St. Patrick's Day

This post is a recount of some of our St. Patrick's Day activities. Holidays are a fabulous time in preschool! We get to be goofy and have a lot of fun. We get to dress up...and we always have the "I'm a teacher" excuse. I have used this excuse many times when justifying why I am buying something. (See: outfit below)

We started our St. Patrick's Day celebrating off by doing a craft I stumbled upon on Pinterest. The children made a rainbow paper chain that led to a pot of gold. The pin for the craft can be found here. How happy does this picture look with all the colors?

Our next activity to prepare for St. Patrick's Day was our door decorations. We talked about what we would do with a pot of gold. Each kiddo cut out a yellow circle and drew what they would do with a pot of gold. They wanted to include a rainbow of hearts...which they all helped to cut. 

The day before St. Patrick's Day we prepared for our school-wide parade. We made hats and wands for the children to march around with. We had to improvise a little with the hats since all we had were styrofoam bowls that couldn't be painted. The children cut out three hearts to make each wand. We secured them to green straws and added white and green curling ribbon. 

 

In the afternoon before the children went home, I read The Night Before St. Patrick's Day by Natasha Wing. The children loved that the leprechaun played tricks in the book. 

Finally St. Patrick's Day arrived! The leprechaun played a trick on us...

GREEN MILK for morning snack! The children loved it. 

They also loved my festive outfit for the day...

How could I pass up the opportunity to buy something with Mickey on it?! See what I mean about using the "I'm a teacher" excuse. But who am I kidding?

-Miss Kapua 

Pre-K Library

Our theme for the month of February was Community. During this is theme we learned about our communities, what makes a community, who makes a community, and different community helpers/careers.

For the culmination of our Community unit, we made a library in our classroom. We learned about authors, illustrators, and librarians. The children worked hard all week on making their own books. They each told me a story, which I typed for them. The children illustrated their story throughout the week. At the end of the week, the children made library cards and we set up a library in our classroom. We left it up into this week because they are so proud of their books are still enjoying "checking out" books. 

 

The books they are oh so proud of!

Library check out desk

Pre-K Library is open for business!

Pre-K Library Cards

Pre-K kiddos enjoying their library and books.

We had so much fun with the books and library. I only hope that they will continue to enjoy reading and will use the public library more often. 

-Miss Kapua 

Teaching Conference Task: Bring Inspirational Quotes

I am attending a teaching conference tomorrow about positive engagement tomorrow. We received an email today saying that we should bring inspirational quotes for an activity we will be doing. We are also encouraged to bring copies for our tablemates. Here is the list I quickly compiled this morning...meaning most of them were saved to my various Pinterest boards.

I just wanted to share some of the quotes I enjoy. Please feel free to post some of the quotes you find inspirational. I will post more about what these were used for at the conference and more about the conference later.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. –Aristotle

Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.  –Dale Carnegie

A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. –William Shedd

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. –Dr. Suess

Step with care and great tact. And remember that life’s a great balancing act. –Dr. Seuss

Either you run the day, or the day runs you. –Jim Rohn

You can never be overdressed or overeducated. –Oscar Wilde

Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together. –Liz Taylor

Why worry? If you’ve done the very best you can, worrying won’t make it any better. –Walt Disney

You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. –Winnie the Pooh

What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create. –Buddha

We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.       –Carlos Castenada

You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine. –John C. Maxwell 

-Miss Kapua 

Valentine's Day Mail

This year for Valentine's Day, I set up all the supplies to make valentines in our writing center. Last week, the children created their own valentine holders to hang on the door. Throughout the week of Valentine's Day, the children were able to make and deliver valentines for their friends. 

Valentine Holders: 

The children painted a paper plate for their holder. I cut out the letters on different colors of paper to spell each child's name. They had to look for the letters to make their name. They were also given valentine stickers to decorate it. 

Children decorating their valentine holders.

The children loved making and delivering valentines. I supplied them with letter cut outs, valentine stickers, valentine stamps, colored masking tape, heart print duck tape, scissors, and pencils. Many hours were spent this week making valentines. I will definitely be doing this again next year. 

Bonus: I got to make valentines and surprise the children with them in their holders. The children insisted that I make and hang a holder so they could make me some too. How sweet are my kiddos?!

Happy Valentine's Day!

-Miss Kapua 

Book Review: Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

The second book I read for the 2015 reading challenge was Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. It is a fiction novel following New Yorker Rachel and her crazy rich boyfriend, Nick. Nick takes Rachel to his home town in Singapore for a friend’s wedding where Rachel learns just how crazy rich her boyfriend’s family is. This novel is the epitome of the “mo’ money, mo’ problems” mantra as it paints a picture of how the high-society socialites live.

I was definitely wowed by this debut novel from Kevin Kwan. I couldn’t put this book down. It was very funny and I loved how he made footnotes to explain certain words, places, people, or anything that needed a bit more of an explanation. I found that the footnotes added more humor to the story. Some of the footnotes were rather long and I just skimmed those, but for the most part they were helpful. I was entertained throughout the entire story, but I was really emotionally drawn in towards the end.

I would absolutely recommend this book to someone looking for a funny read. I loved reading this book at the beach and on the bus ride to and from work. I am looking forward to seeing the movie adaptation of this book as well as Kevin Kwan’s next novel. 

-Miss Kapua 

Book Reveiw: The Right Fit by Kay Albrecht

I decided to start off my reading challenge by reading a book for my professional development. I am at the point in my career where I am finding it necessary to find resources to assist me with certain aspects of my new position as preschool director. The biggest challenge of the job? Staffing! I thought this book would be a good way to start off the book challenge...boy, was I wrong!

Don't get me wrong, this book shed some light on things I was guilty of doing (*ahem* warm-body syndrome anyone? *ahem*) but it was not a good way to start off my challenge. Note to self: do not start off a reading challenge with a professional development book. I did get to mark my non-fiction book off the list though.

Now for the review...

The book was a short read and provided a lot of information about how to choose the right teacher when going through the hiring process. There were a few samples of how to organize and compare information on different candidates throughout the interview process. This is definitely something that I will be doing when I am conducting another round of interviews. There was also a list of great questions to ask during interviews.

What I really liked about this book was that it gave information about all different stages of staffing, from interviewing to performance reviews.

Recommendation: Yes, to new preschool directors!

-Miss Kapua

2015 Reading Challenge

My first post of the year, hell my first post to this blog ever, isn't even about teaching. It's about the reading challenge I've decided to jump in on this year. The first book I read for the challenge was a professional development book, so there we have our connection. I will be posting my progress as well as book reviews throughout the challenge. If you want to join me you can find the challenge here: http://media3.popsugar-assets.com/files/docs/Love%26Sex-Love%26Sex-2015ReadingChallenge-print.pdf

If you're doing it too, let me know! I would to follow others on their journey through this challenge.

-Miss Kapua