Miss Stacey's Preschool Classroom: Brrrrr!

What crazy weather we have been having this month! All these cold temperatures and wind are making us all so excited for spring! I think the students are ready for a consistent recess schedule too! Even with the cold, we had a great time in preschool this week. Our big focus this week was rhyming. They loved it! Rhyming can be a confusing skill for some, but the students all did a great job. They continued to keep thinking of rhyming words all week long, even when we weren't necessarily working on it.

Our letter this week was Nn and our number was 10. We have a unique way of talking about our numbers and introducing some skills they will need in kindergarten. To show our numbers we have been using small unifix cubes. So far we have counted out these unifix cubes individually to show the numbers 1-9. We call each cube a "tater tot" and the students think it's so funny. Things got a little more interesting in math this week when we worked on number 10. Now that we have reached #10, the "tater tots" now have connected all together and formed a "french fry" (again, many laughs from the students!). A "french fry" can only have 10 cubes. No more. No less. This is a fun way to introduce students to the ten stick that they will use for years to come. They are very anxious to see what happens with number 11 this coming week. Below is an example of what we have been using. The left would be a "french fry" and the right would be our "tater tots".

For small groups this week, we worked on new skills as well as skills we have already visited. Since we did lots of sorting last week, one of our small groups was one where they could apply all they've learned. We had a big container of buttons of a sizes and shapes. The students were able to sort them into groups however they wanted. Our next small group worked on our new skill of rhyming. We played a game where the students were each given a card with a picture on it. Then Miss Kaye showed the students a game mat with lots of pictures on it. Miss Kaye said the name of one of the pictures and the students had to figure out if their picture card matched the picture that Miss Kaye showed and read. Our last small group was another fun game. This game was called "Roll and Record". The students got an opportunity to work with partners for this dice game. We had a piece of paper with the numbers 1-6 at the bottom and several boxes above those numbers. The students took turns rolling the dice and then writing (or recording) their number in the box above the correct number. They kept playing until one of their numbers "won" and filled up all the boxes. It was a great way for them to practice writing their numbers!

We had another fun "Science Friday" this week! I took advantage of the cold outdoor temperatures and froze some water. To make things even more fun for the kids, I froze the water in some rubber gloves so that our ice would be in the shape of a hand. They loved it! Then we talked what the big snow plow trucks do with it's snowy and icy outside. Many students knew that they drop sand and salt so we decided to see what would happen if we put sand and salt on our frozen hands. They enjoyed seeing the hands start to melt, especially where we placed the ice.

Upcoming events:

Next week we will move on to letter Ii and #11 and begin our topic of hibernation. You should have been given a note about our Valentine's Day party in your students folder. Let me know if you'd like to come join in on the fun or if you'd like to help us with some supplies or treats. Conferences are also right around the corner on February 18, 19, and 20. Stay warm out there!!

The pictures above show our new preschool ice skating rink! The kids loved it this week! They can skate on the plastic or pretend to sell hot cocoa at the hot cocoa stand.