Santa and Snow

On Monday we made a Santa face out of shapes. The kids worked on their counting skills while counting all the circles and triangles. We also played a fun memory game called "What's in Santa's bag." The kids took turns pulling toys out of Santa's bag. Once all the toys were out we each had a turn picking one toy and putting it back in the bag (while the other children's eyes were shut) then the kids opened their eyes and tried to think of what was missing.

On Wednesday we did a lot of counting. We counted many different items in the preschool including, candy canes, gingerbread cookies, and Santa's. The kids also enjoyed listening to the story of the Gingerbread Man.

Friday was very fun! It was our snow day! The room was covered in snowflakes and the kids made their own to take home. They also had a blast playing in snow! They loved watching the powdered snow grow into "real" snow. It was messy but sure fun!

Just a few more days of preschool and then it will be Christmas break!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Merry Christmas Mickey Mouse!
Yes- I love Mickey Mouse, so you can't come to Ms. Ali's Preschool without learning/talking about the most famous mouse in the world. :)

We had a fun time this week playing Mickey Mouse memory, counting the Mickey Mouse pictures in our preschool room, and painting a picture of Mickey Mouse.

Here are some of the kids working on their letter M worksheets.

We have also been working on our Christmas program. The kids have been doing a great job and are working so hard! We are so excited for you all to see it in a few weeks!

Happy December!

This week we talked about BOOKS. Where we can find books (library, store, home) and what kind of books there are (storybooks, fact books and more). The kids enjoy bringing in their favorite book and we read it to the class.
Here is the AM class looking at Boden's book.

The kids also picked out a little paper book that they put together themselves to take home.

On Friday we started our "Mickey Mouse" week (which officially starts next week for letter M). You can't come to Ms. Ali's preschool without talking about Disney and/or Mickey Mouse! :)
The kids went home with a "countdown to Christmas" Christmas tree. Don't forget to put on one circle everyday. :)

Thanksgiving Feast

On Monday we learned about the first Thanksgiving. We talked about the Pilgrims, Indians and the Mayflower. The kids had a fun time coloring their picture of the Mayflower. We also learned a "5 Little Turkey" poem.

On Wednesday was our Thanksgiving Feast! We had a great time doing the different activities and of course eating out feast! :)

First we decorated our hats.
Gotta try them on...yep, looks good!

The kids really enjoyed our "Turkey Bowling" game!

They also had a fun time playing with balloons.

Here are all my little Pilgrims and Indians eating at the feast.

More Transportation

This week we learned more about transportation.

Monday was our "Bus" day.

The kids had a lot of fun playing our matching bus game. The kids took turns being the bus driver. They handed out tickets to the rest of the kids and then they had to match their ticket with the correct seat.
Here is our bus driver, Alivia, handing out the tickets.

The kids are checking to see if they found the right seat.

And you can't have bus day without singing "The Wheels on the Bus."  :)

On Wednesday we talked about airplanes.
We colored airplanes, made paper airplanes and talked about things that flew in the air besides airplanes. It was also our first time in preschool that we colored with markers! (We only use them on special occasions) The kids loved it.

The airplanes are hanging up on our preschool window. The kids will be bringing them home next week.

Here they are flying their paper airplanes...

Friday was "Train" day. The kids each had a turn making a name train. They did a great job finding the right letters for their names and sticking them on the wall for their name train.

Next week: Thanksgiving Feast!!! :)

Maps and Cars

On Monday we learned all about maps; why we have them, what they are used for and what we can find on them. The kids really enjoyed looking at all different kinds of maps. Their favorite was a large folding map. The kids had a blast making their own maps to take home. They added rivers, roads, airports, parks, lakes and rail-road tracks.

On Wednesday we had a really fun time with our different car activities. 
We played on a big map that was on the floor. The kids had a great time driving their cars around and stopping at a hotdog stand, a farm and even Disneyland!

We also had a lot of fun driving our pretend car. The kids each had a turn to be the driver. They would look at our map and then decide where we would go.
These are the places the kids drove us to:
Boden- the lake
Kaeden- the desert
Livia- Disneyland
Madi- the jungle
Makayla- the ocean
Alivia- California
Thomas- the beach
Jason- the lake
Grayson- "a far Disneyland"  :)
Paytyn- the lake

We made sure to buckle-up and we even had a flat tire. Thomas fixed it for us and we were back on the road in no time. :)

Intro to Traffic

Since I already blogged about the Halloween Party, I will be moving on to Wednesday.

We had a fun time learning left from right with different activities. The kids favorite one was singing the "Hokey Pokey."

This week's letter is "I." The kids did a great job of making our 'letter of the week' with different objects.

On Friday we had our intro to traffic safety. We talked about the importance of having traffic signals and why they help keep us safe. The kids had fun painting their own traffic lights to take home.

We also ate a yummy traffic light for our snack!

Best part of Fun Friday was playing "Red light, Green light." The kids LOVED it!

Look at them go! :)

Halloween Party

We had a super fun time at our Halloween Party!

We played "Pin the broom on the Witch"-

We dug for skeleton bones-

We had a "Freeze Dance"-

We also did a "Memory" activity. There were 10 Halloween items on a tray and the kids took turns being 'it'. Everyone else had to close their eyes while the person that was 'it' took one item off the tray. The rest of the kids would open their eyes and then try to think of the one item that was missing. Whoever guessed it right was 'it' next.

The kids really enjoyed the trick or treating activity, and if there wasn't candy involved, I don't think they would have sat still for so long. :)

It was also a special day because it was Boden's birthday! The kids loved the monster cupcakes-  perfect for Halloween.

Thank you so much for letting me teach your children! I have so much fun with them and I love getting to know them better.

Happy Halloween!

Getting ready for Halloween

The kids are so creative! When preschool starts we have "preschool stations" for the first 15 minutes or so. There will be misc. activities for the kids to do while we wait for everyone to get there. On Monday one of the stations had pretend candy corn to play with. The kids made a candy corn cake and took turns singing "Happy Birthday" to each other. It was really cute.

Wednesday was our Pumpkin Day. The kids practiced their counting skills using pumpkin seeds. We also had fun reaching inside a real pumpkin and trying to take the slimy seeds out. Some kids really enjoyed this while others were fine just watching. Alivia was the winner, pulling out more than 50 seeds! The next highest was 6 pumpkin seeds. :)

The kids also had a good time making different pumpkin faces to match the different pictures.

On Friday we had some fun Halloween activities. The kids were able to decorate the trick or treat bags that they will be using on Monday.

We also played a fun counting game with spider rings and a dice. The first one to get rings on all 10 fingers wins!

I can't wait until our Party on Monday!

FALL

I hope everyone enjoyed their Fall Break!!!

On Monday we had a great time working on our numbers. We played a few different counting games; one game the children had to listen to the raindrops falling and then put that many raindrops on their cloud. We also played a memory match game (always a hit with kids) with fall leaves and their matching number.

Here is a cute video of the some of the kids from the morning class counting their raindrops...

We also talked a little more about the weather and what clothes people wear during the different seasons. The kids each had a turn to pick an item of clothing out of a bag and then we decided what season we would wear it in. We decided that in the summer we could wear shorts, swim suits, flip-flops and tank tops and in the winter we could wear gloves, scarfs, hats and jackets.

On Wednesday we talked about sizes. The kids each picked out a different size ball out of a bag and then we had to put them in order- from largest to smallest. We also had a letter hunt for the letter G. There were all different sized G's all over the preschool room. After all the G's were found, we put them in order- from smallest to biggest.

Since G is the letter this week, we read a Ghost story called "The Teeny Tiny Ghost." It was a silly story about a very small ghost who was scared of Halloween, but after acting brave he realizes that it's not scary.

On Friday we worked on our cutting and gluing skills while making our "FALL" signs. The kids enjoyed coloring the leaves and acorns and making a pattern with the colors of the letters that they glued on.

We also had our very first math lesson. The kids caught on very quick with adding numbers!

Next week we will be getting more into the Halloween theme with pumpkins and such...
I am very excited for the 31st to have our first party of the year! The morning and afternoon classes will be combined for the party. More details will be sent home with your child next week.

Have a wonderful weekend!