Freddie Ray Pumpkin & More Back-to-School Stories

"Back to school, back to school, to prove to Dad I'm not a fool..."

Anyone name that movie? Eh?

Those of you who know that movie are chuckling to yourself and now wanna watch an Adam Sandler movie. And those of you who don't know what the heck I'm talking about probably have a very confused look on your face right now, so I'll move on!

It's back to school time! But this is a different "back-to-school" for me because I've never STARTED a preschool room in the fall time when the school year actually commences. I began my preschool journey in my classroom in February. More than 7 months ago now. And I got the wonderful privilege of having those kids in the spring after some long months of their previous teacher working so hard teaching them.

You can imagine the wake-up call I got after Labor Day with 7 new kiddos, and my class now seeming like babies compared to what I had in the spring and summer. Half of them can write their name and some of them can't sit still for more than 5 seconds standing in line. As you can probably guess, I was absolutely exhausted after the first 2 weeks with a new set of kids. You know what, though? These kiddos are wonderful! Awesome listeners for the most part and little tweaks of stubbornness and sharing skills are necessary, but they are going to be such a fun class this year.

During our first week of the school year, we have a staff in-service. It felt wonderful to be recognized for the hard work and dedication in my new classroom. I love putting in the effort to make the classroom the best it can be!


Our first two weeks were all about "Back to School" and "Apples Aplenty". 
My goals for the first couple weeks are all about getting the kids used to their teachers and the other students in their classroom and how to make it a happy place to learn and have fun!

We do this by concentrating on the R's:

REPETITION of
-RULES
-ROUTINES
-(POSITIVE) REINFORCEMENT

In "Back to School" week, we speak much about the rules of the room, how to be a good friend, and how to be big kids with big brains for when we go to Kindergarten!

I began a new goal this school year of more all-around fine motor projects: cutting, pasting, and writing all included. The more practice, the better! Every other week, we are doing "book cover projects". This week we read the Mo Willems Elephant & Piggie book "Can I Play Too?", which spoke all about how to make friends even with someone that you don't normally play.

I can't wait to see the the progression throughout the year of how the kids do with these "book covers"!

 

We also made our own preschool backpacks and "name crayons"! 



We also did the very cliche, yet still very fun, "Apples Aplenty" week! The kids loved learning about how and when apples grow, how we get them, and the different varieties of apples! 

The kids loved painting their own orchards before we went to visit a real orchard!

 

We also made our own "hallway apple tree" with shiny apples (corn syrup and paint) and apples that have fallen on the ground (with brown pipe-cleaners worms wiggling inside)!



One of the highlights of the week was definitely our field trip to Apple Jack's Orchard in Delano! The weather couldn't have been any better, and the kids couldn't have behaved any better! It was a preschool teacher's dream field trip! Seriously! I was convinced that at least one of our kids would get stung by a bee or have a potty accident on the hour bus ride: but none of that happened! We had a wonderful time!

First, we arrived and had a couple "apple lessons". While we taste-tested the different apples from the orchard, we learned about what happens to apple trees in different seasons. One of the most valuable things we took away was also how to do the "bee freeze"... you don't move or bother them, they shouldn't want to bother you!

 

After the apple lessons and tastings, we got to go on a fun hay ride around the orchard and also got to jump on a ginormous "ground trampoline" with sand around it! Even the teachers and adults loved it! Our trip ended with a nice picnic lunch and a quiet bus ride home to Edina.

 

After a very exciting apple week, the fun continued on Friday when one of my girls found a frog and wanted to keep it and bring it in the show the class.



 

We decided that we all wanted to name it, so we gave our suggestions. After putting all the names in a bucket, we picked a first name, middle name, and last name:

 

FREDDIE RAY PUMPKIN!

So whenever the kiddos find a frog outside, they call it "Freddie Ray Pumpkin"! Love it!

 

Back to our "KID QUOTABLE" fun!

(while discussing our choice for frog names)

Little Girl: "How about Roofie?"

 

(lunch table conversation)

Another Little Girl: "Lorna, are you in booster seat?"

(lunch table conversation)

Girl 1: "You know what I'm gonna be for Halloween? A fairy!"

Girl 2: "I'm gonna be a cheetah!"

Girl 3: "I'm gonna be Cinderella!"

Boy: "I'm gonna be a fat man!"

 

(lunch table conversation)

Girl 1: "Avery, you have a milk mustache."

Girl 2: "I know! I had one at home this morning, too. It was thin and smooth."

(playing in the muscle room)

Little Girl: "Have you ever seen a convertible? I have!"

 

 

 

Summertime Has Come And Gone...

 

Summertime is my favorite time of the year for many reasons... the warm temps, tan skin, sundresses, no frostbitten toes, and also a break from school!

Right?!

Oh wait... 2013 was a momentous year for me. For the first time (since I was the age of 4), I did not have a summer break! From the time I was in Kindergarten, I was so used to getting the summer off. Yes, I worked as a lifeguard and a nanny for a long time, but I don't really count that as work. This summer was different.

After about half of my kiddos (the older ones in my class) graduated at the end of May, it felt like it was summer and celebration time! And therefore, the annual summer routine that has been engrained in me was wanting to be out playing and having fun in the sun and NOT WORKING.

Nope. Not this year. Anne was a full-time working teacher this summer... and the beginning of June was honestly a little sad for me! A bunch of my teacher friends who work at different schools were all talking and posting to facebook how awesome it was to be starting their summer... and then there was me. Sulking in my beginning of summer blues... A few of my big kids left me for the summer to have some time off before starting big kid school, and I was stuck with a couple of older graduates who still were coming to Cradle Club before Kindergarten and also a some younger ones who were moving up to my room from young preschool... Woe is me.

And that was my view during the beginning of June.

But I didn't notice til the ending parts of summer that my views had done a 180.
Yes, it was my first time working a full-time big job during the summer.
Yes, my other teacher friends had the whole summer off.
Yes, I had to train in my "babies" that were new to my room.

And I'm so glad I did it :)

I loved working in preschool during the summer!

Unlike regular schools, I got to keep a few of my "big kids" during the summer months who graduated in May. Those kids were excellent role models for the younger group of kids that moved up in June. The better examples the older kiddos were, the more positive reinforcement and praise they got... which they totally feed off of! They beam when they get the chance to be the older, more experienced ones in the room... leadership skills are fostered that way! So it's definitely a win-win situation.

By now, in September, those younger ones who moved up in June know what the routines are and what I expect in my classroom. Those kids are my examples now! I just got 7 new kiddos last Monday, and they are already thriving because of the great job the others have done with being excellent examples. Can you tell I'm proud of my class? :)

Alright, getting back to summer before I get ahead of myself...

I didn't blog this summer because that was my "summer break" from working. I love blogging about the progress of my teaching journey, but you gotta understand that I had to give myself a break from something! Now is when all that blog-waiting pays off!

So forgive me if this next part seems like some summer blog barf, but I wanna share some of the highlights of my fun Cradle Club summer!

MAY:

"Picnic Pleasures" (picnic week right before graduation when some of my big kids left)

I may or may not have cried when I hugged them for the last time!

After learning all about picnics, we had our own class picnic! Below is picture of a napkin that one of my kiddo's dads left in his picnic lunch! So precious!

JUNE:

During the summer months, we have a field trip every week!

My favorite field trip in June was the Children's Museum! The kiddos loved it!

 
Another fun week was Eric Carle week!
One of the kids' favorite projects was The Very Hungry Caterpillar necklaces! We made these with green-dyed penne pasta, felt and string! Such fun fine motor practice! We also had a great
time trying all the fruits that the caterpillar ate! For this, we made our own fruit kabobs and tried fruits that we may not have tried before.

Like Mother's Day, we had a celebration of our dads during the week before Father's Day! We had an art gallery hanging from the ceiling filled with the portraits we painted of our dads and also had "Donuts with Dad" on Friday! So fun!

"Tastes of Summer"

We talked about lemonade stands and got to taste for ourselves how yummy (and very sour!) lemons are...

We also painted with "popsicles" (aka paint/water cubes)...

And we got to dissect a watermelon!

JULY:

Zoo time came! We turned our classroom into the "Pre-K 2 Primate House" during the week of our Como Zoo field trip!

We had a blast seeing REAL primates at the Como Zoo, too!

"Delightful Dairy"

Since we can't have a week named "Irresistible Ice Cream", we had a week focused on dairy! Dairy choices can either be healthy or not so healthy, but we talked with the kids about making good food choices! When we told them that Ben & Jerry's was coming to our school to show us how to make ice cream, you can just imagine how pumped they were! We explained that eating Ben & Jerry's ice cream everyday is not the best choice for a healthy body, but you can have it every once in a while :)

At the end of July, we took a bus field trip to Stages Theater to see the children's play "Aladdin"! My kiddos sat so nice, and as you'd probably guess, all the little girls were in absolute awe when Aladdin and Jasmine rode the magic carpet and sang "A Whole New World"... Heck, I loved it just as much as they did!

 

AUGUST:

 I discovered one of my new favorite kids places in the Twin Cities: Splash Pad in St. Louis Park! This place is cheap, and so much fun on a hot day! Kate, one of my assistant teachers, and I had as much fun (if not more) than the kids!

Farmer's Market week was a blast as well!

We hopped on the bus again and went to a place I've never experienced before: The Works Museum! Very fun, engineering-based science exploration place for kids!

    

 And then... (drum roll) End-of-Summer Carnival! Once again, I think the teachers may have had just as much fun (or more) than the kiddos! The giant water slide was a new addition this year, and I am so glad I chose to be in charge of that activity! It was awesome!!!

All in all, I think I had as much fun as a teacher can have while still working during the summer! I'll now be back to my regular weekly postings, so check back soon!