Tangled Thoughts

Preschool Learning: N is for Nest

Christina

October 22, 2020

This probably wasn’t the BEST concept for the letter N since most of our learning had to do with birds, but we did our best when it came to the nest.

First up we read our books related to nests. Or bird

For the craft, I supplied the pieces and let them assemble however they wanted. There is always a real risk that the project will not turn out how I anticipated, but I’ve learned to appreciate their interpretation over perfection. I know some teachers can’t do these kind of crafts because they can’t stand the final product not turning out how it should. If this is you, then a more ‘step by step’ approach could work better.

First we painted the background with some different colored blue paints. Then we glued down our ‘nest’ which was just 1/2 a paper plate. I gave them each four ‘birds’ with the beaks and eyes. I buy googly eyes in the bulk! Of course, I explained what each piece was and handed them out in stages, but some of them chose to do something a little different. Once the birds were safely in their nests, I pulled out the feathers and there was a mad rush of grabbing.

Their final product wasn’t perfect by any means, but I love how their personalities shine through their artwork and how they truly make it their own.

I feel like this is an accurate representation of me most of the time:

And that as a wrap for the week of the letter N for our preschoolers!

Preschool Learning: J is for Jelly Bean

Christina

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October 21, 2020

For today’s learning about the letter J in my preschool class, we talked about jelly beans, because of course we did! Talk about a sweet learning experience.

I combined two of my favorite things: Sensory and jelly beans. The kids were OVER the moon.

First we read some books: Jack and the Jelly Bean Stalk, How Many Jelly Beans?, and Peacock Loves Jelly Beans were a few of our favorites.

Then we moved onto our project. I generally try to have at least one sensory project planned out for each week. I save it for the day the kids are coming unglued and we all need some help getting grounded again. Some weeks we do sensory on Monday and other weeks we make it to Friday. I always find that a good sensory project can bring them all back to earth again!

Today was a simple project, but a favorite. Just spray some shaving cream on a tray and let them play with it. Sometimes I add washable paint or other small objects. Today I added jelly beans, because of course I did! I also added a squirt of paint.

Some people use food coloring but since we are in preschool, I don’t take the chance and always stick with the tried and true washable paint! This Colorations washable paint is indeed washable. It is also nontoxic, which is important to me with preschoolers! I once had a little boy spray himself with blue paint that CLAIMED to be washable. He was blue for a few days. Since then I don’t mess around with my paint! We purchase ours in the gallon sizes.

The kids had a blast trying to find their jelly beans, and we talked about the colors they found and how many each of them found as well. If they were older I probably would have made them graph out how many of each color they had found, but since they are still learning to count we kept it simple.

These messy trays are an absolute life safer, one of my favorite purchases and get used daily in my class!

Preschool Learning: J is for Jam

Christina

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October 19, 2020

We are working on letter recognition, not memory. To help reinforce this idea -we have went with a scrambled theme. So instead of going in order A-B-C, we’ve mixed it up. The first week we did A…but this week we will be focusing on the letter J. I owe a lot of my inspiration and knowledge to Busy Toddler, I strive to be like her when I grow up! Her sensory ideas are killer and make their way into our classroom at least once a week.

Originally I planned to do one word / one letter for the entire week. But after being introduced to my group of freshly turned three year olds, that plan went out the window. Now we are doing one letter a week -with a different theme everyday. We covered the letter A with an apple theme before moving on to a varied theme that helps keep the learning fun and varied and holds their attention A LOT better.

J is for Jam, Jellybean, Jellyfish, Jaguar and Jump!

First up was Jam:

I always try to find books related to the topic of the day, but am limited to what our library carries. Sometimes I luck out, other times I strike out! A couple good books we liked were: Jamberry, Sam likes Jam, and Pass the Jam, Jim.

Our craft was of course, jam! I made some ‘bread’ out of white and brown construction paper ahead of time, and then together we made jam! We used clear hair gel, a few drops of red food dye and of course, glitter. Because glitter makes everything better! I gave everyone a plastic cup, added the ingredients and let them stir. They were all surprised that they actually made jam! Just make sure no one tries to eat it. Then they spread their jam on their bread.

As an added learning experience I dumped out my foam letter stickers and made everyone find a letter “J” to put on their project.

The Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Christina

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September 6, 2020

Coming from Alaska, I am partial to mountains and oceans. South Dakota couldn’t be any more different than Alaska if it tried. Not that I am judging, or anything. When I took my trip there this summer, we decided to take a road trip west to see some of the more….mountainous regions, you might say. The Badlands looked like a good place to explore…and they didn’t disappoint. The only disappointing part was that we were on a time schedule and couldn’t hike all the trails, we managed to fit in three different ones -but plan to go back and do some more exploring.

The other downside was that not being used to the heat and sun -and not drinking nearly enough water -I ended up with a pretty bad headache at the end of the day. But lesson learned!

I Met a Guy

Christina

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August 1, 2020

So, I met a guy

I said the words, my hands wrapped around a London Fog, playing with the cup as I said them. Tears brimming up in my eyes. I glanced up across the table to get her reaction, fully expecting to have to fight to the end for this guy, I had met.

“He’s really special to me, and I hope he is to you as well.”

It’s not that I didn’t want to tell people about him…I guess it was more I wanted to make sure he was really the one I wanted to defend when things hit the fan, you know, the one I wanted to go to bat over when people started to judge…silently and not so silently.