First Week! Practice Makes Perfect

We had such a fun first week back at school. I am really excited for this year because these kids are not only adorable, but they are so much fun to work with. I have already been impressed with their ability to listen and apply what we are talking about to what they are doing. They are amazing at receiving feedback in a constructive way. And I must say that these 3 year olds seem to be naturals at using scissors! I had some of them cutting on lines today and they could actually do it! Hubba wha? (Can you name the Mo Willems books that came from? Hint: it involves a duck and a chick. ;) ) For those of you who have worked with kids learning how to use scissors, you know that this is not a normal second time using scissors experience! Pretty dang awesome. Here are some fun pictures of the kids working together using a puzzle and a parachute.  In our first week of school we spent the first day getting into a routine and discussing what it means to have good manners at preschool. The second day we talked about what it means to work together. We each got a few pieces of an extra big puzzle that we worked on together to complete. We also played some parachute games together which takes listening and team work to make the game work. 

Three year olds are notoriously self centered. When they start school it is a big shift for them that there are other students and the teacher who they have to consider. Sometimes we don't want to share, but it is something that we do at preschool. Sometimes someone takes something that we were using and we have to learn to use our words to ask for it back without hitting or yelling. Sometimes the teacher asks us to come work at the table when we really want to keep playing blocks. All these situations and many more make preschool a pretty complex place to be. My job is to help them learn how to navigate those complex situations so they can learn good manners and team work while they are at school. 

My favorite skill for teaching this is practice. "Try again" are the two most important words you can use to help your children learn good manners. You will often hear these words in our house and in my classroom. Forget to say please? "Try again." If a child whines or back talks, "try again." If a kid does a chore or an assignment lazily, "try again." If they talk meanly to others, we "try again." If we make a mistake we practice doing it differently through role play or sometimes redoing an assignment. My amazing husband has helped me understand that the classroom and the home are the best places to make mistakes because mistakes are how we learn and grow. He has a sign in his classroom that says. "Whoever does the work, does the learning." So my goal is that we will work hard on having good manners, understanding how to follow directions, and learning skills that will help us be our most awesome selves so we can do all the learning!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

PLEASE EXCUSE OUR DUST WHILE WE ARE UNDER CONSTRUCTION. WE WILL GET THE BLOG BACK UP AND RUNNING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. PLEASE DIRECT ANY QUESTIONS TO chipmanscornerpreschool@gmail.com.

 

Easy Rainbow Pasta

Making rainbow pasta to use for crafts is easier than you think. 

Here's What You Need:

• gallon ziplock bag (You need to use name brand bags, cheap bags will leak. We learned this the hard way the first time we made it.)
• rubbing alcohol
• pasta variety of your choice
• food coloring

Here's What You Do:

1. Put 1/4 c rubbing alcohol in the bag.
2.  Put 10-20 drops of food coloring into the bag. (If doing blue pasta, put 20 drops. The yellow color of the pasta makes it necessary to do extra blue.)
3. Add 1 c of pasta.
4.  Shake bag until pasta is dark in color and evenly coated.
5.  Let dry over night spread out on a paper towel.

Thank you to Brilliant Beginnings preschool for the recipe!

5 Minute Cat in the Hat Bow Ties

Is your school celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday this week? We have so much fun on Dr. Seuss day. We have a read-a-thon and do activities relating to his books. 

If your child is encouraged to dress up on March 2nd, here's an easy, 5 minute Cat in the Hat bow tie.

What You Need:

1 felt square

washi or painters tape

yarn

What You Do:

1. Fold the felt like a paper fan. Accordion style along the long side and pinch the middle

2, While it's pinched, lay some yarn across the top.

3. Tape it around the middle.

4. Tie the yarn to the desired length. Voila!

Now add some whiskers, a real or paper Cat in the Hat hat and you're on your way!

Want more activity ideas? Try out these links:

Hop on Pop Hopscotch

One Fish, Two Fish Math

Lorax plant holders

10 Apples Up on Top Headbands

Grassheads!

Is anyone else bummed about the groundhog's six more weeks of winter? Here in Utah, the weather is just teasing us. Yesterday it was sunny and 65 degrees. This morning we woke up to snow. Being a California girl at heart, I was not very excited. I tried to convince my husband that I wasn't getting up until it stopped snowing, but he didn't think that would go down with the kids very well. 

If you are missing the beautiful green of spring and summer like me, I have just the solution for you!

We had a lot of fun growing grass this year and creating some fun characters with some funky hair. (Sorry about the bad pictures, I had to snap a few before these guys went home the next day.) We like to use clear cups so the kids can observe the roots and grass as it starts to sprout.

We found this fast growing grass seed at home depot and they weren't kidding. It did grow really fast.

I printed some cartoon eyes and mouths on sticker paper. I used the kind that you find in the address labels section that is a full sheet. I also printed each child's name so they could watch their grass head grow.

We filled the cup half way with dirt

Push seeds into the dirt.

Filled the rest of the cup and put it in the window to get sunlight. I watered it every other day and pretty soon we had some long haired grass heads.

Brandon thought it would be fun to cut his hair into a mohawk.