Our Study Trip to the Nature Park!

Today we took a study trip to the Fejervary Nature Park!  We had a wonderful time exploring the garden area, the sand pit, the musical instruments, the building area and seeing the horses! 

When we were done exploring, we made our way over to the Putnam museum to eat lunch and explore the museum!  At the museum we were able to see the new exhibit about ambulances, police cars and fire trucks!!  We dressed up like fire fighters, "drove" the fire truck and ambulance, hooked up the hoses to the fire hydrants and looked at all the gear and tools these community helpers use.

Talk about a full day!  We were one happy but exhausted group of preschool children and teachers by the time we got back to school! 

Enjoy browsing through the photos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Tour of our Classroom!

 

We have been hard at work learning at preschool!  Just LOOK at that smile :)  Preschool is such a fun place to learn!

 



We thought we would start off our school year by giving you a quick tour of our classroom!  We've focused on the centers in our classroom.  Centers are such an important part of every preschool child's school day! 

Every day the children get to choose where they would like to play.  We assist children in exploring toys, socializing with friends and using verbal communication and/or communication assisted with communication boards, PODD communication or signs.   

Here's our cozy corner book area!  We love to sit under our tent area and read lots of books!  Each week we make a trip to our school library to check out new books to keep in our classroom!  These are always a popular choice for reading time after lunch!  

Our science shelf!  We have color "windows" to look through, magnifying glasses and windows, mirrored "windows", sensory tubes, discovery box, books, textures to match and a "lock" box to explore. 

Our group time area! We sing, dance, read stories and play group games in this area!  Our group time easel is to the left with one of our large communication boards available.  Here we work on engaging with our friends, counting, turn taking, passing an object, imitating sounds, singing and communicating.

This photo shows a better view of our "build and drive" shelf (to the right) which includes our cars, trucks, tree blocks, large and small building blocks, tools, car ramps and a basket of books.  It also shows our light table (to the left of the rocking chair).  We use our light table to build with see through Legos and color shapes.  

Our art shelf with baskets of crayons, stickers, paper, scissors, glue, play dough, play dough toys, dry erase boards and markers, chalk and chalkboards and a basket of books.  The basket at the top of the shelf holds our slant boards which make it easier for us to explore coloring and drawing!

Here is our discovery shelf with musical instruments, alphabet toys, animals, beanbag toys and koosh balls!  This also shows our computer area (to the right)!  Here we explore cause and effect, textures, simple pretend play and explore sounds.

Here is our table toys and puzzles shelf- with pegs and pegboards, large beads to string, board games, shape sorters, Legos and books.  We have many items to assist the children with math skills, fine motor skills, shapes, colors, matching, sorting and patterning.

Here's our "house area."  (This photo was taken after the children left so the chairs are up!)  We have baby dolls, pretend food, puppets, stuffed animals, dress up clothes, hats, telephones, cameras and a basket of books.  Here the children can engage in pretend play with their peers or teachers.  We can work on fine motor skills by buttoning, zipping and snapping. 

And, finally, who can forget our sensory table!!  Here is our table as a 'baking table' with apple pie spice to sprinkle in flour! 

We hope you've enjoyed your quick tour of our center areas!  We would love to see more children in our photos- so if you haven't yet turned in your child's blog photo permission and you would like to see your child's photo on our blog- let me know and I will send home another form! 

Big Red Tub!

Last week we enjoyed reading a new book: Big Red Tub.  The children helped guess what was at the door next wanting to take a bath in the big red tub.  (A duck, a dog even a hippo!)

And, of course, we giggled when the big red tub in the story slid down the stairs, out the door and up into the sky!

After a few days of reading the story and using a picture board (with vocabulary from the book on picture cards), we decided to paint our own big red tub!  We started with a white foam container and proceeded to paint the entire outside red! 

After this dried, we gave our baby dolls a bath in it.  The following day, we gave our animals a bath! 

We spent time talking and reviewing body parts: eyes, ears, nose, chin, cheeks, neck, back, legs, knees etc.

The children helped dry the babies and get them dressed in their clothes (fine motor work).  Then we decided the babies probably wanted to sit on the sofa and watch some TV while we ate our lunch! 

By the end of the week, the children were able to use our picture board to answer some simple questions about the book!  We worked on our fine motor/dressing skills, reviewed body parts and created a new dramatic play experience!  All of that with one Big Red Tub!

 

Saying Goodbye!

We have slowly been saying "goodbye" the last few months to all our friends going on to kindergarten.  Friday was our very last "goodbye" as now all our friends are off to their new adventure!  While it is always a bit sad to say goodbye, we are so excited for them!   

Here are a few pictures of our very last goodbye to a few soon to be kindergarten friends!  Come back and visit!  And continue to have fun and enjoy learning in kindergarten! 

End of the Year Picnic!

Our end of the year picnic was a huge success (minus a few cranky kids on the playground :)!  Thank you so much to all the families who joined us for this!  This is such a wonderful way to celebrate the end of our school year!  Now enjoy a few photos of our end of the year picnic! 

Thanks again for making this a huge success! Each year we have more and more families join us!  We hope you are enjoying your DVD of our school year!  We will miss all our friends moving on to kindergarten in the fall, but we know they will have a wonderful time in kindergarten!  To our kindergarten friends and families: Make sure to come back and visit!!

Dinosaurs and Gardening!

What ARE the similarities between dinosaurs and gardens?  Well, they are both awesome activities we have enjoyed recently! 

The children LOVED the dinosaur exhibit at the Putnam museum!  After a brief moment of fear as the dinosaurs moved and roared, the children kept going back to see the dinosaurs!

We also enjoyed sitting in a boat, climbing a "tree house", "swimming" under the ocean with the fish and octopus and climbing in a submarine!

Exploring the textures!

Hmmm....what does it say?

"Choo Choo train...Choo Choo Train!"

Exploring the under the sea area!

Making the dinosaur roar...and roar...and roar!

Riding in the boat!

Watching the fish "under the sea"

Yikes!  There's a dinosaur behind us!  Run!

Seriously people; bus rides are the coolest!

Then again, some of us thought the bus ride back to school was JUST as cool as the dinosaur exhibit! :)

Wow!  Look at all those flowers we get to plant!

And more recently, we've enjoyed gardening!  The children worked all morning helping to get the garden ready, then planting all kinds of plants!  We planted herbs, lettuce, carrots, peas, radishes and flowers!

Yep!  Dinosaurs and Gardening are both awesome activities!  We can't wait to get out in our garden again to do some more planting...and digging in the dirt...and scooping!  Now if only we could bring some dinosaurs to the garden! :)