We are Readers!

Some of the class is doing an awesome job with reading. As a parent pleas make sure you are sitting down with them daily to read their guided reading book.
Here are a few suggestions:

Practicing sight words will help their fluency, making their reading flow smoothly.
Make sure they are not just guessing.
Have them look at the pictures for context clues, but also sound out unknown words.
Have fun! Reading is for pleasure...it shouldn't feel like a punishment.

Fair Shares

We've been talking about fair shares. A fair share means that all parts are the same. And of all parts are the same, they are equal. Today, we used our snack to practice. Each table has to make sure they split the snack with each other equally.

How do you communicate?

While studying insects, we learned the many different ways that the communicate with each other. Some dance, others sing, and some touch feelers(antennae). Here we are communicating like an ant.

Insects

This week we continue to be entomologist....people who study insects! Yesterday we talked about ants. Here are some pictures of ants we made out of egg cartons.

Planting Update

Looks like we have green thumbs after all! Our seeds have sprouted and are continuing to grow!

Code Busters

Everyday we have been practicing our "code busting" skills. The kids have become so good at it I have to try and trick them just for a challenge. Today I through in the same shape but on a different orientation someplace in the pattern. This didn't even trick them! They coded it correctly, showed me what part repeated in the pattern, and lastly told me what kinda of pattern it was! Their patterning skills are definitely ready for kindergarten.

Guided Reading

Today I was feeling a bit ambitious....I sent everyone home with a guided reading book! Please read this book multiple times each day and return it on friday. Sending it back on Friday give me time to give everyone another book on Monday again. There's only 7 more weeks of school. It's crunch time!!!

Seed Observation

Seeds come in all shapes and sizes...just like people. The kids thought it was interesting to see the seed that grew some of the foods we eat. We even saw a seed that look jut like a fingernail in the wild flowers package. (Of course we planted that one!)

More planting

Thanks to those who donated seeds and soil, we were able to plant a few more things. We will be carefully observing wild flowers, pinto beans, corn, and helpchysums grow. I will continue to post pictures o these plants progress.

Grow grow grow!

Wow! I was gone only for a few days and came back to plants growing OUT of the bags! Unfortunately there were some students bags that didn't grow at all, but we are going to replant those. I sent the student bags home today. If you want to continue to grow this plant, you may. Plant it in a pot with soil and water it regularly. If you do decide to do this send me picture updates.

What do plants need?

Today we talked about all the things plants need to grow. Plants need soil, sun, water, and air. Well, since we had all of hose things, we did a little planting today! We planted some grass seed in small clear cups. The cups are clear so that in the near future we are able to see the roots form at the bottom of the cups. We watered our cups and took them outside so that they would have enough sunlight and air. I hope they grow! I'm not the best gardener at home...lets hope I have better luck at school. 😉

No more letters!

Today was the first Monday I didn't introduce a new letter. Some of the kids didn't know what to think of that.
Now that we are done with our letters and sounds study, we are moving on to bigger things. Today we started talking about beginning sounds. Most of the kids knew exactly what this meant because we find words that start with certain letters all the time. It was a great transition. We listened very carefully to some of the sounds in these picture cards and sorted them on the board. The kids did an awesome job with this.

Disinfecting

Today we had a serious talk about germs (in the PM class we will talk on Monday in the AM class). I have had 5 people with PINK EYE! We talked about the importance of washing our hands, using tissues for our noses, not putting things in out mouths, and keeping our hand to ourselves. After our talk, we disinfected out areas where we sit and all our centers.

Parents, in consideration to others in the class an to myself with a small baby at home, do not send your child to school I they are sick. This way everyone stays well an is able to come to school and learn. Out time in preK is coming to an end, and we want to learn all we can in that little time.
Thanks so much!

Seeds

This week started our plants study. This is a big unit that we do in preK. We will be studying plants for the next 2 weeks. This weeks focus was seed and what plants need to grow. One thing we did this week was plant 3 different beans. Each student has been monitoring their beans to see if they have grown. We do have a few that have started to break out if the seed coat. Here are a few pictures.

Sight Words

We have been working very hard on identifying our 21 sight words. We use flashcards, play games, and even try and use the words in or writing. Here are some games that we play.

Sight word stack:
write sight words on plastic cups. Identify the cup. If you identify it right, begin to stack them to make a tower. How high can you make your tower?

Sight word parking lot:

Use flash cards to identify the sight words. If you identify it correctly, park a car in the parking lot. Play until the parking lot is full!

You can easily make and play these games at home. 

How To Make Applesauce

Emergency Information Form

Please be sure to send your lavender "Emergency Information" paper back to school by FRIDAY.  I still have a lot of students who have not turned them in.  I have sent a second round of sheets home with students who have not brought them back yesterday.  Please make sure you complete this task.  If you dont, you will have to show proof of residency BEFORE being admitted to a classroom in the upcoming school year.  Thanks for your promptness in this matter!

Getting Back On Track

Well, I have been back from maternity leave for almost two months now, and haven't made any posts on this blog!  Apparently being a mother of two and having two classes of prek students is very time consuming. 
Please forgive me for my lack of keeping up with my long "to-do" list.  As of right now, I am vowing to get back on track with blogging.  There will be multiple post in the next week, because I have been keeping up with taking pictures and of course teaching.
Thanks for your patience when I was away!

Here is a picture of my sweet baby boy that has been stealing some of my blogging time.  :)