St. Patrick's Day !

We had a blast with our St. Patrick's Day and rainbow activities. I wanted to include some of the things we did this week that were not included in the previous post, St. Patrick's Day Activities.  I always dress for the season, usually in green for a few weeks. (Admittedly, as a redhead, I tend to wear a lot of green anyway, so I have plenty of green clothing to fill the timespan!) I also wear a lot of crazy hats (and even a bowtie in the pic below).
                                                                

We sang songs and used our shamrock-on-a-stick prop (not really a puppet or shaker, so what are they?) and the paper plate and toilet paper tube shakers that we made last week.

The children made necklaces (great fine motor practice) to wear from dyed pasta and cut drinking straws.

We had a wonderful scavenger hunt. We put on our thinking caps to solve riddles and complete tasks and had to follow directions along the way. At the end of the hunt, we found a black "pot" (a coffee can wrapped in black construction paper) filled with these little treats to take home. (I have used the Mailbox Skittles poem for years, but couldn't find my copy. I tried to remember it~if not exact, it's pretty close!)

While we were out at recess, the leprechauns paid one final visit. I'm grateful for a dear classroom neighbor for her help. :) The elusive little guys visited the centers, tried various green toys and sprinkled glitter about.

All week in our art center, there were green hats and shamrock diecuts of various sizes. Here is some of the art they produced during center time after discovering these materials.

Here's a cute leprechaun puppet one friend made.

As I wrote in my earlier post, I have shamrocks programmed with letters, numbers and a few with some sight words. I also have a set for size serialization. Some frinds used the letter shamrocks to play a game similar to "Go Fish".

This morning our arrival activity was to arrange Fruit Loops on a workmat to make rainbows. As breakfast arrived, the kids were thrilled to hear that today, in addition to Cheerios, having the Fruit Loops was an option. I was so proud that many of them wanted to make a "healthy choice" and mix  the two cereals instead of "loading up on junk". (Wonder where they heard that, wink, wink!)

All in all, we have had a great week! In addition to all this, we have also gone full steam into our Wee World and had an awesome field trip to a local pizza place. I hope to write more about both of these activities this weekend.

The Wee World ~ It's A Whole New World!

Today, we began our "Wee World" adventure!

When I read Teacher Tom's first post about his Little World, I was quite intrigued. His whole approach to preschool education is intriguing to me (alas, that is another post), but the Little World spoke to me. I spent hours upon hours as a child engrossed in the imaginary play of Barbie and other dolls. Kids these days still play with dolls and action figures, but not nearly as much as previous generations, probably due to the plethora of technology at their disposal. Tom's Little World seems to bring kids back that world of imagination. While completely captivated by the idea, I initially felt it was not something I would be able to implement in our current environment. The idea slowly went from being something that I would like to implement someday, to something I had to do NOW.

As we began talking about leprechauns, the kids expressed an interest in catching them. When I asked what they would do with them if they caught them, surprisingly, they really didn't have an interest in the pot of gold, but more in finding new playmates. I realized this was the perfect way to introduce my own mini version of a Little World.  I approached one of my parents, Mrs. G. and asked if she would help. After reading Teacher Tom's blog posts she was very enthusiastic. I decided to start the Wee World as a small group activity, worked into our small group rotation.

Mrs. G. came today to facilitate the groundbreaking, as our first small group began building the foundations for our "Wee World". Today was an interesting dynamic because this particular group was all boys. We'll see how things progress and change when the girls get in the mix. Since Mrs. G. worked so closely with them, she's going to send me some notes on how things went and some of the discussions that occurred.

Recently, while shopping at Michael's for a few seasonal supplies I found these cute birdhouses for only a dollar so I bought a few. As one of our small group activities last week, the children painted them.

These are going to be some of the structures for the Wee World.

I am so impressed with the trees they made! They put chunks of moss on top of sticks to make trees for the leprechauns. We've read several stories where leprechauns seem to hide in trees occasionally, so this must be an important part of their world.

The kids asked for twine to tie the sticks together. (I'm not sure what these structures are, yet, but they sure enjoyed making them!)

After tying the sticks together, they decided they would hang twine from the stairs so the leprechauns could go from their world to ours!

After getting the layout all set, the children set out to find materials on the playground. Some of them came up with a bowl and a bead that looks like a life saver candy. This was instantly turned into a "pool with a floatie"!

When I got the birdhouses for the kids to paint, I bought one I planned to paint for our bathroom. I finally decided I would paint it colorfully and let that be my contribution to the Wee World. I thought the kids would think the rainbow colors would be attractive to the leprechauns. I hope they like it! 

I am so glad we decided to try this. It will definitely be an interesting experiment. This is our garden patch, so we may have to move it if it catches on. Lucky me, I think we've already found the perfect spot!

Communities of Sharing

I wanted to share 3 of the online communities that I belong to and take a minute to thank them for enriching my teaching and my life. I go to these sites to share ideas, chat with other teachers and see what others are doing in their classrooms. All are places I can go to share my thoughts and ideas without any judgment.  These communities have really changed my world in a profound way. I've met teachers and homeschool parents locally and worldwide, and have been inspired to try things in my classroom, that I hear about. I've also made some AMAZING friends, that I would have never had the opportunity to meet! Please check them out ~and maybe you'd like to join us! We love new members and sharing ideas!


Teach Preschool on Facebook
I am a fan on the Teach Preschool (by Deborah Stewart) Facebook page and love to see what Deborah is sharing. Deborah and I seem to teach similarly and I'm proud we've become friends. She truly inspires me daily! She always has the best ideas to share from the blogs she follows. She shares arts, crafts, pedagogy, classroom management ideas and especially her wonderful songs that she writes, produces and sings! There are discussions and opportunities to share ideas with other teachers. I also follow Deborah's blogs, Excellence in Early Childhood, Teach Preschool and Little Fingers That Play. If you have not become a fan of Teach Preschool on Facebook, and you like to share, please pop by and check out some of the awesome things you'll find there!

we teach
This is a new Ning group run by teachmama. I follow Amy's blogs and love to she what she is up to, as well. In just a little over a month, this community has grown by leaps and bounds. Amy has done an AMAZING job coordinating everything to make this a great forum. There are we teach sub groups of all kinds of categories, from "we teach special learners" to "we teach reading" to "we teach crafts" ~~~something for everyone! (There is even a "we teach, we're bloggers"!) Stop by, join in and come share with us! (And please note the new we teach buttons on the left hand side of this page!)

PreKinders Forum
This is a new forum started by the Prekinders site and blog and it, too, is awesome! It's still a small community, but growing day by day! I've gotten some good ideas from teachers here and tried them in my classroom. I love when I can read about something and implement it shortly thereafter! Also, PreKinders has been VERY generous and provided a forum area for Georgia Pre-K teachers, which has been a great way to connect and find out how they are managing all the requirements of our PQA. PreKinders also has a Facebook fan page, as well!

 Thank you Teach Preschool, we teach and PreKinders for everything you share! I feel very fortunate to be a part of these wonderful, growing communities. If you haven't checked them out yet, I urge you to take the time to do so. You'll be glad you did!!!

The Gift of Observation

There are many, many times in a teacher's career when you are observed. Usually it is school, system  or county administration observing, but occasionally it is another teacher. This week, I had the very common experience of being observed by a peer teacher, but for a unique reason. We have begun our "cross training" experience, for lack of a better term.  The company that I work for owns the three preschools, with a total of 5 Georgia Pre-K classes. We have some really fantastic teachers. Because we are not housed in the same school, we often miss out on the idea sharing that other teachers who work in one setting have the opportunity to experience. 


Over the next few weeks, we will get a chance to spend the day observing Pre-K teachers in our other schools.  The only agenda is to see what others are doing in their classrooms so we can grow and learn as educators. 


 Mrs. Becky came to my class this week. I was a little nervous, just as I am with any observer, but there was no pressure. (Honestly, I was probably nervous because she is such an energetic and innovative teacher that I was afraid I might not measure up.) 


"How many times in my career will I have this unique opportunity to spend a full day just watching another teacher?" I thought to myself. Two of our Pre-K teachers are mentor teachers, so they go to many additional trainings to get and share ideas. I will certainly enjoy seeing what they are doing in their classrooms.



Our administrators are giving us a gift, and I get to open mine on Monday, when I go to my first observation. This is going to be great!

St. Patrick's Day Activities

As those who know me understand, I am a complete NUT for St. Patrick's Day!!! I go all out. I dress up, wear green and silly hats almost every day for weeks, read stories with an Irish brogue and set traps and search for leprechauns.  The leprechauns visit my class daily and make a little mess. Sometimes they leave a note or a treat. The fun is in the magic.

I admit, I am having BIG FUN!!! But I think my kids are really learning, too. It is still early in our St. Patrick's Day season, but I wanted to share some of the fun we're already having.




Leprechauns Come To Visit
Almost daily, the "Leprechauns" come to our room and visit. These mischievous creatures make a mess, play with our toys, and occasionally leave notes or special snacks. 

The friends discovering a tableau made by the Leprechauns!

Graphing Lucky Charms cereal:
 We downloaded graphs from Teaching Heart and graphed Lucky Charms cereal as a small group activity.

  

Math Games
I tend to make quick games similar to this for most of my themes. We do a variety of activities with these. Roll the dice and count the appropriate number of pieces of gold to put on the shamrock. The kids always love this type of game, and I can use it for a variety of assessment purposes or they can play independently. I also have a set of shamrocks with uppercase and lowercase letters for matching, some with weather pictures, and a set with a few of the sight words some of the friends have learned.

 
Following Directions to Draw a Leprechaun

We did a following directions activity from a Mailbox magazine several years ago. Step by step, the children follow directions to make a picture. In the end, it turns out to be a leprechaun. This is great---not only do they learn to follow directions, but many of the friends having been drawing leprechauns on their own since completing the activity!

Multicultural Leprechauns
  One of my friends noticed that all of the leprechaun decorations we had purchased had leprechauns with light skin. "Mrs. Ayn, why aren't there any leprechauns with brown skin?" I didn't know what to say. I usually try to have a very multicultural classroom where everyone feels included. I was horrified to realize that I hadn't noticed the lack of multicultural leprechauns!  We decided that we wanted ALL the leprechauns that visit our room to feel welcome and included, so we made some dark skinned leprechauns to decorate our room and bulletin boards, too.

Several of her friends wanted this leprechaun to have friends that looked like him, as well, so they made dark skinned leprechauns, too!

Leprechaun Traps!

My friends have set about the task of catching the leprechauns. I really don't think they are interested in the gold, but more in finding new and interesting playmates! Here are a few of the traps the friends have made this week.

A Preliminary glimpse into the "Wee World" Planning Phase

My friend, Teacher Tom has written some AMAZING posts about his Little World, a land of imaginary play outdoors. If you haven't read any of the Little World posts, you really should---I know you'll be glad you did! I've watched his idea morph into a spectacular experience for the children AND adults at his school. I was taken by the idea from his first post, but felt it was not something I would be able to implement in our class. With each successive post, I became more and more intrigued, until the ideas were spinning in my head! I decided I would do a mini version in the area that will be our small garden patch later in the spring. I knew that I would probably need help, even if we tried this on a smaller scale. As luck would have it, I have a parent who has recently become available to help out more in the classroom and had offered to assist with any upcoming projects.

I told Luke's mom about Teacher Tom and the things he was doing. I explained how inspired I'd been and how I wanted to help the children build some sort of imaginary world that they could play in outside. She said she'd be glad to help, but she really wasn't sure about this. Would I mind sending her the links so she could check out Teacher Tom's Little World to understand what I was thinking? I agreed, but secretly thought that while she would definitely be impressed, that she may feel this was too big an undertaking for her.

She came back the next morning just beaming and looked at me and said, "Mrs. Ayn, I'm on board. I'm all in!" She explained that she would be out of town all this week, so she would not be able to help me get going until next week. She thought maybe we should see if any parents had old birdhouses laying around to donate for our "Wee World". Great idea!

This past weekend, I was shopping at Michael's for a few seasonal supplies and a little old lady stopped me as she completely blocked the aisle. "Would you look at these? They are so cute. They are only a dollar---I think I'm going to get one for each of my grandchildren for summer projects." I looked and she was holding the cutest unfinished birdhouses. Needless to say, I bought several!

With the recent visits by our Leprechaun friends, the children have decided the "Wee World" will be a place for the Leprechauns to live and play. In the words of one of my dear little friends, "Mrs. Ayn, we should build the Leprechauns a comm-U-ni-ty! That's what they need. They are here, far from home and they need a community!" So that's what we're gonna do! I'm sure I will have future posts about progress in the "Wee World" as we move forward.

Parent Teacher Communication

What is wrong with this picture? I see  a noticeable  separation between the teacher and the parents. The teacher looks like she is smiling, just as she does with every conference before and after and the parents look a little panicked! I want my students' parents to feel like we're are partners, teaming up to ensure their child's success.Sadly, I couldn't find and clipart pictures of parent teacher teams. :(

I was recently asked to list a few of the ways I facilitate sharing information with my parents. As I started to share,  I realized I have several methods. I feel that parent teacher communication is so important. I want parents to know I value and appreciate open communication between parents and teachers. When I first started teaching, I was very uncomfortable talking to parents. Now, I try to build a relationship with each of my families. (Inevitably, some parents are a little reluctant or private, so some of these relationships are more open than others.) I can serve and teach each child better when I have a full picture of the child and his life.

F*I*S*H* Binders

I have a binder for each child that serves as the primary avenue for the daily back and forth communication with parents. F*I*S*H* stands for “Family Involvement Starts Here”.  Our FISH binder is a 3-ring binder notebook, put together by the teacher that houses EVERYTHING the students and parents need to keep up with what is going on at school. This will include things like the weekly newsletter, important notes, work to keep, upcoming events calendar, daily progress notes, notebook paper for notes to the teacher, etc! No more lost notes, newsletters or calendars or wrinkled papers in the bottom of our backpacks! No more searching the house to find paper to write the teacher a note  --- I provide it.

Why are they important? These notebooks help students establish good organizational skills their first year of school---skills that can carry on throughout their time in school.

  I ask parents to remove any loose contents, initial the daily progress portion, include any pertinent notes to the school and return it to school the next day and place it on the same white counter. Many of the parents initial the book and remove contents, but choose to leave the binders here. I don't mind as long as they are checking it daily.


F*I*S*H* Binder contents:
Daily Progress Report- A quick form that gives a brief sketch of the child's daily behavior and targeted skills for the day. I use five colored faces that correspond to the student's day. Each day the child starts at green and has opportunities to demonstrate positive behavior traits throughout the day. If a reminder or two are needed, there is a designation for that as well. I believe that every child deserves the opportunity to make better choices, so our system starts in the middle. I'll have to write a more detailed post about our system soon.

Behavior Chart With Multiple Opportunities for Success: Originally, I made this form for one student with special needs. He got so hung up in any difficult time during his day, that he was not able to ever get back on track. Part of his behavior plan was to inform the parents of any difficulties he had throughout the day. Now, he has an opportunity for success for each segment of the day. Each segment of the day starts fresh, so even if he has a complete meltdown, he can still have success later in the day. I recognized that I have a few friends who would also benefit with a visual reminder with multiple opportunities for success, so I've implemented it with them as well. It is time consuming, since I do this with four or five of my friends, but since we've been using this system, I have seen an improvement in decision making and social skills.


Correspondence Report: Basically, this is a form where parents can write a quick note to me and I can respond. Handy for letting me know a change in transportation, if a student will be leaving early, expressing the need for a conference. I will occasionally use this area to inform parents of a specific problem that we need to work on together, explain any incidents that I feel they need to be informed of, etc.

Weekly Newsletter
This year, I decided that since I was planning to do themes lasting longer than one week, I would not send out a newsletter weekly, but rather as we changed themes and whenever needed in between. The first part of year was so busy, that "whenever needed in between" turned out to be weekly. I've tried a few times to skip a week, but some of the parents were funny and kind of scolded me that they needed to know what was going on because they missed the newsletter! So I guess it has become a weekly newsletter.  I include last week's happenings (and I try to add a pic or two of learning in progress), next week's themes, any student accolaides, quick reminders, pleas for help or recyclables, generally any info I need to pass on en masse. 

 

Parent Information Bulletin Board

This bulletin board displays the school year calendar, our daily schedule, weekly menu, info & sign up sheet for class pets, a copy of our newsletter, Changes To Environment, info and sign up sheet for class pets and a list of recyclables currently needed for our class.

Parent Information Entry Whiteboard 

This is right beside our classroom door, so even if parents only walk their child to the classroom door, they are able to see reminders and notes.

Opportunities for Involvement
I offer many opportunities for parent involvement in our classroom. (I admit, I'm no Teacher Tom, but I do have parents in my class frequently. :) Parents have an open invitation to come to lunch anytime, I have a sign up sheet for mystery/guest readers, help with classroom projects, and I frequently have parents who come to facilitate show and tell or other small group activities. I always ask for parents to help with field trips and special activities, as well.


Parent Lending Library
While this is not really a venue for communication, I wanted to mention it. I have a Parent Lending Library just inside my classroom that has materials available for parents to check out. I include article, books and magazines on parenting, special needs, community events, nutrition, behavior issues and ways parents can foster their child's learning at home. I let my parents know that this is a small percentage of resources available and I can help them find appropriate information on just about any topic if needed. Occasionally, this does open the door for a frank discussion if a parent finds the need for a particular type of resource.

Other Means....

I have a small bulletin board right outside my classroom that I post my weekly lesson plans, my planned Changes to Environment, our daily schedule and any school happenings. 

Instead of individual permission slips, our center uses one permission slip with a class list and each parent signs permission next to the child's name. The forms have a section to check off each time a child gets on/off the bus and several "head checks" throughout the trip. These are posted on the outside of the classroom door along with any sign up sheets for activities or supplies requested.

Parent teacher conferences are scheduled for twice a year, and of course any other time a need arises. I have frequent "impromptu" conferences--5 or 10 minutes alone in the teacher's lounge when needed, as well. 

 This is just an overview of some of the ways I communicate with my students' parents. I would love to hear if you have something you do to facilitate good communication with your parents.