Preschool Graduation and Program

It is always such a joy and privilege to get the opportunity to teach and care for every child entrusted to me! These three are moving on to kindergarten and I will miss them tons! I know they will do great and any kindergarten teacher will be so lucky to have them in their class!

Oh and the program is always so much fun...

Although I am not their parent,

I care for them each day.

I cuddle, sing and read to them

And watch them as they play.

I see each new accomplishment

And help them grow and learn.

They come to me for comfort.

I soothe away their tears.

They proudly show their work to me.

I give the loudest cheers.

No, I am not their parent,

But my role is just as strong.

I know someday the time will come,

When we may have to part.

But I know each child I have cared for,

Is forever in my heart!

May I Please Have a Cookie?

 

The book of the month for March is "May I Please Have a Cookie?" written by Jennifer E. Morris. This is a fun story about Alfie who loves his mommy's cookies. He wants one more than anything! But grabbing for one, fishing for one, and dressing up as a cookie inspector don't seem to work. His mommy says there is a better way. What is it? Saying PLEASE!

This story is a fun way to talk about using the word please with children! We played a game with cookies that went along with the story. Older children asked for different letter cookies and younger children asked for different color cookies. 

Below are the directions.

Sort the cookies so each player has one of each color or one of each letter, depending on which game you are playing. Take turns asking for a cookie from the other player. “May I have a red cookie please?” "May I have a letter A cookie?" This is a simple game to practice taking turns and to help young children learn colors or letters, while being polite. The cards can also be used to play memory or as a matching game.

3D Art

 

When children are given materials to create with many times young children will create art that is flat and on paper. To get children to create more three dimensional art the teacher needs to provide a material to build off of or that can be used to attach items together. 

Foam, play dough or recyclable objects work great as a starting place to 

get children to think about creating three dimensional art. 

Hot Chocolate Shop

 Winter time is a great time to share a cup of hot chocolate with a friend. 

We turned our dramatic play center into a hot chocolate shop! 

So much learning can take place while children are pretending! 

The children took turns ordering hot chocolate and cookies as customers and other children were taking the orders. We counted out money as we ordered different size cups of hot chocolate. We had small, medium and large cups. As the orders came in the children also wrote down what was ordered.

Our hot chocolate and marshmallows were made out of felt.

 At clean up time the felt pieces turned into a sorting game.

We read a recipe when making hot chocolate.

We read a menu to find out how much things cost.

Book of the Month

Reading with children and instilling a love for books is one of the most important things to do with young children. Here at Lighthouse Learning Center we read several books each day that are meaningful and interesting to the children. Activities are also provided to expand learning with books. Props to retell stories are provided along with games related to books we have read. Each month a new book and activity will be sent home with the children. Check here for additional activities to do with your child related to the book of the month.

 

February 2014

Valentine Friends

By: April Jones Prince

 March 2014

May I Please Have a Cookie?

By: Jennifer E. Morris

Valentine Friends

The book of the month for February is 

"Valentine Friends" written by April Jones Prince. This book is a great book to use with young children as well as older children. 

The simple words on each page make it easy to focus on vocabulary with younger children. "I found the cat, can you find the cat?" "What is that cat doing." "Oh, the cat is cutting." The book also encourages children to create a valentine card or bake a valentine treat for a friend.

Older children can use this book in many ways too. Each page contains two words that start with the same sound. It can be used to work on sounds that they hear at the beginning of the word. Children can point to each word in the book as you read the story. Encourage children to figure out each word by looking at the pictures and by reading the first letter of each word as clues to what the words on the page says. 

This book of the month is being sent home with a matching game with words that start with the same sound. The matches are (Penguin - Pours) (Cat – Cuts) (Dog – Draws) (Snail – Shuts)

Igloos, Penguins and Snow

We were super excited 

to receive this kit from 

Scholastic Book Clubs. 

All we needed was some snow!

To get ready for our fun, I 

put together a couple of 

igloos and then sprinkled water 

on top. The igloos then went 

back into the freezer until we 

were ready to play.

The kids loved to see how much snow and penguins could fit into an igloo. 

Gloves kept their hands warm while playing in the snow.

 

The igloos held up really well and I was able to store them in the freezer after we were done playing. We used the same igloos for several days. Once we were done and the snow was melting outside, we placed an igloo and penguin outside to watch it melt. It took 2 days and it was fun to check on the changes of the igloo each day.