First Day of School!

What a GREAT first day of school we had today!!  Only a few tears at drop off, which is to be expected, but overall, everyone had an easy transition to the classroom!

We started the day with our Touch and Feel pool.  This sensory pool serves as an exploratory activity to get the children engaged and interacting while we wait on all our friends to arrive in the mornings. This morning the pool was full of letters.  All different colors and different sizes, the children had fun identifying letters and spelling out simple words.

Once everyone arrived we started our Morning Circle.  We sang a "Good Morning" song and introduced ourselves to all our classmates.  Everyone stood up and said "My name is...." and all the friends responded with "Hi...".  They were all so eager to take a turn and participate.

Next on the schedule is playground time.  We held the rope and walked out to the playground.  There are swings, a sandbox, bicycles, climbing, and a slide.  So much to do and explore!  Even though it was cloudy....it was certainly warm outside today!  There were some red cheeks and sweaty faces when we headed inside.

After a quick drink of water, we headed back to the classroom for our story.  Our book today was 'Everyone Has A Name' by Richard Browner.  This book describes characteristic of some familiar animals and talks about their NAMES.

For our language activity, we talked about how we are all alike in some ways, just like the animals, and even though some of us have the same name (there are two Jacks and two Christophers this year), we are all different.

For art, we made colored pictures using templates with the first letter of our names.  Each child had a piece of paper with the first letter of their name, and after selecting a colored do-a-dot marker, went to work trying to color their paper.  Once the template letter was removed, a nice outline of the letter could be seen.  The children helped fill out the rest of their names to complete the art activity.

All that was left of the day was lunch and music.  Lunch was super smooth with the kiddos talking and asking questions.  Music was a fun time where everyone was singing some of their favorite preschool songs.  Then it was time to say good-bye for the day!

I am so proud of everyone for a great first day!  There is so much more fun planned for tomorrow!  I know we sent some tired babies home today, as they adjust to such a busy day!  Get some good rest tonight....tomorrow is full of learning!  Can't wait to see you all again!