Happy Birthday Johnny Appleseed

Since I spend a whole week on each theme, this week we will be learning about who Johnny Appleseed was and explore apples. 

We read a fun book about Johnny Appleseed and made a pan hat just like him. I do this with my kids to get them excited for the week ahead:

I collected cereal boxes and cut them into rectangles/squares, and covered them up with foil. I had the children print their name. They helped me staple the pot handle. We measured their heads and reenacted how to plant an apple tree.


For reinforcement on what we've learned, I normally play a short Youtube video, review any songs I've taught them, vocabulary or facts about our theme. 

I haven't met a child who doesn't like to watch movies/TV, so I find this to be an entertaining and effective way to help the children remember about the days activities. Here is a Youtube clip I found and use in my classroom:

YOUTUBE: The Legend of Johnny Appleseed

Do you teach the children any songs during this unit?

Apple Tasting

What a fun way for the children to explore their 5 senses, graph their favorites and review the life cycle of an apple.

We had apple rounds, and after each round the children would give me a thumbs up or thumbs down and I would graph the results. We tried:
Apple chips
Apple bar
Apple Sauce
Apple cider
Apple juice
Carmel apples

below is the graph I made, feel free to download it and use it :)

We also compared the difference in taste between the apple juice and cider.

last but not least, we tried caramel apples and to my surprise the majority of the kids did not enjoy them.

Apple-solutely Fun

This is always a fun way to review numbers, counting or introduce addition.

 For those children who are more advance this is a fun art activity  to  teach them how to read and form a proper equation.

Here are some snap shots from our other apple centers.

Simple ABA patterns for my 3-year-old preschoolers. For those students who already knew how to finish a pattern, I made another set with that would challenge them.  

Here is the Apple patterns you can download them for free directly from www.spelloutloud.com

Station #3 Sorting beads by color. What a sneaky way to help strengthen their fine-motor skills. You can also use tongs to make it slightly more challenging.  I found this idea on Childcareland.com

To download the apple sorting worksheet click on the link below. Once you get on the site, be sure to look for the apple bead video , and below the "how to video" will be a pattern link to download the free printable. 

apple-pony-beard-sorting

We also practiced making apple pie, before the big day with playdough.

Another fun activity for the kids is making apple trees with their hands. The only part of this project I help them with is pressing their hand/arm down to make the branches and trunk.

 This allows them to freely explore and express their creativity however they'd like.

Are there any other favorite apple crafts or activities your little ones enjoy doing?

All About Apples

Here is a sneak peek at a science activity for apple week. I will be posting some suggested open-ended questions, vocabulary to review and apple facts to help make this fun baking activity just as educational as the rest of the week.

Reviewing the different parts of an apple.

This is a fun way to help children practice and improve their fine-motor skills. 

After 4 days of play-dough apple pie practice, they had the opportunity to slice their own real apples, as well as make their own strips for their mini apple pie.

Stirring this sticky, thick, deliciousness was a bit of a challenge for my little ones, but they all wanted a turn! 

They each made their own apple pie.

 

LOOK HOW CUTE THEY CAME OUT!

 

 

*make sure to draw a sketch of your cupcake pan , so you don't get their mini pies mixed up. I placed a piece of tape and/or permanent marker strip to know the front. 

EAT & ENJOY for snack!

Learning is fun, with this baking activity your students will be so eager to see find out what they will be learning about the following week. 

Feel free to contact me or comment if you have any questions! I'd love to hear from you!

Ten Apples on Top

Math: Counting & Science: Life cycle

We read Ten apples on top, cut and pasted the life cycle of an apple seed and made a cute photo craft. 

Above is a super cute and catchy song of Ten Apples on Top. The kids loved it and were captivated by the bright color illustrations and cool tune. 

They were posted to the white board and were able to take them home at the end of the day.

These fun activities are a great way to practice their fine-motor skills: coloring, cutting and gluing.

All About Primary Colors

Mixing Colors Ideas

Here are a few color activities that I do with my kids during our "All About Colors" week.

This is a fun way to help children learn how colors are made by mixing primary colors. I teach my kids the following song, unfortunately  I don't remember the name of the tune.

Red and yellow makes orange

Yellow and Blue makes green

Blue and red makes purple

I love mixing colors!

In the morning we always sign-in and do a quiet morning activity. This is an example from this week that promotes fine-motor skills, as well as color recognition. I made this worksheet on word. 

I decided to do this wonderful art/science idea that I found on pinterest.

 We did a partner art activity and explored the concept of primary colors. They really enjoyed picking a friend and getting messy. 

On another day we read mouse paint, and did this. I must admit my kids were more entertained with the youtube mouse paint readout loud. This version of mouse paint they enjoyed; here is the youtube link: Mouse Paint

This was another fun way to reinforce primary colors, that was very effective. You can find the worksheet at the link below. 

mixing colors FREE printable

Click here for MIXING COLORS LESSON #1 

All About Colors

Mouse Paint-  Science + Art activity

This is one of the activities the kids love. I highly recommend  it for all ages, of course with lots of supervision and assistance with the little ones. I am an advocate for exposure to more advance curriculum.

I sang while they painted each mouse on a mixing color worksheet, found below. You can sing my song however you'd like or make up your own song.  I realized that this was making the finger painting even more engaging. Sung to the tune of "London bridges", I would sing:


This mouse is in the blue paint, the blue paint, the blue paint
This mouse is in the blue paint, he's all blue

This mouse is in the yellow, in the yellow, in the yellow
This mouse is in the yellow, he's all yellow

*Ask : I wonder what color Blue and Yellow make?

Together they are making (pause, let them observe and say it first)GREEN, making green, making green
Together they are making green, mixing is fun...

and repeat for other colors

Here is the FREE PRINTABLE ON TPT for the mouse paint science activity, it's FREE 

I also teach them a song about mixing primary colors to the tune of "ten little Indians" 

Red and Yellow makes orange
Yellow and Blue makes green
Blue and Red makes purple
I love mixing colors

We sang this while doing our science activity. 
in advance I made 3 ice cubes of each primary color with food coloring. 

BE CAREFUL, food coloring is not easy to get off, or at least I am not aware of the trick to get the stain off your fingers or clothing. 

 I placed each one into a countiner and had the kids sing the song as they swirled it slowly with their partner.  When they were all done we set it on our science table so they could observe the rest of the ice melt. 

This activity was very fun, for all of us. It was my first time doing this, and I believe it was fun, and engaging, in my opinion it was a SUCCESS! 

Sorting colorful socks. I went on clip art and typed socks and found a few pattern ones and made them different sizes as well. I then colored and laminated them. 

Are there any activities or variations you've done with these activities or this theme?

First Day of School Feelings?

This is a fun way to incorporate math and introduce the bar to the children. 

I bought the pocket chart at Oriental Trading


I called each child one by one and had them trace their name. They each placed their name under their first day of school feeling. We also reviewed a few feelings in Spanish.

Feliz- Happy

Triste- Sad

Nervioso- Nervous


I will post a picture of the bar graph soon :)

What have you done on the first day of school?

Each Year Brings New Struggles

Even though I've been teaching the same class for some time now, it amazes me how different each  can be. Same age, but different kids, and personalities shape the years curriculum. As preschool teachers or an early educator, we must always remember to teach to our children's needs and level and not to our expectations. A willingness to STOP and assess how the children are doing is important.

I found this quote and made me smile. SO TRUE!

And another quote just for FUN!

Back to school Teacher Checklist

Every year it seems like my summer gets shorter and shorter. Where did the time go? Even though I’m not a complete rookie, I still drive myself insane with trying to get my classroom back in order and be prepared for the new school year. I've decided that I am not too good for check lists. It’s time that I become a more organized teacher.

Here is a checklist that I've made in order to be ready for September. 

                      

Writing activites

There are many fun way to encourage printing:

I found these FREE read, build and write worksheets on Homeschoolcreations.com

I use clear covers over them and place them on cookie sheets so the kids can use magnet letters

Butterflies in preschool

 

 

Setting up a preschool classroom

This is an area that I am still trying to figure out. Over the past few years I have moved and rearranged my room trying to find the most beneficial layout. Every classroom is different, but where you place your centers is crucial to your student's success. 

I wouldn't suggest having your reading corner/nook next to blocks or cars; this may distract your children from thoroughly enjoying the book exploration process. 

Teachers are always trying to find the perfect balance in their classroom, so that not all of the children are on one side of the classroom. I've tried to strategically place my centers in the best area, according to my classroom layout.

Here are some pictures of my classroom this year. 

                                   In Progress...

Dramatic Play area

Bananas for Books

Art Center

Birthday Board: I am going to post pictures of my kids holding their b-day date

Please share ideas on what has worked for you or suggestions for making my classroom more functional. I'm always striving to improve my classroom. 

This years themes

This year I had to drop a few themes, due to an early summer break. These are the themes I decided to teacher for 2013-2014. 

First day of preschool checklist

This is a draft of my first day of preschool checklist. I have never made a checklist for my kids/parents, so it's still in the making. I want to make sure that I don't miss anything important. 

Starting a blog: Newbie

I'm a newbie to blogging, but decided that my personal experience would hopefully be helpful to rookie preschool teachers or stay at home educators. I've been now teaching for 4 years in an academic preschool. When I graduated from Cal State Fullerton, I immediately was hired at a private school in Orange County. I was very fortunate to get a job that I am passionate about, but the downside was that I was hired a week before school started with no pre-set curriculum.
My first year was very rewarding, but a bit challenging. Being a rookie teacher with no real experience in curriculum development, I spent my free time preparing for the following week. Now I am proud to say that at the age of 25 with only 4 years under my belt, I am training our preschool teachers. My hard work has paid off and I would love to share some ideas in making academic learning fun.

I hope my site inspires and helps you with your teaching experience.

Preschool Teacher: I'm a newbie

I'm a newbie to blogging, but decided that my personal experience would possibly be helpful to rookie preschool teachers. I've been now teaching for 4 years in an academic preschool. When I graduated from Cal State Fullerton, I immediately was hired at a private school in Orange County. I was very fortunate to get a job that I am passionate about, but the downside was that I was hired a week before school started with no pre-set curriculum.
My first year was very rewarding, but a bit challenging. Being a rookie teacher with no real experience in curriculum development, I spent my free time preparing for the following week. Now I am proud to say that at the age of 25 with only 4 years under my belt, I am training our preschool teachers. My hard work has paid off and I would love to share some ideas in making academic learning fun.

I hope my site inspires and helps you with your teaching experience.

Talent Show Preschool

Evolution of Dance

My Rock Stars did Fabulous! 

Click here to view this video 

One of my parents captured this precious dance routine. Unfortunately, it's not the best quality, it's off her phone.