Jan. 30, 2009

Parents,
This morning we ate breakfast and worked with model magic creating many different things and using our words to describe them and make up stories about them. We went to the library with Pre-K and Ms. Kraal read two books about llamas. We played on the playground with Pre-K afterward. During circle time today we determined that it's sunny today and cold, so we dressed the bears in jackets and put the big yellow sun over the tree. We counted to 30 during calendar and danced to "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes". During center time we created money in the home center to use in our restaurant. We worked VERY hard. We also drew letter "O" objects from a white bag and practiced the letter "O" sound. We then glued letter "O" objects on letter "O" paper. We had lunch and played on the playground with Pre-K. After rest we'll join Pre-K on a walk to the teacher's lounge to look in the freezer and see what frozen juice looks like. We'll eat it in its solid form.
I hope you all have a great weekend!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 29, 2009

Parents,
We had breakfast together today and then we worked with gears. We set them up and attached a handle and made everything go around and around. The Science Fair is today! They called us down and we took our project and proudly turned it in. During circle time today we determined that it's windy and we put the wind sock over the tree and dressed the bears in their jackets. During calendar we counted to 29 and then we danced to "Disco Limbo" for movement. We played outside with our Pre-K friends. We all held the edges of a parachute and we predicted and then observed what would happen when we all raised the parachute up and let go. We went to Ms. Mitchell's Pre-K room and hear her son, Nicholas, play drums. It was very cool! We were called down to the Science Fair again and we told the judged what we did for our experiment. Everyone did a GREAT job of talking. The judges said they really liked our project and that we did a wonderful job. They gave us a ribbon for our display that said "EXCELLENT DISPLAY". Yay! For story time today I read "The Cheerios Counting Book". We counted the letter "O"s in the cover and found three Cheerios that were being used as "O"s. We counted along with the book. During center time we glued Cheerios on to big letter "O" paper. We also got to eat some when we were finished. Ms. McGuire came for speech therapy today. We had lunch and played on the playground with Pre-K. After rest we'll continue with math folder games in Pre-K and celebrate one of our friend's birthdays.
Enjoy your night!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 28, 2009

Parents,
This morning we ate breakfast and drew a picture of the ocean in our journals. For our fine motor work we sorted, counted, and made patterns with bugs, created pictures with shape blocks, and matched restaurant objects to pictures. We also created collages with pictures we cut out of a catalog. During circle time we determined that it's sunny today. We all took turns feeling the flashlight. We counted to 28 during calendar time and danced to "The Wheels on the Bus". We played outside with Pre-K. During story time we finished reading "Snow Friends". During centers we cut out pictures of ourselves working on our science fair project and glued them on our presentation board. We talked about what we did for our project. We also had the home center open and pretended it was a restaurant. The art center was open for free drawing with scented markers. We had lunch and played on the playground with Pre-K. For our Pre-K math work this afternoon in my group we'll be doing matching work with numbers.
Have a great night!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 27, 2009

Parents,
This morning we ate breakfast and drew a picture of an orange in our journals. For our fine motor work we sorted plastic bugs, pretended they were having circle time, and created patterns with them. We also threaded spools on pipe cleaners and created structures and patterns with Unifix cubes. During circle time we determined that it's rainy today. Our weather bears wore their rain jackets and I squirted everyone with water so they could use their sense of touch with today's weather. During outside time it was too muddy to play outside, so we took a learning walk around campus. We observed a lot of art work in the hallways and we talked about it. We saw pictures that children had drawn of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When asked about what he did, the children were able to remember a number of facts. They remembered that he grew up to be a man, that his father helped him a lot, that some children told him that they wouldn't play with him when he was little because his skin was a different color. We decided that that was not a nice choice that the other children were making. We also walked by the kindergarten garden. We saw peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and some herbs growing. During center time today we had speech with Ms. McGuire and free reading of books with things that start with the letter "O" (otters, ocean animals, and owls). We had lunch with Pre-K and then went on a walk outside to check the playground. We decided that the playground was too wet to play on so we walked on the track instead. We came across the most wonderful flock of wild green parrots. They were eating seeds on the ground and let us get about 10 feet away from them. The had some blue feathers under their wings. We returned to the room and worked on finishing our science fair project. I asked what they thought our science fair project was about and the three words we came up with were "measure", "small", and "big". Everyone took turns writing the letters that make up these words then we glued the letters together to form the words. We glued our paper with the sticks onto a science fair board as well as our title words and a ruler. This afternoon after rest we'll stay in our room to practice for the science fair judges and glue our quotes about the project onto the board. Please check it out when you're in our room next. They did a WONDERFUL job!
Please check the weather in the morning to see if there are any school closings/delays due to the weather.
Kali Parsons

Jan. 26, 2009

Parents,
This morning we ate breakfast and drew a picture of an octopus in our journals. For our fine motor work we created pictures with shape blocks, drew with markers, fed corn to the pig, and put pegs in number boards and counted. During circle time we determined that it's rainy today. We put the gray cloud and rain drops over the tree. I squirted everyone with the water bottle so they could feel rain. We also dressed the weather bears in their rain jackets. We counted to 26 during calendar time and our movement song was "Button Factory". We played outside with our Pre-K friends. I began reading "Snow Friends" for story time. We noticed that one of the characters is an otter and that starts with the letter "O", our letter of the week. We practiced the letter "O" sound. We also felt the cover of the book. We decided that the snow part felt rough to our fingers and the rest of the cover felt smooth. During centers we finished the decorating of our snowballs. I popped pop corn today and we both ate and glued popcorn. We also glued on some brown seeds that one of the children found outside. The pet center was also open today. We observed Nibbles, the guinea pig, eating a carrot. We took turns holding the carrot while she took little bites. We were very careful to only touch Nibbles with one finger so she wouldn't get scared. We had lunch and played on the playground with Pre-K. After rest we'll continue our review of shapes in Pre-K math centers.
Enjoy this ever so slightly rainy day!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 23, 2009

Parents,
This morning we ate breakfast and practiced writing the letter "N" and "n" in our journals. We went to the library today and Ms. Kraal read two books to us. We played on the playground with Pre-K afterward. When we returned to the room we completed our work on our egg carton snowmen. We added eyes, hats, and a scarf. We also worked on the letter "N". We drew items from a bag that start with an "N" (nurse, newspaper, notebook, nest, etc.). We also glued noodles on a big letter N and glued neckties onto an "N" paper. We worked in the home center as well today. We took orders from menus we created and served dishes and took money for the orders. They did a great job pretending and there was a lot of language! We had lunch and played on the playground with Pre-K. After rest we'll go to Pre-K for math centers and in my group we'll be working with wiki sticks to create many different shapes as a review.
Enjoy your weekend!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 22, 2009

Parents,
This morning we ate breakfast and drew a picture of a needle with red thread in our journals. For our fine motor work we drew with markers, clipped clothespins on cards, put magnetic facial features on faces, and created pictures with shape blocks. During circle time we determined that it's sunny today and put the big yellow sun over the tree. We also decided that it wasn't nearly as cold today as it has been, so our weather bears wore their swim suits. We counted to 22 during calendar and danced to "Dancing Machine". We played outside with our Pre-K friends. For story time today I read "Snow". We counted snowflakes in the book and guessed what would happen next. During center time today we glued feathers on medium size snowballs, continued putting our sticks in order by size, and Ms. McGuire came for speech therapy. We had lunch and played on the playground with Pre-K. After rest we'll work on sequencing and patterning in Pre-K.
I hope you all have a wonderful evening!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 21, 2009

Parents,
This morning we ate breakfast and drew a picture of a bowl of noodles. For our fine motor work we created structures with Velcro blocks, threaded spools on pipe cleaners, typed with a Braille typewriter, drew with markers, and put features on Mr. Potato Heads. We created an upper- and lower-case letter "N" on the carpet with masking tape. During circle time we determined that it's sunny today, felt the heat and circle shape of a flashlight, and put jackets on our weather bears. We counted to 21 during calendar and danced to "The Bear Hunt". We played outside with our Pre-K friends. For story time I read "When Winter Comes". During center time today we began putting small items on our large snow balls. Today we put macaroni on them. We also worked on our science fair project, putting the sticks we gathered last week in size order. We had lunch and played on the playground with Pre-K. After rest time we'll go to Pre-K for math centers.
Have a great night!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 20, 2009

Happy Inauguration Day!!!!

I'm happy to announce that we have a UT intern joining us this semester. Her name is Lauren Avots and we are so happy to welcome her to our classroom.

This morning we at breakfast and drew a picture of a snowman in our journals. For our fine motor work we worked with our snow and people that we left out on Friday. It had mostly dried up so we were able to observe what happened when we added water again. We counted the number of sprays squirted on our snow. During circle time we determined that it's sunny and cold today. We put the big yellow sun over our tree and dressed the weather bears in jackets. We counted to 20 during calendar time and we danced to "Mary Had a Little Lamb". We played outside with our Pre-K friends. For story time today I read "The Biggest Snowball Ever!" We noticed that story looked a lot like the snow and people that we've been working with. During center time today we drew pictures about the story time book and a teacher scribed what we had to say about our pictures. We also continued working on our large, medium and small snowballs. We drew and cut small and medium today. We had lunch with another class today so we could watch the inauguration ceremony. Everyone did and amazing job of paying attention and being good listeners and guests. We played on the playground with Pre-K. After rest we'll continue math centers in Pre-K.
Have a great evening!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 16, 2009

Parents,
Reminder: no school on Monday.

This morning we ate breakfast and drew a picture of three sizes of snowballs on top of each other (looked a lot like the beginnings of a snowman). We went to the library with Pre-K and heard Ms. Kraal read two books, one about bears in the snow and one about a chicken in the snow. We played on the playground with Pre-K. During circle time we determined that it was cloudy with gray clouds, counted to 16 during calendar, and danced to "Disco Limbo" and we all went under the broom as it got lower and lower. We also introduced a new song that we sing about each person and talk about the attributes of their shirts (color, design, pattern, etc.). During centers we each painted a three-dimensional snowman made out of egg cartons. We painted them with white paint, then with glue, then sprinkled glitter all over them. We'll continue our work with them next week. We also created letter "M" art and practiced the letter "M" sound. When we finished all of our work we put Nibbles, the guinea pig, into a box and we observed her and touched her gently with one finger. We also took turns sitting very still and having her sit in our laps. She wasn't very good at sitting, she wanted to go, go, go. We worked with shaving cream just before lunch. We practiced writing our names and drew funny faces. We had lunch and played on the playground with Pre-K. After rest we'll continue our work with the snowmen we began creating a couple of days ago.
Have a wonderful three day weekend!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 15, 2009

Parents,
This morning we ate breakfast and drew pictures of three snowballs (small, medium, large) in our journals. For our fine motor work we worked with shaving cream, creating shapes and letters and pretending it was snow, created structures with velcro blocks, created bracelets by stringing spools on pipe cleaners, and scooped corn for the pig. During circle time we determined it was sunny, put jackets on the bears because it's cold outside, counted to 15 during calendar, and danced to "The Bear Hunt". We played outside with our Pre-K friends. For story time I read "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie". We noticed that there were LOTS of letter "M"s in the book. During centers we cut pictures of our classmate whose name starts with the letter "M" and glued them on a big letter "M". We continued working on drawing and cutting small, medium and large circles for our huge snowmen. Ms. Pundt, our counselor, came today to work with the class. The children cooperatively constructed a HUGE castle made of blocks. The figured out that if they worked together and put their piles of blocks together they could make the castle bigger than if they worked independently. We had just a little time after Ms. Pundt left to observe Nibbles, the guinea pig. We had lunch and played on the playground with Pre-K. This afternoon we'll be celebrating a Pre-K friend's birthday after we do math centers.
Have a wonderful night!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 14, 2009

Parents,
This morning we ate breakfast and drew a picture of one of our classmates whose name starts with the letter "M". For our fine motor work we painted sticks, created funny faces with magnets, and connected pop beads. We played outside with our Pre-K friends. I read the book "Snow on Snow on Snow" today during story time. We talked about our favorite part of the book. During centers we created snowflake art with sponge painting, finished working on our craft stick snowflakes, and finished painting the sticks we had gathered. We measured them to be sure they were the right length. Mr. Thomson, our Principal, visited with us during center time. It was fun to have him here! We have a new pet in our classroom for the next two weeks. We sat in the circle area and I gave clues about what kind of animal it was as I drew a picture of it. Bunny and guinea pig were the guesses. It was a guinea pig! We all went to the pet center and observed it, held it, listened to it, and fed it some Timothy hay. It's a baby girl guinea pig named "Nibbles". It's brown and so very, very soft and cute! We had lunch and played on the playground with Pre-K. After rest we'll go to Pre-K and begin cutting and constructing parts of a snow man. We'll be working on the concepts of small, medium, and large/big. We'll also be talking about bottom, middle and top.
Have a great night!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 13, 2009

Parents,
This morning we ate breakfast and drew pictures of marbles in our journals. For our fine motor work we sorted bears, built structures with oval Lego's, painted with water color paint, and worked with a Braille typewriter creating Braille letters. We played outside with our Pre-K friends. When we came inside we reviewed the book "Snowballs" and talked about small, medium, and big/large. We all took turns cutting different sizes of balls. We worked as a great team! Ms. McGuire came today for speech therapy. We had lunch and played on the playground with Pre-K. After rest time in my group we'll be stamp painting snowflakes to black paper. This will be the background for a snowman project we'll be doing.
I hope you all have a wonderful night!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 12, 2009

Parents,
This morning we ate breakfast and drew a picture of a face with a mustache on it. For our fine motor work we worked with a Braille typewriter, put sequence cards in order, sorted fish, and water color painted. During circle time we determined that it's sunny today, dressed the bears in jackets because it's cold, and felt the warmth from a flashlight (representing the sun). We played outside with our Pre-K friends. After our friends went outside we collected sticks of different lengths (all under 12" - we held them up to a ruler to be sure, some we had to break in half and then they fit our criteria). During story time today I read "Snow Balls" about a snow people family. We talked about how snowmen are made up of three different size snowballs, small, medium, and big/large. We held our hands out and practiced the three different sizes. We then took turns drawing big/large circles. We cut them out. During centers we painted the sticks we found. We mixed colors and made some great discoveries! Red and yellow make orange!!! Red and blue make purple!!! Very exciting! We also worked in the science center. This afternoon in Pre-K we'll conclude our gluing a certain number of buttons on a craft stick.
Have a great night!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 9, 2009

Parents,
This morning we ate breakfast and drew a picture of a heart (representing love) in our journals. For our fine motor work we made frogs jump, built structures with bristle blocks, and made funny faces with magnetic face parts. We went to the library with Pre-K and Ms. Kraal read two books about snowy weather. We went to the playground afterward and played with our Pre-K friends. We returned to the classroom and continued our fine motor work and we barely had time in the morning. During center time today we made hot chocolate as a group. We all asked for cups and packets of hot chocolate powder. Everyone tore open their packet and poured it in the cups. We then asked for water and I poured water in everyone's cups. We used craft sticks to stir, stir, stir. When it was fully mixed, everyone chose how many marshmallows to put in their hot chocolate. I had a bunch of marshmallows on a paper towel and each child had to pick out the number they wanted. Everyone did a GREAT job counting! We all enjoyed drinking our hot chocolate! After each of them finished they were given a picture of a mug of hot chocolate. They water color painted the mugs and glued five marshmallows on top (then they got to eat one more marshmallow). We also worked on our letter "L" art work gluing lights, leaves, "L"s, and pictures of our classmate whose name starts with "L". When we were done we had a little time left to play with Mr. Potato Head. Busy morning! Whew! We had lunch and went to the playground with Pre-K. After rest we'll continue our work with gluing a certain number of buttons on craft sticks.
Have a great weekend!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 8, 2009

Parents,
This morning we ate breakfast and drew a picture of a leaf in our journals. For our fine motor work we drew with chalk on chalk boards, sorted bears of different colors/sizes, clipped clothespins on boards, and created structures with oval Legos. We created an upper and lower case "L" on our carpet with masking tape. During circle time we determined that it's sunny today, counted to 8 during calendar, and danced to "The Freeze". We played outside with our Pre-K friends. For story time I read "Frozen Noses". During center time today we completed working on our snowflakes by gluing our four white, sparkly craft sticks on top of each other. We also glued leaves on a big letter "L". We pretended our home center was a restaurant and took orders and prepared food. Ms. McGuire came for speech therapy today. We had lunch and played on the playground with Pre-K. This afternoon in Pre-K I'll be asking each child to pick a certain number of buttons out of a bin. We'll write the number on a craft stick and they'll glue the buttons on the stick.
The January newsletter is available at the link to the right of this blog. Report cards are being sent home. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions/concerns.
Have a wonderful night!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 7, 2009

Parents,
This morning we ate breakfast and drew a picture of a log in our journals. For our fine motor work we drew with dry erase markers, made frogs jump, moved magnetic circles with a magnet, and created pictures with shape tiles. During circle time we determined that it's sunny today, hung the big yellow sun over our tree, felt the flashlight to feel the warmth and the circle shape, and dressed our weather bears in jackets. We counted to 7 during calendar time and danced to "If You're Happy and You Know it" for our movement song. We played outside with Pre-K. I read "Will's Mammoth" for story time. We noticed that there were two "L"s in the title! On many of the pages there are no words so we took turns looking at the pictures and creating stories for those pages. We counted many different types of animals in the story (mammoths, saber tooth tigers, rhino's, and bears) and we noticed that it was snowing. During center time today we finished painting our craft sticks white and added glitter to them, pretended the home center was a restaurant, worked with glittery shaving cream and drew shapes and letters in it, and scooped and poured in the science center. We had lunch and played on the playground with Pre-K. After rest we'll create a huge batch of instant snow and work as a large group to mix the powder with water. We'll observe what happens and we'll create shapes and letters in the snow.
I hope you all have a great night!
Kali Parsons

Jan. 6, 2009

Parents,
Welcome back! I hope you all had a wonderful winter break!

We've had a wonderful first day back. This morning we ate breakfast and drew snow in our journals. For our fine motor work we created collages, threaded beads on string, created structures with bristle blocks and counted using our counting cakes. During circle time we determined that it's rainy today. We put the raindrops over our tree, dressed our weather bears in their rain coats, and everyone felt rain when I squirted the water bottle. During calendar we counted to 6, and during movement we danced to "Button Factory". We noticed that we have a new shape this month, the star, and a new color, white. We didn't go outside this morning because it was too muddy and it was still raining a little. Instead, we danced to "Tooty Ta" and "The Bear Hunt". I read the book "Dream Snow" for story time. When we chose centers everyone had a turn pushing a button at the end of the book that made a pretty chime song. During centers we began creating snow flakes by painting craft sticks white and sprinkling glitter on them using our pincer fingers. We also played in the home center/restaurant. Ms. McGuire came today for speech therapy. We at lunch and played on the playground with Pre-K. After rest we'll go to Pre-K and make instant snow with them. We'll measure the water and powder amounts and talk about how if feels.
Have a wonderful night!
Kali Parsons