"Planting A Rainbow" Literacy Centers

This year we implemented literacy centers into our daily routine for our 4s.  Literacy centers were a staple of my kindergarten classroom, and seemed like a concept I would like to implement in our preschool day.  

The basics are that our students work in small groups and rotate through 4 stations throughout the week.  Two centers are teacher lead, and 2 are student lead.  These 4s have totally exceeded my expectations with their work in literacy centers.  Here is what we have been up to this week...

When I look at these pictures, it is hard to believe that there are 16,  4 year olds working together, on task,, engaged in meaningful learning experiences.  I am so proud of them!

Thanks to an awesome idea from over at Teach Preschool, we worked with Mrs. Regina to make Alphabet Soup.  Each child dipped 5 letters into their bowls and depending on where they are in their development, either named the letter, or its sound.  

Not only did we all get a terrific fine motor work-out and hone in our hand-eye coordination  but there were also opportunities for extension.  Some children sounded out words and spelled them in their bowls!  

Our first independent center this week involved reading simple color word sentences.

They children worked together to build flowers and place them in the appropriate flower pot.  

G has done a great job filling this pot with pink flowers.  

These small groups are called literacy centers, but as you see here, we are able to incorporate skills from other areas of development  as well.  Building and sorting our flowers by color is an excellent math skill.   

The second independent task was to look through gardening catalogs and cut out pictures of flowers.  

After cutting the pictures out, the job was to paste the picture on the correct spot of the color wheel.

Looking through the catalogs was a great opportunity to experience print in a meaningful way, and our little hands got to strengthen as we worked those scissors.  

This week Mrs. Georgia's group received new reading books that I hope everyone is enjoying reading with their families.

4s Easter Celebration

Our 4s traveled to First Baptist Church of Wallace for their Easter Celebration. 

Thank you to the church and our party moms for a great party. 

We gathered together and read the Easter story.

Then we opened our own set of resurrection eggs.

Each child got to take a set home so that they could tell the Easter story to their families.  

We made an Easter Egg picture frame.

And then had a delicious lunch together.

Time to hunt for eggs! 

And a great time was had by all!

Sunshine 3s Easter Celebration

This year our sweet 3s were invited to the home of Robert J.'s grandparents for their Easter Celebration.

Mrs. Johnson told us the true story of Easter.

We had an Easter parade, where we waved our palm branches and shouted "Hosanna!".

We met Rosie the donkey.

We saw freshly hatched chicks, and learned why we hunt for eggs at Easter time.  

Time to hunt!

We are so grateful to the Cave and Johnson families for providing us with this memorable experience!

Sunshine 2s Easter Celebration

Our precious 2s had a sweet little Easter Party at preschool last week.  Thank you to our party host families- Hardison and Fonvielle,  and the other volunteers who helped us have another great day at preschool!

Party favors!

Read, set, HUNT!

We found lots of eggs!

So handsome!

To step in the garden or not...

The moms found some tricky hiding spots!

I love to see these happy faces.

We painted Easter wreaths with dandelions!

A Celebration of Imagination

What a wonderful day for an art show!  

Today we celebrated all of our little artists at our 3rd Annual Art Show and Open House.  This event always brings a smile to our faces, as we watch our little ones bursting with pride.  They just love to share their work with their families.  

Each child showed one piece of art that we have created at preschool this year.  

This is such an important opportunity for children as they bring their families to school!

I love to hear them telling their families what tools they used and the methods we employed to create each piece   

It was also a nice time to meet new friends who will join us next year, and for our new friends to get to know their new classrooms.  

There were opportunities in each classroom  for families to interact with art materials.

We explored watercolor in the Sunshine Room and sculpting in the Rainbow Room.

We honored our artists with a reception!

What a sweet and supportive sister!

Thank you to each and every family who visited with us today, you mean the world to us!