gym as the sun came out and it warmed up. This is always nice cuz the indoor gym is too small for us to run around. Outside we can run, jump, and even yell! They like that much better so we will continue until it gets too cold. Please work with your child on dressing and undressing (coats) themselves. Even just getting the arms in and out is helpful to us as we prepare for these cooler days outdoors.

Have a nice Wednesday off! See you next time.

A Rainy Monday

We were busy indoors with our letter of the week ... P! The kids did an awesome job coming up with words that start with our letter. We followed up with our Big Event. The kids got to PULL items from our PILLOWCASE and PUT them on our PINK and PURPLE line. Incidentally, all the items began with the letter P. There was peanut butter, pepper, pillows, perfume and much, much more in our pillowcase. They had fun. So did we.

We practiced writing the letter P after our Big Event. Many kiddos were "checking" their pencil grip. Such a heartwarming thing to see. They are really trying hard ... and they must listen cuz they are doing it!

We read a book about Martha the talking dog ... Martha Speaks. The kids did a little activity afterward where they had to PASTE alpha letters from alphabet cereal on the paper (where there was a drawing of a bowl). They were encouraged to then write the letter above the bowl. Many were tired at this point and chose to only decorate their bowl. That was okay. Too much writing can make us tired!

Our theme this week (in honor of the letter P) is pets. We have a class pet (that currently resides in Mrs. Sapp's house). She will bring it in on Wednesday. However, until then the kids got to make some predictions (with very few hints) on what the pet is. We did not even divulge gender! The kids guessed turtle, tortoise, cow, snake, hamster, dog, cat, and cheetah! We went back through the list and discussed what we would need for all these animals. Many cited food, water and a cage. This is excellent. Knowing they need cared for and then thinking hard about whether or not we had the space, etc. is a super social studies lesson! We were impressed!

Mrs. Eastman spent a little time going over the concept of a question vs. a statement with the kids. Our featured star (the guy who got to share his pennant) was Jarred today. The kids got to ask him questions about his design, content, etc. Usually when we discuss the notion of a question, the kids don't understand right off ... they continue with statements. This group is the only group of kids that we have ever had who actually asked questions following our lesson! Very smart guys and gals.

Our pet poem involved puppets (see all these "P"s?). The kids each had a puppet with a picture of a pet (popsicle stick with a colored image of a pet). Mrs. Eastman read a poem and then a series of questions and statements about animals. For instance, "this animal has fur". If you were holding a puppet that had fur, you held it up. All did very well.

Finally, we had french class with madame today. Very fun as always.

One favor to ask, if you have retired gift cards or old hotel key cards, would you drop them off at our classroom for a future art project?

Also, we have begun to get some money and some feedback on who will be going to the pumpkin patch. Go ahead and fill out the bottom portion of your information sheet and turn it in with the appropriate amount of cash. We will not need permission slips this trip since an adult will be supervising each child.

Lastly, we have a little giveaway here at the Priceless and Purple Blog! We won't tell you what it is (family fun) but we will share after the drawing. We are interested in knowing exactly how many folks are reading our blog so we are asking for comments as you read. We will collect them and select a name (from all the readers) to win our lil prize!

Thanks and have a nice Tuesday off!

A Fun Giveaway

So we have received lots of comments on our blog. We thank you for reading and for your sweet comments. To show our appreciation (and to keep the comments coming (cuz who doesn't like a little support) we have a surprise gift for one lucky reader. Post a comment (or more) between now (September 24th) and Friday, September 30th and we will randomly select a reader for our little gift. All the reader names will go into a hat and we will pull a name and a winner next weekend. Thanks again for following us!

Yee Haw!

Boy did we have fun with the Wild, Wild West theme! Today the kids made cowboy and cowgirl vests and cowboy hats. The hats gave us an opportunity to practice with our scissors. The vests were just fun!

We did some work with shapes. Looks like everyone knows their shapes. Great work. The kids picked out a card from the circle on the rug. Then, they needed to go to the table and put the card in the appropriate tin pail with the matching shapes.

We also worked on beginning sounds with the letter F, of course. Most everyone did well with this. But, beginning and ending sounds are a little tricky at this age. Everyone develops at a different pace. We will continue with this and by the end of the year they will all have it down. The kids found a card (again, from the circle on the rug) and put it in Mrs. Eastman's "F" monster trash can. The cards were tricky as she included some non-F words, too.

Our number recognition was smooth going, too. The kids had a cowboy shirt "playing card" and the teacher had cards with the numbers 1 through 9 on it. Mrs. Eastman took 9 kids and Mrs. Sapp had 9 kids. As the teacher turned over a card with a number, the kids had to identify the number and place that many buttons on their shirt.

There were little firemen in the room as the kids worked on a fun craft for the letter F. These will be put in their end-of-year binder. Just lots of fun and reiteration of the letter F. Oh, and while working on this craft a firetruck siren sounded so we all ran to the window to check it out. Mrs. E had just finished an F tongue twister about four fire fighters. The kids were cute as they looked to see if there were four engines! (naturally, we arranged this ... lol).

The sight word can popped up again today. Today we had a little worksheet where the word was easily traceable and some places for them to write themselves. I will tell you most are doing so well with the grip. The first time we put pencils in their hands, nearly all were struggling. They now are checking themselves and doing it! Yeah! The letters themselves continue to give several kiddos some grief. Tell em not to worry. We don't expect perfection AND we will keep working on writing.

We also made up a story using some word-starters (naturally, they all started with the letter F). The story was quite silly and all enjoyed it.

On October 19th we will go to the pumpkin patch as a class field trip. All children must have an adult with them throughout the trip. We will meet at Miller's in Delaware at 10:15. The fun will begin at 10:30. The kids will get a pumpkin to take home and we will go on a hay ride. The cost is $3 per person. Siblings are welcome at that same rate (I think there is no charge for under 2).

BTW, we say the Pledge of Alliegance every morning. The kids are so smart they are picking up right away. We do have a week were we discuss this in detail. And, we have also given them a little information on this. Perhaps you can discuss with them at greater length at home?

Finally, if you have some clear, plastic lids (like the kind on a cool whip tub) we would like them for an upcoming craft. Consider washing them and sending them in ... will you?

Have a great weekend everyone.

Busy and Beautiful Three's

F is for frosting. We began the day by making the letter "F" with frosting. Our fingers were the writing utensil and the paper was a SQUARE-shaped graham cracker! Yum!

We also had a scavenger hunt. Well, sort of. We searched the room to see if we could gather some "F" items. There were fish, frogs, and feathers. Each child found one of each and deposited in a bucket.

Our shape focus today was a SQUARE. How many sides, kids? That's right! Four (it's also an "F" word). We had a square shaped snack (thanks John) of cheese and crackers. And, we made a robot out of SQUARE shapes. Finally, our silly snakes (ribbon tied to a snake head) helped us make a square using a piece of paper as a template.

Mrs. Eastman read "Harold and the Purple Crayon" today which began our art and literature series. These will come home next week as they are currently drying in the art room. The kids listened to all the things Harold drew with his purple crayon. Then, they were invited to draw what was on their mind with oil pastels and chalk on black paper. We also gave them purple pieces of construction paper to glue upon their art work.

Have a super weekend everyone!

I Can Spell Can

The word of the day: CAN. As in "I can". We began our weekly "sight word" intro. The kids were reminded (or introduced to the notion) that letters make up words. And, words can tell stories, help us express ourselves and help us make believe. So the first word we learned is "can". We sounded out the letters in the word. The kids listened to a song about the word and then we tried our hand at writing it. One special cutie even asked "can we try to write that word?". So we did. They all did very well at jumping right in. At this stage, we just ask that they try tracing some shaded letters.

You probably saw the "book" that came home today. You may have also noticed that several children were challenged with writing their name. Since it kinda appears that they are just getting familiar with the letters of their name and how to write it, we sent home a practice sheet for you to work on with your child at home. We will send these home from time to time. These little practice sheets are quite effective. These guys are so interested in learning it's quite amazing.

Our number of the day was "6". The kids got a chance to write the number on the dry erase board. They all did well.

We divided up into five groups of four and worked on a little math project called building blocks. The kids had to work together as a group. Then, they described their structure to the rest of the class. We were looking for imaginations, recollections of past events and descriptive terms (we mentioned before that learning new terms and "seeing" different attributes in objects helps with understanding spatial relationship).

Mrs. Erikson visited us today in the art room. She taught the kids a bit about Georgia O'Keefe. She showed the kids how Georgia painted super, close-up images of flowers. She allowed the kids to experiment with chalk and rubbing the colors in with their fingers. Mrs. Erikson prepares a newsletter of sorts regarding the lesson of the day. This should have come home with you today also.

We played a "cowboy color-recognition" game with the kids today. Mrs. Eastman red a poem to the kids and invited them to locate the color of bandana that was mentioned in the poem. Everyone did excellent. They all know their colors!

Finally, we wanted to be sure to let you know how very impressed we are with each and every child in our classroom. They are such compassionate children. Whenever someone has "trouble" coming into class in the morning, there are always a few kids trying to help them adjust. On the playground, if there are toys the kids want to play with they are always more than willing to share. They truly care about each other and we are taken aback at the extent

they will go to to help their buddies.

Whatsmore, they are sooooo smart and eager to learn. We couldn't be more pleased with our group. Thanks to all you parents for being so involved in your child's life!