Blazin' Boards: We Heart Preschool!: February Happy Valentine's Day Heart Bulletin Board

What a heartbreaker! Our preschoolers marble-painted a slew of construction paper hearts to their little heart's desire! A few hearts are blank due to a few new students that will be joining us very soon.

The February bulletin board features the universally-know symbol of love with a preschoolers' touch. A little paint, a little marble, a little swirl in a box and ta-da gorgeous!

The other pinch-your-cheeks adorable little critters featured on the board come from the amazingly cute Create a Critter 2 cartridge from Cricut.

A Blizzard of Winter-Themed One-to-One Correspondence and Counting Math Ideas

Our Cold Weather Climates Unit may be frosty, but these math ideas are totally hot! Invite students to relish the joys of winter by playing these educational and entertaining chilly weather cutie pies!

Igloo Math Mat

Subject: Math: Identifying and recognizing written numerals, matching numerals  

To Do: Create an igloo from a coloring sheet or a Cricut cartridge using heavy card stock. Cut out and glue together. Write the numerals 1 - 6 on the igloo math mat within each of the squares. Buy or create a numeral die from a small box and colorful duct tape. If making the numeral die, place die-cut numbers on each of the sides. (Special thanks to my mother who ingeniously created this die).  Use small white pom-poms or cotton balls (snowballs) as markers to place on the igloo. 

To Play: Teacher gives each student an igloo math mat. Each student takes a turn rolling the die and identifying (naming) the number. The teacher then asks the student where the number rolled is located on the igloo (recognition) (ex. If number 5 was rolled, where is the number 5 on your igloo?). The student then places a snowball (white pom-pom or cotton ball) on the correct numeral. 

Walrus Face 1- to- 1 Correspondence Game 

Subject: One - to - One Correspondence (Roll a die, have the students count the dots on the die and place the amount of whiskers indicated by the die. (ex. rolled a 3, place 3 whiskers on the walrus face.), Understanding numeric amounts 

To Do: Go to http://squishideasforpreschool.blogspot.com/ for the walrus face template. Color the template either using ink stampers or markers and cut out. Use colorful pipe cleaners as markers and a foam dotted die bought from a dollar store. 

* For older students, you can create an addition game by having them roll both dies. The students then add the the rolled dies amounts together (ex. 4 + 6 = 10). 

To Play: Teacher gives each student a walrus face 1 to 1 correspondence Game. Students take turns rolling the foam dotted die and placing the correct number of whiskers as specified by the die (ex. 2 dots = 2 whiskers).  Continue until each student has had a turn. 

The Big Chill and Schools Out!: Activities to Do With Children on Snow Days

It's too cold to be squirreling around outside! 

Grab your parkas, mittens and assorted cold-weather gear because there is some serious sweater and long  johns weather in the Midwest this week! While the weather may be frightful, inside it's so delightful due to the fact that our daycare has been canceled in order to avoid frosty toes and chilly noses.

Make sure to beat the  "no daycare doldrums" by doing one of the following with your children:

• Read a favorite story about the snow (such as Jack Ezra Keats The Snowy Day). 
• Play in the snow for a few minutes (otherwise, Jack Frost will be nipping at your nose) and check out the animal tracks. Can you guess who made the tracks? 
• Bake cookies together and use cookie cutters with a winter theme. 
• Look on the Internet for play dough recipes to create an indoor snow man using buttons for eyes, toothpicks for arms etc.   
• Conduct a snow experiment (How long does it take for the snow to melt?) (Science: understanding the role of temperature in its ability to melt snow) 
• Use eye droppers and food coloring to color the snow.
• Create a "snow" sensory tub using packing peanuts and add assorted forest animals figurines. 
• Sort mittens, hats and gloves into winter clothing categories (Math - Sorting by winter clothing types).
• Sing the "Twelve Days of Christmas" song (Today is twelfth night).
• Create a snow globe using a baby food container. 
• Think of words which describe snow and create a snow word chart. (Language Arts: Early exposure to adjectives aka describing words) Ex. Soft, cold, slushy. 

Enjoy and keep as toasty as possible! 

Squirreling Around: Five Little Squirrels Flannel board (Letter "Ss" Activity)

The super, stunning, sensational and snappy letter "Ss" is stuck on our minds during this unit. This sturdy letter became "king of the alphabet" during a past math activity highlighting Five Little Squirrels.

These slippery, acrobatic characters with their bushy tails and winsome expressions squirmed into our circle time through this squirrely flannel board story.

*Please note the following flannel board story can be found on the Addison Public Library website (addisonlibrary.org). I altered some of the words in order to make sure they they were always in the tree. They were even sunning themselves in the tree.

Subjects: Language Arts: Retelling a story through use of props and Math - Pre-subtraction skills

To Do: Read the flannel board story, Five Little Squirrels and remove each squirrel as depicted within the story.

Sing, Sing a Song: Our Holiday Sing

Holy Jingle Bells! Has it really been a year since we had our last Holiday Sing? After a few min-meltdowns, wiggly moments and deer caught in headlights stares, the children belted out holiday favorites such as "Let It Snow" and a kiddie-friendly version of "Baby It's Cold Outside".

Rudolph's nose would have glowed a little brighter and Santa's jolly old Ho, Ho, Ho would have been breaking the sound barrier if they heard how awesome the children sounded and looked. They even performed the hand movements (which is a feat unto itself) for our little peppermint sticks!

My co-teacher and I wanted to give the children a standing ovation for their incredible efforts. I feel we may even have a few musicians in the making and numerous little hams on our hands.

Our music teacher joined in on the seasonal mania by donning a rather dapper and jaunty green and red jiggle bell elf hat that made our Sing shimmer.

One Tree-mendous Ado over Trees: Decorating our Preschool's Christmas Tree

A yearly event at our preschool is decorating a petite, little evergreen with ornaments made by the students. This year,  due to multiple weather-related Christmas ornament malfunctions, we decided to decorate sturdy plastic lids and old CDs with multi-colored glitter as a step to avoid ornament meltdown and disintegration due to old man winter. 

I pondered as we walked down to decorate our tree yesterday as I asked the children to find specific Christmas decorations such as snowman:  the amazing wonder that Christmas has on children's spirits. 

 I was struck by how their faces glowed with such bubbly happiness over the sights of brightly-colored ornaments hanging from porches, evergreen wreaths haphazardly draped over doors and even a holiday Darth Vader thrown in the mix. 

Somehow, we lose sight of the simplicity of the effect that the season has on the children, and tend to reciprocate this feeling with overpriced toys, outings to gaudily-decorated zoos, and endless trips to the mall to visit Santa. 

Remember, as you traipse through the malls and wait in line with a grumpy heart at the commercialization of this treasured holiday the true meaning of the season: That sacred look of serendipity and pleasure over the holiday's most minute details in the eyes of young children. 

Photos of our tree coming soon! 

Blazin' Boards: December Skating Into the Holidays (Skating-themed Bulletin Board)

Does it feel a little chilly in here? A blast of winter's wrath has found its way into our classroom through this delightful December skating-themed bulletin board. Skate on down the page to view this icy sight!