boy howdy. in order to have both morning and afternoon sessions, we limited our class time to two and a half hours instead of three and we’ll meet more often during the school year. but i forgot to change my lesson plans/daily routine.
so this is why we’re tired:
we had to find our picture on our cubby and sometimes we look different than we thought.
we’ve been catching up on facts circa 1956.
we’ve been making lists, writing, scribbling-reminding our hands what to do.
we’ve smooshed all seven colors of playdough together.
we’ve been treated to the gift of food.
we’ve written verses to a silly, silly song.
we also learned that if you add an “s” to a word (usually) it means more than one. so one friend thought we needed aiken drums, not just aiken drum. clever.
we smelled bamboo and learned the workings of an electric knife. it was still fun even though the blades were missing.
(thank you, jane and fiona’s mama)
we chose a favorite color and painted.
we found out that certain letters are called “vowels” and they can make the “apples and bananas” song really fun.
we got our own water-no ice!- in our real glass cups.
good thing our new circle time rug arrived mid week so we had a soft place to rest!
The environment looks really great for the children – I imaine they have a great time exploring it. And the fridge+mason jar+box for the jars is a great idea!
allie
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What a busy day! And hey, thanks for explaining about picnik.com. Now I also know how to use it :) I am sure you will handle the classes well (as always)… miss seeing you in action :)
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Lovely! Your photos always make me smile. :)
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Wow! I’m almost tired just reading about it. Fun stuff!
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I have just started back teaching preschool after a 4 year break with to stay home with my youngest son. Your posts have been an inspiration. You just must have the coolest room!! Can you tell me 2 things – how did you get their pictures to look like that (picnik?) and the chalkboard pieces on the table – what are they? I would love to know. Thank you so much!! :D Karen Giddings
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thank you. : )
the pictures on the cubbies? in order to print a bunch out at once i made a collage (of 9 at a time), printed them out, cut them apart. i also used the cross-process effect (because my 13 year old says it’s her favorite and it’s cool-and it is cool!).
the chalkboard pieces are actually painted on the top of a shelf. i eyeballed it and taped down sections, painted and peeled off the tape. it’s been used more than i thought it would.
thanks for your kind words, k
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I don’t have a lot of experience with collages. Did you use picnik or another program? I just dig how they look. I took pictures of my kids this week and wanted to work on them this weekend. I wish Florida was closer to Kansas. I would LOVE to spend a day in your room! :D
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yes, i used picnik. once photos are uploaded, i chose the 9 square collage template, and added the photos!
http://www.picnik.com/app#/collage/grid
hope that helps!
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okay, so i started following your blog at the beginning of summer so i’ve never actually seen you in action. i’m so excited for your school year to start! i think you have struck a great balance of play and academic and preschool-appropriate. good luck getting settled into the new year!
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i do feel like i’ve been running around a bit looking for opportunities to throw in words like “predict” and “estimate” and “perimeter” and “edge” and “stem” and “properties” because we kept running out of time and didn’t do our experiment!
i’ll learn. and i’ll have to let go too.
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Super fun and super busy!!
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yes, i really do need to figure out what to leave out…we used to do a 2.15 hour school day, so i need to think back.
just curious, how long are your sessions?
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