Brown Bear Brown Bear week

This week, coming up, we will begin to explore more with colors. We will read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see?" By: Eric Carle all week. Many activities will be centered around this book:

• roll and cover brown bear game (roll and color the correct color and number)
• felt board retelling of Brown Bear
• memory match with Brown Bear characters 
• class book "Octopus Class, Octopus Class. What do you see?" (writing names and pictures of the children)
• I like colors emergent reader book (hand prints of the colors with beginning sight words I like (color word)
• crayon color sort-using fine motor skills with the tweezers to sort items onto the crayon
• M&M sorting onto the Brown Bear mats
• Brown Bear retelling chart 

The Building Blocks of Life in the Octopus Room...

The block center officially opened on Monday. It was my small group lesson for the day. We explored how to play, previewed two books (blue prints) that could spark an idea for a building, discussed the rules and safety when using BIG blocks. Each group got a chance to explore creating with blocks and how to clean up once the clean up song was played. It was amazing to watch what they created and how quickly they have adapted to the routines in place in the classroom!

 

Busy Octopi...

Reese and Rayna creating a new building for our "blue print" collection



art center table filled with many Octopi

Many centers of the classroom have become open and available. This week the block center, sensory table, scissors at the art table, and easel for painting all opened up creating opportunities for cooperative play and new friendships!

Aarya and Connor completing puzzles

Leah busy painting a dandelion

Austin and Marshall working on colors and numbers

 

Sensory Table Explortation...

So many things have been happening in the Octopus Room. Slowly but surely the room has been opening up. I start with my classroom available for play and exploration but with limited items and activities. The reason for that is because I follow the approach of Responsive Classroom. That means I have centers "closed" (reading environmental print-STOP signs) until we have a guided discovery. With a guided discovery the children get to hear procedures/rules of the center, how to or possible ways to play, and of course time to explore with limited peers and an adult present.

 

The sensory table has finally been opened! Inside are uncooked noodles with a variety of sizes and shapes. Pipe cleaners are also provided in order to provide a unique way to practice lacing (fine motor) skills.

It was really tricky making such neat "bracelets" and "necklaces" and not being able to take those home; thankfully Thursday (today) we made bracelets by lacing beads onto a pipe cleaner that DID get to come home! Hopefully your child got to show off their new jewelry!

 

My little Octopi not only are getting practice with fine motor skills during play; they are also getting practice with cooperative play within the center, and name recognition (finding their name in order to sign up to play in the center)!



First day of Preschool 2015-2016

....and we are off! The first day of school was a very fast and fun day! We got to experience the first full day as an Octopus! Lots of new experiences, lots of new friends, LOTS of new rules. Our day included:

• arrival routine
• free play with ALL the octopi
• group time (we learned new songs "hello neighbor" "days of the week" "goldfish song" "wheels on the bus")
• playground
• story and snack
• music and movement
• small group/muscle room
• dismissal

"Glue is sticky, Glue is fun, Look at what we have done!"
Our first small group was exploring a guided discovery about glue sticks! We know that we don't put them on our lips (because then we can't talk), we know we don't put it in our hair (because we don't have a bathtub at school), we put it on paper!! We have not explored scissors yet, so these little Octopi used their hands to "rip and tear" to create a picture with glue! I had a variety of pictures that their imaginations created from castles, to dinosaurs, stairs, to shapes; even a robot Octopus! This is going to be such a fun, creative, and great year!

Final products :) "Glue is sticky, Glue is fun, Look at what we have done!"

Phase in day...

Phase in day has come and gone! Wow what a whirl-wind of a day. I am so appreciative for all the parents who were able to take time out of their days to help your child make a smooth transition into the Octopus Room!
So many things happened today....many new friends were made, and some "old" connections played catch up. We had practice saying, and reading friends names, learned how to "shake it", read our first of many stories about talking crayons, and even colored a picture!
Hopefully everyone gets a great night sleep, and is ready for the first FULL day of preschool tomorrow!!
I know I am :)



Drew Miller, Maxine Tee, Mila Sanker, and Asher Craddock are going to be fantastic Octopi! They worked so hard on creating the perfect Octopus with lots of colors!



Anna Little and Zaid Nazir (PM class) busy working on their first "job" as an Octopus. Coloring with markers and crayons, remembering the rules, and making a great piece of art :)

First day jitters :)

 I am so excited to have the classroom filled with stories, meeting new friends, laughing, and "busy school sounds" from all the new and returning Octopi in a few days!
It has been a busy week getting to meet everyone that is new to the Octopus room, and catching up on summer details with my returning Octopi :)

The classroom cubbies are set up with MORE mail for mom and dad to read!

Octopus names are patiently waiting on the door ready to be hung up on the cubbies!

 I will always have our mascot flag waving proudly outside the door, along with my smiling face each day to greet the children :)

 Responsive classroom is such a wonderful philosophy that our building uses as an approach to learning. I have a "take a break" section that is very inviting and calming in case someone has a sad or mad day. We do a lot work introducing strategies that can help calm you down (i.e. wall pushes, rocking in the chair, deep breathes, etc.). The giant leaf is suppose to be similar to our story "When Sophie gets Angry, Really, Really Angry..." and the tree she climbs to just "get away."

Learning how to take turns while playing games is one of the many things we practice in preschool!

Reading is  a HUGE part of our classroom. I have a very cozy set up for the children to read and/or listen to stories that are connected to our theme. For the start of school, until October we will be "Diving into preschool..." All of our books are currently related to school. We will talk about each center, the expectations while playing in that center, how to clean up, and of course how to have fun!

We learn many different concepts in the science center. This is a great place for the children to get to explore their five senses. I am starting the school year with learning and exploring with colors. Currently the science center ties into one of our read aloud's, "Brown bear, brown bear what do you see?" Matching colors, as well as matching real animals to "pretend" pictures. There are handles for color mixing, using their eyes to watch the magic happen (blue/yellow=green, red/yellow=orange blue/red=purple). I have some children literature on the table as well that tie into the color theme :)

Puzzles are an excellent way to work cooperatively together to complete a task. That is something we also work on everyday in preschool!

So many smiling faces!
For the first few weeks of school we really focus on recognizing our names in print; not just our own names but our friends, and teachers :)
Learning to read their names makes them aware of print, that it carries meaning, and is a great way to introduce writing words in stories!
One of our first books that we will make will relate to "Brown Bear...;" it will be "Octopus Class, Octopus Class What do you see?"
Predictable text, and our names and faces; such a great way to begin those emergent reading skills!