2011 Ladybugs: Settling in with the Ladybugs

When you've got the bells, you just have to dance!

Library time, using our new SmartBoards.

We're settling into our routine in the Ladybugs. The children come to circle time and mostly stay there. They respond to the call for clean up and happily get ready for snack and recess! We are working on taking care of our belongings and putting them where they go. The kids were introduced to Dance Mat Typing, this is a program we have used with kindergarten to teach the beginnings of keyboarding. These children's hands are so small that it isn't practical to teach keyboarding, but it is a perfect tool for matching upper and lower case letters.

We've also been working on writing their names using the D'Nealian style of writing. We screened for reading readiness and found that some of the children are already reading and many are just on cusp of reading. They recognize many letters and sounds and can pick out words. This is the perfect time to introduce repetitive, predictable books.

In math, we are working on patterns using rods, beads, the calendar and our counting caterpillar on the wall. While everything in Pre-K looks like fun, there is method to my madness and a reason for all the things we do. Children learn by doing and discovering, so if they get a chance to handle the materials and figure things out by themselves, they will retain that information much better.

Even the shaving cream had a reason besides fun. It's sensory, it's warm/cold, it smells good/spicy/bad. You can play with a friend, you can do it by yourself. You can draw pictures on it or practice writing your name. When you add a squirt of paint, well, that changes everything! Now there is color mixing going on. We were lucky that the 5th graders joined us on Friday for a little shaving cream fun. They would like to come back every Friday, we'll see.

This week we'll be starting our literature circles with the K and 1st graders. We're starting with the book, "The House that Jack Built". We think this is going to be fun and a great way to encourage in-depth thinking about books.