Beat the Heat this Summer!

Desert Blossoms will be hosting 3 sessions of summer camp beginning June 6.

Each Camp will run for two weeks. Children ages 2-10 (for summer camp only!) are eligible for enrollment.

For curriculum and pricing please e-mail me at desertblossomspreschool@yahoo.com. Space is limited!

Don't forget to take advantage of our March Madness early registration for Summer Camp 2011.

*Referral discounts applied for current families of DBPS... so tell a friend or two!

President's Day, Rodeo & Dental Awareness

No letter this week

Reviewed: my, S, M & V 

Math: Counting, identifying numbers and shapes

Desert Blossoms had 2 full days of school this week! But what a BUSY 2 days it was. The Rodeo was just around the corner so we watched a few short videos on bull riding and bucking broncos. Next up we made our Wanted Posters and did rope names. : 

               

And of course a cowboy/ girl needs a good ol' western vest!

We cut out our vest from brown paper bags and added a splash of color. 

Pin the tail on the horse:

Their favorite part was getting spun around with the blind fold on. Everyone helped with the counting and Chris was our winner! 

Even with a short week upon us, we did a bean sensory bin. What a mess this one made, but we did a lot with this one! Counting, sorting by size/ color/ shape, and spooning/ pouring into various containers. 

During our reading groups we worked more with identifying the sight word "my".  

Our Terrific Tots used tactile letters to make the word my:

The Tremendous Toddlers are working on their tracking skills; reading from left to right. As we do a share reading (reading together and everyone has a copy of the text) the kids have to identify, read and circle the word my. 

For math this week we focused on numbers and shapes (counting is done EVERY day for a variety of activities). I pulled out the geo boards and allowed the kids to use the rubber bands to create their own shapes. It was amazing to see them make the shapes and then take their blue boards to the poster on our calendar wall to see what shape they had made! They then had conversations among themselves discussing what it is they were making. 

"I made a red square guys! Look! You wanna try?"

"Look Chris, it's a twi-angle!"

"I making shapes."

To wrap up our Rodeo day we made Root Beer floats and the desert Blossoms Salon!

Yeehaw Y'all!

On Wednesday we celebrated Presidents Day. We watched two short clips on Brain Pop Jr. about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The kids are really enjoying our computer time lately and have been great at learning the rules for the lap top. 

This led into our lesson of coins and identifying the presidents on real money. 

At home help: practice saying what the name of the coins are. So far we have done quarters and pennies. 

There is also a cute song by Dr. Jean that is about coins. Here are some the lyrics:

(Tune: Frere Jacques)

Penny, nickle, dime

Penny, nickle, dime

Quarter, half dollar, 

Quarter half dollar,

Penny, nickle, dime 

Penny, nickle, dime

Quarter, half dollar

Quarter, half dollar

Our craft was making an Abraham Lincoln face:

For fun we made forts in the classroom! This was a big hit!!!!! Each child had a "house" and took the beans we had been sorting with earlier to make "dinner" at their house. I LOVE watching them do pretend play. Their minds are just an abyss of imagination. 

Centers:

Our new FAVORITE toy is this wood cutting set from Melissa & Doug. It's great for counting, beginning fractions and identifying colors/ describing irregular shapes.   We used this in centers both days. And some how I did not get a picture of the little ones using it! But I did come across this after school on Tuesday!

The food...

and even the "big" kids love it!

Identifying the lower case letter to match the uppercase letter.

Sorting by grouping things that are alike.
Notice the tweezers next to her? Yep, should be using those for fine motor.
Can't be perfect 100% of the time:  ) 

As a side note I want to thank all of you for your support last week. I missed the kids a ton! We are all so happy to be back on track and have spotted an Leprechaun in our class room! So much fun to be green at Desert Blossoms. Please check the side bar for important dates and fun activities. 

*Just a reminder that next week (March 14-18) is Spring Break* 

V is for Valentine- Week 2

More exposure to the letter Vv.
Math: counting
Sight Word: my

Love has been our theme for the last couple of weeks.  I think this is one of my favorites! There is so much the kids get from this unit and LOTS of fun stuff we get to do. On Monday we began making our "love bugs".  The kids painted heart dollies (wings) and then made a body from pipe cleaners and beads. Finished "loved bugs" will be displayed in class next week!

Elizabeth and Trynnity working on their "bodies".

Lots of hand and eye coordination!
We also counted each bead, identified the color
 as well as discussed if a pattern was made.

Later in the week we did our first sight word: my. Most of the kids knew the letter Mm right away without being asked! We said the word, found it on our road to reading, wrote the word and did a color by number with the letters. 

*To practice this word at home: ABC magnets on the fridge that spell out the word, tape up our color by number page in your bathroom or in the kid's room, and have your child read it to you when you come across the word during reading time at home.*

Remember they are still young learners and you will see growth over time!

On Wednesday we were able to enjoy the weather with a trip to our neighborhood park.  They were bursting with energy! And even during playtime I would catch these girls counting as they were climbing steps.

 We had our first PJ day on Thursday.  For their ages, these little guys count fairly well! However the challenge for them has been 1:1 correlations.  We use the white page weekly with a variety of counters (bears, beans, buttons, cars, etc.). They see the number, word and can touch/count how many objects it makes. Each child can work at their own pace and it allows me a chance to get a visual of what the need to work on individually.

 Another fun fine motor practice we did this week was to peel the paper from old crayons. Sounds easy? Can you see me smiling? It really was a tall task even for my older ones. I had to continue to cheer them on to complete the task at hand. The incentive...

 ... home made rainbow rubbing crayons!


To do this at home with your old crayons: 
1. Get out your old crayons. Take off the paper (if it is still on) and break them up into smaller pieces (kids love to help with this.)
2. Spray your muffin tin with vegetable spray (or you can use paper cups as liners as pictured below) and pour some crayons into each spot. The more or less you put depends on what size you want for each chunky crayon. You can also group the crayons into colors that are fun together, red and blue for purple, pink tones or blue tones.
3. Place the muffin tin full of crayons into a preheated oven of 275 degrees F. I used both mini muffin tins and large muffin tins. Watch them carefully, they will melt fast. Bake them for about 7-8 minutes. When they look melted enough, carefully and slowly remove them from the oven. You can stir them with a toothpick for a swirly look, or leave them as is. Let them cool completely (can be placed in the freezer to speed up process once the tin is not so hot.)
4.  Once cooled, the crayons can be popped out of the muffin tin, tap the back to help this process. Then get the paper out and your ready to color. 

For class we used the crayons for our Vv rubbings.

A variety of textured V's with our finished crayons!

Another Vv lesson this week was our collage. We make a collage for each letter we study. For Vv we did (drum roll please...) valentine stamps! 

The stamp pads we have are scented.
So each time they placed the stamp in the pad they HAD to smell it!

By the end of the week we had a not so "love bug" visit many of our little ones.  As much as we try and keep "ick" at bay it does find it's way in.  I teach the kids to hand wash regularly as well as to sneeze or cough in their arm (to do so in the hand causes more germs to spread). We have sterilized all the toys and cleaned all the linens the kids have used. 

*As a reminder your child should be fever, diarrhea, and vomiting free for 

24 hours without the use of medication before returning to school. Thank you!*

Hope everyone feels better soon! 
Next week is a 3 day school week due to Rodeo Break.  Giddy up and get ready for some good ol' fun!