Here's to Unit 1: Belonging!!

The New School Year is off to a great start. Here are some photos of learning in action. Students are "living" life at our Preschool. A day in the Preschool is certainly different than at home. Here we have songs to sing, routines, rituals, plans to make, new friends to play with, centers to learn in, and a playground that offers so many gross motor activities for all kiddos.  There are so many ways to contribute to
 Check out how our Peacocks are learning to productively contribute to our groups and society.

Welcome to the Day. After greeting their teacher at the door, Mrs. Bratcher's students gather at the carpet to work puzzles, read books, and get to know one another better.

**Seeing what kids try and like helps us get to know them  better.

 What are your morning/afternoon start of the session rituals? 

After this time, classmates gather to hear from a special student a message he/she wants to share. Mrs. Bratcher then writes it on the easel for all to see and they all chorally read to practice fluency with written text.

**What a wonderful way to let kids see CAP in action, writing of words, and chorally read!

 What writing do you do with your kids so they can see the connection between the words we say, the sounds we hear, and the letters we write that carry a message?

 

Play Plans: Following some fun on the carpet- exploring with a variety of toys books and puzzles, Mrs. Clark supports her learners as they make a plan for their play-based learning centers. Students share the three places they want to play, and how they might play in one of those areas.

**What a prime time to support and hold high expectations for kids to speak in complete sentences: "I want to play in the __________ area/center."

"I will ___________"

  How does your class select centers and create play plans? 

 

Small Groups (or Intervention): When plans have been made and kids are enjoying their learning-based play in the centers, this affords us time to push in to push learning. Mrs. Putlak is using the ABC arc to help this student grow with letter ID and sounds that match. 

 **Pushing in and sharing a research-based strategy targets and motivates students to gain in specific understandings and/or skills.

  What research-based strategies do you use with your kids? 

Transitions: Of course, all play must come to an end, and that is when we transition students to clean up and move to a different area. Ms. Cheek's routines and rituals afford students the opportunity to select the clean up song (today was a Disney tune) to play on the speakers and shows the visual for the play center (just finishing #2 in this case), so students can know that they have to finish their cleanup responsibilities and move to the carpet before the song ends.

 **Visual and Auditory triggers are known to support learners in being successful with routines and rituals.

What cues do you use with your kids? 

 

While this post did not highlight all parts of our day, it's a start. Our Peacocks are definitely gaining a better understanding of "this preschool thing".  :)

 More to come next week!

YUMMY Literacy Learning- Growing Veggie Soup!

Great things happen when you explore Growing Vegetable Soup! Lois Ehlert's book was a HIT for our little learners at the Oldham County Preschool. Teachers read, students retold and even made their own version of vegetable soup this week. All kinds of learning happened as students thinking blossomed in the house area, block center, and in student's writing. Check out the student work and students in action below. 

It is exciting to see students creating plans for their play-based learning time. Developing writers help us to see the powerful pretend play in which they will engage.



Reading to friends is so fun. This little literacy lover is retelling the story with the pictures as her peers listen closely. You can also see the vegetable soup she made in the drama area. Yummy!

 

Seeds have a sequence they follow to grow into plants! Students drew and wrote about the growth: from seed to plant. Each one shared their own version of how a plan grows. Some "grew" flowers, other grew vegetables. Thank goodness all of their seeds grew- wish we could all have such luck! :)

Writing away! This one is copying garden theme words to tell stories about. Modeling how much fun something is can really pay of when students choose to grow as literacy learners in the writing area. 
 

Ten Black Dots Sparks a LOT... of creativity!

This book is an inspiration! It's about numbers! It's about rhyming! It's about imagining and inspiring! And kids took off making their own visions come to life on paper this week. Check out the pictures below.

 

Rosie's Walk: Literacy Math & More

We are wrapping up Unit 4 with a little Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins. Little did we know how much our kids would LOVE Rosie the Hen (um...rooster?). Regardless of her official animal classification, the kids loved engaging in SHARED WRITING and MATH GAMES.

 

Check out some of the instructional learning our kids did this past week!

Mrs. Sibley's and Mrs. Bratcher's Rhyme Makers.
Saying, Sorting, and Writing Rhyming Words.
 



Loving Rosie's Walk board game. These little boys LOVED getting stuck in the bees. AHHHH!
With subitizing, counting, and one-to-one ...not to mention comprehension of what happened to Rosie on her walk, this game was a WINNER!

 There are two components of subitizing; conceptual and perceptual. Perceptual subitizing is the instant visual recognition of a pattern such as the dots on a die. Conceptual subitizing is recognizing smaller groups and adding them together, such as two dots plus two dots equals four dots.

Building log cabins? Constructing a General Store? Making Rosie's Hen House?  Regardless of the structure, these young engineers are using their measurement, weight, and balancing understandings to make something from 'nothing." 

Letter and letters. Communicating with others is
what it's all about, right?

Putting letter learning to use! Sounding out
I   LV   U is one message worth searching for- I bet Mom would agree. :) 



Shared writing with Rosie's Walk.



Making Stories with 5+ word Sentences!

Ms. Cheek's literacy love is enjoying some time playing with letters in the literacy center!

Unit 4 Week 1 Learning and Fun

From Making Numbers to Making Campfires (like life long ago) Fun, kids at OCP are learning and playing with important concepts. Check out what is happening in some of your colleagues' rooms this week. What can we add to show off your learning and fun with Unit 4?

Making 5...or 7...or 10. It's all about differentiating to grow each learners' understanding of numeracy.

Campfires bring to life the "ways of long ago". These campers were fixing a lantern that "burnt out" and were just about to tell "Once Upon a Time" stories by their "cozy, warm campfire".

How would you break apart the sounds in this word- pat? /p/ /a/ /t/. Yes, let's move the chip each time we say a sound!

Oreos are fun to work with as we make 5. Too bad she couldn't eat them!

Blending sounds. Here are two pictures, what word am I saying? /c/ /a/ t/- Points to the cat. Says "cat".

Making 5 three different ways with beads and glue. Notice the fine motor skills being developed. Oh, and each wrote their very own name on the back. :)

Valentine's Day as the Hook for Math & Literacy Learning

It would not take but a second for anyone to walk into Oldham County Preschool and know that it's nearing Valentine's Day. But stay a minute longer and you will see that it's not all "Hearts and Fluff" when it comes to meaningful learning for our students.
 
Teachers took this week to consider their TSG math and literacy data and create meaningful learning experiences for their individual classes. Notice the needs being met in the small group learning experiences below.
 
 

Mrs. Honeycutt's kids are working on fine-motor skills by cutting Valentine's and writing messages to loved ones.  Whether she supports the child sounding out letters, or offers to trace students' requested words, there is a lot of literacy going on in this center!
 

 

Ms. Prather supports her student as he places 4 hearts in graduated order. She is then taking data to ensure that she is tracking the students' successes and areas to revisit with additional instructional.



 


Mrs. Bratcher supports students in making I LOVE YOU Valentine cookies. Students match letters to print and then bake their cookies in the play oven. Mrs. Bratcher then requests certain letters she would "love to eat!"







This friend in Mrs. Ziegler's room is matching right quantity of tiny hearts to the numeral on the big heart.



 

 

Mrs. Ziegler facilitates her group as they cut and create Valentine cards for loved ones. He could not wait to show off his I "heart" u" card that will go home to his mom.

Who does not love chocolate?  Mrs. Clark introduces her small group to a letter matching came. Just match the Upper Case letter to the Lower Case letter and WooHoo you've made a yummy chocolate match!



Mrs. Legg set up her friend with a number and dot matching game. Practicing matching Valentine hearts to the numeral and quantity is key for our little mathematicians.



Mrs. Sibley joins in the fun of matching heart halves. Her students work to make a complete heart by matching the numeral to the right quantity.

Ms. Cheek's student designs a work of art with Name Sticks. Alyssa is very much enjoying writing her name and designing where she would like to place her sticks. (They were in different places just moments before). Revision is key. Let's celebrate her creativity.

 

 
 
 

Win-Win: Infusing Rhyming and Positively Impact Behavior

Struggling to get your gaggle in a line to walk down the hall? 
Feeling like your kids are not as adept at rhyming as you know they need to be?
The struggle is real.


Check out these great Line Up Songs from Ms. Jones' Room (.com)