Educational Apps for Preschool

A question I am asked a lot is are there any good apps for IPHONE,  IPAD and IPOD Touch for Preschoolers.  My answer?  YES!!!  There are tons!  I have seen price ranges anywhere from $6.99 to free.  I am in the process of compiling a list that will be on the blog and I will also send home a hard copy of the list.  Until I am able to compile enough for a great list, here are a couple to get you started!

http://www.smartappsforkids.com/our-staff-picks-the-top-10-preschool-apps.html -Smart Apps for Kids- Staff picks for the top 10 Preschool Apps

http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2012/09/the-10-best-iphoneipad-apps-for-preschoolers/ -I can teach my child- This is a great Preschool Blog!  Top 10 Educational Apps for Preschoolers

Hope this helps!  I will also be on the look out for apps for Kindle Fire and the Nexus tablets!

December to-do List

I found this fun December Bucket List that is filled with some great parent/child and family activities.  I posted a similar on around Halloween and thought it was a great idea!

Fine Motor Activities

Fine Motor Development for young children is very important.  They need to strengthen the muscles in their hands so they are able to write, color, use scissors, and manipulate small objects.  These skills must be worked on when they are young so children will have strong fine motor skills as they continue through school and add skills to the foundation they already have build when they were young.  Here is a great site that has fine motor activities that can be used everyday at home.

http://www.stirthewonder.com/everyday-fine-motor-activities-fine-motor-friday/

"Swing Your Partner!"

The students learned a new Jim Gill song over the last several weeks called "Swing Your Partner!"  The kids in both classes LOVE this song!  The song is a square dance.  The kids get with a partner and wave, shake hands, and bow to their neighbor, partner, and friend .  Then they take hands or link arms and "swing" their partner in a circle.

Click the link to hear the song!  The other two songs are also ones the kids know and love!

http://www.jimgill.com/music/moving_rhymes.html

The books have arrived!!!

The book box came yesterday!  I was very pleased is got here so fast!  All of the books went home yesterday and today.  The second book order goes in on  Friday, December 6th and will be here in time for Christmas!

Educational Toys and Games

I have been asked before by parents and other adults what are good, educational toys and games to get for their child for Christmas.  Well, I found this great list of "62 Educational  Toys and Games for Children".  Plus, they are divided by age.  It's very good! Check it out!  The link is below the picture!





http://amomwithalessonplan.com/educational-toys-and-games/

Big Bird Playlist

I LOVE the Sesame Street Youtube page!  There are some fantastic videos and I use them with the kids all the time!  They really love the Cookie Monster shorts and we are using them to talk about listening, paying attention, and watching the person speaking.  Every week or so, they post a playlist of a videos about a certain character or theme.  During Halloween, they had a Count playlist.  Now they have a Big Bird playlist and it has several popular and classic moments from the show featuring everyone's favorite yellow bird. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Fye4sHQp4&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL5CFC79B0F593F2DF

It has the ABC-DEF-GHI Song and an inspiring video clip with Christopher Reeve.

Updating!!!

I am finally able to get the blog updated!!!  I just uploaded a TON of pictures in the pictures tab of what we have been doing the last couple of weeks.  Days of the Week Sign Language, turkeys, letters, and paint can be found in the pictures!

This week we studied.....

Next week we will study.....

The books are ordered!

Thanks to everyone who ordered books from the November Scholastic Book Club this month!  I placed the order after school and the books will be here soon!  I had a great order!  Because of your orders, I was able to select $10.00 in free books to be delivered with this order, a $5.00 Holiday Cash coupon to use in the next order, 4 times the bonus points, and a FREE sample from Elmers!  With the bonus points, I was able to buy even more books and got several Thanksgiving books to use in the classroom.  Thanks again!  The December book order forms are coming home this week and will be Due Friday December 6th by 12:00 noon.  If you didn't order in November, or did order and would like to order again, December is the perfect time to order and the books will be here before Christmas!

Book Orders Due Tuesday

The November Book Club orders are due tomorrow by 12:00 noon.  Thanks to everyone that ordered! I will place the order tomorrow after school.  The December Book Club orders will be sent home later this week and will be due Friday December 6th.  If you didn't order in November, this is the perfect time to order!  I am sending in the order two weeks before our last day of school so the books will be delivered in time for Christmas.  Your child's grandparents are more than welcome to also place an order for books!

Let me know if you have any questions! :)

Busy, busy, busy!!!

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I have been so busy with school related work and blogging has been put to the back burner.  Because of this, the Friday Favorites posts and other posts and pictures will be on hiatus til December.  I will continue to post important information and things that need to be passed on to you, but all the extra stuff will be on hold for a couple weeks.  I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but I really need to focus on my school work and preparing for Parent/Teacher Conferences.

Thank you in advance for understanding! :)

Dramatic Play

Here are some pictures of the new dress-up clothes I told you about in a previous post.

Here's everything hanging up in the dramatic play area!

Alice in Wonderland dress

Rapunzel Princess dress

Bilbo Baggins Hobbit costume

There is also a girl pirate costume to go with the boy pirate I already have!  That was the one I couldn't remember!

Letter I

What we studied this week.

New pictures!

Check out the pictures tab!  Finally posted the pictures from last Friday.  I have had a very busy week and I am working very hard to keep the blog updated.  I have a lot going on this week and getting ready for conferences  and progress reports.  I will post more this weekend and Monday!

Picture Day

Picture Day is tomorrow and Thursday this week.  Can't wait to see the kids all dressed up!

Dress up clothes

So on Sunday, I went to Wal-Mart and bought three half price Halloween costumes for the students to play with in the dramatic play center.  They were a HUGE hit!  The girls were having so much fun dressing up. Today they were Trick or Treating again. :)  Since the students liked them so much, I went back to Wal-Mart today and their Halloween costumes were 75% off!!!  Let's just say I found as many costumes as I could and the students are going to be very excited!  I think I found five, Alice in Wonderland, a cat, a sailor girl, a Hobbit, and one I can't remember off the top of my head.  Pretend play is very important for young children and they are learning so many skills while they are playing, from social/emotional skills to academic skills.

Reminders

No school this Friday November 8th.

No school next Monday November 11th.

November Scholastic Book Orders are due Tuesday November 12th by 12:00 noon.

Friday

The students participated in several learning activities today.  This morning, the students colored a hay wagon paper.  By doing so, they practiced their coloring skills, strengthened their fine motor skills, and reviewed the colors.  Later in the afternoon, they ripped up sheets of yellow paper to make "hay" and glued them to the wagon  to make a hay wagon.  This led to a great discussion and students were talking about taking a ride in a hay wagon.

The last two weeks, we have been reading the story "5 Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate" and learning the motions for the finger play.  The students created a fun picture of five pumpkins sitting on a gate.  The projects were very cute!

Ours look similar to these!




I found the project on Pinterest! During this project, they practiced gluing skills, counting skills, and direction following skills.

Both classes had the chance to work on the computer this week.  I sat down with small groups of students and showed them how to use the computer and work the mouse.  We played educational games on sesamestreet.org.  The games focused on decision making skills, counting, and using fine motor skills to move the mouse and click the button.  Today's class also read and discussed a digital copy of "My Big World with Clifford" from Scholastic.  We talked about fall, signs of fall, counted to five, number identification, color identification, and reviewed the life cycle of a pumpkin.  Keep looking back for pictures!

Fall Festival

Wednesday and Thursday was our Fall Festival!  All of the students had a blast!  We provided a variety of activities  for the students.

Pin the worm on the apple

Sticky spider web

Drop the clothes pin in the pumpkin

Toss the bean bag in the pumpkin

Pumpkin decorating

Find the spider ring in the sensory table

Spin art painting

Face Painting

Eat a doughnut on a string without using your hands

We had popcorn and juice for snack and the students listened to the story "The Little Old Lady who Wasn't Afraid of Anything."  Thank you again to all the parents and grandparents who came to spend the afternoon with child.

Wednesday and Thursday

These two days were jam packed with more fun and learning!  Fall leaves, pumpkins, and apples littered the floor! :)  Every once in a while, they even fluttered down from the sky!

Also bought something new for the classroom.  Got a two sets of lacing cards at the teacher store in Lima. They are pictures of baby animals, farm and zoo, and each of the holes are numbered so the students can practice counting and number identification.  Plus, they were on sale! :D  When they complete the lacing card, they have to find the card of the baby's mommy.  Thanks to Mrs.Highley for telling me about them!

Here are the final pictures of the Indian Corn.  I had to throw it away at the beginning of the week.  It was looking pretty rough.  The students were sad to see it go since they loved looking at it everyday.

H was our letter of the week and H is also for Halloween!  The students took letter H shaped sponged dipped in paint and stamped them on black paper.  Here are a few of the student projects!

The pumpkin plants in our pumpkin continue to grow!  They really grew over the week and the kids love observing it.  Unfortunately, I don't think the pumpkin will last much longer.  I am hopping the sun will come out over the weekend so the plants can grow some more before it needs to be pitched.

The water marbles continue to be a HUGE hit!  I think we will definitely use them again over the winter and add them to the water table.  These are by far one of my best Dollar Tree finds!  Judy Brewer would be so proud of me!!!  :D  The students can't get enough!

We have ended our pumpkin life cycle unit and Halloween unit.  Next week, we start our Thanksgiving unit and continue to explore all things about fall and November.  The hand print turkey bulletin board was finished today and more Thanksgiving displays are in progress.  

This week!

I am in the process of uploading pictures and writing the posts for the rest of the activities we did this week.  Wednesday and Thursdays posts will be up shortly.  Friday's pictures will have to wait.  I forgot the camera at home and was unable to take pictures today. :( I was uploading stuff last night.  Not to worry!  I will post an overview of our jam packed Friday later this evening and pictures will follow either later this weekend or on Monday night.  Keep checking back for updates!  Hope everyone has a great weekend! :)

Friday Favorites: week 6

This weeks Friday Favorites post is about one of my favorite blogs,  Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas.

http://www.momto2poshlildivas.com/

She is an early childhood teacher, mom, and blogger.  She posts LOTS of great art projects, activities, and book selections. (I pin her stuff ALL the time on Pinterest! :) ) All of these things can be used in the classroom AND at home.  She is always posting party ideas and recently posted about Halloween and a Monsters University Party.  She is also on Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook.  All the links are on her blog.