Our Room

 

For those of you who did not get to visit our preschool, I will try to feature some things on the blog so you can have a better idea of what we do.  This is the "focus" wall of our "circle" time.  (Remember the rug is actually a rectangle and the children always remind me that we are not having "circle" time, it is "rectangle" time.  I should get smart and start calling it "rug" time but old habits die hard.)  We always start by drawing our helper name from the "cookie jar."  This lucky boy or girl gets to sit in the red helper chair and be our line leader for the day.  This friend leads our class in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Salute to the flag of South Carolina.  We might even sing a few silly songs or exercise before we sit down to practice our listening skills.  We do our calendar and count the days of the month.   There is always a pattern in our calendar days, so we do our best to predict what will be next.  This month the pattern was "person, number, person, number....)  We also practice reciting and spelling the name of the month.  Pretty soon we will start singing a song about the months of the year.  (Warning,this is another catchy tune that will get stuck in your head.)  We also recite and spell our day of the week and, you guessed it, sing a song about all seven of them.  There is time to talk about our monthly Bible verse and then we listen to the books for the day.  There are a few proposed books for each day but this is based on the "wiggle" factor of my little faces.  We generally have a few minutes to share with our friends and close our circle with a class prayer and blessing.  This "circle" time can go a little off course depending on what is happening in the world around us...so we might never make it to our lesson plan.  I think that we have done some of our best learning in past classes when we followed what was our on our little class minds.

You can also see our "behavior" board.  We all have a pencil that can move up or down.  This is based on the choices we make in our classroom.  It is a BIG deal to move your pencil to "Outstanding," also known as "the stars."  We can move our pencils up here if we are "caught' being a really good helper or standing quietly in line when our friends are talking...just something that is super good behavior. My boys and girls last year got really good at moving their "pencils up."  These boys and girls were really good "bucket fillers."  Stay tuned for other pictures of the preschool.  You will see our chapel, the Japanese teacher, the music teacher, and Pastor Jay. 

Are You A Bucket Filler?

 

 Today we read Have You Filled A Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud.  Since we are developing our little class community, it is a wonderful way to teach the children about being a helper.  The book is a little long, so I summarize a few pages, but in the end we all know the difference between a "bucket filler" and a "bucket dipper."  (You should probably become familiar with these little phrases because you will be hearing them a lot this year.)  Going back to my post from yesterday, it is all about learning to identify behaviors and change the ones that don't work out so well.  (Sometimes we don't want to admit that we are "bucket dippers" too and it takes a gentle reminder to make a change.)  I managed to take a few pictures today between working with the students.  (This gets harder and harder as the year goes on and we are totally engaged in learning activities.  Most of the time our day is gone and I have no idea where the time went.)  I know, however,  that you just got "your bucket filled" with these beautiful smiles.  So pay it forward and fill a few buckets yourself.  A simple smile goes a very long way.

 

Just Getting Along

 

 

 

 

A "sneak peek" into our third day.  Silly dress up, building with Lego's, playing in home living, creating with play doh and exploring our classroom... it is what we are doing to figure out how we fit into the space of our new classroom.  Our little class community will come together and set our own expectations of each other.  Even though we are four years old, we can show respect and expect respect from our classmates. And every year it is so amazing to watch this happen.  We can also learn to express ourselves appropriately and be responsible for own actions.  That is why we use our interactive behavioral chart.  We can't learn to change our behavior until we can identify what we are doing wrong, and with some loving guidance, we can start over and do it better the next time.  It is my number one priority to have every child feel successful and to know that they can be proud of who they are...so every day is a new day.  I am so lucky that God gives me this opportunity.  He sometimes has to remind me several times to work on a behavior and guides me to better choices.  (Yes...you did read that I need several times to get things right.)  So we are off into our new school year.  Happy "Third Day" and stay tuned to see how we end our very first week of four year old preschool.  (I can already tell you that if your children are as tired as I am....you will be enjoying some quiet time during long naps.  Preschool is hard work.)

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A "Super" Kind of Day

 It was a "super" day in our classroom as you can see from our "superman" shirts.  We talk about how we can make our bodies strong and help our brains "grow"... so it was a superhero day.  You have probably discovered our little superhero "tootsie" pops and read the message....and yes I believe that learning to read can make you a superhero.  You can be a doctor, a nurse, a teacher, a car design engineer, President of the United States of America...and all of this starts with the skill of reading.  Your children will tell you that "Mrs. Laura says that reading books helps your brain grow,"  and yes I believe that too.  So we read some more "super" books and had lots of fun working together.  This little friend below has already learned to tie her shoes.  That is Super too!!!!!  We master skills at different times in our life and it is awesome to celebrate each of them.  (Of course it is important to know that shoe laces can be a hard one to accomplish and my youngest son didn't get this one down until 1st grade.)  Being super is all about learning something new...even if it is putting on a coat by yourself, writing your numbers, learning your letter sounds...so Wednesday was all about getting ready to be a "super learner" this year.

Chester's Art Project

 

 

 Chester was our friend from The Kissing Hand.  He is the sweetest little raccoon.  He loves his mommy so much and can hardly bear the thought of leaving her to start school.  Well, as you know from our little treat yesterday, his loving mommy gives him a special kiss to keep her close all day long.  (The chocolate kisses were just too tasty to pass up.)  He inspired this little art project for our first day.  I love them because they are so simple.  They are hanging just outside of our door and you can stop by for a look.  The children were so proud of how he turned out and it is so amazing that none of them are exactly alike. 

"Rockin In Our School Shoes...."

If you are familiar with early childhood literature, then you certainly know about Pete, the Cat.  He is the coolest kitty that goes to school and he sings as he goes along.

 

 

 

 

Yep, he plays the guitar and sings songs about his shoes.  He is also super relaxed and doesn't stress about new things because as he says, "it's all good."  Today we read about Pete "rockin' in his school shoes." We are pretty cute in our "Pete" hats.  and we have some pretty "rockin'" shoes ourselves.

 

 

I am pretty sure that your children are singing our "Pete" song because it is a catchy tune that gets stuck in your head.  I can almost promise you that this will not be the first song to come home from our class that you sing and have no idea why.  It is just fun and it makes your day brighter...so you can "rock in your school shoes too."  

Our Second Day

Our second day was so good.  We are just getting to know each other and learning our daily schedule.  When you think about it....that is a whole lot to expect of four year old boys and girls. We are having fun while learning the rules that will guide & shape our behavior this year. 

 

 

 

It seems like such a long time until our graduation ceremony, but this year will fly by so quickly.  Little faces, making new friends and feeling comfortable in a new room with new teachers.  That is what our job is this week - to look forward to coming up the stairs to a four year old room and to wonder...."what will we learn today?"

It Is Great To Be Back!!!!

Can you believe it?  We are back at Pilgrim Community Preschool and YES....LOVING IT!  This group of boys and girls could not be more precious and I know it is going to be a wonderful year.  God is so amazing and He blesses me in ways that I don't even know and this year is no exception.  I know that I am going to learn so much about Him through this smiling faces.  (Yes, Mrs. Laura learns a lot from "four year old" and no....I am not afraid to admit that.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is such a wonderful gift to work with these children every day and who knows what they will grow up to be!  Our priority in this little class to make sure that each child knows that are specially created by God to be anything that they want to...and to know that we are here to help prepare them for that big new world of "kindergarten."  (Thank goodness we have a little time before the "kindergarten" part.)  Happy First Day of Preschool to the Class of 2014!!!!