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Monday, September 26, 2011

Classroom Fun!!

Okay, so I finally uploaded my photos of our fun activities we did over the past two weeks in class.  This being my first year in Pre-K, I found myself taking a lot of photos because everything my little kiddos were doing impressed me so much!  I'm also linking up with CFC's awesome blog to let everyone take a peek in my planbook!  So be sure to check out all the awesome ideas everyone posted & be sure to leave feedback! :)

 Annnnndd.... here we go, my first linky party, annnnnd my first blog about things I'm doing in my classroom! I hope you enjoy!

The kiddos practiced their names with clothes pins on laminated sentence strips.  I was sure to write the clothes pin letters on BOTH sides of the pins, just incase the pins were backwards.  This activity really surprised me because it took the kids a good while to complete it.  We will definitely be working on more activities to improve their fine motor skills!  Either way, they definitely loved this activity!


 
Next, my kiddos made mosaic names!  I applied the glue for them and provided small construction paper squares.  We also discussed the letter formation of each letter, as I applied the glue in the way in which you write the letters.  Does that make sense? The kids were so impressed about how they were able to decorate their names!  They're really going to love it next week when we do a similar activity but with balls of colored tissue paper!


 
I really loved this activity!  I wrote each kids name on a sentence strip, and then again on a second strip and cut it into pieces, laminated and added Velcro!  Each kiddo had to match their letters to spell their names! 



 
I was really impressed with our first day of peg boards!  One of my little ones made a red border around the board, this was really interesting to me because from what I've seen most of my little kiddos just put the pegs in any order! 



 
We got a little creative this week with magnetic letters!  Each student practice spelling their names on magnetic boards, and also practiced matching letters on a ABC placemat!



The next few things were to practice our fine motor skills!  Each kid practiced the appropriate uses for scissors and learned how to manipulate them.  To make it a little easier on their first try, the kids cut up pieces of thick contact paper scraps!  I got these from another teacher!  I didn't think it was a great idea at first, but it worked out awesome and was actually a lot easier for the kids to cut than regular paper!  The thickness of the contact paper allowed them to grip it better and to learn to cut! 


  
 I also loved this activity from Lakeshore!  (Click the link to go directly to the product/item info)  The kids practice their fine motor skills by feeding the animals!  THEY LOVE THIS!!  They make munching noises as they feed the bunny, puppy and monkey (not shown).  I highly recommend this product if you teach students who need to work on their fine motor skills!



Sunday, September 18, 2011

I Made It!

Well, it's official... I made it through my first week in Pre-K!  Coming from second grade, I definitely underestimated all the little things kids learn from the lower grades before coming to our classrooms!  It is impossible to try to list all the things they have not been taught or that they have not seen before, but I'm sure you can get the idea!  My little kiddos were eager and ready to come to their very first day of school...EVER!  Of course there were some tears, but by the end of the day everyone was sweetly snuggled on the floor for their nap and my assistant and I were wiping our brow in relief!  Only to find out nap is a bitter sweet experience if it's your first day and you didn't know you were supposed to make all the kids go to the potty before going to sleep. (Lesson learned)

I'll definitely post SOON to share pictures of our centers and fun activities we did this week!  I know this is SUPER short, but I felt I needed to post something since I've apparently neglected my new blog already!!