First Day, Color Parties, Homecoming & a Bear Hunt

Catching you up =)

Well, it seems I have allowed this blog to fall by the waste side doesn't it?

I will have to work harder at keeping it up. Add that to my list!

Let me see what pictures I can pull in to show you what has been going on in our world lately...

Let's be real.

Some days the only thing that gets me through is Route 44 Coke Zero. 

THIS is my coffee!

When I last blogged, school was about to start.

  I was prepping for a room full of preschoolers to descend on me.

I had no idea how hard, or how much fun it would be to teach again.

 I LOVE my job.

 Here are a few of the highlights thus far. Oh and a few of my crazy crafts =)

First Day Jitters!

 Twelve new Cubs descended on my class in mid-August to start PreK4s.

 I have a great mix of 6 girls and 6 boys.

I did not have anyone cry! Yeah!

The Cubs had meet me the week before and I was sure to show them just how silly

I am so they would be anxious to come back.

On the first day of school I have a TON planned, but know that most of it won't happen.

 I just hate to have empty space.

It sometimes causes a little homesick blues, so I avoid it.

After a few days of learning the schedule, expectations and transition songs I worked downtime into the day on purpose. I love to see what they do with free time =)

Here is one of my sweet cubs taking off because he did not want his picture made in front of the
"1st Day of Pre-K!" frame.

Don't worry he came right back after he show his friends take their pictures.

I even let them make a funny face in one of the shots.

The Cubs did awesome and we are set to have a great year!

We quickly breeze through the alphabet the first few weeks so that I can assess what kids know.
We review numbers 1-20, as well.

Then, we take the rest of the year and really concentrate on one letter and number each week.

It is tough to catch the kids up if they miss, but it is wonderful to see that most of them are very familiar with their letters and numbers.

Color Party Time!

We  concentrate one color a week. On Fridays, we have a color party. 

I decorate the class with balloons, write on the mirror, hang streamers from the ceiling and the kids wear or bring in something with that color.

Here is a group shot from "Orange Party".

We ate orange snack and talked about all the things we see that are orange.

They love each and every color party!

Homecoming

Shortly after school started we had "Homecoming Week".
(Gotta love the South, we think of any reason we can to wear weird clothes and have crazy hair!)

My class loved the week and seeing all the older kids dress up on 80's Day or Favorite Team Day.

Here are my own kiddos at the game sporting their 'Crazy Hair'.

Can you tell their Mommy gets into the spirit as well?

Oh, and don't forget, the 'floats' that each class makes. What a blast!

Bears in School???

After our Color Parties are all done for the year, I love to get the kids excited about the cool themes we have in our curriculum.

One of my favorites is Teddy Bears! 

We talk all week about different bear books, sizes and colors of bears and even sing bear songs. 

On the last day we go on a Bear Hunt! 

It seems a bear "has gotten loose in the school" and left us of clues to find him. 

I have faux magnifying glasses that each kid holds. 

We sing the Bear Hunt song as we roam the halls, going through the principals' offices and into a class or two. (Of course, I prepped everyone to say they had just seen the bear.)

Well... Look, who was waiting for us in the cafeteria!!!

 Beary even had Teddy Grahams and animal crackers. 

Did I mention how much I love my job?

Keep the Faith & Share your Smile,

~Aggie Amy

Rhyme Time, Birthdays Already and Cleaning Up

 Is it Rhyme Time?

How quickly the year is going! It is already time for a new theme. This week it was Nursery Rhymes. I took a picture of each child sleeping and made our own class book. It follows the Rhyme, "Little Boy Blue come blow your Horn".  I cut out the sleeping picture and put it under a yellow haystack that child had painted. In our case it went "Little Girl Grace come blow your horn. The Sheep is in the meadow, the cow's in the corn. Where is the girl who looks after the Sheep? She's under the haystack fast asleep." This is just one of our class books. The kids' LOVE them and can be found during center time reading and reading their favorite ones.

Four More BIRTHDAYS?

It is that time of year again. Our four kiddos all have birthdays close together. Instead of doing four little, separate parties they get one Huge party. Every year we pick a charity and ask people to bring items for that charity instead of getting the kids gifts. (Honestly, don't we all have more than we could ever need?) This year we made Operation Christmas Child boxes for Samaritan's Purse. The boxes are taken to poor children all over the Earth to share a bit of Christmas joy and the story of Christ with them.

 The kids ranged in age from 4 years to 13 years old. Several of the kids decorate tehir boxes. Don't you just love seeing a child's handwriting? I bet Jesus doesn't mind the "J" being backwards =)

We put together 54 boxes for OCC. It was a blast!

The kids and several of the parents

stayed and helped out.

We have a beautiful community we have <3

We have to C-L-E-A-N? Are you for real... M.o.o.o.o.m.m.m???

In an act of desperation one night, the kids' woke up to these signs all over the house. It has been a tough adjustment for all of us to have me working outside the home for the first time in ...forever! They are used to have me work in the house all day while they are in school. Now, I am at school with them. We are getting better. I just thought you would enjoy a laugh or two at the 'sink's sign'.

I hope where ever you are in the world today that you are having a marvelous day!

Keep the faith and walk in love

~Aggie Amy