Preschool Story Time

Today I tried something new with the kiddos and it went great! My 4 children love it when I put them to bed at night with an imaginative story. These are always a bit crazy and fun and of course they end happily ever after! Today I took that idea, rolled out the butcher paper and drew the story out for the kids while I told it. Then they got to color it after we were all done. They LOVED it!!! Here are some pictures.

N is for Nature

This week we have been focusing on the Letter N. It has been so much fun! On Tuesday we read a Groundhog story called Who Will See Their Shadow This Year by Jerry Pallotta. I found dry erase small boards at target with pens for $1! So we used those to practice writing the letter N.

We also went on a nature scavenger hunt. I gave the children a list with a bag. We went into the backyard and spent time collecting our items. The kids loved this!

After snack time we made egg carton caterpillars. I took an 18 count egg carton and cut it into 3 egg holder pieces. Then I had the children fill each egg slot with dirt and sprinkle them with grass seeds. Then we used a dropper to give them water. Each day of preschool the kids will water them and watch them grow into furry caterpillars.

Today we did a great craft that I found on family fun. We went outside and collected rocks, washed them then baked them at 350 for 20 minutes. Here is the link. They turned out so pretty!

We ended class with freeze dance! Always a favorite!

E is for Emotions

Today we:

Did a science experiment with a balloon, baking soda and vinegar!

Crack a hard-boiled egg, sliced it, and ate it up! Yum!

Sang songs about smiles

Today we had lots of educational fun! Here's how it went:

At circle time we practiced our sign language for a, b, c, d, and now e. To teach the kids I told them to pretend that their little hands were making a monster mouth. They had fun munching their hands around. I think they successfully got it down, now we need to repeat it so they can remember it!

They really enjoy the worksheets from sparklebox.com so we did four of those today. One of the boys might actually be ambidextrous! He switches from left to right hand frequently and I can't tell which one is dominant. We also colored on the sliding glass door with dry erase markers. They loved that!

I gave each child a hard-boiled egg to crack, peel and slice in my cool egg slicer. This was a hit for snack time. We paired it with crackers, bananas and apple juice.

I put on a crazy science party this weekend for my older son so I thought since it was E week, we could do a few Experiments. Today we experimented to see if we could get a balloon to blow up over a water bottle filled with vinegar.

Here's what you need to do it: Vinegar, small water bottles, baking soda, balloons.

1. Fill the water bottles half way full of vinegar 2. fill the balloons with baking soda 3. carefully place the mouth of the balloon over the water bottle mouth with out dropping any baking soda in the bottle. 4. you are ready to experiment. Lift the balloon up and let the baking soda fall into the vinegar. 5. watch the balloon expand.

The kids loved this. Their faces were so cute. One of the boys was afraid of it and ran from the room. He is the youngest of the crew and I explained that it wasn't going to explode. He remained leery of the balloons for the rest of preschool. :)

We also did Spaghetti art. They boys loved running their fingers through the slimy spaghetti.

We ended with singing time, sharing and piano time. I am trying something new with the piano. I always write the letter on the note so as they press it they can see where each and ever e is on the keys. Today after they had each taken turns going up and down the key board finding all the e's, I had them close their eyes. I would play an e and ask if it was an e. After a few times doing that, I then would play a different note and ask. I was surprised to find that they were being to tell a difference in the tones. At first they got them all wrong, they got stuck in saying yes. Then they really began to listen and could tell. It was a success, so I think we will play that game each piano day!

♥ Miss Mandy

Day 2 D is for Dinosaur

Time flies when you're having fun! Today we must of had lots of fun because preschool has come and gone and I feel like we just started!

Calendar time went really well today. I started teaching them the sign language for the month September and they seemed to really like that, so today we did a little more. We learned October, a, b, c, and d. It is so sweet to see their tiny hands trying so hard to make each sign. I have been using a chart book that was given to me by one of our great moms. The kids love having a visual to look at and study. They are really starting to belt out the Pledge of Allegiance! I can't wait for their parents to hear them at the end of the year. They wave their flags with pride and honor!

After our circle time and some free play we went to the table and made animal shaped biscuits. While they were in the oven we colored our Happy Dino books, then had snack time.

After that they have been requesting See me Run, so we did that for singing time. It is perfect for a group of active boys... although we do always skip the ballet song. They just look at me like what in the world?? as Rachel gracefully dances around the room. It's kind of funny.

We ended with sharing time and a story. Over all a great day!

Week 4 - D is for Dinosaur

Well our second month of preschool has begun! We are all loving it! I have the best group of kids. Today we did a review on our previous letters of the week. The cutie pies are really starting to get the Pledge of Allegiance song down. I was totally impressed as they waved there flags today and sang loud and proud. After circle/calendar time we headed into the kitchen and did some coloring letter time. I found a really great resource online at a website called Sparklebox. The kids really enjoy their worksheets. They seem to keep their attention well.

Snacks, then our Dinosaur fossils! This was the best part of the day. I made up some salt dough then gave them a small dinosaur to press into the dough. Then we cooked them and we will paint them on Friday. I used this salt dough recipe:
4 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups water
cook for 45 mins in the oven at 350
mix together, adding more water if needed. The kids each had their own rolling pins and rolled them out and began making their fossils. We did one dino and one foot. I got the play-dough toys out and they played with the left overs while I prepped the fossils for the oven.

Singing time we made a train and danced around the house. The kids are asking for See Me Run so on Thursday I will bring that out again.

I read them a few books:
The Snappy Dinosaur (one of my favorites this time of year)
Five little Ducks
Pumpkin Jack (one of my favorites this time of year)

♥ Miss Mandy

Enrollment Specials!!!

Enroll with a friend and both get 1/2

off the 1st months and get the last month free!

or

Enroll two siblings and both get 1/2

off the 1st month and get the last month free!

or

Register by August 27th and receive

$50 off your first month and June at half price!

Click here to download an Enrollment packet!

Healthy Heartstrings Preschool

Healthy Heartstrings Preschool is now accepting applications for 2010-2011 school year!

For anyone in search of a preschool for 2010-2011 school year, my name is Mandy Sommers and I will be offering 2 preschool classes this year one 2 day preschool class and one 3 day preschool class.

Healthy Heartstrings Preschool program will be academic, musical, patriotic, healthy, but most importantly FUN! Healthy Heartstrings will be run out of my home located in the estates. Although I do not have a "professional" establishment, I do run my preschool as such. My goal is to provide a developmentally appropriate learning experience for your children through active, hands-on learning, music, art, cooking and much more. I want the children to enjoy themselves while they are at school. I plan on using quality books and music as the vehicle through which we learn the alphabet, writing, numbers, science, and more.

The three day class will take place M/W/F from 8:45am-11:30am. Monthly tuition will be $175. The two day class will take place T&Th 8:45am-11:30am. Monthly tuition will be $125. I will keep each class size at 6 children. Along with a completed registration packet, a non-refundable registration fee of $50 is required to hold your child's spot as well as assist me in purchasing classroom materials (crayons, markers, journals, etc.) .

If you are interested, please email me for an application or any other questions.

Thanks!!

Mandy Sommers