Smarty Pants Preschool

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

February!

February was FULL! We had several class parties, a Valentine's exchange, Celebrated Dental Health Month and More! The kids had a lot of fun taking turns with SIMON the smarty pants Snake! His journal of adventures with our class of 2011 is growing!

Here are the kids on Letter "Q" day. We talked about Kings & Queens! We made crowns decorated in jewels and the kids loved every minute.

The kids made very special Valentine's Frames for their moms! They LOVE glue...so anytime it's involved in our crafts they are HAPPY! They enjoy our crafts that include TREATS....glue one...eat one...glue one...eat one! It was a fun day an they turned out darling!

We also made LOVEBUGS! Complete with moving wings! We practicing our patterning and counting...while gluing hearts on the wings of these darling creatures! OUR goal was to master counting to 10....and pattern each wing alike. FIVE hearts (spots) per wing on our LOVEBUGS!

Letter "R" was a blast! We made Rockets, practiced our shapes and perfected using scissors!

It was a darling way for them to practice snip...snip...snipping.

They cut and snipped until flames shot out of the bottom of their Rockets!

February is also Dental Health month....SO we celebrated for an entire week!

We talked a lot about healthy foods vs, unhealthy foods, how to properly brush and how MANY TIMES PER DAY! We talked about sugar bugs (cavities) and what causes them and each child went home with a new HEALTHY TEETH KIT (toothbrush, activity book, flossers, etc.).

Miss Kristin also sent them home with a darling SMILE CHART and plenty of stickers!

The Smile Chart helps them remember to brush twice a day...and rewards them for doing so!

We also read Dr. Suess's "THE TOOTH BOOK" and learned that even our furry friends and pets have teeth that need to stay healthy!

We each practiced drawing sugar bugs (with dry erase markers) on our own TOOTH!

Then practiced brushing...brushing...brushing them away! Practice makes perfect!

We also used playdoh (for our sensory learning center) to mold sugar bugs onto our GIANT TEETH MODELS! Then used our toothbrushes to get them nice and clean again!

The kids LOVED THIS activity!

As I said...February was FULL.

Full of fun, celebrating holidays and LEARNING.

We are already well into MARCH...as hard as it is to believe!

We are busy hunting for Shamrocks and perfecting our colors while making Rainbows & pots of gold!

Come back to visit us and see what we're up to here at Smarty Pants Preschool!

Miss Kristin

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

January in Review!

January flew by! It's hard to believe it's already over.

The kids were ready to get back into a routine after Christmas Break...and worked hard!

We practiced our sorting, matching & Rhyming and held our Annual Parent Teacher Conferences.

It was great to visit with all the parents and take the time to evaluate each child on an individual basis. I am proud of them and how much they've learned so far this year! The change is remarkable.

We talked about zoo animals...particularly "L"IONS for letter "L" day.

It was also an exciting month because we introduced our Classroom Pet: Simon the Smarty Pants Snake.

We read a book about Simon...our class mascot...it teaches that we can GROW UP to be whatever we want....and that we can achieve anything we put our minds too! It is one of my favorite books...and they LOVED meeting their new friend.

Simon has a small cage and an Adventure Journal. He takes turns going home with each child for the weekend! They paste pictures and record their activities and many adventures with Simon in his journal and report back to our class! It has been a fun addition and created excitement to get us through these cold winter months in the classroom!

We learned all about the letter "P"...and the Pizza Man came to visit! He taught us how to make pizza, let us roll and toss dough and we ended with a PIZZA PARTY!

We also painted and made a Pizza Art Project...while mastering our shapes!

All the toppings were shapes we've been working on...and we loaded them up:)

The kids LOVE the apple tree game. It is a fun learning tool that teaches so many things in one! Pick an apple, count the number of seeds, flip it over and do what it says! Some may be actions like "clap your hands"...some may be Rhyming words...so we can practice. Practice makes Perfect Afterall!

We finished up "P" week by making/decorating our very own puppies! I found adorable stuffed puppies that they could decorate with markers! The kids LOVED them. Some have spots...some stripes and some a rainbow of colors.

It was a fun day! We had a FULL week and I think they all Mastered the letter "P"!

The last week of January was letter "O". We have been busy talking about the Ocean!

We made a little Ocean in a bottle...complete with rocks, seashells, sharks, dolphins and more.

The kids had a blast talking about underwater creatures!

Jaxson checking out his SHARK!

We are ready for February! Lots of fun parties planned...a field trip to a Bakery...and Lovebugs!

Update coming soon!

December: Merry Christmas!

December was a FULL month!

The kids were excited and ready for SANTA. We did so many fun activities and art projects. We practiced writing our NAMES and had a present exchange. We wrote and MAILED letters to Santa, made Reindeer and each got our own bag of Reindeer food to insure that SANTA knew where to stop!

LETTERS TO SANTA!

We mailed them in our Smarty Pants Mailbox!

Miss Kennedy practicing her Name.

Tracing letters!

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November RECap!

We had a great month of November here at Smarty Pants!

The kids had a wonderful time celebrating FALL.

We made Indian Headresses, Tom the Turkey's, Fall leaf rubbings, Scarecrows and had a darling Thanksgiving Feast. The holidays bring with them lots to look forward to and fun ways to learn!

We practiced our counting with Turkey feathers and acorns and we focused primarily on shapes and Patterning. We covered letters I, J and K.