Working to improve

I've been terribly derelict in my blogging duties lately.  It seems like life gets in the way (or I'm cooking during naptime, so there went my blogging time).  I assure you we've been working and I have several sets of pictures to post of activities we've done, so I'll try to get a few of them up tonight or tomorrow.

Working to improve

I've been terribly derelict in my blogging duties lately.  It seems like life gets in the way (or I'm cooking during naptime, so there went my blogging time).  I assure you we've been working and I have several sets of pictures to post of activities we've done, so I'll try to get a few of them up tonight or tomorrow.

Sack Lunch Friday

Today was the first of many Sack Lunch Fridays.  There are many things that kindergartners need to know and one of the most overlooked is lunch room know-how.  Kids need to be able to walk through a lunch line and say "yes" or "no" to the choices offered.  They must be able to carry the plates to the table and when finished, scrape them off and get them to the dishwashing area.  Most of these new routines are overwhelming for new students, so I try to give the kids like experiences so they have an idea what to expect.

One would think that bringing a sack lunch avoids most of these issues, but brown bagging has challenges all its own.  For instance, kids need to know how to get all of the food out, opened, eaten, replaced and be ready to go in 20 minutes (the average length of time for a school lunch period).  To help kids along, I will be having "Sack Lunch Friday" each week, so the kids can practice these skills and be the smartest kids in their class on the first day! :)

I have a wealth of lunchboxes.  One could get the idea that I'm addicted, but in reality, there are different boxes for different needs, so we have about 10 lunchboxes in our house.  Most kids however, have a lunchbox type tote or an actual lunchbox already, so the kids were free to bring their own, which most did.

Here is lunch.

Here are the kids with the lunchboxes.  Don't they look excited!

And, here they are eating!  Almost everyone ate the majority of their food.  If only I had realized that if I put peas in a lunchbox, kids would eat them, I would've started doing this ages ago.  Who knew?

Budget update

I've been neglecting my preschool blog.  Sorry!  It just happens to be one of those times of year when everything and everyone tries to take a little bit of my time and my naptime blogging gets consumed with other things.  Hopefully next week I'll get back on track with daily posts.

But, since I haven't updated my budget for a while, I thought I'd do that.

6-2 packs of glue sticks--I'm out and in my opinion glue sticks are indispensable to the preschool classroom.  Using bottle glue is an acquired skill that most preschoolers do not have.  Cost, $2.40

1 8 pack of dry erase crayons--This wasn't on my to buy list or even my want list since I didn't know they existed until last night.  However, I've been looking for a brown to round out my dry erase marker selection and I've only found sets upwards of $10.  These crayons were on clearance at Walgreens for $1.99, so I couldn't resist.

Digging for Dinosaurs (pics only)

Little Man trying to climb the stairs

Writing Letters

Each week I spend a few minutes working with the kids on making the letter of the week.  Until today, I had reviewed any of the other letters.  I am really glad I did.  I saw lots of improvement in pencil grip, and most of the kids didn't ask how to make the letters, they just made them (sometimes upside down, but they were still there).  The improvement just goes to show that sitting at a desk practicing on worksheets isn't the only way to learn how to make letters.  The kids have been making letters with magnets, playdough, Lego block and even cars.  When it came time to write them, they knew what they were doing because they learned through their play. 

Digging for Dinosaurs

Today was our first actual rain day!  It has been raining all day, so no outside time for us! :(  Of course there was a great activity to keep the kids busy.  We went digging for dinosaurs.  In honor of our esteemed letter D, I filled a big storage tub with rice and hid dinosaurs in it.  The kids got to dig around and find the dinosaurs.  They also had sifters, cups and other utensils to help with the fun.  Of course, I was so busy keeping the baby out of the rice that fell on the floor, I only got one picture.  I'll try to take more when they play after nap.