Preschool: Kings & Queens

Well, it was finally my turn to host preschool again.  I felt like it had been forever.  The past times I have hosted I had one letter for the whole week, but this time I had 2 letters K and Q.  I felt they actually went pretty well together with Kings and Queens, so I was pretty excited about it.

Monday I focused on K and here is how the day went.

9:45 - Arrival and ABC puzzle

I wanted to do something a little different to start off this week.  We have this great ABC puzzle with both capitol and lower case letters so before everyone came I dumped all the pieces out and put some by each chair and the puzzle in the middle.  We just went in a circle and everyone took turns saying what letter they had, what it stood for, and then put it in the puzzle board.  I was worried about attention spans but they all did so well and were super patient as they waited their turn and listed to their friends talk about letters.  I was so pleased!

 10:00 - Letter K writing and Recognition

I found an awesome handout on education.com that allowed them to practice writing the letter K, to find and circle letter K's in words, and also color objects that started with K.  The kids did really well and were to excited and proud when they wrote their own K's and when they found them too.  It was an awesome handout!

10:15 - K is for Keys and Kisses

I had then turn their papers over and write a big letter K on the back.  I had my chalkboard so I could demonstrate.  They obviously didn't look quite as good as they do when they trace but everyone still did it which I think was great!  Then I put a bunch of old keys on the table.  We talked about how Key starts with K and I showed them how to do a rubbing with crayons.  They thought it was so cool.  I let them do that for a few minutes and then I talked to them about how Kiss also starts with K.  I busted out my lipstick and put it on all the kids and let them kiss their papers.  I even put some on myself and kissed all their papers too.  They laughed at how big my lips were compared to their own.  I loved how much fun they had with this!

Giving the Camera some Kisses With their hot red lips!

10:30 - Circle Time

We moved into the living room and all sat on a blanket to sing some letter K songs.  I found an awesome preschool pack that was K is for King Benjamin and Keeping the Commandments.  We talked a little about King Benjamin and how he built a huge tower to stand on so he could teach all the people.  Then we sang Keep the Commandments since that was something he taught them.  That pack also had some letter recognition stories where I had them find the K, a continue the pattern page, and even a color recognition page that I used for the younger kids (I have two 2 year olds now too). I also had one more handout from education.com that had many different objects and we had to find the ones that started with K.  They did great on all of them!

10:45 - Dancing to the Letter K song

The letter song was such a hit last time that I busted it out again this week.  The kids LOVE to dance and sing with it.  It is great because in the song is has them say the letter sound over and over and it also give lots of examples of things that start with that letter.  We did it 3 times, per their request.  lol.

10:55 - Snacks and Stories

I was very low on books that had things to do with letter K, luckily my friends pulled through and I got some great books about Kites, Kisses, and Kings.  The kids love when I read during snacks, today I think I read 7 books. I love how excited they get and how they talk to each other about the books.  It is so fun to see their curiosity.

11:10 - Playtime

A few mins of playtime while I clean up snacks and get ready for our craft

11:15 - Kites

The awesome Hubs cut out some perfectly shaped kits for me last night.  This morning I tied the strings and then let the kids decorate.  Today I let them do whatever they wanted.  I put out some crayons, glue, and colored tissue paper and let them have at it.  Some even requested some more lipstick so they could put kisses on their kites.  So fun!  I also had streamers for the kite tails and let them pick which color they wanted but most pick both colors.  After we were all done making the kites we had to go outside and fly them!

They wanted to go fly their kites, not take a picture.

11:25 - Let's Go Fly a Kite & Kick a Ball

The more I think about actual preschool I realize that they really do incorporate physical activity as well so I wanted to do a better job of that aside from just free play.  Today we went outside and in order to get our kites to fly they had to run.  Needless to say the kids got LOTS of exercise.  I also brought out some balls so they could Kick since Kick also begins with K.  They had fun with that too.  :)

11:40 - Kite touch-ups and free play

A few of the kids were pretty tired so we came inside for the last few minutes.  Some of the kites had some damage from flying them and falling in the wet grass and being stepped on so I let those who wanted fix what they wanted and the others played until their mommy's came.

Overall, AWESOME day!  The kids did so well today.  They were supper attentive and eager to learn which I LOVE TO SEE!  The only things I didn't get to were making Kazoos and talking about using Kleenex.  I know that sounds silly, but it does start with K and you might as well enforce the teaching of good healthy habits!  :)

Letter Q

Today went great too.  I was a little worried because usually for some reason the kids are a little more crazy on the second day of school and much less excited about learning, but today they did great!

9:45 - Letter Q writing and Recognition

I used the same handout as last time from education.com that had them practice writing Q's, Finding Q's and coloring objects that started with Q.  Then had them flip over their papers and they could do a dot-to-dot that formed a question mark (handout also from education.com) .  They are getting so smart and quick, they were done in not time!

They had so much fun with the imprints last time I decided to do it again with Quarters.  It was a little tricky because they kept sliding around the table, but they did great

10:00 - Q is for Q-tips

There were lots of ideas for things to do with q-tips but today I decided we would make shapes.  I gave everyone a few then I made a shape in the middle, like a square, and then had them try and do it too.  Some kids needed more help then others, but they seemed to really enjoy it.  After a while they started making their own shapes and letters too.  Such smarties!

Who knew q-tips could be so much fun!

 10:10 - Circle Time

We did a usual things here, sang the ABC's, sang our days of the week songs, used the calender, and counted to 29 because today is the 29th.   I sang them a song called "Reverently, Quietly" and we talked a little bit about what being reverent is and when we should be reverent.  Then I used a Queen Ester Preschool Pack and told the story of Queen Ester then had the kids find the letter Q's in the story.  I also used a math page from this packet and had each of the kids practice adding objects that started with Q.  They did great!

10:30 - Playtime while I get snacks ready

10:35 - Snacks and Stories

Today we only read 4 books but they really loved them.  And the kids were extra hungry today so we had to take a lot of pauses for seconds and thirds.  I actually remember to write down what books we used today.

Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood
Little Quack's Bedtime by Lauren Thompson
Little Quack's Hide and Seek by Lauren Thompson
The Quite Book by Deborah Underwood

They loved them as usual and even asked for more.  They especially loved Little Quack.

10:50 - Playtime while I cleaned up snacks and got crafts ready

11:00 - Q-tip Painting

I found this adorable idea last night that made a snowman out of Q-tip dots.  I thought it would be so fun since it tis' the season and all.  I showed the kids the picture and then called them into make it. I had them first try and draw a snowman on their paper themselves.  Some of the kids did awesome!  I was so impressed.  Then I went around a helped those that needed and drew a top hat on all of them.  I then gave them each some paint and Q-tips and let them have at it.  Some did dots, others did strokes, they all had fun!

So much fun!

11:20 - Kings and Queens

We picked up some crowns from Burger King with the intention of letting them Decorate them themselves, but now they have tons of writing on the back so there when that idea.  So I put a label on each of the crowns and wrote each kids name with King for the boys and Queen for the girls.  I then showed them each crown one at a time and they had to figure out who's crown it was.  It was fun and they got so excited when they found their own name.

11:25 - Playtime while I cleaned up the paint

11:35 - Pattern Blocks

I probably could have let the kids play for the rest of the time, but today they were just not playing very nicely.  I had forgotten about the Pattern Blocks (despite the fact that I laminated them last night with the intention of using them today) and decided to call all the kids back in for one more activity   I used these a while back when I hosted one time and the kids loved them so I knew they would love them again.  I'm glad I laminated them, it made them much more sturdy.  The kids had fun making all the different animals until their parents came.  They would each get so proud when they finished one.

I love these kiddos!  I can't wait until I get to host again!