The Post Office

It's hard to believe that we are in the month of December, already!  December is such a busy time of year at the post office & other shipping facilities around the country.  You'll be glad to know that things are no different in our OLES Preschool Post Office.  In fact, over the last few days, this center has become one of the preschoolers' favorite places to learn in our classroom.  

The preschoolers have had the opportunity to act out the real-life situations of putting a stamp on a letter or package, sending holiday cards to friends & family as well as dramatizing the various jobs that a mail carrier completes on a daily basis.

In fact, the preschoolers have been delivering tons of letters, packages, & baked goods to our very own OLES Cafe.  Rain, snow, sleet or hail, the preschoolers are on the job and working hard....with the exception of a few coffee breaks.  :)

It is very exciting to see how enthusiastic they are about delivering packages.  However, it is even more rewarding to see that the preschoolers are starting to see a purpose in the activity of writing and are beginning to understand that their letters can relay a message to someone else.  While they are gaining many new words for their receptive vocabulary during their dramatic play experiences, they are also enjoying the opportunity to talk to their friends and interact in meaningful conversations with each other.  

 

 

 

Language Experiences are fun!

During Language Experience, we practice our listening and talking skills with Ms. Julie & Ms. Videll.  The goal of each language experience is for the preschoolers to have so much fun with the activity that they will come home & talk about it with you!  This past month, we made special animal-shaped sandwiches, some turkey cookies and we even rolled out our very own gingerbread dough.  Lastly, we went on a treasure hunt around the school to find our gingerbread man!  He was "loose in the school" and we couldn't find him.  

 

 

 

 

 

The Bakery

The OLES bakery has officially opened for business.  Luckily, we have some very busy preschoolers who are working hard to bring you some excellent baked goods each day.   Our bakery features a brick oven and lots of countertops for rolling out dough of all kinds.  The preschoolers have really enjoyed playing in the bakery and seem to have had excellent role models at home who have shown them how to work in the kitchen.  

Each day, the preschoolers have the chance to make delicious baked goods for their friends.  First, they pick a recipe to make.  Then, they carry out the necessary steps to make their specific baked good.  Even though their measuring is not always accurate (and their ingredients are an interesting mix of food items), they are always proud of their final product.  Some of the preschoolers even love boxing up their goodies into packages or cookie jars.

Next week, we will be adding a post office next to the bakery so that the preschoolers can send their fresh baked goodies to their friends or loved ones.  They might even begin to deliver the goodies to the OLES Cafe where some hungry patrons are waiting to eat.

At school, we are encouraging the preschoolers to interact with each other as they bake.  In fact, we are encouraging them to ask their friends what they would like to eat and this has helped them to learn how to share the ingredients & utensils.  Additionally, the bakery center is particularly good at encouraging the preschoolers to act out different steps in the baking process.  Remembering these steps and talking to their friends about them the next day is one of our goals.  Lastly, we are encouraging the healthy food handling habits of washing our hands before we work with food items, wearing hats to keep our hair away from the food & the wearing of aprons to protect our clothes. Don't they look extremely professional?

      

 
 

It's Finally Fall in Virginia

We're finally experiencing some fall weather in Virginia.  The leaves near our school are turning a gorgeous blend of colors.  So, we figured that it was time to study them closer.  The preschoolers have really enjoyed collecting the leaves from the playground to look at under the magnifying glass. We've even been able to listen to the rustling of the leaves in the air as well as what they sound like when we stomp on them.  Ou stories have also focused on the season of fall and what some kinds of animals do during this season.  However, the preschoolers' favorite activity was raking the leaves.  Of course, they enjoyed jumping in the leaves, stomping the leaves and even throwing them in the air, too.  Each day, when we went outside, they asked us to rake more leaves.  So, parents, you might want to take advantage of their sudden interest in doing yard work.  I can't promise that this will last. :)  

  

 

 

Goldilocks & the Three Bears

The preschoolers had a lot of fun retelling the story of the Three Bears.  They used finger puppets, bear stuffed animals and even a Goldilocks doll to help them act like the characters from the story. The preschoolers had fun changing their voices for the different characters as well as listening to different versions of the original story.  At first, everyone wanted to be Goldilocks, until they realized that they might have to eat some real porridge.  However, in the end, the bear unit was a big success because it encouraged the preschoolers to talk about something that they enjoyed.

 

 

Pizza, pizza!

Making something from scratch can help you understand each step a little bit better.  That's exactly what we've been doing in language experience over the last few weeks.  One week, we read a book in class about the little red hen who made a pizza.  As you can imagine, the little red hen wanted help with along the way, but no one was available to help her.  

Luckily, I had a lot of help!  While the preschoolers told me that they usually got pizza from the pizza delivery man, they were happy to volunteer their expertise when making their own personal pizza.  First, we made the dough & tried to stretch it out.  

 

 

We even attempted to throw the dough up in the air...but I think that we might need a little bit more practice with that step.  :)  Then we added the pizza sauce and our very own pile of mozzarella cheese!  The best part was watching it bake in the HOT oven.  While some of the preschoolers were skeptical of the homemade pizzas, some of them ate it all up...without any help.  :)  YUMMY!