All aboard the Polar Express !
Today we read the story. Its a bit long and wordy so as a preschool teacher you have to really pull out all the stops to keep the littles interest. If you are reading a book and find yourself constantly saying ” Be quiet ” or ” look here ” then probably the book is over their head and you have lost their interest. Being a preschool teacher ” reader” requires a bit of drama and entertainment pizzaz.
The book is great because it introduces new vocabulary that the children will hear through out the week. There are words like conductor, harness, lurch, barren and pace. These might be common words for you to use ( or maybe not ) but it certainly expands the children’s vocabulary. After reading I asked a group of them to ” prance like a reindeer ” to the dress up area and on cue they asked ” what does that mean?” Oh.. thank you for asking. 🙂
In small groups we made a name train. First we counted how many letters are in our name to decide how many train cars we needed. Then the children glued them on. Those that could – wrote their name on the train cars. Some still need help and that is OK! There is no steadfast rule that says a 4-5 year old should be able to legibly write their name at this point in the year. I was excited last Friday as we played a game and Mila spelled her name for me. As the year progresses more and more children will begin to spell and write their name and we will celebrate each one.
You know what would make a great stocking stuffer ? RED SOLO CUPS ! The kids are STILL playing with them.