Pizza

Wooohoooo! I'm off to Playa del Carmen! I have made some more felt stories and will post them when I return. Until then, I am taking a break from everything. Or I am going to try. It's hard not looking up fun things to do in class :)

I found this felt pizza in my classroom and forgot I had it. You could actually use it two ways.

One way I have used it is too reinforce the circle shape.  I add each piece one by one by and ask the children what shape I am putting up.  Then I ask them what topping they think it is.  I love all the different answers I get.

The other way I use it is by putting it up in the classroom for freeplay. It's so fun watching them use their imagination when they play with it. I'm sure there are other ways you can use this one. Be creative.

                                

Do You Know the Apple Man?

My sister is getting ready to get married tomorrow! And here I am posting this felt story hehe. Ok I'll make this one quick since they need the computer.

Here is a fun game to play with the children during the month of September. I always do the song once before I let the children participate so that they can get a feel for how the game is played. You sing the song and put the pieces up when that specific part of the apple man is called.

Here is what the pieces look like separated.

I don't know who wrote this song, but I believe I found it on the Perpetual Preschool website.

Apple Man

(Sung to: The Muffin Man)

Oh, do you know the apple man,

the apple man, the apple man?

Oh, do you know the apple man

who likes to play with me? 

(this is where I put up the main apple part)

Oh, he has a great big smile,

a great big smile, a great big smile,

Oh, he has a great big smile

and likes to play with me.

*Continue the song with the following lyrics, or make some up*

Oh, he has two blue eyes….

Oh, he has two green hands….

Oh, he has two green legs…

Oh, he has two yellow shoes…

Oh, he has one brown stem….

Oh, he has one green leaf…

You could add eyebrow, hands, a hat or any other pieces. Be creative.

Almost There

Today was our first staff meeting of the year. It went really good and I'm really excited to work with my new team! We are almost done with the classroom setup. We just have a few more touch ups to do and we will be ready for Monday, September 9th. 

Thank God I have such an awesome assistant who will be setting up the rest while I'm laying on the beach or swimming with dolphins! Actually, that's a little scary. I'd have to watch other people first before I try it. 

 Here are some pictures of my classroom in the final stages. I know it's not 100% done, but looks way better then when I started this blog. 

 

I had to finish up my newsletter today and wanted to share it with you. I'm always curious as to what other teachers do for their monthly newsletter. So in case anyone out there is like me, here is what mine looks like.

September Newsletter 2013

Classroom Cleaning

I finally went in to start on my classroom. It was a bit overwhelming. I mean look at it!

I didn't even know where to start. But I figured that my cupboards would be a good place. I started on them two weeks ago but didn't finish. So I took everything out and found things I didn't even know were there! Yikes! At least that's marked off of my checklist.

                                   

I was able to finish this cupbard and I turned my dramatic play area from this....

to this.

I am definitely not done yet, but it looked a lot better than when I first walked in. Don't you think?

I'm going back tomorrow. I only have until Thursday to finish. My sister is getting married Saturday and I'm off to Playa del Carmen Sunday! Wooo hoooo! Oh, but when I was there, I had a little visitor! One of my soon to be students stopped by to say hi :) My has she grown over the summer! Can't wait to start school. I'm so excited!

Five Little Pumpkins

This is one of my most favorite Halloween fingerplays ever! It's a big hit ever year. Whenever I would do this one during rug time I would always borrow my coworkers felt pieces. Then she moved :( very far away. Ok...not that far, but far enough that I can't use it. So I decided to make my own.

The flame comes off when you say, "And out went the light."

Here are the images I used to make them. Just copy, cut, paste into word and wala. You can easily make them as big or small as you'd like. Here is the pumpkin, bat and candle that I used. For the gate, I cut individual fence pieces and glued them together by gluing two long strips to the back of them.

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on the gate.
The first one said, “Oh, my it’s getting late.”
The second one said, “There are bats in the air.”  
The third one said, “We don’t care.”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run.”
The fifth one said, “I’m ready for some fun.”
Ooooo! Went the wind, and out went the light.
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

Good Morning Songs

Over the years I have used different good morning songs to start our rug times. Last year I introduced two new songs I found on Lisa Murphy's YouTube channel. One of them is a silly song that lets the children say hello with different parts of their bodies. This one is great for an All About Me theme. 

Here is a video of the songs.

Another song I like to use goes like this:

Good Morning Song
(To the tune of: If Your Happy and You Know It)

Teacher: Good morning boys and girls how are you?

Student: I’m Fine!

Teacher: Good morning boys and girls how are you?

Student: I’m Fine!

Teacher: Good morning boys and girls, good morning boys and girls, good morning boys and girls how are you?

Student: I’m Fine!

(After this verse, go around and name each child individually)

Teacher: Good morning to you (child’s name) how are you?

Student: I’m Fine!

Teacher: Good morning to you (child’s name) how are you?

Student: I’m Fine!

Teacher: Good morning to you (child’s name), good morning to you (child’s name), good morning to you (child’s name) how are you?

Student: I’m Fine!

I got this song from my beautiful coworker Tammy. It really helps shy children begin to learn how to overcome their fear of talking in front of people. Some years I have shy children who start off the year not participating at all and by January they are screaming, "I'M FINE!" I had a child one year who wouldn't speak in front of people at all. So, I came up with a simple "fist in the air" hand movement for them do to start with. That same child was participating at the end of the year!  Progress is progress no matter how small it may seem.

Do you have any favorite good morning songs?

Wiggly Worms

The themes I have planned for the month of September are: Back to School, Apples and All About Me. I wanted to make some stories and games that would go along with these themes. As I was searching the web, I came across this post here at Storytime ABC'S Blog! She made the cutest worms and I just had to make them. So I figured since worms and apples go together, I could sneak this into this month's lesson. 

So here are the worms. I really loved everything about her worms so I made them almost exactly the same. I drew these by hand and traced them onto felt. I will be using the same story that she used.

6 Wiggly Worms

One red wiggly worm lying under the sky so blue

Along comes an orange one and that makes two.

Two colorful wiggly worms squirming up a tree,

Along comes a yellow one and that makes three.

Three colorful wiggly worms searching for one more,

Along comes a green one and that makes four.

Four colorful wiggly worms into a puddle dive,

Along comes a blue one and that makes five.

Five colorful wiggly worms squirming across some sticks,

Along comes a purple one and that makes six.

1-2-3-4-5-6!

Spending all this time making these games and felt stories is getting me excited to use them! Let's see how many I can make this next week. Have a great Saturday!

The Beginning of My Preschool Blog

Hi all! My name is Analisa and I decided to start a blog about most things preschool. I say most things because Lord only knows what else I may feel like writing about ;) I teach 3 year olds and absolutely love it. And because I love it so much, I find myself spending the majority of my time looking up new ideas, games and art projects. I actually have wished and searched for a  preschool blog that would go into detail of their daily activities. I'm sure there might be one or two out there. I just haven't found one that is similar to the way my half day program is ran. So here I am starting this in hopes to give ideas to other teachers and of course to get feedback from all of you (Oh and by the way, I am in no way, shape. or form a good writer. Math is more my thing. So bare with me).

My first day back is September 9, 2013 and well I'll just show you what I'm going to do be doing next week.

Ahhhhh!!! Yes I know, I have tons of work to do. Hence the name of my blog ;) Apparently I like to work under pressure and wait to the last minute. I am going to try to get in there early next week. But considering my little sister is getting married next Saturday, I am not sure how it'll all work. I am so excited, happy and proud of that girl! She is an amazing sister and I know she will be the most amazing wife! 

Ok sorry, back to preschool talk. To give me some credit I have been working on felt stories for the past week and wanted to share some with you. The first one is for the month of September and will help me see which children know their colors. I am almost positive I got this one off of someone's site and of course I can't remember where. If you come across it please let me know so I can give them credit.

To make the apples I used our schools dye cut machine and just added brown stems and green leaves. I drew the worm on paper, traced it onto felt and cut it out.

Just in case you were wondering why my worm looks weird, my two year old goddaughter came over and kind of ripped his tail off. So until I make I knew one. This one will work. I made up a silly little rhyme that you are more than welcome to use. And if you are posting it on your blog please link up with me :) It goes like this:

Apples, apples everywhere

with a worm hiding, so beware.

He can’t be far, as you can see.

But where on earth can that little worm be? 

After saying this, or whatever rhyme you choose, give each a child a turn guessing which color apple the worm is under. I love saying these types of rhymes with funny facial expressions. The children get really into it. 

Well, that's it for today! I'll be adding a few more felt stories these next couple days and will be slowly learning how to "cute-isfy" my blog.