There's no such thing as too much Glitter….or is there??

Week 8 was filled with important lessons on caring and sharing with our friends and family. It is important to help one another out when it comes to chores and taking turns and if you don’t listen to mom and dad……you might get put in the “dog kennel!”

Our art project this week was focused around the story “The Rainbow Fish,” and how it is important to share. The kids got to make their own rainbow fish with one shiny scale and lots of glitter and jewels, which they shared with their table mates. I admit, when I first thought of this project, the idea of glitter + 15  4-5 year olds did not seem like the brightest idea I’ve ever had, but they had a blast and the fish turned out great, which they are excited to show off! I did go home with glitter caked on my forehead, strung through my hair, and on/in my dress clothes, but sometimes everyone needs a little more sparkle! ;)

Speaking of sparkle, one thing we discussed we don’t want to share are germs. It is important to wash our hands properly, not share drinks, and cover our faces when coughing and sneezing. To show how quickly germs spread I put “glitter germs” into a sanitizer bottle and put some on my hands. I then had them get in a line and I pretended to cough on my hands and shook the first persons hand. They then shook the next persons and so on until our glitter germs had spread all the way through the line. This was such a fun way for them to see how important it is to take care of ourselves so we can care for those around us.

The kids have been busy learning and growing in many ways, and I can’t wait to see where this year takes them. Throughout the weeks, we have been learning VOWAC with our letter of the week as an important way to connect letters to the sounds they make. To see how well this is catching on, rather than just repetition, I spelled out some words on a white board to sound out. Together they read the words BAD, CAB, and GAB! J I was blown away with their progress and have been looking forward to the end of this month now that I know they are ready. I myself have been busy outside the classroom preparing Take Home Bags for them to further their progress with some fun 10-minute activities and games. Included in the pack is 1 set of lowercase D'Nealian letters, 1 set of uppercase D'Nealian letters, 1 set of shape flashcards, 1 set of number dot flashcards through 20, and 1 name card with proper starting points and arrows. I introduced the kids to the packs the other day and they were pretty excited to each get their own and now have “‘homework’ like my brother!” (So glad they are excited for that word still!) Ha

Now on to some funnies to start your week out right!

“My boyfriend Daniel is only 100 years old Miss Cronin and he’s takin me to Disney World some day!”

“When my brother is naughty we put him in the dog kennel”

“I’m getting my nipples cut off at the doctor today!” (Skin tags lol)

“When I was 4 I wouldn’t go in that big tunnel at the Carnival cause I was scared, but now I can cause I’m a man!!”

Referring to our Halloween party and 100 day of school party

“Yes when we get  to this day we get to have a party!”  -Me

“And drink beer!”

Happy Halloween Week J

Miss Cronin

Silly Surprises

Week 7 was filled with many questions and fun discussions on our feelings and emotions. We learned how to express ourselves appropriately and how sometimes its ok to feel scared, angry, sad, and even silly, which was how most of our discussions turned out to be!

On Monday we got to meet a new letter person Miss F Funny Feet and discuss some things that confuse us. These were a few of the answers I received:
"Airplanes" (Great answer for a 4 year old, they can be quite confusing!)
"When my dad is silly" :)
"Kissing dogs on the lips" (Haha this one got a few laughs!)

On Tuesday we discussed what we do when we are scared and who can help us if we are afraid.
"Crawl into mom and dads bed and hide under the covers!"
"I don't get scared, I just go out and sit on the couch and watch TV when everyone is sleeping"
Upon which I which I asked if he eats a midnight snack too, which opened up a whole other bag of chips (or Cheetos I should say….)
"When I'm scared I just stick Cheetos in my underwear!"
"I put on my dad's underwear and stick pizza in them!"
I had no words for the last comments as everyone was swallowed up with giggles! So on that note, I ended our quite silly conversation!

On Wednesday I decided to focus our art on the letter F. Before our art, we sang the song "5 Little Speckled Frogs" and reviewed our numbers from the past few weeks. Then we made our own little speckled frogs! The black people as some of them look, were supposed to be flies….apparently flies look like tiny humans to 4 year olds! :)

 

 We ended our week with some play dough and mirrors to help us learn more about our expressions. Play dough face mats were used to show different emotions and we also got to make faces in the mirror and then chose one to draw in their journals! Very exciting for them and entertaining for me as I watched them explore and discover new things!

 Finally, to end off our Week 7 the preschoolers got to enjoy some scary snacks from one of the students and they had a lot of fun playing and eating them! Here was our Friday snack, mummy juice boxes and eyeball cookies :)

 Enjoy your week and make it a sunny one!
Miss Cronin

Imagination is Contagious

Its been a busy couple of weeks in Preschool so I have decided to combine the last two weeks. Week 5 was focused on our Families and Week 6 was all around the theme of Fall. Throughout these past two weeks my preschoolers have been blowing me away with their growth, ability to grasp a concept so quickly and their big imaginations… :)

As part of our unit on Families, my students discussed healthy food choices and eating things that are good for our bodies. We discussed family meals and how important it is to share that time with your family. I had one student who claims he shares that time with his dog so when it came time to count the number of people in our family he was determined to include his buddy! Our craft project this week centered around family meal time and our favorite things. They got to make place mats with one side showing their hand prints in paint (Yes, I brought out the paint again... And with a very thought out plan and set-up, it went excellent and no hand prints were saved for the bathroom walls!!) and the other side was a magazine collage of pictures showing their favorite things. Now this was quite entertaining for me as some kids chose things that fit their personality very well, while others focused on "fun" things like zombies, mummies, and punch bowls. Ha! I had to chuckle at this because you could definitely tell which preschoolers took this into their own hands, or dad was left in charge! ;)

During week 5 we also were introduced to comparing cube trains in math. When reviewing this lesson I was a little skeptical as to how well this would be picked up as it is quite a large concept for 4 and 5 year old minds to grasp. However, I was pleasantly blown away with my smart little minds as they took it a step further and decided to tell me how many more or less each cube train had. They then told me how many more it would take to make them equal! I decided to give each student an opportunity to make sure everyone was understanding the lesson and was so impressed when each child completed their turn! Very proud teacher moment!! We expanded this concept then in Week 6 and I had then adding pumpkins and even using the words 'plus' and 'equal' :)

Week 6 was full of fun learning opportunities, which came at the perfect time as we had a lovely fall week to explore all of the changes happening around us. Our projects this week included pumpkin painting, pumpkin carving, a nature walk, and tie-dyed shaving cream leaves (which turned out great and made for lovely window decorations).

Our pumpkin carving project was very entertaining as every time I pulled a shape chunk out they would scream in delight! After I cut the top off they each got to pull some of the "guts" out to feel and smell. Some students were so skeptical about touching the inside, but when I finally got them to it was so rewarding to see their reaction. You sometimes forget how many things are unknown to them, but it's so amazing how many new things they learn and experience everyday. After we finished carving our pumpkin we then named him "Steve." Lol and the kids would greet him with hugs or high fives to the head everyday haha

Our pumpkin painting created a fun learning opportunity as some of the paint ended up mixing together and we figured out how to make new colors!

 (Making purple from red and blue)                                                 (Brown from green and yellow)

Our nature walk was an exciting addition to our week as they gathered different colored leaves, pine cones, cherries, aaaand beer cans…. Note to any parents and teachers do not take your class or children on a nature walk by any bars, you will in fact have a fun new array of items that NEED to go into your nature bag. (Side note: this was after a big wedding dance, and none of the students touched any trash, although they were tempted!) One student even belted out "HEY….that's what my dad drinks!"

Finally, the most entertaining things from the past two weeks was our circle time discussions, which leads me to my Blog title. Imagination is contagious. Once one student picks a subject, everyone has a story to tell, which as you will see is often made up, but oh do they make for great stories!

"One time there was a flying spider in my room cause my dad left the window open at night!"
Another student- "That's called a moth"

"There was once a giant spider outside and so my dad cut a house out of a mushroom and put all our stuff inside and we hid in there while my dad chopped the spider up! Then we got to go back to our real house."

This was a nightmare one of my students had that decided they NEEDED to share.
"Everyone had chicken pox in the whole world except for me and they all started scratching them and they were trying to give them to me and I was was sooo scared Miss Cronin, and you know what I didn't even have a teddy bear!"

After reading a story about Clifford the Big Red Dog and how Bulls don't like the color red.
"My momma was in the pen with a bronco and she had on a brown coat and the bronco charges at her cause broncos hate the color brown. But shes OK though"

"My daddy thinks he's so funny and that he reads the best stories but he really doesn't. He only reads the best bible stories and momma reads all the other stories the bestest. My dad thinks he's my bestest friend he always says I'm your best friend arnt I and I say YESSSS daddy your stiiiiill my bestest friend. He does that alllll the time, he thinks he's so funny." Lol

Thanks for stopping :)
Miss Cronin

Our Future is Bright!

Preschool was full of excitement this week with our new theme of Community Helpers and field trips! We learned a lot about caring for ourselves, caring for others, who to see in certain emergencies, and what you may or may not use inside your mouth….

We started our Monday with a fun experiment showing how the effects of different drinks, sugar, and food  can harm our teeth if we do not properly care for them by brushing and flossing in the morning and at night. For this experiment we set up 4 eggs (3 were hard-boiled) in 4 different solutions: pop, coffee, grape juice, and vinegar. We left them overnight and then got to try brushing the stains off of the eggs on Tuesday to see how difficult it can be to reverse the effects of staining and not brushing before bed. All of the eggs stained, the egg in the grape juice was rough with sugar, and the raw egg actually turned soft and squishy like a bouncy ball! We therefore determined: 1) "My brother's teeth are going to fall out and rot cause he neeeeeever brushes his teeth!" 2) "My mom's teeth look like the egg in the coffee" (which none of my parent's teeth actually do ha!) 3) "I'm never drinking that stuff again!" All the kids brushed that night :) 

Brushing the stains from the eggs

Our first field trip of the week was on Wednesday, which we got to spend at the Fire Station which was "the best day ever!" The kids got to try on all of the fireman's gear, which was very comical, and even crawl around the fire trucks, which I had a hard time getting them out of after.

Checking out the fire trucks! 

They had a pretty great time and may even have some future firefighters on our hands! Which leads me to my special question of the week, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" We discussed many different community helpers and then got to share. I got a lot of nice answers such as a doctor, teacher, or farmer. Then I got some unexpected and made up answers :)…a doctrinarian because she wants to work on both people and animals (A+ for creativity!), a bull rider, a policeman because "only guys can be policemen and so they need a lot" (yes we discussed this one more ha), and my favorite "I just want to be IRISH!!" Lol

Our second field trip of the week was down the street to the dentist. Here the students got to practice brushing with a large set of model teeth and a large toothbrush, explore the dentist office, and discuss the tools we use in our mouths at home and at the dentist. Now I'm not sure who the culprit was, but after some fun questions or statements, "If you don't brush your teeth, when you get older like an adult they will rot and die and fall out!" we got on the subject of using hammers as toothbrushes. I believe the statement was "I use a hammer in my mouth when I need to brush my teeth." Well the next 7 questions or statements then had to deal with a hammer of course! Eventually we determined hammers are not used inside our mouths and finally got back on track to finish our trip.

Learning how to brush!

Overall, our week was very fun and new. We learned some new games (red light, green light) made doctor kits, practiced flossing our teeth, Stop-Dropped-and Rolled, and received a brand new toothbrush. It was a success and filled with many memories and funnies. To end, I'm going to share a few pics, along with some cute quotes! :) 

Teeth flossing model

Art: Doctor Kit

Spraying out the number flames 

"Mommy has sewing on her back cause she got hurt" (stitches :) )

"Once I was in the sea and we hopped in a boat and a shark tipped us over, but I hanged on and swam to shore" 

"One time I was buying a horse and it got into my house and got in the bathtub and swimmed around and then dug a hole in my front yard so daddy had to fill it in with dirt with his tractor and now we have lots of fun grass, its really great" 

"My dog had to get a cast around his throat cause my dad cut it open"

"My dad hit my dog with a pick up" Upon which I asked "I thought you said last week your dog got hit by a horse?" "Uh…... ya it did this is a different one, I have 88 dogs and my moms gonna buy me more"  (Haha good luck mom ;) ) 

To practice our red light green light game I've used stop and go street signs. Well when the kids decide not to stop I said they have to go to jail and then pay their ticket for running the stop sign so they sit out for one turn.
"Miss Cronin, I'm gonna go to jail again, I really like going to jail" …..Ha oops!! 

Thanks for stopping  :) 

Miss Cronin

P.S. Thank you to all my helpers, drivers, and photographer throughout this week, you were all a great help!

Apples Gone Wild

Week 3 was an exciting time in Pre-K as we learned about apples, the letter B (Mr. B Beautiful Buttons!) , the number 2, the color green, and boyfriends...

Before I get into the boyfriends and dates ;) , I would like to share a few of the fun things we did this week that sometimes always don't make our newsletter let alone out of the classroom door. Sometimes the only thing that happened at preschool according to them is that we got Cheetos and Diet Coke for snack, "just like my mom eats!" (puffcorn and Welches grape juice in a can was the real treat) haha but occasionally that's the most important part of their day accoridng to them, and sometimes that's ok, especially if it had nothing to do with biting, kicking, hitting, turning from a green apple to a red or yellow one on our behavior chart, or bloody noses! So here was our week in a nut shell and some things we all learned (myself included)  :)

1) On Tuesday we made apple soda play dough, which turned out to be more of a foam (but was still very fun!) We used baking soda and green apple conditioner for this one.
    -Foam playdough is great to cover your hands in and flick them back and forth really fast!
    -It comes off of your clothes pretty easily (so of course we should put it there)
    -You can make handprints on the bathroom walls with this stuff too!

2) On Wednesday we made applesauce all together in a crockpot and let it cook overnight to try it the next day.  
   -If the apples turn brown we can still eat them
   -Looks like the what they use to make apple fritter with (Was then asked if we were going to make donuts too because that would be soooo much cooler!)
   -Smells great but kind of looks like chunky throw up (yes, made my appetite jump way up too!)
   -And about 7 students loved it and asked for 2nd and 3rd helpings

 2) On Friday we made apple volcanos which was very exciting, even for me! To prepare I cored out the inside of about 9 apples. The kids then got to prepare them by putting baking soda in the bottom of each apple and then mixing together in a cup white vinegar, dawn dish soap, green apple shampoo, and a little bit of green dye. They each then got to pour the mixture into one of the apples and watch the reaction between the baking soda and our mixture as it fizzed, foamed, and overflowed.
    -Turns out white vinegar also smells like throw up (I know a lot of throw up talk this week!?)
    -Its fun to pick up foaming apples and slam them down to see what happens....
   
The kids then had to wash their hands a few at a time while I cleaned up our station and prepared for the next group. As I was doing so, I heard some shuffling and grunting coming from the bathroom so I  stopped to go see what was taking so long and found 3 of my clever little thinkers trying to solve the high paper towels problem. They were using each other as stairs to reach the top of the paper towels rack as they decided they are "strong enough" to get it themselves! The image of these 3 piled on top of each other one holding a foot and the other on all fours was extremely amusing, so before explaining why this was a bad idea, I had to turn around for a minute to collect myself and then tell them they should ask for help to reach it otherwise they may end up falling and hurting one another. I do give them an A for effort though!! Ha!

3) Every week we have 6 concept words to review that most students have heard of and used before and then 6 amazing words that are often new or used less frequently. Well this week one of our words was give. The picture on the front of this card was of a little boy giving a little girl a rose. Well this was pretty entertaining as previously in the week the boys and girls found out that "Miiiiissssss Croooooonin has a Booooooooyfriend" Long story short I was given some old cars and farm animals for our playroom by Jayden, which of course they asked where they came from all of the sudden, so upon hearing the word boyfriend they all cracked up for a few minutes and rolled around on the floor like it was the funniest thing they've heard all year. Pretty entertaining :) Well when seeing this card I then got to hear about some other fun stories:
- My brother gave a girl a bunch of flowers and now they like each other and they are going on a date this week and he's taking her to Subway!
- Daaaaaaniel said he's taking me on a date sometime and we're going to get ice cream (followed by about 3 minutes of wide eyed smiles) Im guessing this one can be pegged pretty easily ;)
- My grandpa said he's taking me on a date to get ice cream if I learn how to wipe right! (My favorite one) haha

Hope you enjoyed another Sunny Day, and thanks for all the apples (7 different kinds!) I also apologize to all the parents that may now have apple farmers on their hands as they all have decided they are going to plant seeds to start apple trees lol, but I'll leave you with a few more fun quotes from my littles-

"Miss Cronin, my dad drives a truck just like this! It's a garbage truck" (Actually a semi lol)

"My dad got our tractor stuck in mud once and it took firty-nine tow trucks to pull him out!"

"I'm going to be a Candy girl for Halloween and my dress is going to have candy on it"
"Yaaaaah so we can eat her!!"

"This one time I was riding my bike and then it started raining and my sisters bike went in a puddle and then a biiiiiiiiig tornado came down and sucked up this apple tree and I said nooo baby no we need to home! But she didn't listen"

"One time I was in a tornado and a cat fell on my head"

:) Happy Saturday,
Miss Cronin

Perspective of a Preschooler

Perspective is a special gift that each of us develops through experiences, time, and knowledge. It allows us to look at the exact same thing as the person next to us, but with an entirely different view point or outcome. Perspective has been a fun concept for me to re-develop this week in terms of a preschooler :) 

Perspective #1 

When you were growing up did your mom or dad do certain things for you that eventually became routine or expected? For example, cutting the crust off of your sandwiches, handing you the unwrapped straw to your juice box, the fact that pizza actually comes in other flavors besides cheese and extra cheese. Until you are shown something or see if for yourself you are unaware of any other way. Our experiences help us build on what we knew, what we know, and what we will eventually know. 

This week our snack of red apples became quite the chore to eat as over half of my kiddos sat there and stared at their apple waiting for Miss Cronin to peel it because you CAN NOT eat the skin. I even heard it was "poisonous." Well, after several minutes of them grasping the concept that they eat the apple or get no snack I had some very entertaining outcomes. Most students decided to just suffer through and eat the skin, another decided to use their straw to dig holes into the apple, and my favorite was ripping pieces off with her finger nails or taking small bites and spitting them out so she could get to the "real part." (See below) Let's just say snack took a little longer than expected that day and we each gained a new perspective on eating apples!

Perspective #2

Finger painting. Yikes. I had planned and thought out every situation to make this day go smoothly, with as few incidents as possible….or so I thought. 

The minute a preschoolers hands touch the bright wet paint, all rules go out the window. The excitement that overtakes them is hard to control and think reasonably when all they can picture is what would look better with orange, blue, or red paint on it. Turns out the bathroom stalls were the winner this Wednesday! And yes I said stalls…along with the fun trail of blue paint and green thumbprints that led me to my first handprint and then my second…third…..and fourth handprint.  

I do have to admit, after the shock of seeing the bathroom, breathing, and remembering I did in fact use washable paint (some of my pre-planning was put to good use), I did giggle. When confronting the culprits, I was told the bathroom was too white. Makes sense, in the eyes of a preschooler, so they were just trying to help me decorate ;) 

After all was said and done our pictures turned out great and I think the purpose really stuck. To make new friends and get to know each other. 

Perspective #3

This week we began learning about sentences and how we build them with words. Surprisingly and happily this did not take long for them to catch on. We used linking cubes and a ten frame to help us build sentences with our words and then counted how many words made up our sentences. While this was hard to me to understand a preschooler's perpective on the cubes, words, and sentences, they answered all of my questions correctly and eventually were ready to build their own sentences! I then started calling on volunteers for sentences that we could build. This is where it got entertaining. 

Sentence #1 I love my mom and my dad and my sister. (not too hard)

               #2 My brother likes to bite me.

               #3 My brother and my dog bite me.

               #4 My dog died.

               #5 My dog got hit by a horse.

One track mind. Haha 

Some other fun facts I learned this week is that anytime I try to tell someone to do something I turn it into a song or chant before I can realize where I am. "Everybody shag the balls, shag the balls, shag the balls, everybody shag the balls, put them in the cart." Yes, a little embarrassing at times! 

I also learned that I am between 50 and 68,000 years old. Ha! But they also give the best compliments I've ever gotten, sometimes I think they try to outdo each other. In this week I was told I have the best boots they've ever seen, my makeup is beautiful, they love my silver "ear bells," and my hair is so pretty when I wear it down. Lol

"If plan A doesn't work, remember the alphabet has 25 more letters." 

Growing and Learning Each Day in Pre-K,

Miss Cronin

Four Year Old Funnies

Week 1 of Preschool has come to an end today, and even though I may be the teacher, there are many new things I learned in this short week :).

First off, never assume anything and always be specific, VERY specific. (This is applied in many areas throughout the week haha) When telling a preschooler to line up at the door, do not assume they know what a line is, or even what door you are referring to. They actually might think they can choose any door to line up at...the classroom door, the playroom door, the bathroom door. They will then be confused as to why Miss Cronin is asking "Where are you headed??" and in turn come back with a correct answer of "well the door" of course. 

Preschoolers also love to share their many stories, which is why I thought our question of the week may be a fun one for them. "Can you share something special about yourself?" Way too broad of a question. Therefore, I decided to give an example and said, "I have a puppy named Charlie." 

Problem: 1. They need more than one example.  
Problem 2. Don't assume you didn't just change the conversation entirely when you brought up your dog.

Our special share time turned into who has a dead dog and when he died. Surprisingly, no one was upset about their dog passing, but they were not going to miss the chance to tell everyone! I even had one student make up that she had two dogs, named Peaches and BoBo, so that she could be part of the conversation. However, she was busted when her sister called her out on it! Ha 

And yes, you may be wondering why I didn't change the subject or move on to something new. Well, preschoolers have a one track mind most of the time, so when simply asked "Why don't you share with us your favorite color?" I would recieve a color and then a story about their dead dog as well. Again, be specific. 

Secondly, the word "potty" is a dangerous word that WILL spread like wildfire. Once the word is mentioned just be prepared to lose the next 15 min of classtime so that everyone may take a bathroom and drink break. After the second day I learned when to plan the potty break (immediately before circle time). Even if they "don't have to go" they will once their bottom touches the circle rug and they realize free time has ended.
P.S. "Snack Time" can also can this same fun effect. 

Next, Preschoolers love to overexaggerate. Most of the time this is hillarious, such as the 55 kids we have in our room (actually 15), or the 33 miles we walked to the park, or the "15 million" misquito bites that they have on their legs that appear in the middle of the night, rip open, and bleed everywhere. However, every now and then it can be a bit of a problem. Such as when that one kid just tapped you to get you to stop moving your feet under the table, but to the one that got "tapped," you suddenly took a full out sucker punch to the arm that just about knocked you off your chair! (I did actually see this one happen and it was quite comical to see the viewpoints of what actually happened and what story they came up with)

Finally, if you're ever having a bad day, a Preschool is the best place to be. Their smiles can light up my windowless room, their giggles warm the heart, and they always give the best hugs. :) As challenging and unexpected as this new role has been in the few short weeks I've had to prepare, there is nowhere else I'd rather be. Sometimes God has a funny way of putting (little) people in your life that need you as much as you need them.

"You learn something everyday, IF you pay attention" -Ray LeBond

Until Next Time, 

Miss Cronin