Goodbye to my 2011- 2012 Pre-K Class

It is one of the hardest things... yet we count down the days til school is over.  Well we cut school short 20 days, because Georgia Pre-K was cut.  That's an ENTIRE MONTH of school.  I see my kids making such huge strides, to feel that the last month is a great learning experience to them to continue on, yet I had to say goodbye, and hope they do well over the summer.  I had the opportunity to teach a class of 22 this year, with I believe 2 speaking English as their first language, many other languages spoken at home.  I am grateful I had a wonderful co-teacher, and this year really turned out great! I will miss my awesome kids, and hope the parents take me up on the "drop me an email, let me know how Kindergarten goes"

Sticky Easel

I got this great idea from somewhere.  Over the last 2 weeks we had strips of paper, then yarn, this week we started with pattern wooden blocks.  The kids find it cool and I had one actually create something.  He is very creative! It's a mouse trap.. see the mouse and his hole.  The string is his path.  Could it be because we are reading Mouse and the Motorcycle?

Spring

is almost here... the birds singing, the trees budding, the weather... well the weather has been a bit crazy.  We only have 5 more weeks of school, since Pre K was cut to 160 days this year.

For Spring we are discussing the Earth, Plants, Bugs and Life Cycles.

I have made a few vocab words for these topics.  Hope you can use them.

Spring Large Vocab Words

Spring Small Vocab Words

Green Eggs and Ham

For Dr. Suess' birthday we made green eggs and ham.  We also made books about Green Eggs and Ham.  I found it on the scholastic page.  They turned out great.  I made some rhyming words to go with the books.  Here they are in small vocab form.
Dr. Suess Rhyming Cards

Field Trip to the Fern Bank Museum

Today we headed out to the Fern Bank Museum.  It was a drive down into the city.  This was the very first field trip for my kids.  They were more than excited.  We were lucky to have 3 kids per adult, thanks to wonderful parents that were able to come.  I was a little concerned talking my little ones out to a huge museum but confident they would do fine. They made us so proud!!! The museum is great and has so many hands on activities.  They have a nature quest that lets you see where animals live totally interactive, a wildlife rescue of endangered species again totally interactive.  Then the dinosaurs, and other habitats in Georgia.  We were also able to go up to the exploring science area, many of it was well over their heads but they were loving it and checking it all out.  I think my favorite part of the day was at lunch when everyone got back together and every child had a huge smile and was saying Ms. Amy, I saw....., it was neat, big... whatever.  They all had something to share with me.  That was when I knew that our field trip was a huge success!!!!

Plus we got 5 compliments today from the bus rides to the chaperons, that is 5 closer to our ice cream party.

Fun Books that Teach Great Lessons

I just went overboard buying books on Amazon, but for buy 3 get 1 free how could I not!

I got a book called Personal Space Camp... we read it the other day.  The kids really loved it.  We are working hard on our personal space.  We actually just moved our carpet out of our circle area and started using carpet squares.  Same amount of room... tons more space!
I let them all sit/lay down one at a time on the rug.  Most laid down.  Then I started the story... 2 pages in "OUCH, he's in my space.... STOP!" we all got up and then discussed how it made us feel and why we were upset.  We still have a few culprits but we are working on it daily.

Then we read My Mouth is a Volcano - same author.  I have a few boys who can't help but TALK RIGHT THIS SECOND!  It seems to be working.  We are doing some exercises along with them and it's great!

I recommend them they are fun and silly but teach important concepts for this age!

Large Group Literacy - Georgia Pre-K

I am still new to Georgia Pre-K, this is my second year, so I am still learning.  I went to a CLASS training but was picking up ideas for LGL from others.  Here are some ideas

Book:  Three Billy Goats Gruff
Day 1: Picture Walk Through Book - discussing what  is happening by using the pictures
Day 2: Reading the story in the book
Day 3: Shared reading with the children - reading the easy repetitive parts
Day 4: Acting out the story - we used a drum and sentence strip hats)
Day 5: Acting out the story - the rest of the kids
You could also have them make an alternative ending, or retell the story, or read another version discuss what is different what is the same.

KWL
Day 1: What do they know about _____________?
Day 2: What do they want to know about _____________? (if you have time to fit it into day 1 when they are ready go for it)
Day 3: What did they learn?

Poems
Day 1:Write a poem (or copy one from somewhere - I play on doing one from where the sidewalk ends)
Day 2: Share reading of the poem

Class Books:  I want to be _____ when I grow up.
Day 1: Have students draw, write what they want to be when they grow up.
Day 2: after putting the book together read it together.  When it's Lily's turn she stands up and you say When I grow up I want to be a _____ and Lily answers.  If they can say the entire sentence that works too.

Big books are you friends too.

Telling and making up stories.  I love telling stories and I have yet to do this because I had no idea.

Story Mapping: Who are the characters? What is the setting?  What is the problem(s)? What is a solution?

Writing in journals. Then having the child dictate what they are drawing/writing.

Reading a book such as Felix Gets Sick than acting out what happens when you go to the Dr. office.

Fill in the blank stories. Kind of like a mad lib.



Hope this helps!!!

Special Moment

I have a child who started in late November.  He came in hitting and snatching.  He has been making strides ever since.  The last few weeks instead of hitting he has been crying or whining, but that's the next phase.  We are really working on using our words and again making huge strides one day at a time.
Today he came to me and handed me a piece of folded up paper telling me it was for me. I open it up and there are 2 little people:
I said who is this?
He told me it was himself and I and that we were going on a field trip together to another school.

Then he wrote his name (for one of the first times ever) and brought it to me.  Pointing to his name saying this is my name and pointed to the M and said this is your name.

Tears in my eyes and he said I like coming to school =)

it makes it all worth it doesn't it!

Rocking at Recycling

We have been discussing recycling all year.  We recycle paper, plastic and anything we can in our classroom.  I take it home at the end of the week.  We just started recycling our snack/lunch cups.  I never though to because it would be messy.  One of my kids showed me the recycle symbol and said "look we can recycle this"  So now we have a bin next to our trash for recyclables (mostly plastic since paper is in science).  They are doing great! Reminding guests to recycle! We had cupcakes on Wednesday for a party and one of my kids pulled the package out of the garbage and said "Ms. Amy this can be recycled."  We looked and of course it could be.  Again today cupcakes (Feb is full of birthdays in my class!) and same kid making sure we recycled them.  They remind each other and the teachers.  Today we went back to styrofoam cups, and one of my kids points to the bottom and says "Look we can recycle this"  and what do you know we could it's a #5 plastic! So here I leave again with a huge bag of plastic and paper that my kids have remembered to recycle.  It makes me so proud of them since they are our future and our planet's future! It has to start with them!

- one proud teacher!-make that two =)

Sites that are inspiring......

I get a lot of ideas from other sites.  These two below are amazing!!!

PreKinders

Pre-K Pages

We are doing the family projects in our classroom and the kids love them.  You can get them here:
Pre-K pages Family Projects
it's a great way to get the families involved!

Firefighter Visit

Today the firefighters came to our school for a visit! It was great! I actually got to suit up! No, I didn't make it in the 2 minutes needed but I"m not looking on changing jobs.  The kids LOVED it! We talked about not being scared of the firemen, but I thought it would show them just what happens.  After I was all suited up the kids wanted to come check me out.  I will say being completely covered in a 70 pound suit with about 60 kids running towards you a little freaky! I'm just glad I didn't fall over or hurt anyone.

Vocabulary Word Cards

this is new so please let me know if this doesn't work TIA!!!

Polar & Wild Animal - small vocab

Polar & Wild Animals - large vocab

Our community includes: transportation, occupations, tools, and our city

Our Community - small vocab

Our Community - large vocab

Thanks for checking out Ms. Amy's Pre K

This is my 2nd year teaching Georgia Pre-K and I am learning more and more everyday! We are going on our first really big field trip at the end of the month to the Fern Bank! My kids are super excited and so am I.  During February we are doing Community Helpers (I know Fern Bank?) but we just finished Dinosaurs and Animals.  Since our year is shortened we are ending in April so I'm trying to find a feel for our themes since we can be creative!

Hope you enjoy!