Tour of Laugh & Learn Preschool

Presidents and the American Flag

For Presidents' Week we learned all kinds of things. A few of the things we learned about are our flag, presidents, and money.

Both classes learned about the colors and shapes on The United States of America's flag. They also learned why there are 13 stripes and 50 stars. (Ms. Heidi's class also learned what each color stands for). Then each child painted a replica of the flag. Ms Tania's class also learned about our country, state, and city. Then they made maps.

This gentleman is showing his picture of George Washington. Did you know that he had wooden teeth? There are also projects in the background that Ms. Heidi's class made using the colors from our flag and stars!
Again it was so amazing to see what all of the children learned!
MS. TANIA

O Week and the O-lympics

The shape of the week was an octagon. So we did what any preschool teacher would do. We made an octagon octopus! The children had to make sure that their octopus had eight legs, just like an octagon has eight sides!

Is he counting by 2's to check his work. I think so!

Let the O-lympics Begin!
We had many events. Some were traditional, and some were a bit different. We held individual, pair, and team events.

Here the children are sponge painting to design their own Olympic flags.

Here's one of our pair events, the Ball Toss. Look at that great hand-eye-coordination!

Here's another pair event, the Ball Race. Each pair had to hold a ball without using their hands. Giggling was a must for this race!

One of our individual events was a foot race, but you had to hold a feather with your toes.

This race made you think. You had to move your feather across the floor without touching it! Wind power!

Another individual event was the Long Jump. After the children built a number line they measured how far they could jump. We had a seven way tie and had to have a jump off. All of our events were a fun way to exercise, problem solve, and practice how to win and lose!

Closing ceremonies.
Ms. Tania's class had a short parade for Ms. Heidi's class.
MS.TANIA

N Week

Noon or Night? The children cut out many pictures. Then they glued each picture in the appropriate section, noon or night. The pictures also included the sun and moon to help review what we learned about during space week.

Not only did the children work on the difference between noon and night. They also had lots of fine motor practice with the cutting, glueing, and sorting.

Our new center for N week was Number Bingo. What a fun way to review numbers and practice playing games in a group! It's also great practice for what to do when you don't win.
During center time the children have many choices. In the background you can see a child drawing on the whiteboard and a child playing an independent game.

This little man is getting a closer look at the spinner, "what does a five look like again?"
Ms.TANIA

Space Week

We had so much fun learning about outer space. We focused on our solar system and the moon. It was amazing to see how excited the children were and how easily they learned all kinds of information!

Both classes learned about the phases of the moon. They also learned why it looks as if the moon changes sizes.
Ms. Heidi's class worked in pairs to create the two toned planets.

Here's an art project from Ms. Tania's class. After spraying stars on the background. The children used what they had learned to put the planets in order. Ask your child if they can name the planets (starting with Mars). This song is fabulous to help with learning the planets: http://havefunteaching.com/songs/science-songs/planets-song/

For N week we followed up with what we had learned about planets, especially Neptune, for our ABC book.
MS. TANIA

Snow Day

We try to get outside whenever possible. This was a perfect day; sunshine, new snow, and a bunch of bundled kiddos!
MS. TANIA

M Week

M is for Math!

Can you believe that preschoolers can make and read the data off of graphs? I used to teach this skill in third grade! Here she is arranging her M&Ms by color (sorting is another great math skill) to form a graph.

Here's a close up of her work in progress. It's so neat to see how they all use different strategies. She is sorting out each color before placing them on her graph. So cool!

Here's another kiddo getting started on her graph! She picked up an M&M and placed is where ever it belonged on the graph.

M is for mitten. We read two versions of The Mitten. Then we painted our mittens (we didn't want them to be lost in the snow). After they dried the children cut them out. Using scissors is tricky, and cutting curves is even trickier. It requires both hands to work independently, performing different skills.

M is for maracas. Painting maracas, so fun!

Ms. Tania's class painting (we had a few kiddos absent this day). They all look so serious!

More painting.
MS. TANIA

Christmas Celebration

Jump on board the Polar Express!

Everyone wore pajamas, so cute and so comfy. The kiddo on the left is playing with the train table (what a great brain builder). The center kiddo and the girl on the right are cooking up something wonderful.

Here is Ms. Heidi's class making reindeer food (they don't eat nearly as healthy as us). One little man asked if it needed two scoops.

I'm not sure that they danced on the polar Express, but if they didn't they should have! We love to dance. It's a great way to develop gross motor skills, improve coordination and memory, exercise, and of course have fun! We do free dances, choreographed dances, and dances that work on various skills (up and down, right and left, rhythms, rhymes, math...we have a song for just about everything!).

This is an art project. It takes a lot of self control (fabulous life skill) to decorate a cookie rather than eating it. Yes, there is a cookie under all that wonderful stuff!

No longer an art project...let's eat!
MS. TANIA

K is for Kwanza

K week!

K week was right before our Christmas break, so we learned about another holiday called Kwanzaa. We made beads out of a special dough. The next day we painted the beads with Kwanzaa colors; red, green, and black. Finally we strung the beads into necklaces and bracelets. It was amazing to see how the kids planned ahead to make patterns!
MS. TANIA

Friendship Feast

Celebrating Friendship!

Centers are always so much fun, and they are also a great way to practice and develop social skills.

Every child brought one food item. We combined the food to make a wonderful feast of veggie soup, bread, and fruit salad. It is so much fun to watch them eat and socialize, especially while wearing Pilgrim hats!
(We also had a mini-lesson on pomegranates, which many kids discovered that they like. I love when they find a new healthy snack!)
MS. TANIA

H is for hat

Check out our crazy hats and our math skills!

Building the shape of the week, triangles, on our geoboards.

Is that a turkey on your head? What shape is on your geoboard? How many sides does it have?

(You can make a geoboard at home with wood and nails!)
MS. TANIA

Halloween Party

We love to have parties! The costumes were so fun, both on the kids and the adults. Thank you to all of our great volunteers!

Decorating our treat bags. Stickers are such great fine motor skill builders!

No party is complete without dancing!

We had lots of games and fabulous volunteers. Here they are playing Spider Match.

Super Girl playing a witch hat ring toss.

What's inside the Feely Box? I bet it is creepy!

A bull rider bobbing for apples. If your teeth don't work you can always use your hands.
MS. TANIA

The Pumpkin Patch

On a field trip to the pumpkin patch

Here we are ready to go through the corn maize. Everyone made it out, except the kiddos in one group (the one Ms. Tania was in:). We had to come out the entrance.

Looking for the perfect pumpkin, which to most kids means the biggest one!
MS. TANIA