Pre-K Possibilities

Winter Water Table Play!

This time of year I always do a winter unit and include some sort of frozen water play, winter art, winter science and winter drama area. For the water play my assistant had the idea of filling up a 5 gallon bucket with colored water and placing winter sea animals and polar animals into the water and freezing it over the weekend. This was a big hit with the kids and lasted over a few days.

We also gave the kids sponges to work the ice down. They couldn't wait to see what animal they would discover next.

After a day of sponges we brought in basters and lastly salt. This science discovery play is a wonderful opportunity for the children to learn about the properties of water!

I'm also working on assessments so I brought in the objectives comparing objects by differences and size with foam snowballs.

It helped that I printed the word small on smaller letters and the word Big on larger letters. This way the kids knew which basket to sort into for the activity.

Our state standards require that we have a sand and water table available daily, which limits me on other sensory play. So... I decided to bring in an extra sensory bin for other fun tactile experiences. This is my rice bin that I placed snowflake confetti and foam snowflakes in for the winter theme. The kids loved it!

One project we did for art was marshmallow painting. I read Snowmen at Night first and I used big and small marshmallows so we could work on the comparing objective again :)

Here is a picture of my cold center. The kids really enjoyed getting dressed up for the cold weather.

Then....I turned it into a Hot Cocoa center! I posted on this in a previous post, Brrrr baby it's cold outside! but this year I added some new things: New sign, laminated hot cocoa packets, hot cocoa metal tins and boxes, marshmallow jar and peppermint jar.

This is one of my favorite times of teaching! What do you do for your winter theme?

All About Me Nutrition Project!

New Circle Area

Here is a picture of my updated circle area:

I have sections for weather, jungle jobs, schedule, counting board (we don't do calendar), and colors. The alphabet above and numbers below are Handwriting without Tears.

And here is my updated job board with places for both AM and PM:

I made these with word and downloaded free clip-art for the pictures. This shows AM and the blank side is PM. I separated each class into 2 groups and I rotate the groups every other day. So each student has a job two times a week. Group 1-Mon/Wed and Group 2-Tues/Thurs. This really helps them because when they ask when will they get a job the answer is today or tomorrow. That way they do not have to wait a super long time to have a new job.

Pumpkin Pancakes-Cooking with Preschoolers!

School has started!

Wow what a whirlwind these past two weeks have been. I have completed 22 Home Visits and school has officially started. I'm still working on all of my classroom management techniques and new students are joining everyday. I even have identical twins starting Monday! I updated my writing area and added more supplies and different languages to it. Here is a picture:

There are stencils, alphabet stamps, wipe off boards, clip boards, and writing screens. I'm going to introduce it at circle tomorrow so the kids know how to use this center.

The next area I need to update is my circle area. My alphabets, numbers , and colors, are coming tomorrow so I will post a picture of that when they do. I'm also going to add pictures to my job board because that helps so much with theses ELL kids. My biggest hurdle has been how to have two identical systems in place for both classes AM and PM but not a lot of wall space. So when I figure that out I will post it as well. Any ideas would be much appreciated!

New Room!

This is my circle area. The back wall is going to be where the children's art and projects will be displayed. I saw this idea on pinterest. I'm going to give each child a spot with their own binder-clip and name tag to hang their work. I'm just waiting for my full class list so I can add them to the wall. It is divided by AM and PM. My circle cart is covered by sheet that was cut and velcroed on. I also added more zebra material above the whiteboard for an accent. The palm tree was going to be used for birthdays but this school does not celebrate birthdays :(

This is the writing area. It is a work in progress...I'm going to add alphabets in different languages and more supplies. There is white cord above to hang children's art to dry. No more heavy drying racks!!

This is my class reading hut! I couldn't do my bamboo one like before due to space issues but I'm really happy with the way it turned out! I have the reading buddies on the side, pillows with my zebra fabric, the back wall in covered in patio screening, and a canopy made from the burlap. The door to the right is the bathroom and the door to the left is my office. It is going to be so nice to have an office this year!

This is my drama area. The only space big enough with a wall was right by the door so we will see how this works. I thought I could use the whiteboard to turn it into all of the different themes (store, vet, hospital etc.).

This is the games and blocks centers. This is also the backside of my circle area.

This is where the kids will eat and brush their teeth. These tables will also be used for Science, Games, and Art. I think I'm going to label them with animals, for example the Science table will also be called the Tiger table. That way the kids will see the tiger and know which table to go to.

This is my circle area again, but this picture also shows my listening area and "My Family" picture area. I took family pictures at the home visits and the pictures will go there. Now I just to wait for the kiddos to start :)