November 21st, 2014

This week, we were interested in the incredible Ii.

I is for Iguana!

We also celebrated turkeys this week...

...and no holiday is complete without a handprint.

Or a hat.

When discussing Thanksgiving, we learned at-length about The Three Sisters.  When the Wampanoag came to the pilgrim's rescue after the winter of 1620, they showed them how to grow (and you can say this with your child) "the corn that grows so high, the beans that wrap around the corn stalk, and the squash that grows on the ground".  

The kids also collaboratively built a replica of the Mayflower.  Carefully noting the fundamental flaws of the original Mayflower being unable to carry enough food and water to sustain the passengers, my students built a freshwater pond in the middle of their updated ship that contained fish.  Problem solved.

We worked hard this week.

We built letter Ii's...

...we discussed its sounds.

When we were ready to create our i-icicles, we took it as an opportunity to get in some scissor practice as well.

Whether we're sister and brother...

...or brothers from another mother, we're thankful for our nearest and dearest.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

November 14th, 2014

Hay is for horses

This week we were introduced to the letter Hh.

We built them with playdough...

...we did some high tech writing...

...we did some low-tech writing.

This week, we also wrapped up our unit on community helpers.  We had a fun small group activity where we had to match cars to their numbered/lettered parking stalls.









We learned about dentists in our community...











...we learned about dogs who also help people in our community.

And we definitely didn't forget to thank the firefighters for coming to visit last week.

Some highlights...

"Thank you for letting us climb on to your firefighter office. You are the best!"

"Dear fire trucks, thank you for saving people's lives. I hope you have a good day, dear fire trucks." 

"Thank you, firefighters.  You are really, really cool. The best ever. Really, really thank you because I love your fire truck."

To help orient ourselves within the community, we studied maps this week.  We started simple and collaboratively put together a map of the classroom. 

...and eventually looked at globes and children from around the world.

On Friday, we teamed up with Miss Lauren's class and took a walking field trip around our Oceach Beach community.  The first stop was The Lazy Hummingbird Coffee and Tea.  We got to say hi to some of the patrons and coffee makers and we each got a hot chocolate. 

Special thanks to this community helper for serving 35 cups of hot chocolate...with whipped cream!

Our next stop was the Ocean Beach library.  Mrs. Smalls read us a book, Thanks for Thanksgiving, and then directed a reenactment of the pilgrims' story.  

After that, we stopped at the post office.  We made sure to mail our thank-you notes to the Ocean Beach fire station no. 15 and to firefighter Ryan.

Finally, we stopped at The Sanctuary Day Spa and said hello.  We got to smell all sorts of good smells, which was a nice way to wind down from our field trip.  I think several of the adults would have preferred to stay at this point. 

Cheers to the week!  It was a good one!

November 7th, 2014

G is for Gorilla!

This week we were introduced to the letter Gg

We also started a new unit learning about community helpers.  We'll first focus on emergency workers and then broaden our lesson to people in our neighborhood by next week. 

I've invited several visitors to the classroom over the next two weeks (and, if you feel like you might want to come in and talk about your job, I would be thrilled to have you).  Our first guest this week was Dr. Bui as she discussed her job as a family practitioner.  

Afterwards, we had fun with everything medical.

We still found time to learn our Gg's, though...

...and make G-Gorillas.

The next visitor in the classroom was a virtual guest.  Officer Ozeroff (my dad, a former D.A.R.E. officer) joined the classroom by Skype.  We talked a lot about safety, how police officers help, and parents getting tickets (the latter was brought up quite a bit by the children).

We also learned about fingerprints!

An extremely important lesson we covered all week long was how to call, and when to use, 911.  We practiced using several types of phones, getting used to locating and navigating the keypads. I also stressed the concept that, if the phone has a green button (sometimes it's labeled, "send", sometimes it just has an image of a phone receiver) it must be pushed after dialing 911.

Please take the time to show your child how to dial on your home/cell phone.  Every phone is different.

To ensure we don't misuse 911, we learned a special song this week:

(To the tune of Three Blind Mice)

9-1-1, 9-1-1

It's not for fun, it's not for fun

It's for an emergency

To get help for you or for me

Let's discuss it so we agree

9-1-1, 9-1-1

I love being a preschool teacher!

We found time for our golden, glitter-g's, too.

On Wednesday, we got to visit with Firefighter Ryan and local engine no. 15 for the  3rd year in a row.

This never gets old.

For the rest of the week, we learned our lessons firefighter style.

Whether we're working hard...

...or taking a "peace & quiet" break, we love preschool!